Log: Angelo and Sam, Thursday afternoon

[x-cannonball.livejournal.com]

Sam runs into Angelo and Joyita while returning home from a shopping trip. They catch up for the first time in awhile.


Sam had spent the best part of the day in town shopping, checking out new books for his English students. All of the recent hoopla over Sherlock Holmes' resurgence in popular media made him want to check out the classic books, see if they'd work in a classroom setting, so he'd picked up a couple of them to read himself first. Parking his truck in the garage, he headed back through the mansion towards his bedroom, bag of books in hand.

The first sign he got of what was coming was the sound of four feet clattering at great speed on the wooden floor. Moments later, seventy pounds of muscular dog whirled around the corner and straight into his legs.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Sam braced himself as the dog came into sigh, whipping around the corner towards him. Thankfully he was somewhat used to this, though it had been awhile since he'd seen the dog and her master, who he assumed must be around somewhere nearby. He grinned and reached down to pet Joyita, holding his bag of books in his other hand and out of reach just in case. "Heya girl, who's a good dog?"

She responded delightedly, licking his hand and wrist as far as she could reach, then attempting to jump up to get his face just as Angelo hurried after her. "She didn't knock you down, did she?"

Sam just laughed, turning his face so the dog would only lick his cheek. He didn't mind dogs at all, especially Joyita. "Nah, I saw her coming just in time, heh. No worries." Petting the dog once more, Sam stood back up to his full height and smiled at Angelo. "How are you doing? Long time, no talk." It'd been awhile since he'd run into his friend, with both his teaching duties and X-Men duties taking up a lot of his time since his return.

"Good", was the response to both. "She gets... enthusiastic and forgets how big she is. Things are pretty good all round, you?"

"Can't complain, really. Been busy but that's a good thing, right?" He remembered the books in the bag he was holding and waved it a little in his hand. "I went out and picked out some potential new books for English." He'd spend the next day or two checking them out and if they seemed like they'd work he'd put in an order for more of them.

"Cool." He grinned, leaning down to refasten Joyita's leash. "You got a big class this year?"

"Not too bad, really. Manageable." It'd been awhile since he'd taught anything because of his time at Muir Island, but he was starting to get the hang of it again now. "How about you, are you keeping yourself busy?"

"I don't think I've been not busy in about five years", Angelo answered, laughing. "Even now I've got Elpis, school, and a couple of my own projects in District X."

Sam let out a low whistle as Angelo listed all of the things with which he was involved. "That's a pretty full plate indeed, my friend. No wonder you're always busy."

"That's how I like it. I've already got something lined up for when I've finished law school, Warren says I can go work for him."

"Oh wow, that's great Angelo. Nice to have that all planned out and lined up for when you finish school." It'd be much easier to transition from law student to practicing lawyer when you had your placement all worked out in advance.

He nodded eagerly, clearly razor keen. "I thought so. I mean, Nate would've set me up if I needed it, but when there's a firm right in the District, dealing in mutant law... it's perfect."

Nodding, Sam leaned back against a nearby wall. "Oh yeah, you couldn't ask for a better placement, I don't think." Angelo would fit right in there for sure. "Warren's a good guy, I'm glad to hear that."

"I want to work in criminal law, maybe where the others do more civil or discrimination cases", he continued happily before realizing he was monopolising the conversation a bit. "And what about you? Up to anything outside the teaching and team? Not that that's not enough."

"That's about it, really. Took awhile for me to get the rust off in both senses, heh, but I think I'm back in the swing of things now." It was refreshing to be able to contribute to things again and he was enjoying the challenge that came with trying to keep up with everything.

"That's good", Angelo said, genuinely pleased. "I mean, that you're back too, that's gotta mean Jay's doing better, right?"

"Yeah, he's doing much better. Well enough for me to leave there and get back to things here anyway, though we still touch base every now and then." He was glad that he didn't need constant care but he did miss his brother.

"Well yeah, you're not gonna forget he exists just 'cause you're not there anymore. And progress leads to more progress, so glad to hear it."

"Exactly, there's still lots of ways to stay in touch." He nodded, thinking of the phone calls and e-mails they'd exchanged. "Thanks, I'll tell him you said hey the next time we talk, I'm sure he'd be glad to hear it."

"Do that." He smiled. "I didn't exactly know him that well, but another person remembering him might help."

"I will, for sure. Knowing that others are thinking about you is always a nice thing." It'd certainly couldn't hurt, after all. "I'll give him your best, Angelo." Looking down at his bags again, Sam realized he still had some reading ahead of him that evening. "I should let you on your way, and get going myself, got a bit of reading to get through and all."

"Fair enough." He grinned and stepped out of the way. "Just don't get caught up and forget to sleep."

Sam chuckled, reaching down to pet Joyita one more time. "I won't, I promise. Good catching up with you, Angelo, I'll talk to you later."

"See you then!"