Catching up: Sooraya and Angelo
Jul. 22nd, 2019 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs Sooraya and Angelo have tea and talk about marriage, X-Corps and their other work.
Sooraya finished up loading some cinnamon cookies on a tray with the tea and coffee as she studied Angelo from the corner of her eyes. "You know, you seem more content then I have seen you in a long time."
He was smiling quietly to himself, and looked up at her. "I think I am. After everything... maybe it's actually going to be OK."
"So is it just married life or also something else?" Sooraya moved over to the table to set down the tea, coffee and goodies before taking her own seat. "You want sugar?" She continued after stirring some in her own tea.
"Yeah, just a bit..." He considered the other question. "I mean, married life is pretty great, but... I've been thinking about X-Corps again, especially since Terry and Alani showed up."
"Both have been pretty helpful. Fundraising never has been one of my strengths and while I can do social media, Alani is a lot better at it then I am." Sooraya agreed. "So what have you been thinking about? You've made me curious."
"That maybe its time's coming around again. We've both been working with the Underground and the grassroots, and maybe the world's ready to start seeing mutants as people again."
"I wonder..." Sooraya stared at her tea cup, pondering. "I mean, sometimes there are things that give me hope again, that the world might be a little bit ready but then there is something that drags me down just as quickly. Like the whole Church of Humanity thing. There was an article on their website that over 200 people showed up to one of their events."
"200 isn't so many, if it was in a city", he pointed out. "And that's all the more reason to try. We can't let them be the only voice out there."
"I'm not saying we should and that is why I've been working with Alani to show what has been going mutants that many others are not talking about. But about the state of the world... about that I'm more skeptic." Sooraya quickly clarified.
"Oh, yeah, I wasn't saying it was perfect", he said with a wry smile. "But maybe a little bit better than it was, for our purposes."
"I hope that it will turn out to be true. I'd love to have the chance to not have to rely on second hand reports, but to be able send people to investigate things on location for once." Sooraya considered. "Did I tell you Mr. Summers came to see me a while back?"
He tipped his head at her. "I don't think you did. What did he want to talk about?"
"Some was evaluation of an X-men mission back in December, but we came to the conclusion it might be good for me to do some leadership training... possibly some tactics as well. If I'm going to be leading any field work... well... I only have to think back to some of the scrapes we got involved in." Sooraya paused to pour herself some more tea, offering the dish of cookies to Angelo.
He took one, but didn't bite into it yet. "Yeah, with Elpis and X-Corps both, trouble seemed to find us even when we weren't looking for it. But it's gotta mean something that we usually made it out...?"
"Oh it does, but not always in one piece... I mean... if it helps me to get people out with less damage, I'm all for it. Besides, there are other situations where it might come in handy." Sooraya took a cookie for herself as she explained.
"Definitely", Angelo agreed. "No such thing as too much training, if it seems like it would be useful to you."
"By the way, how is your workload at the legal office at the moment? Because I might have a case or two you might want to take a look at. Nothing emergency-like though."
"At the moment, I can manage. This time next week, who knows... What kind of cases?"
"One is a teen with some issues with school. They are refusing her for certain small accommodations which might finishing school actually possible for her. Wait, I have the file here somewhere." She rose and quickly ducked into her room.
When she returned, Angelo nodded. "Might be able to do something with the Americans with Disabilities Act there."
"Here you go." Sooraya passed him the file. "The other one is a custody-related thing, but I am still getting the details. A mom is refusing her ex-wife to see their son because of her being a mutant?"
"Well, that's a pretext if ever I heard one, assuming she knew about it when they were still together. I don't do civil law much, but I can check it out."
"She is kinda hesitant about talking with anyone about it, but I'll see if I can convince to come and see you?" Sooraya suggested.
He nodded. "Even if I can't take the case to court, I can at least give her some advice."
"I think even talking with someone sympathetic who know something of what is going on the legal side will be helpful for her."
