xp_logs | Angelo and Molly: Feliz Navidad

Angelo finds Molly playing outside in the snow and invites her to have Christmas with him and his family.

A gleaming white dome peeked it was way out of the snow covered hills. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be an igloo, carefully constructed and tiny tiny. A little hole for the entrance stuck out facing the forest and a hint of pink was glimpsed from inside the hole and a pair of pink sneakers peeked out. It took a lot of dedication to make the tiny igloo, most of the morning easily.

Now Molly was done and she was bored, staring up at the igloo ceiling.

"Echoooo," she called, but found it didn't work very well.

Something outside made an intrigued snuffling noise, and a brown-furred head pushed its way into the hole past Molly's feet - just before Joyita discovered exposed skin at the girl's ankle where her pants had ridden up, and started to lick it.

Molly jumped, letting out a squeak as she peered down at the culprit.

"Hi Joy!" she said, inching out of the igloo to get out, then sat up, scratching Joyita behind the ears.

"I don't have a bone, sorry. And I don't think Angelo would let me give you some candy. Chocolate is bad for dogs."

"Yeah, no candy for her", Angelo agreed, amused, where he was standing a few feet away watching them. "And she'll forgive you for not havin' a bone if you pet her."

Molly turned around, looking for where Angelo was speaking before she found him. "I have a stick somewhere! Does that count?" she said.

"She loves to chase sticks", he said cheerfully. "Isn't it kind of cold to be lying on ice like that? Or don't you feel it?"

Climbing to her feet, Molly dusted the snow off her back and legs as best she could. "It's cold but not bad cold I guess," she said with a confused shrug. It didn't bother her or anything.

"Can I throw the stick?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure you can." He grinned and held up the unattached leash in his hand as evidence. "The stick you throw might not be the stick she brings back, out here, but you will get a stick to throw again."

Molly giggled. "So he's like...a getter but not a retriever?" she said.

Biting her lip thoughtfully, she squinted at the horizon, reared back, and flung the stick into the air. Without the extra oomph to her powers it went a fair distance but not too far, disappearing into the snow covered trees.

"Um....fetch!"

Joyita barked excitedly and raced off in the general direction the stick had flown, as Angelo and Molly watched her go. Affectionately, he said, "I love her and all, wouldn't be without her, but she's not the smartest. Makes a great guard dog, though, she always wakes up when someone's moving around the apartment."

"Do you have lots of roommates?" Molly said, craning her head as she waited for Joyita to come back.

"Just one roommate", he told her. "John, you've probably seen him on the journals. But then there's my girlfriend, his girlfriend, anyone we might have crashing on the couch at any given time..."

Molly nodded slowly, that look a person gave when they were uncertain but wanted to please so they went along with it.

"Ohh..."

Angelo laughed, ruffling her... hat. "Short version is, there's usually at least four people in the apartment at night. And Joyita knows when they're up and about, which means she'd know if anyone was there that shouldn't be."

That made more sense, so Molly suddenly brightened and smiled, looking a lot more confident with the next set of nodding, this time more pronounced, like a bobblehead.

"Oh!" she said.

"Would she bite them if they were a bad guy?"

"She might! If they tried to hurt her, she definitely would, and she's got muscle. Or even if they were nice to her to keep her quiet, she'd make some sort of noise and maybe come to my door and wake me up."

"That's good!" Molly said, nodding."But....that's not dumb, right? Cause she's loyal and...strong and protects and knows who's a bad guy and stuff...."

"She's smart that way", he agreed, smiling. "Just not so good at picking out which stick someone actually threw or learning tricks. Which I guess isn't the stuff that really matters."

"Maybe she wanted to get a different stick on purpose cause she thinks you'd like the other stick better?" Molly said, fiddling with her hat.

"Maybe she does, at that." Joyita was taking her time about it, snuffling somewhere off in the woods, but they could still hear her as Angelo looked down at the younger girl. "Hey, question. What're you doing for the holiday?"

