xp_logs | Log - Angelo and Marie

In which they go out for pizza, and run into trouble afterwards.

"Hey, Skin." Marie stood in the door of the room that Angelo still shared with Shinobi, dangling a set of car keys from one hand. "You have dinner yet?"

Angelo glanced up at her with a grin. "Not yet." He looked at the keys in her hand. "We goin' somewhere, then?"

"Yeah." Marie pointed at the clock. "It's only about three hours past dinner," she noted. "You're getting to be as bad as me but don't be thinking I'm going to throw you over my shoulder and haul you out of here like Logan does to me when I don't eat on time. Want to go get some pizza in town?"

Angelo laughed. "Sure, sounds good to me. Don't think I get out of this house enough..."

"I /know/ you don't. I'll bring the car around to the front. You just get yourself out there, okay?" Marie jingled the keys at him and then headed off to the garage.

Angelo nodded, stood up slowly, stretched, and followed her out of the room, making for the front of the house.

"Seatbelt on," Marie said cheerfully, once Angelo was seated. "How's getting back to classes going?" she asked, driving slowly toward the gate.

Angelo obediently put his seatbelt on before answering. "...Slow. People've been tryin' to help, but I missed so much..."

"I understand. Catching up is hard, but if you can't we can just arrange for you to drop some sections and pick them up in the summer, you know? I've done that myself when I had to." Marie reached out and gave Angelo's arm a little squeeze. "We'll get you caught up in time."

Angelo nodded. "I know. It's harder for classes like Speech, though. No books, or not as many..."

"Yeah, I can see that," Marie said with a little frown. "Well, just tell me what you need and I'll see what I can do. Is anyone in charge of your plan to get caught up?"

Angelo shrugged. "Not yet. Pretty much everybody's had other stuff goin' on..."

"I'll drop Pete a note about it tomorrow," Marie promised. "Things really have been hectic, yeah. Have you been sleeping?" The question wasn't out of the blue, not from Marie's perspective anyway. She was just going through her mental 'Angelo: Things to Worry About' list in order.

Angelo blinked at her, since from his perspective, the question was rather more unexpected. Finally, he answered honestly, "Some..."

"Just checking." Marie noted his surprise and looked a little sheepish. "I have this... um... list," she confessed. "And I figured instead of trying to weasel stuff into our conversation at dinner, I could just kind of cover it all now."

Angelo chuckled. "You have a list? Well, go right ahead. What else is on it?"

Marie blushed. "Well, it's hard to keep track of everyone," she said, defending herself. "And there's so much shit going on with people, I kind of had to start making lists." She bit her lip, looking self-conscious, and then carried on. "Classes, then insomnia, then Paige. How's things with Paige? And after that is physio. Are you doing that yet?" The list was even in alphabetical order.

Angelo carefully kept a straight face. "Nothin' wrong with keepin' a list", he told her. "You're right, there is a lot goin' on." He sighed. "Paige. Same as ever, pretty much. And yes, I am doin' physio. Started that weekend you went to the mountains."

"You can laugh at me if you like," Marie said a little sourly. "But has anyone else asked you about how your classes are going? And ...Paige. This is me not interfering, but being worried about her. You're a witness. I'm not ignoring that something's been off with her."

Angelo blinked again, a little taken aback by her tone. "Hey. I wasn't laughin' at you. Not like that. An'... yeah. She has been stressed out."

"We /all/ have been." Marie sighed and scowled at the traffic. "I'm a little touchy myself still. And Paige. Well, I'm sure it'll work itself out. Worst that'll happen is she'll blow out and we'll all pick her up and put her back on her feet, right?"

Angelo nodded. "Yeah. If she lets herself - you know what she's like about that..."

"Everyone has their limit, Angelo." Marie's glare at the car tailgating them said that hers was still a little stretched. "Hitting it isn't the worst thing that can happen. Paige is a smart cookie. She's not going to do something too stupid when she hits it. Sometimes, it has to happen."

Angelo glanced over at her in unspoken concern. "I know..."

"Let me see." Marie switched lanes and let the other car pass, glancing over at Angelo with a small smile. "I think that was all of my list right there. Now we can be social. How's your mom been?"

