xp_logs | Nathan, Forge, and Askani, Monday afternoon

Forge gives Nathan his psimitar, and Nathan gives it a test run. It's pretty much everything the two of them hoped it would be. Askani makes a brief appearance to congratulate Forge and make a couple of interesting cryptic comments. Hmm.

Nathan couldn't suppress a certain amount of excitement as he headed down to meet Forge. Like a kid on Christmas, he thought, amused, and Askani chortled at the back of his mind, catching the reference. She was excited as well, though, he thought. Excited and intrigued, waiting to see what Forge had made from the plans he'd drawn up.

Forge paced back and forth briefly in the lab. He'd run it through the tests, repeatedly. Every component held up to stress, every circuit completed its purpose. The only factor he couldn't test was the human one, and that was on its way to the laboratory.

Sealing the device inside the stainless-steel carrying case, Forge stood it on end. He'd even gone ahead and designed the case to scan on X-Rays and imaging equipment as nothing more than an expensive ski case, in case Mr. Dayspring ever needed to take the device traveling with him on an airplane. If he'd advertised its true purpose, of course, the FAA would never let it within 300 meters of an airplane.

"Oooh. You made me a case, too?" Nathan's voice said from the doorway. He came in, reminding himself to smile at Forge - smile, Nate, not the 'Give me my new toy right now please!' grin, that's it, - before he focused his attention on the case. "I managed to head down here at a semi-decorous pace," he said lightly. "If people see me running they generally start looking around for what's about to blow up."

"Funny you should mention that," Forge deadpanned, "they wouldn't let me install tamper-proof explosives. How am I supposed to design a proper carrying case without tamper-proof explosives? Where is the earth-shattering Ka-Boom?" he quoted with a smile. He hefted the case by the carrying handle. All things considered, it was incredibly lightweight, although he knew that the actual mass of the device was irrelevant. Nathan's power was what would make the difference.

"So, in light of the nice weather and my desire for continued use of the lab and NOT having it torn apart if things get a little out of control, want to head out to the backyard for a test run?" he offered.

"Absolutely." Nathan let Forge precede him out of the lab, itching for some sort of teleportational power, because he wanted to see it right now, not five minutes from now. Now, now, now... he thought gleefully, then reminded himself that Forge would probably find the bouncing a little alarming.

On the way up from the lab, Forge couldn't help but notice Mr. Dayspring's barely-restrained exuberance. "So," he said in an attempt to dissemble, "my dad seems really impressed with the school and wants me to stay. Guess that means you guys are stuck with me for the duration."

'Well, duh,' would not be the appropriate reaction, even if he'd figured that out, or at least that Forge's father was well on the way to feeling that, when he'd shaken hands with the man. "Good news, then," Nathan said cheerfully. "We've kind of gotten used to having you around."

"Good," Forge answered, walking out the kitchen door to the small brick patio. "Because if you blow up me or the school and I don't graduate on time, one or the other of us is going to be very irritated." As he spoke, he walked across the patio and set the case down on a low railing across from Nathan. Gesturing at it, he smiled. "Open it."

Nathan grinned at him, then turned his attention to the case. He opened it carefully, his hands going still for a moment as he got a good look at the weapon? tool? within.

Whatever one chose to call it, it was beautiful. He lifted it out even more carefully, his hands just a little unsteady, part of him reeling at actually holding a psimitar. Not just dreaming he was holding it, or remembering someone else's memory of holding it. It was a strange feeling. Decidedly exhilarating, but strange. Sunlight glinted off it as he turned it over in his hands for a moment before settling instinctively into the proper way to hold it.

"The weight's right," he said, his voice hushed.

"Yeah, funny thing there. It seemed like the circuitry pathways were all laid out inefficiently when I first looked at it, but then when I stepped back and realized that it followed a certain, I don't know, 'flow', everything started falling into place. Just seemed balanced, form and function." Forge tapped a small binder in the bottom of the case. "You need to make any adjustments, everything's documented there, too. So," he grinned widely, sliding his sunglasses on and pointing his thumb towards a pile of debris that Mr. Marko had marked for trash pickup. "how's it work?"