"Cause, you threw it away so maybe she thinks you don't like that stick anymore and she wants to give you one you'd like?" Molly blathered on, her hands making random wide movements rather like she were conducting an orchestra and stuff before she blinked up at him.

"Oh...um...I'm gonna stay here, I think. Cause my mom and daddy are still....doing stuff away."

He nodded. "Your first Christmas without them, huh?"

Molly glanced down. "Yeah," she said softly. It'd been a whole year by then since her mom and daddy had had her live with the X-People.

Angelo rested a warm hand on her head for a moment, gently. "How would you like to come have Christmas dinner at my mom's place?"

Peering up at Angelo, Molly tilted her head in confusion. "Will you be there too?" Cause she didn't know his mom and stuff and her mom might wonder why a girl showed up to her house, right?

"Never miss it", he assured her. "And she always says the more the merrier."

Molly blinked at him for a few moments before she suddenly grinned. "Really? Are you sure?"

He grinned and gave her a quick hug. "Of course I am. It sucks to be alone on Christmas. Even if it wouldn't be alone alone, a nice family meal's different."

Molly hugged him back (gently). "Dude! Thanks! So like...is it turkey and stuff? Cause my mom makes organic everything ever..."

He laughed. "Yeah, there'll be turkey. And sausages, sweet potato, roast potato, Christmas pudding, Mexican food... as much as even a mini-tank can eat."

"Is it organic?" Molly said, curling her nose with a hopeful look of 'please no.'

"Organic in the good way", he promised. "No bad chemicals, the animals are treated good, that kind of thing. And absolutely no tofu."

Molly's expression brightened and she grinned. "Really? Sweet!" she said, hugging him again, though she got a little too excited this time and squeezed a tiny bit hard. Not enough to hurt, just to surprise.

"Thanks! Should I bring something? I know how to make pancakes! Kinda."

"Easy, Princess Powerful", he said, disentangling himself. "Gotta watch that strength. And there's always room for pancakes."

Flinching, Molly let out a squeak and quickly backed up. "Eek! Sorry!" she said, holding her hands up like she just dropped something hot or got arrested or something.

"I need to ask Meggan how to make them again...I forgot."

"No harm done", Angelo promised, just as Joyita came galumphing out of the woods dragging a stick at least three times bigger than the one Molly had thrown. "I'm sure she'd be happy to teach you again."

"I hope so, cause that was fun and---"

Molly's eyes widened when she saw the stick and she giggled so loud it carried through the forest.

"Whoa..."

Angelo turned to see what she was looking at and raised his eyebrows at the dog. "Okay, I know even she can tell the difference between those. Maybe you were right and she brought it knowing you could throw that one too."

Molly beamed proudly. "See! AND she's strong too cause...GIANT stick!" she said, flinging her arms out wide.

She crouched down beside Joyita and picked up the stick that was more like a small log. The weight of the stick made her eyes glow a soft purple from the extra effort and she wound up looking just as dis-proportioned as Joyita was picking up the stick herself.

Lifting the stick over her head, Molly started to throw it when she stopped. "Do you think she'd bring a giant log next? Should I not throw it?"

"She might try", Angelo said with a shrug. "I don't think she'd be able to move anything too giant. She's a big dog, but she's only got normal strength."

Molly thought about that for a moment. "Can there be mutant dogs? Like dogs with super powers? Like humans?"

"You know, I don't know", he said thoughtfully. "I've never heard about any animals with powers like human mutants have, but maybe there are a few out there."

"Like Lassie!" Molly said as she put the log stick down. "Or Krypto! But Krypto was an alien dog I think...I can't remember," she added with a frown.

Joyita made a disappointed noise and went to flop on Angelo's feet. "Lassie was just super-smart, though", he noted. "She couldn't, like, fly or anything. And Krypto was an alien, you're right."

"Yeah...." Molly said with a disappointed frown. Mutant dogs would've been neat.

"Can I wear one of my Christmas hats?"