Angelo smiled back in some relief. "She's good. Been talkin' about tryin' to find a job an' a place in NYC sometime soon."

"That's fantastic. I like your mom, she's a tough woman. I got to know her pretty well when I was bringing her out here and she reminds me a little of my dad's sisters."

Angelo grinned. "She likes you too. Keeps askin' after you."

"Really?" Marie looked over at Angelo in some surprise, smiling. "That's so ...sweet." She blushed and shook her head. "I know that's silly of me, but, I don't know. I guess I miss my own mom, y'know? We were really close in our way."

Angelo nodded, understanding. Not knowing what to say that might make her feel better, he just reached out to squeeze her hand.

Marie gave him a squeeze back. "It's okay. It is. I know they're fine and that's all that matters to me. Maybe I can't go back but at least they're alive and well. I'm grateful for that."

Another nod. "Yeah. It's somethin' good, at least."

"So, on to more cheerful things," Marie said briskly, picking a side street into the small shops of the old downtown. "We have to have more cheerful things to talk about than this... "

Angelo nodded. "You'd think so, yeah." He thought about it. "It'll be spring break soon. You got anythin' planned?"

"You know, I don't know." Marie frowned a little. "I'm positive Logan's going to want to go away somewhere, just to get out of the house, but we haven't talked about it yet. We should. I wouldn't mind a trip back to the coast. That was pretty perfect."

Angelo smiled. "No reason not to go, if you liked it. An' time away can't be a bad thing..."

"No, it's not. I couldn't have got through the last little while without the good of having gone to the cottage and to the mountains. I could get used to it. Especially the cottage." She glanced over at Angelo. "You have any plans yourself?"

He shrugged. "Not really. Guess I'll just see if any of the others are doin' anythin' and tag along if I can."

"You could use the time away yourself," she noted, picking a parking spot along a narrow little street of brick-clad shops and small eateries.

Angelo nodded. "No arguments from me. Not sure where I'd go, though."

Marie parked and took the keys out of the ignition, leaning back in the seat with a small sigh. "There's only one criteria I really have," she said wearily. "Not. Here."

Angelo glanced over at her. "True", he answered simply. "Think I'd prefer to go with some of the people from here, though..."

"Well, there is that." Marie gave Angelo a smile. "Come on," she said, opening her door and stepping out into the cold, dark February night. "Let's go talk over some food, okay?"

It was a little icy out and Marie held Angelo's hand as they walked back the block and a half to a narrow green door, up two steps, with Pietro's painted on the glass. The window to the right showed a handful of tables, some occupied with diners, in the dimly lit pizzeria and benches on which a handful of students were sprawled, talking to their friend behind the counter. A pair of them stood at a single pinball machine in the back corner. When Marie and Angelo entered, the noise and warmth and the smell of Italian food washed over
them, pushing back the damp chill of the night.

As they walked over to a vacant booth, the place went momentarily quiet as the patrons glanced over to see who'd come in. Then normal conversation resumed, although some of it was, perhaps, in a lower tone than before they'd arrived.

"Have a seat and when you know what you'd like I'll go tell them what we want," Marie said. "The calzone here and the pizza are both especially good. I think I'd like world peace, acceptance for all, a Coke, vegetarian calzone, and some garlic bread." She took off her coat and tossed in into the booth, giving Angelo a bright smile before collapsing onto the seat dramatically.

Angelo smiled back, then turned his attention to the laminated menu on the table. "Pepperoni, I think", he told her. "An' I'll share that garlic bread, if that's okay." As he said this, his attention was distracted by the two boys sitting on the other side of the room, openly glaring over at them. He frowned for a moment, then looked away, not wanting to give them any excuse to start a fight, if that was what they wanted.

"Of course," Marie said. "What are friends for if not the sharing of garlic bread and troubles?" She laughed at him and got back up. "What did you want to drink?"

Angelo smiled, trying to ignore the still-glaring teens. "Pepsi'd be good."

"Pepsi," Marie gave a teasing little scowl. "I guess I can still be your friend..." She let the sentence trail off and winked at Angelo before turning to give their order to the boy leaning at the counter. Marie's exchange with him was brief and punctuated by a bubble of laughter from her.

