xp_logs | Crystal and Angelo - Drinking and Fighting

Backdated to Monday because I have to backdate most of my logs needing to take place during the past week. Upon returning to the school after the end of Spring Break, Crystal runs into Angelo. The two discuss various drinking habits, and Angelo tells Crystal what really happened at Silver a month ago.

Spring Break was over. School was in session, and there were two whole months left until it was over. Still, Crystal was in a fairly good mood as she'd just spent the week at home and her only reminder of school insanity during that time had been Jennie's drunken text messages Saturday night. Jennie was now safe and sober, and the post-it notes she had left all over Crystal's side of the room were probably still there. Crystal walked down the hall from the classroom, heading towards her suite.

Angelo was coming the other way as she approached, and looked up with a smile. "Mornin', Crystal. How was the rest of your time home?"

"It was fine, thank you," Crystal replied. "How was your first week back after your vacation?"

"Pretty quiet", he told her. "As far as it ever gets around here."

"Oh?" Crystal said. She'd seen the journals and heard people talking. Forge had created a tiny pseudo-kingdom to rule over. Teachers and people at Snow Valley had become extremely drunk and Mr. Haller's girlfriend had given them a nice forum with which to display said drunkenness. Kurt and Nathan had teamed up to dump Pietro into the lake. "Well, I am sure that other people were away for the holiday as well, and therefore, with less people in the mansion, it was fairly quiet."

There'd been no team missions and nobody had been seriously injured. It counted. "Quiet for here", he qualified. "If you don't count people blowin' off steam."

Crystal nodded, smiling slightly. "Not everyone left, and people needed a way to occupy their time while classes were out."

"Exactly", he said with a grin. "It just seemed to involve a lot of drinkin' this week."

Yes, indeed it had. Lots and lots of drinking, and lots and lots of posts and messages written while drunk. "Yes, I noticed that," she said simply.

Angelo chuckled. "But hell, they're all legal adults an' it's not like it happens a lot." He didn't know about Jennie and Marius' little escapade, obviously.

"Oh, I am not saying that they are not entitled to drink or that they are committing any sort of crime," Crystal explained. "I am just not sure why people feel the need to broadcast it, and why nothing much is said or done about it. As you might have noticed, I did drink while you and Amanda visited me in Attilan. I am allowed to consume alcoholic beverages there, and I do, upon occasion. However, I have never reached the point where I became so inebriated that I posted public messages while under the effects of alcohol."

Angelo shrugged. "What should be done? Like you said, it's not a crime, so I'm not sure what you mean needs to be done. An' no, I wouldn't expect you would." It occurred to him then that if he was ever going to mention the truth of a certain encounter, now would be the time. "You weren't drinkin' that time at Silver, after all."

"At Silver?" Crystal thought quickly. When had she and Angelo been at Silver at the same time? "Oh, you are referring to the party during New Year's, yes? Of course I did not drink then, I..." her voice trailed off as she realized that was not what Angelo had meant. She looked at him, confused.

He offered a wry apologetic grin. "I didn't exactly look like myself. Remember the guy pickin' a fight with a mutant guy for havin' a baseline girlfriend? That was me tryin' to get someone's attention."

What? "The... that was you?" Crystal paled slightly. "Why would you attempt to get someone's attention that way?"

"Because the people whose attention I was tryin' to get were the Preservers", he explained calmly. "That's where I was that week I was gone."

"So you... oh! I see," Crystal said, actually meaning it this time. "I take it that my... interference was not anticipated. Did you get the attention you desired despite my unplanned participation in your mission?"

"Yeah, I wasn't countin' on anyone I knew bein' there that night", he had to admit. "But it was only the first time I'd gone out there, so yeah, I did. The night after, I got approached, so it worked well enough."

"The only time you went to Silver looking like you did that night, you mean," Crystal said with a small smile. "After all, you were there for the New Year's Eve party."

"Yeah, that's what I meant", he said with a grin in return. "I've been there a few times lookin' like myself."

"Was your encounter with the Preservers for Elpis or the X-Men?" Crystal asked, keeping the dread she felt out of her voice. "Who else knows that I was there? No one has said anything to me, but do the staff members know?" Great. Jennie had done constant sneaking-out and the RA hadn't known until Crystal had made a post on Jennie's "the pros and cons of having a roommate" journal post, but she had gone to Silver one, no, two times when she shouldn't have and a staff member had been there to witness it.

"For the X-Men an' for the FBI. An' for Elpis, I guess, but they didn't send me. An' no, I didn't tell anybody I saw you there - you weren't drinkin' or doin' anythin' to get you in trouble, except maybe tryin' to break up fights between strangers, so I didn't see there was any need to."

Crystal nodded, smiling slightly again. "Yes, I suppose I did put myself at risk by placing myself in an argument that did not need to involve me. However," she shrugged slightly, still with the smile, "making an attempt to stop what could have turned into a rather nasty physical altercation seemed like the thing to do. No one else seemed interested in doing what needed to be done."

Angelo shrugged, acknowledging the point. "It was only verbal up to then. If it had turned physical, the bouncers would've been there, I'm sure, but until it did..."

A round of "I see. Of course. How interesting" could be applicable here, but Crystal decided to skip it. "Yes, surely they would have done something then," she said, still with the smile. Crystal decided not to mention that stopping a fight before it reached that point was much better. "There is something I need to check on in my room," she told Angelo, "and then I must be on my way to class, but I am glad that we were able to talk. Oh, by the way," she added, her smile widening a bit, "although you are welcome to stay at the palace again if you wish, please leave your alter ego behind. I did not like him at all."

Angelo chuckled. "Trust me, he was only for the occasion. Job's done now, so... anyway. Have a good day, Crystal. See you 'round."