"And the kid too, I hope. What's things like with the parents?"
"Honestly, I'm not totally sure. I've only spoken with her a bit and I didn't want to push too much with how skittish she seemed. You might have to to do some work to win her trust first." Sooraya explained.
"I can do that", he said with a slight smile. "Might help if you're there, though."
"If it helps, I'd be happy to do that. I'll be going into District X early next week again, so I can see if I can find Alia and if she'd be up for it." Sooraya nodded.
"What's the impression you've got of her home life, without asking her too many questions?"
"They try to be supportive and they try to advocate, but she isn't really feeling supported..." Sooraya said after a moment of thought.
.
"Maybe 'cause they're not able to fight her corner at the school as much as she needs. If they want to, though, that's a good start."
"A very different start from so many stories that we hear." Sooraya agreed.
"There should be something in place for those parents. A support group, kind of thing. Like - " Like the one my mom started.
"It's one of the things that I miss though... we used to have far more of an infrastructure in place for cases like this. We're able to provide support to the school."
"Maybe we should talk to the school first. Find out what the issue is with giving her the accommodations. If it's just funding, we could talk to the Professor."
"... I think we need the full story first, but if it's funding that is something we might indeed be able to help with." Sooraya considered for a moment. "Though I think a lack of needed expertise might be just as big an issue."
"Could be. But without knowing more details, it's hard to make concrete plans for what we can do."
Sooraya suddenly shook her head. "You know, I didn't plan for a 'meeting'. I just wanted to catch up on how married life is treating you. You and I are far too intertwined with our work..."
"Some things never change", he said with a grin. "And it's important work, but so is life. And married life is good - like JP said in Amanda's post, some ways it feels just the same, but some ways completely different."
"Different huh?"
"Yeah, it's hard to explain. It just... is."
"I guess it doesn't really matter. Most important is that it makes you happy. I'm so glad to see that." Sooraya relaxed, a calm smile on her face.
Angelo smiled back. "Always wanted to be married. It just never worked out before."
"I guess the right person just had to come along..."
Sooraya finished up loading some cinnamon cookies on a tray with the tea and coffee as she studied Angelo from the corner of her eyes. "You know, you seem more content then I have seen you in a long time."
He was smiling quietly to himself, and looked up at her. "I think I am. After everything... maybe it's actually going to be OK."
"So is it just married life or also something else?" Sooraya moved over to the table to set down the tea, coffee and goodies before taking her own seat. "You want sugar?" She continued after stirring some in her own tea.
"Yeah, just a bit..." He considered the other question. "I mean, married life is pretty great, but... I've been thinking about X-Corps again, especially since Terry and Alani showed up."
"Both have been pretty helpful. Fundraising never has been one of my strengths and while I can do social media, Alani is a lot better at it then I am." Sooraya agreed. "So what have you been thinking about? You've made me curious."
"That maybe its time's coming around again. We've both been working with the Underground and the grassroots, and maybe the world's ready to start seeing mutants as people again."
"I wonder..." Sooraya stared at her tea cup, pondering. "I mean, sometimes there are things that give me hope again, that the world might be a little bit ready but then there is something that drags me down just as quickly. Like the whole Church of Humanity thing. There was an article on their website that over 200 people showed up to one of their events."
"200 isn't so many, if it was in a city", he pointed out. "And that's all the more reason to try. We can't let them be the only voice out there."
"I'm not saying we should and that is why I've been working with Alani to show what has been going mutants that many others are not talking about. But about the state of the world... about that I'm more skeptic." Sooraya quickly clarified.
"Oh, yeah, I wasn't saying it was perfect", he said with a wry smile. "But maybe a little bit better than it was, for our purposes."
"I hope that it will turn out to be true. I'd love to have the chance to not have to rely on second hand reports, but to be able send people to investigate things on location for once." Sooraya considered. "Did I tell you Mr. Summers came to see me a while back?"