Nathan stepped down off the porch, just in case. He did not want to have to explain to Cain why he'd done structural damage to the house if this didn't work quite as he expected. Shifting his grip on the psimitar, he stared at the pile of debris, even as he slowly pushed telekinetic power into the psimitar, feeling it travel along the patterns and build, almost humming. A faint golden glow started to coalesce around the blade, and Nathan leveled it at the pile of debris.

"Son of a..." Forge breathed in amazement, surreptitiously checking the scanner he'd palmed on the way out of the lab. Before, when Nathan was using his telekinesis intentionally, Forge's devices been able to pick up a small amount of ambient phase-state disruption from the 'spillover' that his power generated. In large-scale use, that much energy bled out unfocused could ionize air particles, causing massive collateral damage.

According to the scanner, however, Nathan was increasing the level of power he was pumping into the psimitar, and the ionization levels were utterly nonexistent.

He had control.

The pile of debris flew upwards suddenly, each individual piece spinning off on their own trajectories, breaking into smaller pieces as Nathan pushed to see just how many ways he could split his control without breaking a sweat. So easy, he thought, amazed. There was no strain at all to this, with the psimitar.

Forge simply watched, amazed. Mr. Dayspring was easily the most powerful mutant he'd ever met, and the psimitar was helping him use his power so effortlessly. Checking the scanner again, Forge noted that the device was completely in the green - structural integrity holding up, circuits maintaining operability, everything was perfect.

He let out a small whoop of amazement, watching Nathan weave the pieces of wood and drywall into a three-dimensional moving pattern, each chunk holding its own unique orbit around a center point.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"Amazing," Nathan murmured, shifting the pattern easily. "Dying to try my coin drills using this, now..." Askani was humming delightedly at the back of his mind, and he could hear softer voices, more excited. The Askani weaponsmiths?

Forge grinned. "Here's a fun test," he offered. "Throw it." If he'd done his calculations correctly, and his grasp of psionic theory was sound, there would be an almost tangible connection between the psimitar and Mr. Dayspring. While the device was intended to be held to channel Nathan's power, it could theoretically work along that connection as well.

Nathan hesitated, letting the debris-pattern sink neatly back to the ground before he tried it. The psimitar left his hand, but there was a sudden, definite tug, and it came back at him, almost like a boomerang. "Whoa," he said, and then laughed. "Uh-huh. Pardon the Keanu Reeves moment there."

Laughing along with him, Forge leaned against the rail. "That should do what you need it to do, then." He suddenly sobered up, looking past Nathan out to the back lawn. "I know what you need to do, and what you have to use it for, and... and I'm okay with that. It's using my talents for a purpose, but it's not like misusing them, you know?" His eyes were downcast for a while before looking at Nathan. "It's locked to your particular psi-signature, no one can use it but you. Hell, even if they could, you're the only person on the planet other than me who even has an inkling of how it works."

Taking a deep breath, Forge said what had been weighing on his mind since he started the project. "I've built you a weapon, Mr. Dayspring. I don't want to regret doing it."

Nathan ran an almost reverent hand along the flat of the blade. "I know you don't like hearing about my ghosts," he said quietly, staring at the psimitar, the patterns within it still glowing in his mind. "But I think it would help you to know just what this is, to them... and to me."

He took a deep breath, shifting his grip on the psimitar and moving smoothly into one of the drills Rawn and the others had run him through so many times in his dreams. "They didn't hand these out willy-nilly," he said as he moved. "However strong your powers were, you didn't get these until you'd... learned. Until you'd proven that every time you picked it up, you could be trusted to use it only in defense of the Clan."

The term 'clan' seemed to ring true with Forge's own concept of 'tribe' that he'd discussed with Dani. He nodded slowly, understanding. "And do they say you're ready, then?" he asked, willing for the moment to trust in Nathan's delusions.

"Yes," came a voice from behind Forge. "They do." Askani stood there, in her armor, smiling slightly at both of them.

