Sooraya and Angel, Thursday afternoon

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

(Sooraya and Angel sit down to catch up for the first time in...a very, very long time)

Angel was practically bouncing as she made her way down the hall to Sooraya's room. Never-mind why she was back - that didn't matter. She was home, and clearly there were people happy to see her. She had the promise of chocolate donuts and lava cakes in her immediate future, and she was about to see one of her best friends. It didn't get much better than that, right? "~Hello Sooraya!~" She called in Dari as she knocked on Sooraya's door, then winced. She was so rusty.

Sooraya looked up from one of the books she was reading for History of Islam, a surprised look on her face. Then she smiled and jumped up, heading to the door and pulling it open. "~Angel, I am really glad to see you. Come in.~  She stepped aside so the young woman could enter.

Angel was grinning from ear to ear as she all but danced into the room. Part of her was telling her to reign it in - but the euphoria at being home was overshadowing how she'd been feeling for the last few days. "~How are you?~" She asked as she turned to look at Sooraya. "~I feel like I haven't seen you in years!~" At least, she really hoped that was what she said. She was going to need to brush up on Dari before she attempted to have a real conversation.

"~I am doing very well. And it has been years since we really talked face to face.~" She had noticed the hesitation in Angel's Dari though. "We can switch to English if you want though. It must have been a while since you spoke Dari." As she spoke, Sooraya moved over to the kitchenette in the room. "Want something to drink?"

"Yes, thank you," Angel sighed in relief as she followed Sooraya. "I'll brush up on the Dari, promise. And good point, I guess. I'm sorry we didn't get to sit down and talk before I left, everything was just sooo hectic. And....water, please?"

The young Afghani pulled a bottle of water and apple juice from the refrigerator and poured a glass of each. She handed Angel her water as she guided her over to the small seating area, putting her glass on the table and putting a bookmark in the book where she was. "How are you doing, Angel? I had not expected you back so soon..." She asked, some worry coloring her voice.

Angel flopped down onto the couch, her smile wavering just slightly as Sooraya mentioned her sudden return. "I'm good. I um....I got into a little bit of trouble in England." Honesty was the best policy, right? "Nothing huge, no authority figures involved-" Thankfully, "-but when I talked to Yvette she thought maybe it would be a good idea to get a little space between me and my flatmate. I...kind of goofed a little." A little, a lot....what was the difference, right?

"Powers accident?" Sooraya asked with a wince. She could see though that her friend was not really in the mood to talk about it though... "How was England though? Your descriptions in the emails sounded great!" 

Angel's smile returned carefully. This was what she liked about Sooraya - she knew when to not push. "I'll explain later," she promised. She was going to have to get used to telling the story anyways - Sooraya wasn't the only one who was going to wonder. "And England was bloody brilliant!" One of her favorite phrases that her flatmate had taught her. "We went to Buckingham Palace - it's true what they say about the guards, they really never move, and trust me, we tried - and my flatmate dragged me to the Natural History Museum in London - okay, that wasn't that much fun, actually, but she enjoyed it. I have pictures on my laptop, soooo many pictures, remind me to show you later. I tell you though, if I wasn't directionally challenged before I went there, I definitely am now. I tried driving once, such a disaster. Everyone knew I was an American, I totally heard someone yell 'Yank' out their car window at one point. Have a new appreciation for walking though." Angel's smile was back full force now, though inside she was slightly wistful. A very idealistic part of her hoped she'd be able to return to England soon. The more realistic side was carefully whispering that probably wouldn't be possible, though. "How've things been around here? I feel ridiculously out of touch with mansion life right now, and I've only been gone a couple of months!"

"I really want to see the pictures when you have the time. And what happened here in the mansion... Where do you want me to begin..." Sooraya thought for a moment. "Well, first off, Ms. Dane returned from Muir in January, so there are lots of good leftovers in the kitchen once more. And I don't know if you followed the case of the Jennie Ransome and Philip Moreau fleeing from Genosha, but they stayed here for a few days before they disappeared. I talked to them briefly and I still wonder what happened to them..." Sooraya's voice trailed off, her eyes far away for a moment. "Oh yes, and I had to return to Attilan to testify, but that ended going kinda wrong..."

Angel's joy at the thought of food disappeared almost instantly - as well as all any thought of the Genosha case (which she'd only vaguely followed while she'd been in England). "Attilan? What happened? Did you get hurt? Why didn't you tell me before?" She didn't like that look on Sooraya's face one bit.

"How much did you pick up about my situation with Sayyid and Achmed before I left? And why I came back in November?  I know I told you some, but I don't quite remember what..." Sooraya asked, a faint blush on her cheeks.