Angelo watched, grinning, as she returned to the booth. His attention on her, he barely registered the two boys from before getting up and slipping out of the diner.

"So." Marie sat back down and put her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. "Come here often?" Her smile was impish.

Angelo returned the smile. "Never been here before, actually. I guess you have, from what you said about the food?"

Marie nodded. "Ancient Xavier's secret," she said solemnly. "They don't deliver out our way but it's worth the drive. So are you going to get in on this Red X business when you're better?"

An older man in an apron brought them a pitcher of soda, glasses, and a basket of garlic bread that Marie pushed toward Angelo before she filled both their glasses.

Angelo nodded, taking a piece of garlic bread. "Think I will, actually. Seems like a good thing to do."

"I agree. I wish I weren't so busy but, a place for everyone and everyone in their place, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know", he answered quietly. "How's the teachin' goin', by the way?"

"Good." Marie pulled off her gloves and took a piece of garlic bread, ripping off a chunk and nibbling it before speaking again. "I love my phys. ed. class," she said. "The Euro. Lit. is good too, I like the discussion and all, but the kids are kind of at the 'it's cool not to care' stage and it gets depressing sometimes. My juniors, though, are happy bunnies." Her smile was soft and affectionate. "And little kid hugs and all are good for the soul."

Angelo smiled back. "Yeah, they're good kids. How're they all doin'?"

"Getting back to being kids, you know? Artie and Miles have had a couple wingy moments, but with Ali and Doug and Jamie being all stressed, it's to be expected. Run them around the gym a few times and then stuff cookies in them and all's well. Don't you wish it were that easy for us?" She leaned back to let the server put her dinner plate in front of her as he brought their meal.

Angelo nodded a thankyou to the server and waited for him to move away before responding. "Definitely. 'm glad they're doin' well."

"Kids are resilient," Marie said. "I wish were all that way. I don't know how we lose it. But. I'm getting all pensive again. Eat your dinner, young man." She gave him a mock-stern look and picked up her own fork and knife. "And you can be my witness that I actually did eat when Logan decides to quiz me on today's calories."

Angelo grinned and started in on his own food. "No problem. He do that a lot, then?"

"Only once a day or so," Marie said dryly.

He laughed. "Well, judgin' by today, he's not wrong. How'd you come to be eatin' dinner so late?"

Marie shrugged, poking at her food. "I just... forget," she confessed. "It's kind of the last thing on my mind. When I'm in my room I'll grab a protein bar or shake so I don't pass out or something, but I'm only there a few times a day."

Angelo nodded. "Same here", he admitted. "It's easily done..."

"I guess maybe I need more food than I did before Stanley," she said when she was done the next bite. "It was never a huge problem before."

Angelo nodded pensively. "With the strength, you mean? Or the flyin'?"

"Both," Marie said. "They seem to be related. Same principle or something, if that makes any sense. They're the same mutation, I think. There's reflex stuff in there that's probably a secondary."

Angelo listened carefully, taking in what she said, interested. "Like what?"

"The reflexes?" Marie shook her head. "It took me months to get things so that I wasn't going around on a hair trigger. That was where I got the lovely bruises from launching myself into the wall instead of just taking a step away from the bed and things like that. Now that I've got it under control, I can sort of start playing with it. The strength and all isn't a threat if you don't put the split-second reflex behind it."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, I can get that. Must've been hard..."

Marie shrugged. "I wasn't the one who was dead. That takes away a lot of the sting." Her voice had a bit of an edge to it but her expression stayed smooth. "But yeah. It wasn't easy. I didn't mean to push people away at the time, friends would have helped a lot. But... finding out the truth about myself, what I could do?" She shook her head. "I couldn't be around people. The monsters in the basement didn't have anything on me, to be honest."

Angelo looked at her sadly, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "Sorry", he said softly, not apologising for anything in particular, but sympathising with everything she'd been through.

Marie pulled her hand back before he could touch her skin. "Careful," she warned. She'd taken her gloves off to eat and she wiggled her bare fingers at him. "The sauce stains," she explained. She reached out again though and ghosted her fingers across the back of his hand. "Thanks, though."

Angelo nodded, having momentarily forgotten her bare skin in his concern. "Anytime."

