xp_logs | Manuel & Angelo (Reply)

After years of fueding, truths come out and the pair make ammends.

Manuel collected his books, stacking them one by one to the left side of the desk in tidy piles while he placed the recently turned in assignments to the right, pausing briefly to check his watch. He still had forty minutes before he had to leave to pick up Valentia and took that brief reprieve to sit down and rest a hand against his forehead, closing his eyes.

Slouching in a doze, the only thing that could jostle him from his refuge was a familiar emotional signature that walked down the hallway and he spoke before his eyes opened briefly.

"Good Afternoon Angelo."

Angelo paused, but... well, hell, might as well be polite. He stepped into the doorway with a nod in response. "Manuel. Just had your first class?"

"No, that was last Friday," he replied and satup, gesturing for Angelo to sit at one of the desks rather than stand in the door way. There was no need to be Rivals. There had never really been a sufficient enough reason for what brought them down to the mentality of teenagers. "You?"

"I don't teach anymore", Angelo reminded him, accepting the invitation to sit. "Mostly it's Elpis, these days. An' classes for me."

"Ah that is right. Excuse me, I forgot. How is Elpis then?" he asked, somewhat formally.

"Busy." That wasn't said unhappily, though, not at all. Angelo loved his work. "But the day it won't be's a long way off."

Even with the best english tutor, Manuel still had trouble grasping certain phrases. "How do you mean?" he asked.

Angelo shrugged slightly, leaning back in the chair. "The day there's nothin' to do in that office, it means we won the war, not just the battles. I don't figure on seein' that happen soon."

"Perhaps there is a war that can be settled," Manuel replied quite evenly despite the underlying meaning he was sure Angelo caught.

He did, tilting his head in a half-agreement, half simple acknowledgment. "Maybe one that should've been settled a long time ago, huh?"

"Trust me when I say," Manuel started, considering his words. "That it was not the people I was jealous of, but the normalcy in which it was maintained." He picked at a corner of the book before his dark gaze switched to what use to be his competition. "I mean what I say when I do say, I am sorry that it ended."

"No such thing as normalcy 'round here", Angelo said quietly. "Whatever it looked like from outside. It ended pretty well, all things considered, we're still friends... but thanks."

"You are welcome," he said, drumming his fingers once on the desk before splaying them out. "Perhaps a truce is in order?"

"Lot of water under the bridge... but it's where it belongs", Angelo agreed. There was no perceptible hesitation before he offered a hand. "Truce it is."

Manuel took his hand in a firm grasp, shaking it before he released. "I believe there was always the misconception that the bridge was burned," he smiled vaguely, scratching at the corner of his mouth with his finger.

Angelo snorted slightly, but it was honest amusement. "Don't think a bridge can ever be all the way burned while the people're still alive."

"That depends on who you consult," Manuel replied without a hint of humor. "Though we all have our own hobbies."

"That we do. An' I'm sure in a minute I'll remember why we were so anti each other in the first place."

"Until then," Manuel stood up and collected the sheets. "Perhaps a drink is in order yes?"

"Sounds good." He grinned and stood in turn. "Harry's?"

"Perhaps something a little more distinguished? I have a taste for fish today."

Angelo considered this, then nodded. "I know just the place."