xp_logs | Sunday night, around 9pm (Reply)

Angelo wandered down the hall towards Marie's suite, since she hadn't been at dinner and he was a little worried about her uncharacteristic absence. He'd already been by once but she hadn't been there, so he was just checking one more time before returning to his room for bed. Reaching her door, he knocked tentatively.

After sleeping the afternoon and most of the evening away with Logan, Marie had just returned and was in the process of shedding her stained clothing. "Just a second," she called when she heard the knock. -Doug?- she wondered, reaching for her robe. She knotted it firmly at her waist then went and opened the door. "Angelo... hi." She blinked, a little surprised at his presence. "Come on in."

Angelo smiled. "Hey. Just thought I'd come by to see how you were - you didn't show up for dinner."

"Yeah." She tucked her hair behind her ears, feeling self-conscious. "I was asleep. Thanks for worrying, though."

Angelo grinned, relieved, and followed her into the room. "No problem, what else are friends for? Have a hard night?"

"A little," she admitted. "No rest for the wicked, and the not-so-wicked apparently." She pointed to one of the chairs by the coffee table. "Have a seat. I need to grab something to eat before I fall over."

Angelo walked over to the indicated chair and sat down. "You okay?" he asked, his worry not helped by what he was hearing.

"I think I will be," Marie said noncomittally, getting a protein drink out of the cupboard by the fridge and giving it a shake. "Do you want a soda or something, Angelo?"

"Yeah, I'll have a Coke if you've got one", he answered, studying her carefully in an attempt to work out what was wrong. Finally, he asked hesitantly, "Want to talk about it?"

She got a Coke out of the fridge and brought it to him, then sat down and popped the tab on her protein shake. "It's not really something I can just talk about." She looked genuinely regretful until she took a sip of the drink and made a face at it. "You know how some things aren't just yours to talk about?"

Angelo nodded, understanding all too well. "Yeah. I know."

"Yeah." She echoed him and ran her free hand through her hair. "I think I'll be okay. It's just been a rough weekend. How've you been?"

Angelo shrugged. "Okay, I guess. You know how it is."

Marie gave him a wry smile. "If I did, I probably wouldn't be so bloody confused and tired right now. But I know what you mean. This place is trainwreck central some days and I seem to have fallen back into the crash." She made herself drink some more. "I thought I'd managed to get beyond it but apparently not. I just ended up crashing more spectacularly than I'd imagined I could." She sighed and leaned her head on the back of her chair. "Flames and all. That's not why you're here, is it?" She looked over at him, suddenly worried that word had gotten around about her explosion with Logan.

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "Since I'm not sure what you're talking about, I'm guessing no. I just came to see you were okay when you weren't at dinner."

She sighed with relief. "Oh, good. Thanks for coming by, Angelo. I really appreciate it. Warm fuzzies and all... I kind of needed some other human contact. I know I'm a hermit, but I'm trying not to be these days. Trying to be more social, which so far has been a mixed blessing. I'm sure you understand."

"Yeah, I know", Angelo said softly, suddenly looking very tired. "Even if I wish I didn't..."

"I'm listening if you want to talk," Marie offered. "I'm even awake and everything. And it'd be fair trade for the company."

Angelo looked up at her with a weak smile. "Thanks. It's just... well, Paige, mainly. She's not happy."

Marie frowned and sat up in her chair, worried. "Paige? What's wrong?" Guilt flooded her as she realized how little contact she'd had with any of her friends over the past months.

Angelo hunched down in his chair, eyes guilty. "Stuff. Me. And Jono. I'd think I was just reading too much into it, but Shinobi and Doug have both mentioned it just this week. It's all wearing her down - and if she's not happy, I'm not happy. Especially since it's my fault."

"Mmm.. there's three people involved there, Angelo. It can't all be your fault. /Trust/ me on that one."

He didn't look up. "No? I went to her with how I felt. And yeah, if I hadn't, maybe I'd have been miserable, but one person unhappy is better than three."

"You can't know that they'd have gone on being happy," Marie said flatly. "I'm sure they could manage to make themselves unhappy without you, given time. No matter how much people love each other, it usually happens. Honesty is still the best policy." Her expression was that of someone who wasn't about to be swayed on the point, she was pale and resolute. "And /no/. One person unhappy is /not/ better than three. At least this unhappiness has the potential to be temporary."

Angelo looked up at her now, eyes despairing. "But I don't know how to make it right. Em... I'd do anything for her, but I can't help now..."

