xp_logs | Angelo and Marie

They meet in the laundry room and catch up on things.

After classes, Angelo went for a wander around the mansion, looking for someone to talk to in an attempt to put off his homework for an hour or so. Passing the laundry room, he heard one of the machines running, and stuck his head round the door to see who was in there.

Marie was sitting at the table, grading papers with a cup of coffee close at hand. Every once in a while, she would take a piece of clean clothing out of the basket beside her, fold it while she read, and stack it back in the basket.

Angelo smiled when he saw her, moving further into the room. "Hey, Marie."

Marie pushed her hair out of the way and smiled back at him. "Hey, Skin. How are you? How was Boston?"

"Boston was mostly really good", he answered lightly, dropping into the other chair. "Great to see Sarah an' Shinobi again."

"How are they?" Marie put a folded t-shirt into the basket and turned the page of the paper she was grading, then took a sip of coffee.

He grinned. "They're good. Sarah liked goin' back to the tunnels, an' I think she likes Boston almost as much. Shinobi's good too."

"Glad to hear it. Any idea if they're coming back?" She gave up on grading the paper and settled for folding the laundry, which was only half hers. She really wasn't supposed to be doing it, it wasn't her job, but her mood of late demanded absolute distraction or she risked imploding with frustration and exhaustion.

He shrugged. "Don't think they know yet. Sarah said Shinobi wants to, an' she misses people here, but... well. She's got her thing with needin' to not disappoint her family."

"She's got to do what she's got to do," Marie said philosophically. "Xavier's isn't going anywhere."

Angelo nodded. "True. She'll probably make it back here sooner or later, if only for Artie an' Miles, an' even if it's not to stay."

"Of course." Marie nodded and reached for her coffee again. "You ready for your exams? All caught up?"

"More or less", he said a little ruefully. "Should be okay, though, there's still a few more days to do the last of it."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. It's not like this is some big school where you'll fall through the cracks," she reassured him, folding some towels deftly. "Everyone seems to be getting okay now, or have I just learned to tune it all out?"

Angelo laughed a little. "Well, I think a lot of people are doin' better, at least."

"That's good to hear. I've just been too busy to notice -- not that I don't care. I couldn't even take the time to go looking for the source of last week's little explosion." Her tone was light and she smiled at Angelo as she got up to get more laundry out of a dryer that had just finished its cycle.

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, I know it's been crazy for you. With the teachin' an' all, an' your college stuff. How's that goin', by the way?" he asked, choosing to avoid the subject of the explosion.

"Pretty good." Marie came back with her arms full of sheets. "I got accepted to a few places I didn't think I'd get into and everyone's been so nice. Being accepted at Manhattanville already and being preapproved for premed seems to make a lot of difference when you're talking to people. Suddenly I'm not just some kid calling around, you know?" She shook out a pillowcase and folded it in sixths, smoothing it out. "Having my tuition all lined up doesn't hurt either."

Angelo smiled genuinely. "That's great. You got a first choice yet? Oh, no, it was Manhattanville, wasn't it?"

"I'm already taking courses with them. I'd been studying on my own and since the dean understands my unique situation he's going to let me take exams for these two correspondance courses I'd been doing, just as though I'd registered at the start. It's just psych 101 and calculus for biological sciences. Nothing fancy. And I'll do the same this summer, their distance courses. They offer a good number of them for the entry level stuff." She shrugged as she folded sheets. "I've been accepted into a few other places now. Logan and I just have to talk about what we're doing with ourselves."

Angelo nodded seriously. "You wanted to stay here, though, right? Or not anymore?"

"I'm not sure," she said honestly. "There's a lot that I love about this place but the teaching job is too wearing on me and even if I go to Manhattanville, I might be best to move out."

He frowned, confused. "You couldn't stay here without teachin'? Not like the Professor'd kick you out, you've been here a long time."

"I could, but can you imagine me going to med school and being on teams and... all the other stuff that goes on here?" Marie gestured around her vaguely. "And you know I'd end up doing something, it's inevitable. And somewhere in there, I need to see Logan long enough to remember that yes, he's the person I'm in love with."

Angelo chuckled. "All perfectly good reasons. We'd miss you, though - not to guilt you into not leavin', just sayin'."

"I'd miss all of you too." Marie said, smiling at him. "But I'll be more use in the long run if I get my degree without going insane."

Angelo nodded, deadpan-teasing. "Most probably, yes."

Marie laughed at him and scooped up her papers, dropping them on top of the now folded laundry. She sat back down on the table, looking Angelo over. "You doing okay yourself?"

He half-shrugged. "Gettin' by. It comes an' goes, you know how it is."

"Yeah, I do. You and Paige still getting on okay?"

That brought an actual grin, if slightly tentative. "Yeah, we are. Me an' Jono still aren't killin' each other, too."

"That's something," Marie said approvingly. "I'm glad to hear it." Her watch beeped and she startled, then looked at it. She laughed and shook her head. "Damnit, I can't even set this thing right and he figures out how to use it to nag me to show up for dinner."

Angelo laughed. "Logan? Well, duh, who else... It time to go for you, then?"

Marie extended her arm so Angelo could see the small line of text on the watchface. "It is 'dinner, or else'," she said, still laughing. "And as fun as his 'or else's are, it's not nice of me not to show up when he's done the cooking."

Angelo nodded, grinning. "Yeah, you'd better go. He'd probably only come on down here an' get you if you didn't, right?"

"Yes, of course." Marie rolled her eyes. "I'd rather go on my own two feet. I need to put this laundry away before he catches me doing it anyway. I'm not supposed to waste my time on it, but it's habit and it keeps my mind from wandering." She blew Angelo a kiss. "Take care, Skin. I'll see you around."

Angelo followed her out of the room, since he'd only really been there to talk to her, and waved as she disappeared towards the stairs. "Enjoy your dinner!"

"I will, sweetie," she waved back at him. "You too." She took the stairs up to the third floor two at a time and was out of sight in moments.