They finished dinner in companionable silence and afterward Marie threatened to kick Angelo in the shins if he made any fuss about her paying for it. Wisely, he let her have her way, laughing at her a little.

"It's good to see you laughing," she said as she pulled her coat on and tucked her scarf round her neck. "I'd take you out just to see it more often."

Angelo smiled warmly, pulling on his own jacket. "I'm up for it if you are."

"Excellent." Marie took his hand in hers once she had her gloves on. "I think there's hope for us yet, you know," she said as they braved the now-bitter night air.

Angelo nodded. "I'd like to think so."

Marie paused in the halo of a street lamp and felt in her pockets. "Just a second, let me find my keys," she said. Angelo stopped beside her, frowning a little. A city bus rumbled past, the windows glowing blue in the night. With the noise and the dark, neither of them noticed the shadows of eight teenagers running across the street as the bus passed, headed straight for where the two of them stood with their backs to the oncoming danger.

One boy grabbed Marie and she was too startled to make a noise. Her hands were in her pockets and she couldn't get her hands up to defend herself as he bore her into the wall of the near building. Her head smashed against the brick and she was stunned. Her attacker had to weigh almost a hundred pounds more than she did and he crushed her against the wall, getting a knee between her thighs and his arm across her throat before she was aware of what was going on. The others had Angelo in their sights, aiming to drive him into the dark parking lane yawning between the shops.

The boy holding Marie leaned down to whisper into her ear. "Your little spic trash boyfriend's gonna get what's coming to him now. Should've stayed home 'stead of coming out slumming it on our patch, shouldn't you?" He glanced up sharply as a shout came from the mouth of the alley, where Angelo had broken free momentarily and run straight into the light from a streetlamp.

"Hey! It's that guy from the mall! He's a mutie! Get him!" Cursing, the boy dropped Marie and ran to join his friends, dragging Angelo into the parking lane.

Marie didn't fall, though her feet never touched the ground. She wrenched her hands out of her pockets. -No killing,- she reminded herself. -Gloves on.- Spooks and ninjas were one thing, idiot teenagers another. It made it more dangerous, really. They could well beat her to death if she slipped while trying not to hurt them, and from the sounds of things, time was of the essence. No mistakes allowed. She shot up into the shadows -up is safety- and flew to hover over where the eight were clustered around Angelo.

Angelo was on the ground by now, his face covered in blood from his nose and bruises already forming around his eyes. One of the kids had slammed him hard into a dumpster early on, dazing him, and he was now huddled on the ground trying to protect himself as best he could against the unrelenting beating.

-That's stopping now,- Marie thought and dropped to the ground during a pause in the fray, landing between Angelo and the others, nearly nose to nose with one of them. Her fist caught him in the stomach and launched him into two of his friends and they stumbled, grabbing at one another to keep their feet. The unexpected assault caused the boys to back up a step.

"Back. Off." Anyone with sense would have read the threat and Marie's total lack of fear -- for all that she was one rather small young woman facing eight large young men -- and considered her timely advice. The boy who had slammed her into the wall, however, had tasted success once and saw to repeat it.

"Fuck you, bitch." Two long strides and he swung a contemptuous backhand at her, which she ducked.

-Idiot.- Marie grabbed him by collar and belt and launched him mercilessly at four of his friends. She didn't quite manage to duck the bottle thrown at her as she turned to face the other three and it shattered in her right hand as she caught it instinctively, throwing shards into her face.

Angelo, by now barely aware of his surroundings, or much of anything else except the pain and fear, crawled towards the wall of the parking alley and huddled there, one hand clutching at his crucifix.

"Skin." Marie didn't use Angelo's real name, mostly out of instinct. She backed up toward him, her icy glare reserved the boys who were weighing the prospect of taking another run at her in numbers. -You guys /really/ don't want to go there,- she thought. -Smarten the fuck up.- "Skin, we're getting out of here." She reached down, not looking, and groped for his shoulder to pull him to his feet. Her strength made his weight irrelevant and she hauled him
upright.

Unfortunately, lost in his panic, Angelo perceived this as an attempt to resume the beating, or perhaps to take him to the fire, and lashed out to knock her away, cowering back against the wall.

