xp_logs | Angelo and Yvette, backdated to November 17

Yvette brings some freelance work she's done back to Elpis, and she and Angelo talk about Xavier's, old misdeeds and future plans.

Yvette might not be working for Elpis any more, but she still sometimes took on the odd translating job for them when they needed it and she had the time. With the holidays coming up she was in need of some extra money for gifts, so when Angelo had asked her to translate some reports from Albania about mutant birth rates, she'd been happy to do so. Now, having finished classes for the day, she was dropping off the completed work at the Elpis office.

"Hello?" she called, not seeing anyone immediately in view. "Anyone home?"

Angelo's head popped up from behind a bookcase at that, and he waved at her. "Hey, Yvette! Come on in, there's coffee."

"There is always coffee," she replied with a grin as she came into the office proper. "Or John would be very cranky indeed. I finished that translation for you," she added, by way of explanation for her visit.

"Oh, cool." He grinned and stepped out from his cover to accept the papers. "Anything we should know about right away?"

"Not that I could see, no," she replied. "It was the basic census type report on mutant births. It was good practice for my English, at least." She looked around. "Have they left you all by yourself today?"

"Nate's in Tel Aviv", he said easily. "John and Amara went to the UN, the others are around somewhere. Out for lunch, maybe."

"What about you? Are you eating lunch today?" Yvette gave him a sweet smile. "Perhaps you could have lunch with me and call it the business expense? Lunch with the consultant, yes?"

Angelo eyed her, but there was a twitch at the corners of his mouth that spoiled the suspicious look. "All this time and you still want to look after me, huh? Okay."

"The old habits, they die hard," she replied with a grin and a shrug. "It seems to be in my nature to be looking after people." She paused, and added: "Not that you are so very different, Angelo. I have been reading the old X-Men reports. Perhaps I should call you Sancho instead?"

He opened his mouth to protest that, then stopped, considered, and raised his hands in defeat. "It's easier not to be Sancho now Nate's doing his windmill thing with more talk, less action these days. But you might be right, I'd still follow him if he did."

"Of course I am right," she said with a slightly smug grin. "Is it true that you got blown into space once?"

"More like sucked", he said thoughtfully. "But there was Angelo in space involved. Thank God for Clarice, I say."

"Very much thank goodness for Clarice." Yvette nodded. "It is strange, reading those reports now, when I remember things from the
other side, as the student. We knew you were all going into danger, but I did not think we realised just how dangerous things could be. And then to demand to know everything..." She shook her head at the arrogance of youth. "It makes much more sense now."

"Everyone who's an X-Man now was a student demanding to know everything once", he said with a wry grin. "And doing even more stupid things. You remember in Kosovo, with the smugglers? What I didn't tell you then, 'cause I was trying to be an authority figure, is Amanda and I ran off to Mexico to do more or less exactly the same thing when we were in school. And conspired to help Sarah go after her bad guys."

"That is so not fair!" Yvette exclaimed, but not serious. "I thought I was to be expelled and people were much worse than I ever was!
Apparently I should have tried harder."

"You have to try really, really hard to be expelled from Xavier's", he told her, amused. "As some of us who made a habit of testing the limits could have told you."

"I know Matt was worried about being expelled for a while... well, not 'worried', more 'resigned'? He thought it would just be a matter of time. Layla is probably the same, although I have not talked to her much. I get the feeling she is not so comfortable with me."

Angelo nodded, turning more serious. "Kids like Matt and Layla, who've been in the system, 'specially when they've got labelled as
difficult for whatever reason and got bounced from home to home... it's hard to trust even when you land in the one place that won't kick you out. It'll sink in eventually that they really aren't going anywhere until they choose to leave."

"I saw children like that, in the orphanage in Kosovo. At least before I let my powers take over and stopped paying attention to anything," Yvette said wryly. "They were hard and suspicious and did not believe anything good could happen. I hope something happened to change that, for all of them." Her eyes dimmed slightly. "It is strange, but sometimes it is luckier for someone to be a mutant than not. At least we have Xavier's."

"Best thing that ever happened to me", he agreed. "For all I didn't think so at the time. I just wish Xavier's could take in all of them."

"For me, also." She gave him a sad little smile. "It is too bad we do not have the powers that would make everything better for
everyone, in a blink, yes?"

"Even reality warpers can't really do that", Angelo noted, returning the sad smile. "Not for everyone, or not perfectly. But yeah. It's
too bad we can't."

"So in the meantime, we do the best we can with what we have," she replied, optimistically. "Me with Red X and the X-Men, and you with Elpis."

"Absolutely." His smile changed, turning to more like a grin. "And when the time comes, with Warren's law firm."

"Oh?" She looked at him curiously. "Warren has the law firm?"

"He will have, when he's finished getting it set up. He's taken the New York bar exam and chosen a partner so he's just looking for a building now, and he says I can work for him when I qualify."

"More work?" Yvette shook her head. "You are, how they say? A glutton for punishment? Is it the mutant-specific sort of firm?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds", he pointed out, amused. "I won't be studying anymore by the time I start there properly, so I can put it in the time I'm using for that. Yeah, it's aimed mostly at mutants, going to be based in District X."

"Warren had mentioned wanting to do something in District X, so I suppose this is it. It sounds like the good idea, although you will be working in two offices at the same time, yes?" she teased. "Perhaps John or Monet can do more?"

"I'll be working on how to split my time between them", Angelo said with a nod. "Or, since John actually does more already than most people'd guess, maybe try and move him into my job and I'll take over any legal stuff Elpis might need, something like that."

She grinned at the thought of John's reaction to that. Or at least, his pretend reaction, since she knew he wasn't as grumpy as he sounded. "It sounds like you have the plan," she told Angelo. "I hope it all goes well."

"Oh, I've got lots of plans." He grinned back. "In a few years I'm going into politics. Maybe I'll even be the first mutant president."

"Perhaps I should get my citizenship by then," Yvette suggested. "Just so I can vote for you, yes?"