xp_logs | log: [Julio and Angelo] Tuesday Evening (Reply)

Julio comes back from an evening jog to find Angelo waiting for him in the foyer. Seems somebody's still not off the hook for his little outburst on the journals a month ago.

He'd been meaning to talk to Julio since the whole business on the journals after Smichov, but somehow he'd just never found the time. Better late than never, though, so Angelo was sitting in the front hall waiting, after being told Julio was out for a jog.

The door opened and Julio carefully stepped in, running shoes slung over one shoulder after stamping them free of snow on the matt. He'd received a lecture after tracking snow into the foyer. He removed his hat and wiped his sweaty head with it before stopping short at the sight of Angelo.

"Ah! Bueno?"

Angelo grinned at him amicably, getting up. "Muy bueno. An' you?"

It was a testament to Julio's fatigue and his homesickness that he only registered the fact that Angelo spoke Spanish, and thus continued. "~I've been doing okay, running in snow is a new experience, especially the part where the sweat starts to freeze on your forehead.~" He sniffed a little and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "~Your name is Angelo, correct?~"

That was just fine by Angelo, so he shrugged and took the boy's lead. "~Correct. I teach self-defense, once a week. And you're Julio. You know there's runnin' machines in the nice warm gym, right?~"

The boy grinned. "~I like running in the snow, it's different. Not so much with the snow back home, you know?~" He stuffed his hat in his pocket and rubbed his sweaty hair. "~Where're you from? Your accent's not one I know.~"

"~Los Angeles~", Angelo told him, "~But my mother is from Mexico, and so was my father.~"

"Ah, chicano.." Julio nodded, and then something pinged. Marius and his mutual bitchfest about the staff. "~You weren't waiting for me, were you?~" he asked suspiciously

Angelo grinned crookedly. "~Maybe a little bit. But not to yell at you or anythin', I promise.~"

Julio just barely managed not to roll his eyes. "~I was actually waiting for this, do I get chewed out here or do you want to do it somewhere else?~"

"~You want to actually listen to me, Julio?~" Angelo asked pointedly. "~I said not to yell at you, and that covers chewin' you out. I figure you had enough of that over the last month,"

"~I'm sorry, you're right. Just a little twitchy, I've been lectured up and down the school in the past month and usually when someone says 'I need to talk to you, Julio' it usually means 'I need to tell you you're an idiot, Julio~" The boy sighed. "~So. What's up?~"

"~Figured you might still have questions nobody'd answered yet~", Angelo said with a shrug. "~Marius did, so... here I am. If you do.~"

Julio scratched the back of his neck, thinking for a minute. "~All I wanted to know was, if I had been taken to a country where the X-Men were not allowed in, would they have bothered to try to save me?~" He would still be with Magneto. Or dead, in that case.

Angelo winced at that and answered slowly, "~It's not as simple as yes or no. If they could've got in with nobody knowing? Probably. But stealth wasn't really gonna work, in Smichov.~"

"~I know it's not simple, I'm not stupid. It's just something that was hard for me to watch, knowing that there were people who could have helped, and they sat around and made excuses. No one's been able to give me a good answer on that. I mean, what if Magneto'd been there?~" Julio sighed, frustrated.

Angelo paused, choosing his words carefully. "~I don't think they were excuses. They might have helped, a little bit, if they'd gone in without permission. But they might have made it a lot worse. I was there, remember.~"

Julio looked at the floor, "~I know.~" he said shortly. Then he looked back up at Angelo. "~But you were in San Diego too, so you know where I'm coming from. I will not apologize for what I said, because I meant it. I know that if people just go in whenever they please, they risk becoming the type of villain they fight, but...there had to be other things. Humanitarian things they could have done before then. And I saw nothing.~"

"~I never asked you to apologize~", Angelo pointed out gently. "~An' I won't, either. Because I was there both times, yeah... but nobody expected Smichov to go as bad as it did, as fast as it did. An' askin' that of them's just... hindsight.~"

"~So what it boils down to if Magneto or somebody tries to destroy something in a country that won't let them enter, the X-Men are just going to sit around. Even if somebody's life is in danger. What I am asking is not about Smichov, I understand that things got fucked up real quick, it's just the question that it brings up that upsets me.~" Julio cracked his knuckles and then shoved his hands in his pockets. "~And nobody is giving me a straight answer. They just keep saying oh, situation in 'Smchov was bad, we couldn't do anything, hindsight blah blah blah.'"

"~The X-Men can do a hell of a lot, Julio. But they can't do everythin'. That a straight enough answer for you?~" Angelo said directly. "~If it's not, I'll try an' do better.~"

"~I know~" Julio said. "~I know they can't do everything. There's a city that doesn't exist anymore that speaks to that.~" He was starting to get angry, better break this off quick. He crossed his arms and looked squarely at Angelo. "~There's really nothing that would make feel better than not seeing a repeat of what happened. People fuck up, I would like to see that they've learned from their mistakes.~"

"~If the exact same situation as Smichov comes up again, then we can both hope for that. But most situations aren't exactly the same as any other~", Angelo said with a helpless shrug. "~They're only human. An' you know how much good they have done.~"

"~I would hope more thought goes into it as well.~" Julio said shortly. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Why can't they just leave me alone? I mean really. "~Thank you for taking the time out to talk to me, but I think I should go shower before dinner.~"

"~No problem~", Angelo answered, recognizing he'd done all he could here. "~An' if you have any more questions...~"

Julio waved a hand. "~I'll be sure to ask. Thanks, again.~" For the Spanish if nothing else.

"~You're welcome.~" For whatever good he'd actually done.