xp_logs | Angelo and Sarah

He goes down to see her, with cigarettes and puppy. There's some angst, but it's all resolved in the end, as slightly premature goodbyes are said and she promises to keep in touch. As well as future clubbing trips.

Late on Wednesday night, all his work for the day done, Angelo took just enough time to grab all his cigarettes and the puppy before he made his way down to Sarah's basement room. There were goodbyes to be said.

There was a knock on the door as Sarah sorted through some papers she'd thrown in her desk. Schoolwork and papers could be thrown away, and anything else could be packed to take. She wasn't expecting any visitors, but she called whoever it was in anyway. "Come on in, but leave your pitchfork outside."

"No pitchfork, but I come bearin' cigarettes", Angelo answered, pushing the door open as Joyita tried to nose her way through the narrow opening.

"My hero. Was it that obvious I was out?" Oscar's ears perked up on the bed beside her, and suddenly there were two puppies scrambling around on her trash pile. "Well. I think they're happy to see each other."

Angelo grinned faintly, watching them. "Yeah, I figured you could probably use 'em. Mind if I sit down here an' help you smoke them?"

"Not at all. Find yourself a spot on the bed, or there's a chair there. Just move the papers onto the desk." The puppies reminded her of when everyone was in Asgard, and she and Shinobi had taken care of Joyita. Only had to make it to the weekend, and she'd get to see him again. Just a few more days.

Angelo glanced at the papers, then found a clear spot to curl up on the bed. He fished a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and silently offered her one.

Sarah took it, reaching over to grab her lighter off of the nightstand. "So you here to wish me well? Shinobi doesn't know I'm coming yet. Thought I'd surprise him."

He nodded, taking a cigarette for himself and lighting it. "Yeah, wish you well... an' say I'm sorry you're goin'. But I know why you'd want to."

"Because I'm a big black cloud on this bright sunshiney world," she said dramatically, taking a drag off of her cigarette, and blowing the smoke out slowly before she continued. "No really. If they're fine with everything, then they can go on being fine with it. I just can't do it."

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "I was thinkin' more of you wantin' to go join Shinobi. You know you'll be missed here, right? An' I don't just mean by me."

Sarah nodded. "You and Jono and Amanda. Maybe Paige. The boys probably. Though not for the reasons I'd hope." She leaned back against the wall. "Just think. This place won't have to try to justify keeping an unrepentant murderer in the basement anymore."

Angelo shrugged. "'s your call. You'll keep in touch, right?"

"Of course. I'm a writer." She pointed to a box on the floor. "See those? Letters. They're going to end up being hand-delivered."

Angelo smiled slightly. "For Shinobi? He'll love it. An' the surprise."

"I thought I'd call him on the way over. I'm going to need something to keep me sane as I fly to fucking Japan."

That brought a wry laugh. "The things we do, huh? Still, I know you wouldn't be puttin' yourself through that if it wasn't worth it..."

"I miss him," she nodded, taking another drag from her cigarette. "I thought he was coming back, and then he decided to stay for a while, and I thought that maybe I could wait it out. It's so far away from the tunnels."

Angelo nodded, drawing on his own cigarette. "But you're goin' all the same." His voice was flat. "Guess the choice had to be made sooner or later."

She shrugged. "Well there's not much sense in sticking around after I've failed them."

"Failed who, Sarah?" he asked, voice sharpening. "Your dead family, or what livin' family you have left?"

"What living family I've got left? Angelo, have you been paying attention at all? It's been made very clear to me that those boys do not remember the tunnels. They don't remember me as their sister. They'll be sad when I leave because they're sad when -anybody- leaves. But I've been told that my opinion doesn't matter when it comes to those boys, because I am a bad influence. Sounds like the general consensus is that they're better off without a Morlock holding them back."

Angelo seemed about to snap something back, then he just sighed. "Never mind. Forget it. You've made your choice, an' I wish you well."

Sarah gave him an exasperated look, "Say it Angelo. You don't hold back when we're fighting."

"Nothin' to say", he answered, eyes shuttered. "Nothin' that'd do any good, or change anythin'. Not even mad at you - I learned a long time ago everybody leaves in the end, whether they want to or not, so what's to be mad about?" He got up and turned away, focusing on the puppies, and started to pace a little, taking a drag on the cigarette.

"You're upset I'm leaving -you-?" The cigarette in her hand had burned down to the filter, and she put it out quickly before returning her attention to him. "You don't need me anymore than those boys need me. Any more than Paige needs me."

Angelo laughed bitterly. "Oh, of course not. You know me, I'm Tough Boy, I don't need anyone. Except where I do. An' even if I didn't need my friends, doesn't mean I don't want 'em around. But this is startin' to sound like a guilt trip, an' that's not what I came here for."

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, moving away from the wall. "I didn't say you didn't need -anybody-, I just said you didn't need me. There's no shortage of sparring partners here."