Angel did her best to ignore the blush coloring her own cheeks - and the guilt welling up inside her. "I know you were attacked and that's why you came back. And....some stuff happened with some youth mutant group, right? I'm sorry," she added apologetically, biting her lip for a moment. "Everything's been so hectic lately, I'm kind of blanking. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it..." Sooraya shook her head. "I know things must have been kinda crazy. Short summary... Sayyid and Achmed are part of a group called Al Waha. It's mutant superiority and Islamic fundamentalism mixed together with Sayyid as leader and Achmed as one of his 'disciples'. Achmed wants to marry and tried to kidnap me twice in Attilan, even attacking the Attilan. That is why I came back." She took a sip from her juice and continued: "He was arrested in January and I was supposed to testify in February. I went with Yvette, Angelo and a few of the X-men. Sayyid kidnapped Leyu to blackmail me, freed Achmed and forced me to come with him him. I almost ended up married to Achmed, but managed to get away. The others also arrived and we managed to free Leyu and everyone got arrested..."

Angel listened, trying not to let her mouth fall open and wrestling with the desire to somehow go back in time and fry Achmed and the slowly-building guilt that while she had been having a good time in England, Sooraya had been dealing with all this. "That....that...." Oh there were so many things she could think to call Achmed. She gritted her teeth together, reigning her temper in. Anger wasn't going to do any good now. "Wait, when you say 'everyone got arrested,' do you mean everyone as in you, Yvette, Angelo, X-men....?"

A small bout of laughter rose from Sooraya's throat. "Arrested? Ah, no... Mr. Kane coordinated with Attilan law enforcement. I meant Sayyid, Achmed and about twelve of their henchmen." She did see her friend's anger though and reached out to place her hand on Angel's. She didn't say anything though, just shaking her head.

"Okay. Okay, good." Angel closed her eyes for a moment, turning her hand over and curling her fingers gently over Sooraya's hand. Her anger didn't have any place here. It was an old issue, it was done, clearly Sooraya had moved on. The bad guys were in jail where they belonged,  Sooraya was not married to a man Angel now considered lower than dirt - everything was okay. When Angel opened her eyes again, she was smiling. "Great. Never a dull moment around here, huh?"

Sooraya had been wanting to mention the fact Sayyid managed to escape, but she decided to leave it for a later moment. She didn't want to ruin things now Angel was smiling again. "Never a dull moment here." She agreed instead. "But it has always been like this. Remember the cows?"

Angel nearly fell over laughing at the mention of the cows - she had a vague feeling there was something Sooraya wasn't saying, but then again there was a lot she wasn't saying too. She was in no position to push. "I maintain that I should have been allowed to bring one home. I know you weren't totally on-board with the idea, but I think you would have learned to love it. I had a name picked out and everything!"

"Hmm... We do have a moose now... Maybe if you got your hands on a cow, Professor Xavier might be okay with it... And I'll just stick with horses. Now that the weather is finally clearing up, I plan to start riding again. I haven't done that in a while..." Sooraya finished laughing for a second and quickly headed over to the cupboard. "I have some cookies if you want some..."

"Really? I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a baby cow then." Angel bounced up quickly, following Sooraya into the kitchen. Never-mind that she had been gorging on chocolate since her "near-death" experience on the plane. "Cookies sound like an amazing idea."

Sooraya pulled a tin of chocolate chip cookies from the cupboard and brought it back over to the seating area. "I know you probably already had enough chocolate, but more is always better... But a baby cow... You can't be serious..." Sooraya's voice trailed off as she remembered some of her friends crazier stunts in the past. Like eating bugs covered in chocolate... 

"Enough chocolate? Bite your tongue Sooraya, there's no such thing." Angel happily grabbed a cookie, taking a bite and chewing contently. "And why not a baby cow? They're cute! And I have the most perfect name for one!"

"He, I said more is better!" Sooraya took a cookie of her own and bit into it. "And baby cows might be cute, but they become big cows very quickly. But okay... I'll bite... What is that name?"

Angel was grinning brightly as she popped the last of her cookie into her mouth - she'd made short work of that. "Calfy, of course!" 

Sooraya hid behind her hands. "Please tell me you aren't serious. That is totally crazy." She smiled happily at her friend. She had not really realized how much she had missed Angel's sunny way of looking at life. "If you are really planning on that I am petitioning the professor not to allow it, unless the name is changed."  

"Meanie," Angel pretended to pout, but she was trying very hard not to smile. "You're just jealous because I'm so creative. You're trying to hinder me, aren't you?" She'd missed this, she realized as she took another cookie. Being in England had been great...but nothing beat the feeling of sitting down and having a pointless conversation with an old friend.