"You can wear any hat you want, chiquita", he said cheerfully. "Bring a few and swap around if it makes you happy."

Molly squinted at him, the idea of this apparently never having occurred to her because she brightened rather considerably after that.

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!" Molly said, punctuating her exclamation by hopping up and down.

"Thanks!!!! I should go pick them out!"

It was impossible not to laugh when Molly got all excited like that, and he didn't resist. "Good plan. You've still got time, but I know how many hats you've got. Might take a while to choose."

"57," Molly said, nodding matter of factly. "But I guess I can wait," she added with a bit of dejection before brightening and reaching out to hug him yet again.

"Thank you for inviting me!"

"You're welcome, sweetheart." He smiled and hugged her back. "And if you want to invite another person or two, if you know anyone that's not going to family, you do that."

Molly bit her lip thoughtfully. "Matt and Artie maybe? Cause....Matt doesn't have a daddy anymore and Artie lost his mom to jail....but...they might haveta sit way far away from each other cause...they fight."

"We'll put you in between them", he said confidently. "If Artie wants to come, that is. I think he might still be mad at me, but we'll see."

"Why is he mad at you?" Molly said with confusion. There was a reason but she couldn't remember what it was.

Angelo looked shifty. "I... may have tried to take him for a drive without entirely getting his agreement when he was yelling at everyone about his mom. He didn't like it."

Pausing, Molly blinked. "Ohhh...Yeah, he got mad at that," she said, nodding a little. "Well, I will ask him anyway and if he says no that's okay but I think it'd be nice for him to be with nice people and stuff on Christmas."

"Nice of you to think of him, too", he said with a smile. "Let me know if you want him or Matt or anyone else along, I'll pass it on to Mom."

Molly nodded eagerly. "Okay! This is gonna be so cool!" she said. Even if she couldn't have Christmas with mom and daddy this would be nice too. Maybe her mom and daddy would be able to talk on Christmas too on the phone or something. Then that would make it even better.

"I hope so." He leaned down to fix the leash back on Joyita's collar, then slung an arm around Molly. "You want to go back inside, or hang out in your igloo some more?"

Molly peered at the igloo, then to the mansion, then back to the igloo, then the mansion. She bit her lip.

"I can't decide!" she said in exasperation.

Angelo chuckled. "Well, the mansion's not goin' anywhere, but I guess neither is the igloo in this weather. So it really depends if you're hungry."

"Hmm..." Molly said, slowly grinning. "We can play out here for a few minutes then go inside? And have...um....um...hot dogs! Do you wanna see in the igloo? "

"Sure, if you think I'll fit", he said easily. "I'm not that much bigger than you, but if you built it for your size..."

Molly stared at the igloo thoughtfully. "Well...its little but you could still put your head and arms in. But not much. And I won't fit but you could still see inside!"

"Sounds like a plan." He got down on his knees in the snow and slid into the structure as far as he could, then back out. "That's a pretty solid igloo there."

"Thanks!" Molly said. "I used lots of snow. And I smushed it together. It's my snow cave. It got kinda dirty cause I started to find the grass on the bottom and stuff."

"You wanna go get hot dogs now?"

"Hot dogs it is", he agreed cheerfully. "I'll even cook them for you."

"Really? Thanks!" Molly said, grinning. She reached out for his hand.

He took it readily in his free hand and turned back towards the house. "Sure thing. So what sauces do you like?"

Molly headed back for the mansion. The snow was deep enough in places that she had to lift her feet and legs up quite high to walk.

"Sauces? Oh...you mean like stuff on the hot dog? Umm....chili! And cheese! And sometimes ketchup and mustard and relish. But no onions...bleh..." she said, making a face.

"Maybe we'll do you one with chili cheese and the other with the red and yellow, then", he suggested. "And no onions, noted."

"Mmmmm okay!" Molly beamed. "Can Joyita have one?"

"I don't see why not. Just a plain one, though, and she may not eat the bread."