xp_logs | [Angelo, Marie] Death threats are right out.

Marie picks up on the trouble brewing between Angelo and Manuel on the journals and heads down to get Angelo to delete his inflammatory post. General talk about Manuel and why he should be cut some slack, or at least taken with a grain of salt.

Today was an official jammie-day, as she'd have called it when she was little. At five o'clock in the evening, Marie was curled up in Logan's bed, still dressed in her favourite dark green pyjamas, reading email and catching up on the journals. She refreshed the journal page and read Angelo's new post not once, but twice, then read Manuel's post below it as well, frowning direly.

"What the hell?" Manuel's post had been bothersome enough but with Angelo's as well, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Still in her pyjamas, she left the room at a run and headed down to Angelo's room. She knocked on the door when she got there. "Skin? It's Marie."

Angelo was lurking, not wanting to face the questions he was sure everyone would have about Manuel's post if he showed his face. But Marie was one of the few people he wouldn't ever turn away. "Come in", he answered quietly.

Marie let herself in and then leaned on the back of his door, pulling the cuffs of her sleeves down over her bare hands. She looked very much like she'd only just now gotten out of bed. "I don't know what's going on, Skin, but could you please take that post down? Can we talk about it instead of of putting something like that out there? That's not going to help anyone."

Angelo shrugged expressionlessly. "Sure, why not." He turned back to the computer and quickly did as she'd asked.

"Thanks." Marie sat down on his bed with a sigh and sat there looking at him, elbows on her knees, chin in her hands. "What's going on?"

Angelo's face twisted. "Manuel an' I had a little chat", he answered flatly.

"Oh. I guess I don't need to ask how that went, then. Honey, Manny is not okay right now. He's a mess." Marie's expression was worried as she looked Angelo over.

Angelo almost laughed. "Yeah. Well. He's not the only one. An' for at least one person I could name, part of it's his fault."

Marie nodded and shifted so she could lean against the wall and cross her legs, getting comfortable, trying to stay relaxed so as to keep Angelo calmer. "He's got a lot of problems, and he's done a lot of harm. I know that. But what's going after him going to solve?"

"He went after me first", Angelo almost snapped. "If you saw my post, you must've seen his."

Marie sighed. "Manuel... he's very dramatic. You have to take him with a grain of salt. He's being exceptionally dramatic today and I don't know why. He's obviously upset over something, and whether it's you or you were just in the line of fire, I don't know, and I'm not going to go asking as he doesn't want to talk about it."

Angelo sighed. "Marie... I know you see him as a friend, but I have t'be honest, I can't stand the guy. I've got my reasons."

"I can understand your reasons and still be Manny's friend, Skin." Marie pointed out gently. "Being someone's friend doesn't mean I have to like what they've done if they've done wrong or turn a blind eye to it. That would be... well, it'd be the antithesis of being a friend, if you ask me."

Angelo looked up at her. "He fucked with Bobby's head", he told her in a low voice, steering clear of the details. "Made a lot of stuff worse."

Marie stared at him for a little while, then buried her face in her hands, trying to regain her composure. "He's a very troubled person," she said at last, lifting her head again and folding her hands in her lap. She was very pale and sad. "I'm not the one who knows how to fix him but I understand some of what happens to him, at least a small bit. I wanted to try and be someone who he could practice being friends with, someone who wouldn't condemn him just for what he is. If he did it deliberately, though..." Her voice trailed off. "It's so hard to tell. He's so messed up."

Angelo shrugged. "I wasn't there. Bobby seemed to think he did it on purpose, though - or at least, he's terrified he'll do it again."

"He needs to tell someone if he thinks that. Bobby, I mean," Marie said. "If it was deliberate, that's assault, at the least. How can anyone decide how to help Manny or what to do about him if no one speaks up about the wrong he's done? God. I'm so sorry for Bobby. Do you think he'd talk to me?" She bit her lip and hugged herself, looking at Angelo for an answer.

Angelo hesitated, not sure how to answer that without revealing the truth about Bobby's dreams and the reason for them, which he didn't feel was his to tell. "He might. I think... I think he probably should."

"I'll see if he will. Without jumping all over him about it." Marie sighed and leaned her head back on the wall, closing her eyes. "God, Skin. We're all such a mess. But keeping it quiet doesn't help it heal. Are you okay?"

He shrugged, looking away. "'Bout the same as usual. The trip away helped, but then there was Nathan's post about his vision, an' now this..."

"I'm sorry. The post... it messed my head up a bit too. Would have been worse if I weren't so busy coping with other things. What a mess." Marie opened her eyes and looked at Angelo again. "You'll tell me if you're not okay, right?"

He looked away again to hide the guilt in his eyes. "I'll try."