He tipped his head at her. "I don't think you did. What did he want to talk about?"
"Some was evaluation of an X-men mission back in December, but we came to the conclusion it might be good for me to do some leadership training... possibly some tactics as well. If I'm going to be leading any field work... well... I only have to think back to some of the scrapes we got involved in." Sooraya paused to pour herself some more tea, offering the dish of cookies to Angelo.
He took one, but didn't bite into it yet. "Yeah, with Elpis and X-Corps both, trouble seemed to find us even when we weren't looking for it. But it's gotta mean something that we usually made it out...?"
"Oh it does, but not always in one piece... I mean... if it helps me to get people out with less damage, I'm all for it. Besides, there are other situations where it might come in handy." Sooraya took a cookie for herself as she explained.
"Definitely", Angelo agreed. "No such thing as too much training, if it seems like it would be useful to you."
"By the way, how is your workload at the legal office at the moment? Because I might have a case or two you might want to take a look at. Nothing emergency-like though."
"At the moment, I can manage. This time next week, who knows... What kind of cases?"
"One is a teen with some issues with school. They are refusing her for certain small accommodations which might finishing school actually possible for her. Wait, I have the file here somewhere." She rose and quickly ducked into her room.
When she returned, Angelo nodded. "Might be able to do something with the Americans with Disabilities Act there."
"Here you go." Sooraya passed him the file. "The other one is a custody-related thing, but I am still getting the details. A mom is refusing her ex-wife to see their son because of her being a mutant?"
"Well, that's a pretext if ever I heard one, assuming she knew about it when they were still together. I don't do civil law much, but I can check it out."
"She is kinda hesitant about talking with anyone about it, but I'll see if I can convince to come and see you?" Sooraya suggested.
He nodded. "Even if I can't take the case to court, I can at least give her some advice."
"I think even talking with someone sympathetic who know something of what is going on the legal side will be helpful for her."
"And the kid too, I hope. What's things like with the parents?"
"Honestly, I'm not totally sure. I've only spoken with her a bit and I didn't want to push too much with how skittish she seemed. You might have to to do some work to win her trust first." Sooraya explained.
"I can do that", he said with a slight smile. "Might help if you're there, though."
"If it helps, I'd be happy to do that. I'll be going into District X early next week again, so I can see if I can find Alia and if she'd be up for it." Sooraya nodded.
"What's the impression you've got of her home life, without asking her too many questions?"
"They try to be supportive and they try to advocate, but she isn't really feeling supported..." Sooraya said after a moment of thought.
.
"Maybe 'cause they're not able to fight her corner at the school as much as she needs. If they want to, though, that's a good start."
"A very different start from so many stories that we hear." Sooraya agreed.
"There should be something in place for those parents. A support group, kind of thing. Like - " Like the one my mom started.
"It's one of the things that I miss though... we used to have far more of an infrastructure in place for cases like this. We're able to provide support to the school."
"Maybe we should talk to the school first. Find out what the issue is with giving her the accommodations. If it's just funding, we could talk to the Professor."
"... I think we need the full story first, but if it's funding that is something we might indeed be able to help with." Sooraya considered for a moment. "Though I think a lack of needed expertise might be just as big an issue."
"Could be. But without knowing more details, it's hard to make concrete plans for what we can do."
Sooraya suddenly shook her head. "You know, I didn't plan for a 'meeting'. I just wanted to catch up on how married life is treating you. You and I are far too intertwined with our work..."
"Some things never change", he said with a grin. "And it's important work, but so is life. And married life is good - like JP said in Amanda's post, some ways it feels just the same, but some ways completely different."
"Different huh?"
"Yeah, it's hard to explain. It just... is."
"I guess it doesn't really matter. Most important is that it makes you happy. I'm so glad to see that." Sooraya relaxed, a calm smile on her face.
Angelo smiled back. "Always wanted to be married. It just never worked out before."
"I guess the right person just had to come along..."
