xp_logs | Artie and Angelo, backdated

They meet on the back porch and chat about Artie's future.

The nice thing about the grad suites was the private room. That said, sometimes you still needed to get the hell out of the suite because awesome as Dori (and Kyle the unofficial roommate) were, yeah. It meant that Artie was sitting on one of the patios, laptop on his knees, idly clicking through lolcats.

Angelo wandered out behind him, on the point of lighting a cigarette, but changed his mind and put the lighter and pack away when he saw someone was already there. "Hey, Artie."

Artie shut the lid on his laptop and twisted around. "Hey. How's the whole X-Corps thing going?" he asked after a moment's typing on his synthesizer.

"Steadily building", he said with a grin. "We've not really properly got started yet, except the Red-X and HeliX stuff that was already there, but it shouldn't be too long before we're all up and running."

"Which means what, exactly?" Artie asked in reply.

"Getting support projects going country-wide, and some abroad in conjunction with Elpis. Education, and helping young mutants and their families if they want to be supportive."

"Cool." Must be nice to be one of those mutants with a family. "Way back when you got started with Elpis, how did you figure out that that's what you wanted to do?"

"Honestly? I didn't. I was hanging around here at a loose end, thought about joining the police then changed my mind, thought about going off to travel but never quite got around to it, and then Nate offered me a job and it turned out I loved it."

Artie's response was an image of Angelo as a NYC beat cop with the words 'brb, loling 4ever' underneath.

"Seriously? Dude, you? I remember what you were like when you got here" he said at the same time on his synthesizer.

Angelo couldn't help laughing at the projection. "Yeah, yeah, I was all kinds of messed up back then. But where I grew up, it was police, priest or prison unless you got really lucky - or dead - and I got the luck. And now look at me, all respectable."

"Weren't you like, a gangbanger? How the hell do you trust the police enough to join them after that?" It was a valid question. Artie had been very afraid of police as a kid and his more recent interactions with the Morlocks had only confirmed the belief that you couldn't really trust them.

"Most of us didn't, and still don't really. The few that did..." He shrugged. "I guess they met a good cop they could trust and that helped them - they do exist - and got into it that way."

Artie gave a bitter, silent laugh. "I guess that's one thing Annalee's brainwashing didn't cover. Nice cops. But then, she didn't trust those people, like, cops and social workers and stuff so much that she spent like, 18 years living in the sewers. And she gave all that paranoia to me when she brainwashed me. I think some of it might have stuck."

"Well, they probably would have stuck her in some kind of institution a long time ago if they'd found her", Angelo said. "Not something most people want, so... yeah."

"They did stick her in one," Artie said. He still felt guilty about that. "I went to her hearing."

Angelo looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "You know, she might not agree, but she probably is better off there. At least it's clean and she won't have to go looking for her own food in trashcans or wherever."

"I suppose..." He wasn't sure that he agreed - she hadn't been coping well with it last time he went but she also hadn't used her powers to escape so...

"So what about you?" Angelo asked. "Got any plans for what comes next?"

Artie shook his head. "Not really. I don't know. I'm not really going to college - I didn't do all the applications. Maybe I'll study art at the community college or something. It's not like I'm going to go and join the X-Men or anything. Get a job or something."

"College doesn't suit everybody", he agreed. "Art could work for you, the work I've seen of yours is pretty good. Or a job as well, help with the expenses."

"Yeah. Thanks. Or maybe I could do special effects. I don't know, really." It was a change to have someone who wasn't pointing out that he really needed to get to college.

"Do your images show up well on camera?" Angelo asked, curious. "Or are you thinking stagecraft? You'd bring something a bit different to a play."

"Yeah, they do. It's pretty cool b/c making them look real on camera is easier since I only have to account for one point of view. Making stuff real in real life is way harder."

"You could have your fortune made right there", he said with a grin. "Why pay for expensive computer programs when they could get you?"

"I probably could, couldn't I?" Artie asked, surprised. "I'd never really thought about it."

"That's where it's good to brainstorm", Angelo said sagely. "All sorts of possibilities with a power like yours, but you're maybe too used to it to see them."

Well, he'd thought about how he could use his powers to kite checks or cheat at blackjack. Having the ability to make one thing look like another hadn't really seemed like something with legitimate outcomes. "Yeah, I guess."

"If you want to get into that, I can try and help", he offered. "Not hugely connected to the film business, but friends of friends of friends... I can find a way."

Artie shrugged. "Yeah, thanks. That would be good."

"I'll get you some numbers, then."

Artie gave him a long suffering sigh and didn't bother with the synthesizer this time, simply putting the text up in the air for Angelo to read. "how abt email addies? i can't speak so i can't really use the phone b.c the pauses are too long for strangers to deal w while they wait for me to type things out or while i use a tty service. duh."

"...true", he said with an apologetic look. "Email addresses it is, then."