xp_logs | Backdated to.. Tuesday, I -believe- Angelo and Marie-Ange. Kitchen.

Angelo runs into Marie-Ange in the kitchen, they chat. Just normal conversation. Bread. Manuel. The Lake. Art class. Mutant relations. Smiley faces.

Angelo wandered into the kitchen, around dinner time, in search of leftovers to make himself a scavenger meal. Seeing Marie-Ange sitting at the table, he stopped and smiled. "Hey, Angie."

Marie-Ange lifted her head, from where she was sketching what looked like a pair of small green hands wrapped around .. a .. Playstation controller.. "Hi." She gestured with a crayon at a shape on the table, wrapped in foil. "There's leftover cinnamon bread. I think Lorna or Rahne .. or maybe Jamie, I am not certain, was cooking earlier. It is -very- good."

Angelo glanced down at her drawing with a grin. "Is that Miles?" Then he nodded, hearing the rest of her words, and set about unwrapping the bread.

"Just his hands, but yes. It might be part of my art project. Green people are controversial, you know." Angie said the last with what could, possibly, be a sarcastic tone, if it hadn't first been regretful.

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, some of them out there'd say so."

"Some of them out there are stupid. Green skin does not change who a person is." Marie-Ange frowned, and put the crayon down on the table firmly.

Angelo nodded. "'Course it doesn't. We know that."

Angie shook her head, still frowning. "I know. It is just .. Here, Miles is Miles, who is uncommonly good at beating Doug and Jamie at video games. Outside, he is Miles, the kid with green skin. It is frustrating. The people who can do the most harm to others look normal, and yet, it is the people who look different who get hurt. "

Angelo frowned. "Don't know about that. Doug doesn't look different, nor does Artie when he's careful, an' we all remember the mall."

"No, but they are not at risk just for going outside. Doug spoke up and got hurt. I am not sure the people who beat him up even knew he was a mutant." She shrugged.

Angelo shrugged. "True. But Miles has Alison to look out for him, an' his image inducer. Which doesn't mean he should have t'use it, of course. Isn't that the whole point of Jamie's thing?"

"It is. It .. it is just frustrating. Too much has been frustrating lately, I suppose. " Marie-Ange picked up her crayon, looking it over carefully, then put it back in the case, and selected another lighter shade of green, though all she did with -that- crayon was to fidget with it.

Angelo nodded, eyeing her in concern. "Anythin' I can do?"

"Throw Manuel into the lake?" Marie-Ange asked quickly, before realizing what she'd really said.

Angelo blinked. "Uh... not that I'd mind doin' that, but... why?"

"If I did not think he would just whine about it in his journal and make it harder for me to keep from breaking my word to Shinobi, I would think it might do him a world of good." Marie-Ange shook her head sadly.

Angelo laughed. "It might. But would it be worth the storm it'd bring down on us?"

"Probably not. It makes me feel better to think about it though." Marie-Ange smiled, though it didn't meet her eyes. "If he is going to act like a drowned kitten, part of me thinks he should look the part."

Angelo chuckled. "No harm in thinkin' about it. What'd he do, anyway?"

"It is.. a long story. He hurt me, he hurt people I care for. Most is that he just refuses to talk about it." She frowned, and very carefully put the crayon in her hand down so that she would not break it.
Angelo nodded, with a faint scowl. "Sounds familiar", he muttered.

"I.. Yeah. Too familiar. I do not want to break my word, but .. he is so -very- frustrating. So damnably frustrating, and stubborn and he hurts everyone around him, and I just do not understand why he is still here." Angie scowled, then leaned back and sighed. "Except that I do, because if he were not here, he would be out there, hurting more people with no one to stop him."

Angelo shrugged. "Marie an' Shinobi seem to think they can still help him. An' I guess Xavier must, too, it's his decision on who stays or goes in the end."

"I suppose. Still, he is leashed now, but.. " Marie-Ange forced her fingers to uncurl from the fist she had started to make. "He just ... even thinking about it makes me angry. It takes more effort than it is worth to not show it in Speech, and I thank God I have no other classes with him. "

Angelo nodded. "Just gotta try an' pretend he's not there, I guess. The other way's not worth it."

"No, I suppose not. He is just so very, very hard to ignore." Marie-Ange frowned at her sketchpad. "I am sorry. I .. do not mean to vent my frustration at you. You have enough of your own..."

Angelo shrugged. "Yeah. So how've you been doin', other than that? Haven't seen you 'round much since we got back. But then, I haven't exactly been out an' about that much myself."

"Good. Mostly, good, at least." Marie-Ange smiled, and tapped her sketchbook. "I came back to an art teacher who gives regular homework, but even that is not so bad."

Angelo grinned. "How's Logan copin' with teachin' art?"

"He is actually very not bad. I think he is amused by the class. He keeps getting this look on his face like he and reality parted ways a few weeks ago, and are not yet on speaking terms." Angie said, with a laugh.

Angelo chuckled. "Yeah, I can imagine. I'd take Art just to see it if it didn't mean droppin' somethin' else."

Marie-Ange grinned, and took a quick look at the doorways out of the kitchen before pulling a blue folder from her book bag. Inside the folder were several pages of paper, all with what appeared to be enlarged facial features on them. The long sideburns and heavy eyebrows in several made the subject obvious, even if none of the pictures were complete. "I took pictures. Well, kind of."

Angelo looked at the drawings and laughed out loud. "Oh, yeah, I remember you an' Jamie talkin' about that on the journals."

Marie-Ange grinned. "I could not resist. It is abstract, and it is art. Sort of. I just have to redraw some of it. Mr. Logan has just looked so perplexed and confused. I think Amanda's been asking questions just to get me more chances for pictures."

Angelo chuckled. "So that's your project? Have you showed it to him yet?"

"Not yet. I have to turn it in on Thursday." she answered. "Mostly it is just repeated expressions. I should probably make up something that it represents. Probably ... " She frowned, thinking for a minute. "Probably unexpected change and adapting to it or something like that."

Angelo nodded. "You'll think of somethin'", he reassured her.

"Or, I will make it up at the last minute and hope that Mr. Logan falls for it as well as Piotr did." Marie-Ange grinned. "I work best at the last minute."

Angelo grinned back, wickedly. "Nothin' wrong with that. Think we all do sometimes."

Marie-Ange nodded, then stood. "I should probably get going. I have Dance next, and I should make sure my partner is -not- Chewbacca again." She rolled her eyes, laughing. "Someday, one of those boys is going to be the death of me. "

Angelo nodded back. "I don't think it'll happen again. Jamie doesn't repeat himself with his pranks", he said mock-seriously.

"Not ones on Doug, at least. Those two... " she said, gathering up her book bag and folders. "Did you ever get revenge on Jubilee for the smiley faces in your room? "

Angelo blinked, suddenly remembering. "No, actually. We were gonna change her wardrobe for dull stuff, but then things got crazy."

Marie-Ange swung her now-full book bag over her shoulder, and stood to leave the kitchen, smiling. Hopefully Angelo wouldn't find out -her- part in that, though it had cheered him up for a bit. He needed it, though thankfully, he looked better now, even with the problems with Manuel, than he had in weeks. "I will see you later." She glanced once at the clock over her shoulder, and ducked out of the room.