The X-Project

After a stressful week, both Forge and Manuel wind up in Harry's to recover, and share a drink and discussion of women.



Forge smiled as he sent another text before walking into Harry's Hideaway. While he didn't usually make a regular habit of going down to the local watering hole, the various strains of the past week had earned him a bit of out-of-the-mansion time, and he thanked his stars that he had a girlfriend that didn't mind him taking a few hours to unwind. Especially since Crystal was in the process of regaining the elemental powers she was accustomed to and less likely to set the suite on fire in a fit of pique. She was taking the evening readjusting to the joy of flying, so Forge felt justified in taking in a drink or two down at Harry's.

He noticed Lil as soon as he entered - the Amazonian blonde was hard to miss, engaged in animated conversation with one of the regulars. Forge headed to the other end of the bar, where Harry already had a bottle of a local microbrew opened for the young inventor. Turning around to look for a seat, Forge saw a table with a sole occupant and figured - what the hell.

Pulling out a chair, Forge sat down and raised his beer in a brief salute. "Evening, Manuel."

Manuel leaned back in his seat, a faint smile of amusement twitching at the corner of his mouth as he nodded to Forge and gestured to the seat across from him. He drummed his fingers once and stretched his arm out, taking up the base of his beer and flashing his eyes briefly to Lillian, then back to Forge.

"In need of some semblance of peace?" he inquired. "I was but it seems my efforts were in vain," he tipped his beer, pointing the head to Lillian before he brought it to his lips. "The effort to return home is too great."

Forge whistled, then turned the noise into a laugh. "Oh man. Yeah, between her and Commodore Lexington, I'll bet that's a veritable cornucopia of empathic chaos." He took another drink and watched Lil for a moment, shaking his head. "Funny as hell to watch, though."

"I am happy I am not telepathic. She would make my head explode," Manuel grinned and set his drink down, turning the base. "She forgets easily. First Bishop - who I think is not too keen on what is happening - and now this stranger, Lex. We should be taking bets."

"She's got a difficult situation," Forge explained. "Still in love with her husband, jealous of the time he spends with his work, which I suppose makes her feel justified in trying to fill a need elsewhere, but she still loves the dork, so what can you do, huh?"

"Divorce and save yourself the efforts? He is up in Canada, yes? Love or not, either she is going insane by it, or she was insane long ago." Manuel's eyebrows rose, amused. "Did you know she is louder than you?"

Forge nodded. "In Budapest, we both got nailed by a telepath. She mentioned afterwards that she'd never really trained in telepathic or empathic shielding. In her case, I'd imagine it's just lack of training and her rather... forceful... personality to blame. Me, on the other hand..."

He tapped the neck of his beer to his forehead lightly. "Fun side effect of the great mutant brain. Internal volume seems to be turned up to eleven with the knob broken off."

"You purr compared to her roar, though control has seemed to fallen back into place for me. It must be because I am constantly subjected to internal wars and crude gossip. How long has Lex been in the mansion? A week or two and he is already on the journals, pulling his hair out."

"He does move fast," Forge said, then stopped and raised an eyebrow at Manuel. "And could you not describe my brain as 'purring'? We haven't had nearly enough alcohol for that."

"There is not nearly enough alcohol in the world for that," Manuel mused. "Still, if she continues to make herself seem readily available to men, someone is not going to like the word 'no' and then we will be burying them later."

"Their choice, their funeral," Forge agreed. "Even still, I have to wonder. I haven't actually met Madison - that's her husband up in Canada. But I've heard enough about him from Lil, Mac's mentioned him a few times in emails, and Garrison's talked about him a bit. He seems like... well, absolutely nothing like Bishop or Lakatos or Lex. I wonder what's up with that."

"No, he does not, does he? In fact, he sounds more like you," which Manuel couldn't help but smirk about. Ah, the whole subject had him smiling constantly and he couldn't really say why it made him laugh. Only that it did and he could ride that good emotional wave for a while. "Has it ever made you wonder why he is so into his work? I know if I was married to someone like Lillian, I would not be here. I would be in Spain or some corner of the world where women were forbidden."

Forge ran his fingers over the condensation forming on the bottle, toying with the edge of the label. "I'm the farthest thing from an expert on the subject, but if I had to guess?" He nodded towards the tall Canadienne again. "Look at Lil. Not just as a woman, but what she represents. Untouchable, invulnerable, strong - couple that with her personality, and I can imagine why Madison feels... I don't know, what's the word? Emasculated? Less of a man, somehow. Maybe his Box robot is his way of trying to balance that out."

"Or maybe he is at a loss of what to do with her? She is confusing when you breech the subject and she ran circles around me until I was exhausted. Perhaps she does the same to him, wanting answers, wanting attention and it is too grinding to bear. Divorce seems too final, therefore ignorance is the next best step. Carmilla is the same way but her demons are not as untouchable."

"And there's an odd coincidence," Forge noted, turning towards Manuel. "You question why Lil and Madison would wind up together. But you? You I can't figure out. I mean, you're always on about class, and dignity, and respect. But... Cammie? Amanda? Jubilee? Dani? Seeing a pattern here?"

He took another sip of his beer and leaned back, pointing a finger at Manuel. "I think you've got a thing for the 'lower class', whether you admit it or not."

"I never questioned why they are together, only why they are apart," Manuel corrected, stripping his label off and folding it. "Yes, I see a pattern though I am reluctant to group Carmilla with them. Dani is not trash either however, Carmilla has done me some good concerning my powers and the 'quality' time we spend together." Quotations used there and Manuel shifted the conversation. "One could say the same about Crystal - what does she see in your brain? Or Kurt and Monet, which I still cannot wrap my head around on any given day of the week. Jay and Shiro, Callie and Fred, Jean-Paul and Jake, the list of the weird is starting to be endless."

Forge thought about that for a moment, then shrugged in acquiescence. "Point taken. I think... I think there's no logic to it, and that concerns me. I don't trust things I can't explain. Part of me is constantly trying to comprehend the rationality of why I enjoy being with her, and vice versa; most of the time... I just ignore that and enjoy being happy. Even if I can't explain it."

He absently began fiddling with a stack of coasters, laying them on edge to form a stable cube. "If there's something more to it beyond emotions and biochemistry and... 'spark' or whatever, I don't know. And I dislike not knowing."

"Why question it?" Manuel asked. "If I questioned everything I felt from other people, I would be a mess. Like so, if I concerned myself with Carmilla and why I was with her, than I do not believe I would have the control I do. Maybe I am wrong. Though if I was to give an outside opinion of you and your princess, I would say that she grounds you."

"It's possible," Forge admitted, adding another layer of coasters to his rapidly-expanding structure. "And ironically... you know, maybe Lil might actually have some actual insight there. When she's not busy playing tonsil hockey with the newest guy to walk in the door."

"You two little girls done with your gossiping yet?" Lil asked, standing by with hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. "Or would you like to continue while the Whore of Babylon gets you another round?"

Forge coughed on a mouthful of beer, knocking his tower-of-coasters down. Glancing across the table at Manuel, he apologetically raised the near-empty bottle. "Another, please?" he asked in a meek tone.