xp_logs | Angel & Julian: After the Manhunt

Angel & Julian speak after the events of the last two days.

(Backdated to Earlier in the Day)

Bruised, restitched and all-together exhausted, Julian Keller simply stood outside the mansion, looking contemplatively at a half-melted mound of snow. The past twenty-four hours had drained him nearly to a breaking point he never previously knew existed and now...he needed some alone time. With Fred in his room sort-of moping about Callie leaving and Nico on the hunt to be with him whenever he was indoors- or at least it seemed like it at the moment- that meant the only solitary place he could find was outside the mansion. So, wearing his winter weather best he stared and considered for a moment taking up smoking so he'd have an excuse to be out here if anyone were to ask what he was doing. He was so deep in thought that he did not hear the approaching footsteps of a now old friend.

Julian wasn't the only one bruised and tired - Angel had a rather spectacular bruise forming from her run in with Simon and a further run in with furniture after the fact. But one thing she'd learned from Paul and the guys was that if she sat around, she'd stiffen up, so she'd gone for a walk after finishing her morning swim. Dressed only in a t-shirt and jeans, she slowed down after seeing Julian, half-amused and half-concerned when he didn't seem to hear her approaching.

"What did the pile of snow ever do to you?" she asked, coming to a stop next to him so she could stare down at it as well.

"Kilt my pa," he joked dryly. Turning to his ex-girlfriend, he offered a weak and weary smile, "How are you feeling?"

"A bit sore," she admitted. "But not as bad as the time I fell off a ladder at my dad's house a few years ago, so it's not too bad." Angel looked at him and her face softened. "What about you?"

"Confused, angry, sore, bruised, battered and my butt had to be restitched. So, overall I'm fine." The news of the training accident from the week before had already spread throughout the mansion via the Stepford News Network, so he didn't feel quite as embarrassed as he had before about the whole situation.

She coughed into her hand and turned her face away as a hint of a smile struggled to pop up. "Sounds like you're having a stellar month, Julian," Angel responded after a minute. "Hopefully that universal 'Kick Me' sign on your back has been taken down after all of this."

"I'm thinking of going back to L.A.." the teenager said plainly. He'd been mulling it over while having a staring contest with the pile of snow and was almost committed.

"You're what?" He'd caught her completely off guard and she turned back to him, a hand going to his elbow before she'd finished talking. The idea that someone would want to leave Xavier's for something that wasn't going to college or something else like that was beyond her at the moment.

"McPhearson is still out there and Simon told me that he's going to kill his parents if he doesn't kill me. It's my fault that he's got the sort of power that he does...I need to go make things right." Julian looked off into the setting sun, the perfect backdrop for this spontaneous moment.

Right until Angel's hand left his elbow and smacked him upside the head. "You've done and said some dumb stuff in your time, Julian Keller, but that has got to be on the top ten list," she snapped. "Hell-o, anyone in there? Why on earth would you run off to 'make things right' by yourself when you're a trainee for the X-Men?! You have an entire team waiting to help you!"

Julian blinked, speechless, perhaps concussed by the blow to his head, or because she was making a good deal of sense. "You really think they'd back me up with this?"

"You're a moron," she said, mostly fondly. "Talk to one of the senior members about it. They'd prefer you do that than run off and get your butt kicked from here to kingdom come, right? I mean, we're still trainees so we're not supposed to be out in the mix of things right away but that's why you've got people like Kyle and Garrison and Ororo." The idea of working together as a team hadn't been a hard one for Angel to pick up - but then again, that had been drilled into her head by the fire department well before she'd ever put on the trainee uniform.

Julian considered sitting down in the snow, but had a feeling that would lead to hypothermia. Instead of answering he simply smiled and gave a slight nod, "How about we go inside and I'll make us some cocoa? I need something to warm up and you never got to have yours at the cafe."

The idea of chocolate anything perked Angel right up and she nodded happily. "That much is true. That big jerk interrupted things right before I got anything to eat or drink." Actually, they had been about to leave because of the kissy faces Julian and Nico had been doing but no need to bring that up...