xp_logs | Angelo and Nathan, Wednesday morning

The conversation in the Elpis office the morning after the rescue mission turns to Angelo's issues with Logan. Nathan has an... unusual suggestion.

He'd given Juliette the day off, given that she'd kept the office running for two days while he and Angelo had been in the field. The two of them hadn't gotten much work accomplished yet this morning, although they'd tried. It had just been a rather long forty-eight hours, all things considered.

Nathan eyed Angelo, who appeared to be surfing news sites, more in an idle fashion than looking for something. "You've been looking a little disconsolate today," he said. "You ought to be on more of a happy buzz after the successful mission." Of course, I am not one to talk.

"Yeah, well", he said, poking at the mouse. "Didn't exactly get much to do, did I? I just got stuck at the back. With Logan."

... ack. Nathan opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking somewhat sheepish and more than a little remorseful. He had after all been the one who'd given the order.

Angelo blinked up at him, having apparently forgotten that part. "...what?"

"I didn't think about the fact that he'd be an ass," Nathan confessed with a sigh, looking back at his own computer screen.

"He wasn't any worse than usual", Angelo said with a shrug. "Not much, anyway."

"Did it get in the way of doing your part of the job at all?" Nathan asked after a moment.

"Nope. Just got to put up with him basically sayin' I didn't know how to do it."

Nathan grumbled something about 'people being unprofessional on all sides', but then leaned forward, saving the file he'd been staring at, and focused properly on Angelo. "You know that it's a territorial thing, right?"

"...what, 'cause I got given the job he couldn't keep?"

"Probably exactly because of that, yes," Nathan said. "Which is fairly dumb, because it's not your fault - although I'm sure he's probably cherishing a bit of a grudge against Scott about it." Maybe not Ororo, he thought, but didn't say.

"So what'm I supposed to do?" Angelo demanded, abandoning the mouse to kick his chair back from his desk. "Just suck it up?"

"Well, there'll have to be at least an element of sucking it up," Nathan said wryly. "But frankly... I'd push back, too. When it's appropriate - as in, not in the field. But this is pure feral bullshit, and ignoring it isn't going to make it go away."

"Been avoidin' him as much as I can", Angelo admitted. "'Cause I just don't feel like dealin' with him. You know, I used to like him."

Nathan tilted his head. "Really?"

"Before he went off to Canada with Marie, yeah."

"How did he treat you, back then?" Nathan asked, not quite idly.

"Well, not like this", came the wry acknowledgment. "I mean, you know, there was sparrin', sometimes. 's a long time ago, though."

"You're not the boy he knew," Nathan pointed out after a moment. "Logan doesn't... adapt to change very well, I've noticed. He's inflexible."

"I guess. But you'd think he would, the way he moves around. Not like he's the kind of guy to stay anywhere long."

"He's not particularly..." Nathan paused, trying to think of the word. "... intact, maybe. Personality-wise. You know how much I've wrestled with partial amnesia, and his is a lot more extensive."

Angelo blinked. "So... what, when he does stick around, everybody else has to stay the same?"

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just that when not much is... solid, in your life, you cling harder to preconceived notions. Change means letting go and... riding the wave, in a way. I think he's afraid of that."

"Hm." That was more thoughtful, but, "Still don't know what I'm supposed to do about it." And that was the plaintiveness of a still-very-young man who didn't understand, for all he was trying.

"Force the issue," Nathan said. "When you're not in a situation where you have to keep your mind on the job... get in his face. Make him see you the way you want him to see you."

"An' if he decides I'm lookin' for another fight? Tried that one, remember. It didn't end so well."

Nathan raised a hand. "I didn't say fight," he reminded Angelo. "But if you push back... he's the one who's going to have to keep control of himself. He knows he has to, because if he attacks one more teammate, Scott and 'Ro are going to drown him in the lake. But," Nathan said with a very slight smile, "you change the dynamic, if you put him in that position. He's the one at a disadvantage, if he's wrestling with his temper."

Angelo started to smile, very slowly. "So then maybe he has to accept I'm not the kid I was when he left before?"

"Rub his nose in it," Nathan said. "He'll push right back, and it's not liable to be pleasant, but that's the only chance you have of making him take you seriously. He's feral. You back down from a fight, he sees you as weaker."

It seemed like a risk, gambling that Logan would be able to keep his temper. But, just maybe, one worth taking. "An' since he can't attack me an' get more confirmation that I probably am weaker - my bones are bone, an' all - maybe that'll actually work." If I just hold my ground...

Nathan gave a chuckle that sounded more like a cough. "It's not going to be fun, Angelo. He can be supremely offensive when he puts his mind to it. But the way I see it, it's your best shot, if you do care about what he thinks of you."

Angelo shrugged. "I've gotta live with the guy an' work with him. Might as well take the shot an' not have to deal with his crap anymore."

"That's my boy," Nathan muttered, his lips twitching.