"Jesus H. Christ on whole wheat toast!" Forge exclaimed, spinning and nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. "Warn a body before you... wait a minute..." Forge peered closely at Askani, particularly the runes on her armor that seemed to match up with the scribblings Nathan had made on the diagram. He glanced at her, then at Nathan, then back and forth briefly.

"You... you're... this isn't some kind of weird telepath trick, is it?"

Nathan opened his mouth, then closed it again, smiling wryly. "Well, actually it is a weird telepath trick. But that doesn't mean she's not there." He took a deep breath, giving Askani something of an irritated look. Warning would indeed have been nice; he hadn't even felt the usual tug as she manifested. "Forge, this is Askani. Askani, Forge. I suspect she wants to congratulate you on a job well done."

Askani glided over to give the psimitar a closer look, reaching up to run a hand down the blade as well. 'It is a lovely job. A perfect job."

"Of course it's a perfect job," Forge replied with a small degree of consternation as he walked to stand beside her. "I don't half-ass stuff this important. Still," he slowly remembered his manners, "thank you. Your, uh, your people have a knack for designing this stuff. Necessity being the mother of invention, I suppose."

"The one who invented it was very gifted. Much like you." Askani gave him a brief, approving smile, and then raised an eyebrow at Nathan. "~The timing is likewise perfect.~"

"Oh, really..." Nathan shook his head, then looked apologetically at Forge. "She goes in and out of English at times," he said, managing a blithe tone. "Ignore her."

"I'm used to it," Forge replied, "Dani does it all the time. Of course, she's crazy too, so maybe there's some correlation." He glanced down at his scanner, thumbing a dial to change some settings. Yes, Nathan's telepathy was definitely going off - but if this Askani was indeed a telepathic projection, Mr. Dayspring certainly wasn't putting forth any conscious effort into maintaining her.

"Okay," he announced, turning to face Askani, "either he's locked me into sharing the most complex and consistent hallucination ever recorded, or you're actually taking up residence inside his head. Right now, both seem like legitimate explanations. But while you're here, hallucination or not, anything else you guys have that Mr. Dayspring can use in his mission?"

Askani shook his head. "He has what he needs, now," she said, running her hand along the psimitar again. Her hand rested on Nathan's for a moment, and he felt the illusion of warmth and weight, not merely the crackle of their psionic connection. "Anything else is... unnecessary. We had other weapons, developed in the last years of the war, but they were the creation of desperation and I prefer not to see them reinvented."

"I can understand that," Forge replied, accepting her realism for the moment. After all, it was easier than trying to ignore her presence right there. "So... how long have you two known each other?" he asked earnestly.

"Well, let's see... I was nineteen when my precognition first emerged," Nathan said speculatively. "Askani? When did you first actually notice me watching you?"

Askani proceeded to give him a blank look. "You were watching all along. For eighty years, Nathan. What kind of a question is that?"

Forge cocked his head. Mr. Dayspring was showing a bit of grey hair, but... "Eighty years? You still tell time the same way in the future? Or," he corrected himself, "it's a matter of perception, I'd imagine. He's seen eighty years of your timeline in thirty-odd years of his life. Geez. No wonder your head's all messed up, sir."

Askani laughed aloud. "I like him," she said, and winked at Forge as she flickered and vanished.

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "She's not been doing that as often lately," he said thoughtfully. "Coming out like that, I mean. None of them have." He grinned at Forge. "Special occasion, though." He turned the psimitar over in his hands again, shaking his head. "You did do a hell of a job."

Forge shrugged. "I had good material to work with. It's given me a lot of ideas to build off of, as well. Thanks for the opportunity."

"Thank you," Nathan said, his smile gone as he met Forge's eyes, wanting to make sure he knew just how much he did mean that. "Sahal'me hynara - I'm in your debt. And I'll use it well."

"You'd better," Forge teased, "or else the crazy ghost lady in your head's going to give you no end of shit. I kind of get that feeling about her." He paused. "That and, well, she's kinda hot."

"It's a redhead thing," Nathan said with a perfectly straight face.