He turned to look at her now. "You really don't get it, do you." It wasn't a question. "You're not just a sparrin' partner. You're not even just one of maybe two people in this house who lets me not hold back when we spar. You're a friend, Sarah, an' I am goin' to miss you like hell."

Sarah nodded slowly. "Sorry," she sighed, and moved back to the wall. "Everybody'll be better off this way."

He looked away again, bending to stub his cigarette out on the concrete floor and holding out his hands to the puppies, who scampered over to lick them. "If you say so."

"It has to. It's not working the way everything is now." She watched the puppies move to the other side of the bed and suddenly felt very alone. "Something has to change."

"I hope you find what you're lookin' for", he answered quietly but sincerely, before turning away from the puppies, who bounced at his heels as he strode towards Sarah and without warning, wrapped his arms around her in an almost-desperate hug. "Keep in touch. That's all. You'd just better."

"I said I would..." she said quietly, blinking in response to what was quite possibly the last thing she'd ever expected. "And we'll be back to visit. Too many people we like here not to."

Angelo nodded jerkily, wanting to believe it, but... "You'd face the flight again to come back here?"

"Well, not right away," she corrected, "But it's easier to fly when I've got somebody's hand to hold."

Another nod, as he released her and took a long step back. "Make it soon, at least?"

"Yeah. We'll be around." She sighed, and Oscar scrambled into her lap with a bark. "Maybe we'll surprise you."

Angelo scooped up Joyita and sat back down on the bed. "That'd be good."

"Besides, Oscar's going to miss his friends here too." She smiled at the puppy, scratching his head. "He'd going to be wondering where they all went to."

Angelo smiled slightly, trying not to let it look too sad. "Joyita'll miss him too. We need more dogs around here."

"She could go play with the feral kid... what's his name?" She shrugged, wrapping her arms around Oscar's neck.

"Kyle", Angelo answered automatically. "An' yeah, I'll introduce them soon. She'll still miss Oscar, though."

"Of course." She nodded, and then after a quiet pause added, "I'll miss you too."

He offered her a faint smile and a quiet, "Well... I... not good, but you know what I mean. You miss me, it means you'll come back."

"I get this feeling that you don't believe me." Sarah said softly, with almost a hint of amusement there. "We'll keep in touch."

Angelo sighed deeply, mechanically lighting another cigarette and offering her one. "I'm tryin' to believe it. You did last time. That helps. Just... sometimes it's easier to believe things when you see them."

"Technically they brought me back last time, but close enough. I stayed." She took the offered cigarette, and paused for a moment to light it. "We'll come around and go clubbing in the city. Do what you did for your birthday."

"I didn't mean that time", he told her quietly. "You came back before that, an' you were only in Boston anyway, not Japan. Close enough. Clubbin'd be good, yeah."

"Oh, for finals. Just in time for somebody else to try and take the boys." She breathed a puff of smoke out into the room, and watched it float to the ceiling. "We'll come back. And do lots of things we're not supposed to."

Angelo snickered slightly, drawing on his own now-lit cigarette. "Sounds good to me."

She smiled. "And maybe one day you all could come out to visit us. We could fly you out, and have a party."

He offered a tentative grin. "All of us? Well, I guess Shinobi is super-rich. That'd be fun."

"Of course it would be. You and Paige and Jono and Amanda? We'd have a hell of a time."

"That we would. Watch out, Tokyo, huh?"

"Exactly." She stretched out, Oscar finally settling down on the bed beside her, on his side so she could scratch his belly. "And then you all can come back and be good kids again."

"Semi-good", Angelo corrected wryly. "I pass my classes, barely, I get in fights on the journals, I smoke too much, I drink when I can get away with it... I'm not exactly your paragon of virtue."

"But you're better than I am. I hear -trying- to be good is what counts." She shrugged. "Good is boring."

Angelo chuckled wryly. "Gotta agree there. An' I'm only tryin' to be good in that... I want a normal life, or as close as I can get bein' a mutant. Don't think I'll be tryin' out for the X-Men anytime soon."

"A normal life? What's that?" She grinned, and exhaled more smoke into the room. "I don't think I've seen that before."

"Nor have I", he drawled casually, punctuating it with another drag on his cigarette. "But it sounds real nice."

Sarah shrugged again. "I dunno. If it requires living with Lizzie again, I think I'll pass. I had enough of stuck-up uplanders for one lifetime."

Angelo blinked, shooting her a quick sideways glance. "Lizzie?"

"Evil foster sister. One that told me they'd found my parents as an April Fools joke."

"Ah. Her. Yeah, I can understand that."

"So yes. I'll take my not so normal life if it means I can look at people like her and tell them to fuck off. I imagine if I told her I was going to kick her ass now, she'd piss her pants." She looked rather gratified about this speculation.

Angelo laughed. "Fair enough. To each their own."

Sarah gave him a pleased look. "I like that. That's -exactly- what I'm looking for."

"Glad to please", he answered lightly.