"No, you probably can't." Her eyes grew sad to match his and she shook her head. "This is something she's got to work out for herself, I think. There are some things that we're alone with, ultimately, no matter how much someone else wants to fix it. And being unhappy... it can be an important part of a process. Sometimes it just has to happen for a person to get to a better place, to grow and get stronger. It feels horrible, for the people watching and the person it's happening to, but I have faith that it's not always unnecessary and it can lead to better things. I wish I had a better answer than that -- but it's all I've got, too, so it's all I have."

Angelo's head dropped, as he brushed a hand across his eyes. "It does feel horrible. But thanks - you're probably right. You usually are."

"I wish I weren't." She drained the tin in her hand and stood up. "Being reasonable sucks ass when you have to apply it to yourself." She walked to the kitchen and threw the can in the recycling with a satisfying clatter.

Angelo finished his own drink, setting the can down on the table. "Want to talk about it? Least I can do is return the favour..."

"Can't." She stretched and tugged sharply at her hair with bare fingers. "Hey, you're friends with Doug, aren't you?" She came back, tucking her robe around her more securely, and sat down again.

"Yeah", Angelo answered simply, starting to understand. "Is this to do with his post earlier, and the little talk we had yesterday?"

Marie shook her head. "Not directly, no. I just wanted to know if he seemed as okay as his post sounded." She paused and frowned. "Your little talk yesterday?"

Angelo nodded. "Yeah. Not sure how much I should say, but... he seems to be doing better today than he was then."

"I don't know when you talked to him. He and I went for a drive last night because he seemed really knotted up about something." She studied her nails, feeling awkward. "I know I say that telling someone the truth doesn't obligate the listener to anything, but sometimes the listener still feels a little obligated, no matter how reasonable she is. We talked again this afternoon, and I hope it helped."

"Well, he seems happier at least", Angelo told her. "He's worried about Paige too, though. She... she wasn't very nice to him yesterday, from what he said..."

"He didn't mention that." Marie sighed and fiddled with the sash of her robe. "He had a pretty lousy day yesterday, I guess. Guess it was kind of going around. I'm glad he seems okay now."

Angelo smiled ruefully. "Yeah, lousy days seem to be catching lately."

"Well, as long as Doug's getting by okay, I guess I can relax on that front. I hate to cause bad days."

Angelo shrugged. "Well, far as I can tell, he's okay. Don't know what you two talked about today, but it seems to have helped."

"He's awfully noble and sweet," Marie said affectionately. "And I guess I really needed that last night. He didn't get the answers he wanted, I don't think. But I just had to thank him for it today. Whether he meant to or not, he gave me something I didn't even know I needed and I'm grateful for that."

Angelo nodded, understanding more than she knew. "Good. Glad you two could work it out."

"I hope we have. I don't want to hurt him, you know? And I do like him. He's a good person. So, yeah. I hope things are clear." Marie smiled across at Angelo. "I'm really glad you came by, you know. It's good to see you. I'm sorry you're having a hard time right now, and Paige too. I know she'll probably hate it if I check up on her, but maybe she'll be willing to hang out with me. I think I'll be having more free time than anticipated for a while. I need to keep busy."

"I'll come by anytime you want", Angelo told her. "Just mail me, or come by my room, whenever. And... it can't hurt to go see Paige, though I'm not sure how much company she wants right now."

"I understand. I won't be wounded if she tells me off." Marie smiled crookedly. "I'm sure I've got some of that coming to me from some direction, just to keep the universe in balance."

Angelo glanced up at her with a crooked grin of his own. "Not so's I've noticed."

"Sound evidently doesn't travel too far in this house then," she said dryly. She looked over at the clock. "Damn. I haven't done all my marking for tomorrow. Somehow I ended up with this life thing running me over this weekend."

Angelo blinked, realising how late it was. "Should leave you to do it, I guess, or I'll miss lights out..."

"I need another weekend," Marie grumbled, getting to her feet.

Angelo chuckled, standing up in turn. "Don't we all?"

"When's the next break?" she asked, only half-teasing, as she walked him to the door.

Angelo paused to think about it. "Easter?" he finally suggested.

"Oh. Man." Marie opened the door and leaned against it. "It's a good thing I don't drink, because I'm tempted to start now just to get through. I'll see you around, Angelo. And I promise to try not to be a stranger. Can't help the strange." She gave him an impish smile. The little bit of normalcy had been a blessing, reminded her that the world was still turning for everyone else.

Angelo grinned in return. "Nothing wrong with strange. Just look at where we live."

"No kidding." She shook her head. "All that brick and ivy doesn't fool anyone for long, does it? Sleep well, Angelo. Try not to worry too hard, okay?"

Angelo nodded. "I'll try. On both counts. Night."

"Good night." Marie shut the door behind him and turned to give the remaining ungraded papers lurking guiltily on the table her best baleful glare. "...remind me to do my marking before my life bursts into flames next time," she said to the empty room.