xp_logs | Forge and Angelo, Saturday morning

Angelo and Forge catch up on everything since before Forge went away. Then Forge manages to get him out of the suite. It's progress.

Forge glared down at the skillet before him, watching the eggs he'd cracked start to skitter around as the whites and yolks began to solidify. Nudging it slightly with the spatula like he'd been taught, he tilted the skillet back and forth until it was just past the runny stage, then shook in the mix of black pepper and cayenne that the recipe called for. The spicy smell filled the small kitchenette as Forge let the eggs finish cooking while he poured a glass of juice.

"Aha, cooking, my arch-nemesis..." he said with a chuckle, "For too long you have bested me, but today the student becomes the master!"

There was a creak from the doorway behind him, as Angelo stepped out of his room just in time to catch this declaration. "You know", he said dryly, "talkin' to your food's got to be up there with talkin' to yourself."

"Hey, welcome back to the land of the conscious," Forge quipped, sliding the eggs onto a plate. "I'd fix you up a plate, but I'm not sure exactly about this whole safe-for-consumption thing. Better not risk the health of the recently-blowed-up." He shoveled a forkful of his breakfast into his mouth and nodded. "I think 'm getting the hang of it, though."

Angelo eyed the eggs dubiously, sitting down at the table. "Yeah, maybe this makes me a bad Mexican, but it's too early in the mornin' for spicy food." He wasn't really hungry anyway. "I'll pass."

Forge nodded, setting the plate down and taking a quick drink as he looked at Angelo. "So how bad is it?" he asked matter-of-factly. "I hear you were in the building in Tel Aviv when it exploded, which by the time it gets through the rumor mill has turned into 'Angelo had a building fall on him and they had to rebuild him with Legos and duct tape'. How're you holding up, seriously?"

The comment about Legos got a snort of wry laughter. "The rumor mill's wrong. Yeah, I was inside, but I wasn't really hurt - call it luck. An' I'm... gettin' by. Better than I was." It was true, if not by much.

"Any more word on the folks responsible?" Forge questioned. "I mean, that can be talked about? Since I seem to be 'non-essential personnel' these days when it comes to right-to-information. Not like I work for a foreign government or pissed off for a vacation in Tibet for months. Only been doing my damn job..." he muttered, then shook his head. "Don't mind me. Just have this overwhelming desire to hit a few specific people in the brain with a shovel for random acts of hypocrisy. You're not going to do anything stupid like try and rush back to Tel Aviv and find these folks, right? Because I know where the shovel is."

"Not that I've heard", Angelo said flatly. "Just what was on the news. An' no, I'm not goin' back to Tel Aviv anytime soon. Nate wouldn't let me."

Nodding, Forge finished off the last of the eggs, dropping the plate into the sink. "Smart man. I've been corresponding with whatsisname, the guy handling the security for the Elpis compound there. Sharing some of the things we've got implemented here. Something like this... I can't say it can't happen again, but we'll make the bastards work for it."

He ran the water in the sink for a moment before speaking again, not looking at Angelo. "You know, explosions still terrify me. Even watching it in a movie. It's... I know how hard something like this is to move past, trust me. But you can move past it. I'm not about to go dragging you out of here kicking and screaming - yet - but you're getting back in the saddle eventually, right?"

"Good", came the instant answer to the first part. "There's a baby in that house, an' one more soon. If they hit there..." Well, that didn't bear thinking about, and he moved on to the rest of what Forge had said. "Eventually, yeah. I think so. I'm just... gettin' there."

"And speaking of 'getting there'," Forge said with a smile, "...Amanda?"

Angelo blinked at that, momentarily stymied, then returned a crooked smile of his own. "Rumor mill really has been workin', huh? Yeah, it's... complicated. Mostly 'cause of what's been goin' on. But yeah, we're workin' on it."

"Complicated is a good word for it," Forge agreed, leaning back against the counter with a smug look on his face. "Because, I mean, Amanda and Sarah happen to work together and all, so they probably talk. The missus and the ex, every man's worst nightmare, or so I hear. Or wait, you're not still trying to keep on with both of them, are you? Because, y'know, if so you're the man - but look at how well that didn't work for... well, you know."

"No, I'm not still tryin' to keep on with both of them. An' Sarah... isn't really my ex. It was a friends with benefits thing, now it's just back to friends." He hadn't actually had a chance to talk to her about it, but they'd never been a 'couple', really, so...

Forge laughed, shaking his head in astonishment. "Good plan. Because I don't think you're lucky enough to survive two giant explosions in one month. But it does make a lot more sense. I mean, I doubt Amanda's leaving you with the same level of contusions and bruises." He arched an eyebrow, trying carefully to stay away from the line between friendly concern and Too Much Information.

"Not at this point", Angelo answered blandly, well aware of that line and indulging in a little minor teasing, because he could. He might well go back to sparring - in the literal sense - with Sarah, but that was yet to be decided.

"See? You're feeling better already," Forge announced, pushing off from the counter and rolling over the back of the small couch in the common suite to flop bonelessly amidst the cushions. "I swear, only you would manage to come out of a terrorist attack with a new girlfriend. Secondary mutant power, gotta be."

That actually got laughter, if quiet and short-lived. "I guess", he said with a shrug, wandering over to the armchair. "It was kind of a wake-up call."

"Big explosions tend to do that," Forge quipped with mock seriousness, before picking up a parts catalog and thumbing through it. He glanced up at Angelo and frowned. "Also, you may want to shower and shave at some point. At this rate, you're liable to terrify your designated food-bringers if you look like a caveman."

"I showered", Angelo protested, then stopped to actually think about how long he'd let it go between them. "Yesterday. I think." He had to admit he'd let the shaving go somewhat, though.

"It showers or it gets the hose," Forge rasped out dramatically. "And then maybe actually venturing out of the suite? Because there's a perfectly good wide-screen TV down the hall and some basketball games on. I'll run down to the kitchen and get snacks, sound like a plan?"

...well, Nathan had told him he should get out of the suite more. Two matching opinions pretty much meant he had to. "...yeah, okay", he agreed after a moment. "Snacks an' basketball it is."

Forge rocked up to his feet and checked the time on the wall clock. "Just in time for the afternoon games to start. Catch you in about ten." He sniffed dramatically, then made an exaggerated face of disgust. "Twenty, rather. Phew."

"Ha, ha." This was accompanied by an idly thrown cushion.