Angelo's fist glanced off of the back of the head and Marie swore. "Fuck." A fast look over her shoulder told her all she needed to know. "Hell." A variation on profanity was always good.

Unconsciously, tendrils of skin stretched out from his hands, ready to lash out and defend himself if necessary, while the skin on his face rippled and sagged oddly.

Marie gritted her teeth and pulled Angelo closer to her as the tendrils on his hands wound around her neck and good arm. "Going now," she said in a tight voice. The sounds of raised voices from the boys spurred her on and she shot skyward with Angelo held against her, trying to gain distance before he cut off her air.

Angelo, by now, was... somewhere else. The attack had had far too many similarities with his manifestation incident in LA, and in his panic, he could no longer tell between the two. Caught in a waking version of his nightmares, even though he was aware, dimly, of Marie as a friend, his mind was in a place where even friends could not be trusted, and he struggled against her grip.

-...fuck.- She needed new words. She needed air. -Roof.- They tumbled to the tarred, flat surface of a shop roof and Marie tried to get the fingers of her injured right hand under the strangling cords around her throat. She couldn't even speak to calm him and he was too strong for her. Her vision blurred. -...so sorry.- Marie ripped at her glove with her teeth, pulling bloody shreds of it away to bare her own skin. She pressed her hand to Angelo's face, cupping his cheek as though she were comforting him, and drew him into her relentlessly, trying to weaken him enough before she passed out. -I'm so sorry.-

Angelo struggled desperately, trying to pull away from her but weakening fast. Finally, the tendrils of skin around her neck relaxed, and he slumped against her, exhausted.

Marie flung herself away from him, gasping. Her skin crawled, literally, and she curled up, whimpering at the sensation. She was coming undone. Inside her head was fire and terror and her skin wouldn't stay still. -Damn my skin.- It made her laugh somewhere deep and as she rolled to hands and knees, the pain of her bare, bleeding palm helped her focus. It took all her will to start slamming the doors in her head. -I have to get home,- she thought. -I have to get you home.- She fell across him in lieu of gathering him to her and got her arm around his chest. Biting her lip until it bled, she divided her mental energy between holding herself together and getting them airborne.

-Home.- She could fall apart when she got there.

In which they get home and to the medlab

-Home.- Marie's feet hit the front porch and she stumbled, slamming full on into the door with her weight and Angelo's combined. -Please don't be locked, please don't be locked...- She still hadn't found her keys and her damaged hand was slick and weak on the doorhandle. Angelo was in no fit state to help her, since he could barely stand at this point.

Doug was wandering through the front hall, on his way back upstairs from having been doing some reading in the library when he heard the crash against the door. Hustling over to it, he opened it just before Em could attempt to try the knob. His nervousness at seeing her was completely submerged in the wave of concern at seeing their states. "Em? Angelo?"

Angelo, although still conscious, didn't even have the strength to raise his head on hearing Doug's voice.

"Move." Marie pushed past him into the hall. "Going to medlab." It was all she could manage to get out and keep her focus. The crawling of her skin had abated some but Angelo's paranoia still sang in her head like a banshee.

The paranoia was also rolling off of her in waves. Doug struggled for a moment with himself. He wanted to help his friends, but the remembrance of a growled warning echoed in his head. ~Don't touch what ain't yours, kid.~ Steeling himself, he dashed up the stairs.

Marie left smears of blood on the panel for the lift and on the keypad inside. She knew she should have called ahead but couldn't divide her mind further at the time. She pressed the intercom button now though. "Hank?"

Hank heard Em's voice through the tinny intercom and pushed the button to open the door, then rushed toward it to meet her. "...some days, I think none of you should ever leave the house without an MD," he says lightly.

Logan was at his desk, sketching out a form to teach Sarah the following afternoon, stick figures rolling and pushing themselves with their arms into straight-legged kicks.

Doug stared at the door in front of him. He'd thought that sliding that letter under Marie's door was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. But this was even harder. Biting his lip so hard it nearly drew blood, he raised his hand and knocked insistently.

Logan took a deep breath, determining his visitor's identity before rising from his desk. It was Ramsey. He pushed down a growl, realising that if the kid had dragged himself up here, it was probably important, since he'd apparently put the Fear of Logan into him. He rolled his eyes and stood, pulling open the door. "What?"

