xp_logs | Angelo and Amanda, Monday lunchtime

Amanda tracks Angelo down to a study and they talk about Paige, Manuel, and Kashmir among other things.

Jokes about Angelo being left behind at the airport aside, Amanda hadn't missed the fact he'd been conspicuously absent from the journals since his return. In fact, he'd been absent from most of the usual places around the mansion too, including the back porch. And whilst there was a part of her that murmured that perhaps the distance was a good thing, that things would be less awkward, the majority was still worried and angry enough on his behalf to seek him out. Which would have taken more time had she done it the mundane way.

Snuffing out the location spell as it hovered outside the door of one of the unused offices, she tapped cautiously on the door. She was remembering her words to Paige on the journals, and thinking perhaps that Angelo was angry at her for having a go. "Ange?" she called softly, screwing up her courage - if he was mad, he was mad, simple as that. "'S me. Got a minute?"

He glanced up from reading Nate's latest pile of assigned reports, a little surprised. But then, this was Amanda. Of course she'd found him. "'Course, little sis. Door's open."

Opening the door and poking her head around the edge, she couldn't help smiling at the sight of him, sitting at the desk with paperwork spread before him, shirt sleeves rolled up. "Wow, look at you. All grown up an' employed," she said with a spark of her old teasing way. Coming in, she closed the door behind her and leaned back against it. Sitting down in the chair opposite the desk would remind her far too much of the chats she'd have with Pete, touching base, letting him know what she was doing... "Been busy?" she asked, to distract herself from that train of thought as much as anything else. Of course Angelo had been busy. He was busy now, anyone with eyes could see that.

He put down his pen and swivelled the chair to face her, leaning back. "Yeah, kinda. Nathan keeps me occupied." And if he was keeping himself busier than he strictly needed to be, perhaps, who was going to know?

"I can go if I'm bein' a bother," she offered, not moving from the door. "Just wanted t' make sure you were really here an' not still at the airport like Nate an' Jamie were jokin' about." She gave him a weak smile.

He laughed a little. "Yeah, I'm really here. You want to sit?" Joyita was curled up under the desk, mostly asleep.

She couldn't refuse the invitation, and she didn't really want to, either. Coming in properly and curling herself into one of the two chairs facing the desk, she rested her chin on her knee, considering him. He looked... older. More sure of himself. Grown up, like she'd said. "How was the trip?" she asked, and then corrected herself. "The bits you can tell me, that is. I know it was work an' all." It was hard not to feel a small stab at the realisation she was being left behind.

He smiled, remembering. "It was really good. Best scenery I ever saw, 'specially when we got up in the mountains. Never been anywhere like that before."

"Sounds brilliant. Must've been fun, even with the workin'." Amanda wrinkled her nose a little at him. "Bet you were havin' too much fun t' get your little sis a present?"

He froze for a second, then smacked himself in the head. "Knew I forgot to do somethin'. No, I wasn't havin' that much fun. It's upstairs."

"I was only jokin' you didn't have to get me anythin'," she said for the sake of it, but a pleased little grin coming to her face. "You didn't forget to stop in on Meg too, did you? She missed you."

"She came t'find me", he said with a grin. "Mornin' after I got back - she did let me get over the jetlag some first."

"Good. 'S been hard for her, movin' rooms an' all." Amanda squirmed a little uncomfortably, and switched tacks. There were way too many difficult places conversation could go, and she hated being evasive. "Did you get my email? The one about Jono? I wasn't sure you would, what with bein' in the middle of nowhere."

"...Yeah. Not 'til we got back to Srinigar, but I got it. Thanks for lettin' me know."

The pause spoke volumes. "I thought someone ought," she said, watching him carefully before adding: "Since Paige didn't, did she?"

"Haven't spoken to Paige more'n in passin' for weeks", he said simply, shrugging. "No, she didn't."

"I knew it. Bitch," Amanda muttered to herself with a certain amount of satisfaction. Arguing with Paige was like treading on quicksand, easy to get out of your depth. But this wasn't about her. "How're you takin' it?" she asked directly - it was the way they
did things. "Has t' hurt, seein' her falling all over Jono like that."

Angelo sighed, leaning back further in his chair as Joyita came to rest her head on his knees. "Kind of been avoidin' both of them. Even if it was a mutual thing to break up... y'know how it is."

