Full Disclosure

[x_maker]

Yes, I'm back. No, I'm not seeing any more visitors right now. I don't need anyone telling me everything's going to be okay. I don't much feel like making jokes.

In the interest of full disclosure, and to probably quiet a lot of the rumors going around, what Dr. MacTaggart said is true. Yes, I built a machine that took away my mutant powers. Magneto wanted to use it as a weapon. I built it to work once, then blow up, and it did. As usual, I didn't document anything, so there's no worries about the Brotherhood running around with it. And if anyone thinks I'm still harboring some sort of Stockholm Syndrome or that I did it all willingly - I've already convinced the Professor when he came down to talk to me, I don't need to convince any of you.

Jay says I should stick around, despite now being basically just the token normal. And I'm sure a lot of you are going to say the same, that I'm your friend, that I deserve a place to be happy here. But not a lot of you know why I'm here - and it's time for that secret to stop.

Back in school, all the way since I started going, I was the small kid and the smart kid. And in any social group, those are the first two differences that become evident. And in any social group, people like to cast out those that are different. Sometimes it's through exclusion and social pressure, and some times it's just plain violent. Lucky me, I got the full package.

High school wasn't any different. Wasn't acknowledged as anything, unless it was to be pushed around to make other people feel better about themselves. It was my place in the system, apparently. My parents - well, at the time, I didn't think to talk to them about it, because they wouldn't understand. They didn't ask how I was getting along, I didn't bother to tell them.

Finally, I got sick of it. I got sick of being invisible, sick of being pushed around, and sick of being ignored. This is the part in the story where the mutant powers kick in full speed.

So I made a bomb, plain and simple. I brought it to school, and I put it in my locker. And something happened and it went off early. You wonder why I carry around sixty-plus pounds of metal and a matching set of scars? Because I tried to blow up my school. [link: South Dallas Tribune, September 2002]

Go ahead. Read the news about it. Gas main explosion, they said. But the truth is, I did it myself. No one else hurt but me, but that wasn't the intent. And as I'm seeing argued around the journal system here, intent seems to count for a lot.

So, through chance or fate or whatnot - I'm here instead of dead or in jail. Trying to make up for what I almost did. Trying to do the right thing. I can say that being here has helped teach me that.

But if I don't belong - then I don't belong. Whether it's because I don't have my powers anymore, or because of the things I did, or because some of you probably still think I'm going to turn around and start marching to the beat of Magneto's drum; it doesn't matter.

But like I said, now you know. Make your own decisions.

JHF

Comments

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

I'd like to take issue with it. I'd like to take issue with the fact that somehow we're supposed to ignore an attempt to blow up a school when in the real world that gets you locked up for years and years and your family is never allowed to visit. Can I get one of those passes too? I know someone who needs it.

I don't disagree that it's good that he saved himself and Lorna but I don't like being called stupid for not understanding why that gets him a free out on trying to kill people because he wasn't liked. He's grown out of that, sure. So what?

Yeah, I know. Off the journals. Whatever.

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

And if I've learned anything from Law & Order, attempted murder has no statute of limitations, so now that Forge has confessed, he should be imprisoned.

On the other hand, if we let ourselves be bothered by the trivial details of law, then almost everyone at this school should be incarcerated as well.

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

And how many people here have done far, far worse, Theresa?

By all rights I should be locked up for the rest of my natural life, or in front of a firing squad somewhere - there are a number of countries that would still like very much to see me in that position. Mostly for things that I not only intended to do, but did, and generally in the most destructive manner possible.

Besides... Scott was referring to people taking issue with what Forge had done to get him and Lorna away from Magneto. Not about his revelation about the past. I think you need to read a little more carefully.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

No, I read it right. I was pointing out that no one thinks Forge did a bad thing saving himself and Lorna.

I don't want him jailed. I just want his get out of jail free card so that I can have my uncle back.

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

Point of order, Mr. Dayspring. I do want to know if people have issues with why I'm here.

I'm not going to argue the legalities - this school isn't a court, and if people want to take the high road and pretend that they are, I rightly don't care.

Personally, I think I've more than paid my dues for a stupid mistake. If Terry and Shiro think differently, I'm not going to argue with their opinion.

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but I'm not going to not defend you. Although I won't continue to argue the point here.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

That is not what I said.

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

If you're asking why no charges were levied, it's because investigators ruled it as an accidental gas main explosion. By the time I was able to tell my parents what had actually happened, the matter had been closed. They felt that instead of letting the judicial system handle a matter that had already been closed, that the school here would be a better place for me.

That's the honest truth.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

I'm asking why everyone here gets to take a miss on consequences when they screw up but the rest of the world doesn't?

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

I can't answer that.

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Not everybody, Theresa. In case you missed it with the unpleasantness surrounding Alison's post, Amanda will be facing the consequences of her actions. As soon as we have somewhere specific to send her - since making an obviously disturbed girl homeless and without resources would be the same as gift-wrapping her and leaving her on the doorstep of the HFC or whatever other magical boogeyman she's managed to run afoul of - she'll be leaving us. There's a limit to the second, third and fourth chances. In the meantime, she's basically under house arrest - she's co-operating by locking herself in her room, but if she wasn't, you can guarantee she'd be in one of the isolation labs. Preferably the one liined with steel, since metal messes with her powers.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

That's one out of how many, Dr. Bartlet? And how often did she get a pass before that?

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

And what precisely had she done that required extreme punishment before that? She's not my most favourite student in the world, but I do consider the addiction an illness, not a crime, especially considering the way it came about. The love potion, for which she was punished by suspensions and being sent to magical boot camp, iirc. Under-age drinking, for which she's not the only one responsible and which was largely aided and abetted by her guardian. The fight with Jubilee, for which they were both punished.

If I'm missing something else, do feel free to point it out and we'll add it to the list. But do bear in mind that no-one's completely crime-free here, if you want to start demanding consequences.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Why isn't anyone reading what I'm saying? It's not about AMANDA or FORGE or LORNA. It's about the fact that we get off and no one else does!

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

And I'm saying that not everyone _does_ get off. Read what I'm saying too, Theresa.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

ONE PERSON is the exception that proves the rule!

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Would you like us to make a list? I thought this wasn't about individuals. Or is it about your ability to make sweeping generalisations because you're upset adn angry?

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'd like to see one person here who has had to go in front of a judge and be sentenced. Just one.

You're still not listening to me. I shouldn't be surprised.

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

Will I do?

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Wait...what?

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

You wanted to see someone who's been in front of a judge and sentenced. I asked "will I do?" Seems pretty straightforward.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

You did? When?

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

That's nobody's business. The point is that having these abilities, being who you are, it doesn't get you a free ride.

If you don't think this kid's paid for what he's done, you're mistaken. And by that, I mean any of you. He may not have had the courts throw the book at him, but he's done enough to himself. And he's got to live with that.

Guilt and regret sometimes make better teachers and rehabilitators than any court or prison can.

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

...you don't understand either.

Forget it. I'm going for a run. I can do that now right? I don't have to have a chaperone?

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Uh, me too. Judge, juvinile hall, it kinda sucked.