Doug forced himself not to run or cower, for even though Logan wasn't being _actively_ intimidating, the memory of events in his room was still fresh in his mind. "It's Marie," he said. "She and Angelo came in, and there was blood, and she...it doesn't look good. They went to the medlab. I wanted to...I wanted to help, but it's like you said. It's not my place anymore." Doug looked vaguely sad and wistful, but insistent on getting Logan to Marie. This was more important than his moping.

Before Ramsey'd gotten through 'there was blood', Logan was pushing past him. The kid could keep babbling all he wanted to, but Logan was far more interested in making sure Marie was okay. "An' what the fuck could /you/ do t'help?" he asked rhetorically, heading down the hall and leaving his door wide open.

Doug watched Logan run for the stairs and let him get well away before heading back down to the second floor and towards his room. "Right," he muttered sadly to himself. "What the fuck could I do to help." He sighed and moved to sit next to the window, careful not to wake his roommates as tears slid down his face.

Marie relinquished Angelo into Hank's arms. "People. Suck," she said by way of explanation. The right side of her face was torn and bloody, glass glinted in some of the lacerations. Her right hand was equally damaged and she used the bare back of it to wipe blood from her chin.

Hank accepted Angelo and moved to lay him on an examination table. He eyed her wounds and motioned her to the next table over. "Have a seat."

Marie was already moving toward it as a relatively stable support. Her legs were about to give completely and she sat down, dropping her head to her knees. "Need to tell Scott," she said faintly. "Didn't call."

Hank frowned. "We'll take care of that when you're both a little less bleeding and nearly unconscious, don't you think?" He took Angelo's vitals and shined a penlight in his eyes.

Angelo turned his head weakly, trying to get away from the bright light but not having much energy to move.

"'m not unconscious," she protested. "Just... head full of Skin. Couldn't take the time to lock him down and he's all... everywhere."

Hank snapped a pair of gloves into place and moved around the table toward Em. "And the bleeding doesn't concern you at all, hm?"

"I've had worse," she pointed out and then laughed. "Inside hurts more than the outside right now. Yeah, I guess I'm kind of bleeding, eh?"

Logan took the stairs by the railings and nearly choked on the smell of Marie's blood on the main floor, but kept his pace, heading down to the medlab. When he reached the glass doors, he slammed his hand into the buzzer with a metallic thud and they slid open.

"They were kicking him," Marie said, gesturing at Angelo with her uninjured hand. "Hard."

Hank nodded and carefully probed her face. "I'll check for internal injuries. Would you like me to do that before I take care of you?" He had a feeling she was going to say yes.

Marie gave him a half-lidded glare worthy of Logan. "Yes. Please. I'm fine."

Hank stripped off his gloves and turned back to Angelo, muttering quietly to himself about each of the organs as he pressed, sometimes gently and sometimes firmly, on Angelo's abdomen.

Logan made his way through the medlab to the examination tables. "Marie. What--? Are you okay?"

When the doctor reached his ribs, Angelo hissed in pain at the contact, flinching away automatically.

Marie turned toward Logan and pushed her hair back from her face with her bloody hand, unconsciously revealing the damage to her temple and cheek, the bruise from being slammed into the wall rising under the wounds now. "Yeah," she said, simply. "I'm fine."

Hank nodded. X-rays, then, to find out how many broken or cracked ribs the boy had sustained. "Angelo," he murmured, studiously ignoring the two behind him, "We're going to take some pictures of your chest, okay?"

Angelo nodded weakly, still lacking the energy to actually speak.

Fine. Logan looked at the blood and the bruises and the pieces of glass. "Fine?" He moved to stand beside her. "/Fine/?"

Hank rolled Angelo's examination table out of the room. As he reached the door, he turned back to Em and Logan. "I assume I'm no longer needed in here," he said, not /quite/ grinning.

"I'm home, aren't I?" Marie looked up at Logan with slightly unfocussed eyes, ignoring Hank entirely. "Soon as I get Angelo settled down..." she tapped her temple with her good hand.

Hank nodded and pushed Angelo out of the room. X-rays and maybe they wouldn't have to resort to a catheter to find out about internal bleeding, if the boy was lucky.