"Makes you kind of wonder if it was always him more 'n you all along?" Amanda suggested.

"Yeah. I always did wonder, a bit. Mostly 'cause it was him first. Paige always said it wasn't, though..."

Amanda snorted. "Yeah, right." Her tone implied she didn't really think much of Paige's words. The girl lied to herself as much as everyone else. "Certainly isn't the impression she gave me this last week. An' that poor bastard Forge got suckered in as well."

Angelo smiled, slightly. "I know. Kind of hard not t'notice. She's easy to fall for, is Paige."

"Yeah, all shiny on the outside." Amanda bit her tongue against the less-flattering addition to that. Angelo wouldn't appreciate her bitching - they might have been broken up, but he was still a Paige fanboy. "An' now Forge is fuck-knows-where havin' fuck-knows-what being done to him, the poor bastard. I don't doubt the team'll get him back, but yeah, can't help worryin' about him." She shook her head. "'S been a hell of a couple of months. That FOH kid's awake."

Not as much as he might have been once, but still to some extent, yes. "Yeah, so he is. Probably gonna have to have a talk with
him, if he stays here when he's back on his feet."

Amanda raised her eyebrow, but nodded. "You won't be the only one - there's a lot of people with a beef with this kid." She shrugged a little. "He's the one from the Columbia rally, y'know. Took me a while to work it out since I only saw him the once and he's in a right state, but it's him all right."

Angelo nodded grimly. "Met him before. If he's gonna leave when he's well enough, there's no problem. But if he's stayin'... should probably talk to him."

"Well, think about it. Kid's a mutant. HIs family an' friends tried t' kill him. You think he's gunna last fives minutes out there?" Amanda snorted. "Of course he's stayin'. There'll be a fuckin' uproar about it, but in the end where else is there for him t' go? 'Specially if he's got no clue how his powers work." She shrugged again. "Then again, he wouldn't be the first bastard who's hurt people here t' be allowed t' stay. Or the first person who used to beat up mutants." The last was said with a pointed look at Angelo.

He returned the look, flatly. "An' who says that's not exactly why I wanna talk to him? 'm not gonna hurt him, not now."

Amanda had the grace to look abashed. "Sorry. Stuck you in with the rest of the herd - ever since people found out who he was it's all been broodin' an' lynch mobs. It's not like there's any choice in the matter - he'll stay, people'll throw a fit and then it'll all
die down. Can't see the point in making a fuss, really." A certain cold expression entered her eyes. "He gives Meg grief at all, tho', says one word, an' he'll wish he'd never been born."

"He'll learn", Angelo answered, voice as flat as his eyes a moment before. "He might not like it - probably won't - but if he doesn't want to make his own life miserable here, he'll keep his head down whatever he thinks."

"Welcome to Xavier's, learn how t' keep your mouth shut," Amanda said wryly. Then she tilted her head slightly, looking him over. "You doin' all right, tho'? All this shite, the FOH, Paige an' Jono, jettin' off to Kashmir... Been a busy couple of months."

"When's it ever not, round here?" came the equally wry response. "Jettin' off to Kashmir was a nice break, most of it."

"I know medlab's been on the go for two months straight now. The docs're ready to drop. You'd think October was cursed or somethin'." There was a certain resignation in her voice as she said it. "So, besides scenery, what else did Kashmir have? I see Nate got back in one piece, so no bad guys at least."

"Yeah, he didn't get himself hurt this time. Got in a barfight- friend of his runs a place out there, the locals didn't like him sellin' alcohol - but it was seven to two, the seven didn't stand a chance."

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "Seven on two. What were you doing? 'S not like you to stand back out of a fight."

"Nathan told me to", he said defensively. "An' they were doin' fine on their own. Anyway, we had our translator t'worry about."

"Translator? I thought Nate was language bloke. Must've cost you, havin' to hire someone."

"Nah, she was doin' it in exchange for the ride. Save her havin' to hitchhike where it's not exactly safe. An' Nate paid for her trek at the end, too."

It wasn't hard to miss the feminine pronoun, or a certain expression in Angelo's face. Amanda grinned wickedly. "'Her', huh? You pick up some battleaxe teacher type along the way?" She was teasing now.

He pulled a face at her. "Hardly. Student on break."

