xp_logs | Angelo and Rachel, Sunday afternoon

Angelo is wandering the mansion when he picks up a small redheaded stalker.

Angelo didn't have any particular destination in mind, but the four walls of his suite had seemed very constricting, suddenly, so he was just wandering the mansion, with the vague intention of going outside eventually.

That very vagueness and lack of direction was most likely to blame for the fact that he didn't realize he was being followed. Rachel peered around the corner, a distinctly mischievous look in her eyes as she watched him heading down the hall. She floated silently to beside a table, crouching down and hiding behind it - then peering, again.

Those things contributed, yes. As did the lack of any little footsteps to be heard on the floor. He didn't turn as he strode down the hall, all unsuspecting.

Up she floated - and then hurtled through the air to within a few feet of him. There, she froze, grinning hugely as the TK bubble lowered back to the ground.

"Ange!" she piped up mischievously.

He'd bitten back a yelp and a flinch as the unexpected... something... flew past his head, and now he was just blinking at her. "...hi, Ray. Where'd you come from?"

"Followed," the little girl said shyly, and held up her arms hopefully. "Up?"

"Yeah, okay, up." He reached down to lift her, carefully - she wasn't that heavy, but still. "Followed, huh? For very long?"

"Shhhh," Rachel said, perhaps to indicate that she had been very, very quiet, because it was followed up immediately by a soft giggle as she laid her head on his shoulder, one little arm around his neck and the other hand plucking idly at the front of his shirt.

"I didn't even know you were there", he said, with just a touch of ruefulness - but not much, because she was a toddler and she'd apparently been trying for sneaky. So there was some amused pride in there, too.

"Mama lab," she informed him - lab being a recently acquired word.

"That's where you followed me from?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "All the way downstairs?" Where... he hadn't actually been, despite his wandering. But that didn't mean Rachel couldn't have tracked him if she'd wanted to.

"Yes! Stairs." She raised and lowered her arms, as if to indicate levitation.

"You floated up the stairs?" He was starting to grin, now. "Does your mom know you're up here?"

"Noooooooo."

"Really." That got a stern look. "Think you should maybe tell her you're okay? I know you can do it from here."

Rachel tilted her head in a gesture uncannily reminiscent of her father, then peered intently at Angelo, as if to memorize his features - or send an image of his face down the link with her mother, which was in fact what she was doing. She giggled. "Mama silly."

"Nah, she just worries about you, is all", he said mostly lightly, turning to carry her on down the corridor now Moira was safely informed. "Can't fault her for that."

Rachel laid her head back on his shoulder. "Sore?" she ventured after a moment.

"Little bit", he admitted after a moment, looking down at her. "But it'll get better."

"Blue pills!"

That got startled silence for a second, before he began to laugh quietly. "You, Raquelita, have been listenin' to your dad too much."

"Da! Blue pills. Flush!"

"...he flushed them, or you did?" At this point, he'd believe either.

"Blue pills flush. Bad!" Rachel reached up and tapped his forehead. "Dad sore. Head. Careful."

"Your dad... flushed the blue pills because they gave him a headache?" Angelo translated uncertainly.

"Noooo. Head sore. Buzz," Rachel said, and then flashed him the image of Nathan standing at what appeared to be the boathouse kitchen counter, one hand to his temple and a visible wince on his face. It was clearly from Rachel's own perspective, down around his knees.

"...his head is buzzing." Well, that wasn't very reassuring, and Angelo made a mental note. "So who flushed the pills, Ray?"

Rachel proceeded to get a sheepish look. "... flush? Blue pills flush?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He couldn't be annoyed with her, though - she'd obviously thought she was doing the right thing, and it wasn't as if she'd done anything irreparable. "Does he know? Or your mom?"

Rachel nodded. "No, flush," she said woefully. "Bad."

"Hey, it's okay. He can get more blue pills. But you've gotta let him keep these ones, okay? They're not why his head's buzzin', or your mom wouldn't let him take them anymore."

"No buzz?" Rachel seemed to think about that. "... okay," she said suddenly, brightly.

"...I didn't promise they'd stop his head buzzin'", Angelo said warily, just to cover his bases. "But it's not their fault if it is."

"Okay!" was the chirped reply as Rachel wrapped her arms back around his neck. "Outside, Ange?"

"Outside it is", he agreed, willing to drop the subject for now.