"I'm not saying I could fix anything." She shrugged. "I'm getting used to not being able to fix things for anyone. But at least it's better than being alone with it." She tapped her temple and gave him a wry smile. "Besides, you need to keep me updated."

Angelo returned the wry grin. "Like I said, I'll try. Not quite used to not relyin' on just myself, yet."

Marie nodded. "I know. It's a balance thing, independance and needing people. Look, about Manny." She sighed heavily and shook her head. "Just try and remember that he doesn't think like we do and he doesn't understand about feelings. That doesn't mean to let him get away with shit. I guess it means just to understand that you're dealing with someone really broken."

Angelo sighed. "I tried to cut him some slack, I really did. Even today. But I won't - I can't - let him break my friends just as badly an' hear him talk like he doesn't care, an' just let it pass."

"That's the point, Angelo," Marie said, a little frustrated. "He doesn't care, or he doesn't know how to, or he doesn't understand that he's hurt people the way he does. The whole problem is getting him to care and understand. You can see how if he doesn't, it could get very bad, and not just for a few people around here."

"I never said they should kick him out", Angelo told her quietly. "But I have a feelin' if I talk to him anytime soon, it won't help much."

"Not right now," she agreed. "Maybe some time, it might. You're a good person, Angelo, and I know how much you care. Don't let him get to you, okay?"

"He does, though", Angelo muttered. "Not sure how to stop that."

"It's because you keep going back to the basic rules that most of us have about being human. And it feels like he's breaking them on purpose, like he could know better and is doing this anyway." Marie ran her hands through her hair. "I know. It's purely infuriating from that perspective."

Angelo smiled bitterly. "Tell me how to change my perspective, an' maybe I'll like him more."

Marie shook her head. "I don't know, I can't explain it. If I let myself think the way most people do, I'd probably at least clock him, y'know. But I've seen pieces of him that make me think he's not doing this on purpose, that this is just ignorance and fear and a bad past we're seeing and there's someone else there who needs to be loved and befriended. He's not a likeable person, Angelo. He probably won't ever be. But it's important to me to try and be a friend to him. That's my path, it doesn't have to be yours."

Angelo nodded. "I can't be a friend to him right now, maybe not ever. But I wouldn't ever try t'tell you not to, either."

"I appreciate that." Marie gave him a half-smile. "I'd hate to have to knock some sense into you." Her tone was only partly teasing. "You're too good a person to do less."

"Just don't ask me to go anywhere near him yet, an' it'll be fine", Angelo answered, almost lightly.

"I think that can be arranged, though I'm about to start taping portions of the house off and writing people's names on them," Marie said dryly.

Angelo grinned. "Might not be a bad idea, actually", he said jokingly. "Save Mr. Marko havin' to get blood off the floor."

Marie rolled her eyes at that. "God. You know, out of all the people in this house, Logan is about the least of my worries for that kind of thing. Which, no disrespect to him, because I love and trust him very much, says that the rest of y'all are in a hell of a state."

Angelo blinked, then accepted the truth of her words, at least as far as Manuel went. "Yeah, you're probably right. Guess we've all got our trauma."

"We do. We just kind of have to try and keep them from feeding each other until they're healed."

"Could take a long time", he said quietly. "Won't be easy."

"I know. But we have to try," Marie said quietly. "I have faith in all of us. And if we can get this right, it'll be very, very good."

Angelo nodded. "I know. If we can."

Marie got up and reached out to gently squeeze one of Angelo's shoulders. "I think we can. Hang in there, okay?"

He managed a faint smile, squeezing her hand when it dropped from his shoulder. "Always do."

"I'd better get back upstairs," Marie said. "I just took off on Logan to come talk to you. I'll be around more tomorrow, okay? I'll see you then?"

Angelo nodded, a little reluctantly. "Okay."

Marie noted that and paused. "You need anything else, honey?"

He shrugged uncomfortably, not wanting to admit that if he was left alone, he thought he might get the lighter out again. "Company's always good. But you go on back to Logan, I'll be fine."

"I just figured I shouldn't be hanging around your room in my jammies," Marie said lightly. "And I'm supposed to be resting, though I've got a ton to do." She reached out and ruffled Angelo's hair. "I've missed you."

He smiled up at her slightly. "Missed you too", he answered simply.

"You'll be okay if I go?" She gave him a worried look.

He shrugged. "Probably."

"Want to help me with the laundry?" she said with a bit of a smile.

He smiled a little in return and got up, holding his left arm very slightly - almost imperceptibly - stiffly. "Sure, why not. Keep me busy."

Marie laughed and put her arm around his shoulders. "Come on. I'll fill you in on my trip if you'll tell me all about England."

"Sure thing", he said with a smile. "You go first."