"Student. Oh ho." Grinning more broadly now, Amanda hummed the first few bars of "Summer Lovin'" at him - it was popular in the karaoke bars in Brighton. "So, does she have a name, this student translator you were protectin' from the barfight?"

"Samie." His voice did not soften at all, damnit. "Half-British, half Kashmiri."

"Pretty name." So this was why Angelo wasn't as cut up about Paige as she thought he might be. Yay for healing and moving on. "Pretty girl to match?"

"Yeah, she was", he admitted, grinning.

Amanda giggled, pleased for him and amused at the slightly goofy grin. "Still in touch?" she asked.

"Well, she's on her trek, so not for a while. Got her address for when she goes back to school, though."

"Good stuff. 'M glad t' see you're not moping - got enough of that around here." Amanda swung the foot that wasn't on the chair seat back and forth. "Life goes on, yeah?"

"Always does." He grinned. "Now, how've you been doin'?"

Amanda shrugged. "Busy. Study, medlab. Meg, tho' not as full time as before. Sorting meself out after the whole mess with the addiction. Too much t' do an' not enough hours in the day. The usual."

"Gettin' back on your feet with that?" His voice was casual, though his eyes were sharp.

"Gettin' there." She met his scrutiny as frankly as it was given, jaw jutting just a little obstinately. "It takes a lot of meditatin' an' the like, which is why you get Manuel complainin' 'bout me not being around."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that. You've gotta put yourself first sometimes, though."

"That's what I'm tryin' t' do. He's just... I don't have the energy t' spare for his dramas, y'know? After a year an' a half, I'm worn out. An' his idea of helpin' is t' make the feelings go away, which is fine as long as it lasts an' then I'm right back where I
started." She sighed. "He's tryin' t' understand, tho'. As much as he can. The digs 'bout his dad aside."

"He's not who he was when he first got here", Angelo agreed. "Did I ever tell you what happened right after me an' Paige broke up?"

She shook her head. "No," she replied. "What did he do?" There was only a small note of resignation in her voice. Hopefully it wasn't too bad.

"Came up to me in the hall an' tried t'reassure me it'd be okay."

"He did?" Amanda was startled. Manuel tended to avoid Angelo as much as possible, even if he had stopped calling him "the Mexican" in that disparaging way.

"He did", Angelo confirmed.� "Surprised the hell out of me, but he did. An' he's not so much as tried t'get at me in quite a while."

"Huh." Amanda wasn't sure what to say to that, and she sat quietly for a minute. "It's just... this year. We've had some awful rows, an' he's said some things, done things. An' I just got tired of forgivin' him, only t' have him do the same fuckin' thing all over again. It makes me feel weak, like I'd rather stay with someone who can be a real prick sometimes instead of bein' alone." The last words were said softly - Amanda did fear being alone, that was the problem.

"That's not weak", Angelo said quietly. "Weak'd be if you just took it. If you didn't call him on it when he does that shit - an' you wouldn't have rows if that was how you did stuff."

"I didn't use t' call him on it," she confessed, voice still low. "Last year, some of the stuff he did, like when he thought you an' me..." That had been a bad time all right. "There was stuff we should've sorted, only we didn't, 'cause he promised he wouldn't do it
again." She sighed. "An' now I feel like a prize bitch, 'cause I'm keepin' him at arm's length until I'm sure of what I want. Whether it's worth the grief we cause each other. At the moment... I don't know. I love him, but he just doesn't understand sometimes, no matter how hard I try t' tell him."

"One way or another, you'll sort it out. If keepin' him at arm's length for a while's what you need t'do, then it is. An' if he doesn't understand... then all he can do is live with it, if he ever wants t'get back to it bein' good."

She chuckled, giving him a wan smile. "See, you? You understand." With a shrug, she uncurled from the chair. "I'd better go - afternoon classes for me. Not all of us are graduated yet." The last was said with a wink rather than any sort of self-pity. "Let me know how it goes with your translatin' girl, yeah?"

"Will do." He stood in turn to give her a hug. "An' you know you can always come find me when I'm here, right? Don't ever think I'm too busy."

Amanda hesitated only a second before stepping into the hug. "Yeah, I will," she said, holding on tight. Perhaps a bit tighter than the situation merited. "Take care, big brother. I'll see you 'round."