Post by Nightingale on Sept 4, 2006 7:06:39 GMT -5
[Timeline note: This takes place after Callisto's arrival, on a new day. Probably the day after.]
Humming a tune to herself - she couldn't recognise the song off the top of her head, but it was something from back in the day when hippies were running around wearing lovebeads and not bathing for weeks at a time - Angie opened the cupboards again, as if there would be something new this time. Anyone who watched the amount of time the young Australian was around food during the course of the day, they'd wonder how she wasn't the size of a walrus. The trick was to not eat it, though.
Angie loved food. She loved the smells and the textures and yes, the tastes. She loved preparing food, and she loved eating nice food - but she was generally the type to eat a small meal and enjoy rich flavours, rather than to eat a big meal and fill herself up. The base was normally pretty good, Python kept them well stocked. And with Dharma and Jane, it wasn't like they needed to buy produce. But for some reason, Angie couldn't find anything that she felt like cooking. She contemplated a mystery dish from an unlabelled tin and half a packet of peanuts, but it could end up being peanut-garnished tinned pears, for all she knew, and that idea wasn't overly appetising.
"Tea. Tea's good."
Yes, she was talking to herself.
Wandering to a different cupboard, she pulled out a mug and started boiling the kettle.
Then she made the tea. It was all very boring, really. Very, very boring, and as she took a sip of the tea - which was hot enough to make her screw up her face and hope that she hadn't burnt the roof of her mouth, she wondered what she could do to occupy herself for the day.
She was still wearing the same awkward face when someone walked into the room.
In stark contrast, Pyro didn't like food. It ate - no pun intended - into his time. He was still struggling to force himself to eat three meals a day and when he did eat, it still tasted like ash in his mouth. He had promised to try, though, and so was coming to make himself a sandwich, or toast, or something simple.
He entered the kitchen, therefore, with a resentful scowl on his face.
Somehow, Angie managed to pull her face into some semblance of order before Pyro noticed that she was looking like she'd accidentally put salt in her tea instead of sugar. Not that she did put sugar in her tea, but either way the metaphor was still valid.
At least, she didn't think that he'd noticed. He was scowling, obviously not pleased about something, and the sight of his face made her take another sip of her tea without thinking.
It was still extremely hot. She only just managed not to spit it out all over the place, but that uncomfortable face returned and she realised that she actually had burnt the roof of her mouth that time. Swallowing carefully, almost convinced that tea did not in fact fix everything as she had previously believed, Angie gave Pyro a little wave.
"Hi." It came out as a little squeak and she somehow managed to sit herself down without spilling tea all over herself. Because that was the only thing she could imagine that would make her look like even more of a dork.
"What?" His scowl grew deeper, then faded as he saw it was her. "Oh, hi Angie. I'll go away and come back again if I'm in your way. Just came to get some toast before Python accuses me of not eating. Again."
He forced a friendly smile onto his face. It wasn't, after all, her fault. "How are things going with you?"
"Not in my way." In fact, she welcomed the chance for something to do other than stare into the cupboards blankly and hope that something jumped out at her.
There wasn't much else for Angie to do around the base. She'd been working on a few things on the net, had gone for wanders down to the beach, had started exploring and then stopped when all she found most of the time were empty rooms. Unless something happened where someone got hurt, she had nothing to do, and that wasn't exactly the sort of thing that could occupy more than a couple of minutes of her time.
"Things are ok. Kinda boring. What about yourself, how's everything coming along?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" He was instantly on the defensive, then checked himself. "Heck, I'm sorry, that sounded nastier than I meant it to. I'm fine. Slow process, but I'm fine."
He tried the friendly smile and headed for the bread bin. Whoever had made toast last hadn't taken a fresh loaf out and the one there was sporting some interesting mould spots.
This did very little to improve the young mutant's temper.
Blinking, Angie took a sip of tea. Thankfully it was cool enough that she didn't choke on it, this time.
"Uh, well... You know, someone could give you a hand if you wanted." With the mood that he was in, she felt the need to clarify. "Cause, you know, we're here to help." That might not have been any better.
Spotting the loaf of bread that was... well, growing in the bread bin, Angie made a face. "Oh, ew!" Her nose crinkled up in disgust, and the expression made her look like more of a kid than ever. "Did someone decide to run a science experiment in the kitchen?" She hadn't noticed it yet, and she couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she hadn't been the one to find it. Pyro wasn't looking any happier.
"I think there's more bread in the freezer. Hopefully the kind that isn't about to grow legs and launch a revolt." She grinned.
"It was like this at the Institute sometimes," he grumbled. "Lazy sods never bothering to think of anybody else..." He wandered over to the freezer and retrieved a fresh loaf of bread. He took two or three frozen slices out and stuck them in the toaster on defrost setting.
He ignored Angie's comment on helping. Seemed he wasn't in such a effusive and friendly mood today.
"Fair enough." She sat watching him stomp around the kitchen with her mouth mostly hidden behind her mug, but she couldn't hide the fact that her eyes were smiling. "Put up a sign or something, that'll learn 'em. You know, something like 'You mess with Pyro's toast, and you'll suddenly feel a lot of sympathy toward it.' Or something." She took another sip of tea, grinning into the mug completely unable to keep a straight face.
Maybe she'd crack through his mood. Maybe she'd end up toast herself. It was hard to tell.
He turned his head to glare at her suspiciously, not sure if she was poking fun at him or not. Evidently he decided that she wasn't, because a grin broke through his expression. "Man, I'm sorry," he apologised. "Guess I got out of bed the wrong side this morning."
Though she was nervous for a moment that he actually was going to lose his temper and hit her with a well aimed fireball, Angie still didn't manage to get rid of her smile. When he finally decided that he was going to grin instead of glare, Angie lowered her mug to beam back at him.
"That's all good, don't worry about it." She refused to think about him in bed. "D'you want me to make you anything?" Pyro's version of food wasn't exactly the kind of thing Angie believed a human could subsist on for prolonged periods of time. "You know, only if you want to. Or something. ...Er..." She didn't want to break him out of the good mood, didn't want him to think she believed him incapable of feeding himself properly. Even though, sometimes, he kinda was.
"Nah, I'm good," he said, in response to her offer of food. "Thanks
all the same."
He lingered, however, for some reason not wanting to leave the kitchen. He had run out of things to say to her though and felt faintly awkward. This in turn made him feel faintly angry.
Fortunately, the moment was broken by the arrival of Python. "Hey, Angie, Pyro," he said, cheerfully. "Handy catching both of you together. Gill tells me that he's got another lead on a new member."
Nodding, Angie stood mute for a moment looking as awkward as she was feeling. She chewed on her lip for a moment before taking a sip of tea, trying to think of something to say in the process. She was rescued by the cheerful arrival of Python, and smiled over the rim of her mug with a slightly confused expression.
"Cool. Whereabouts?" The only reason Angie could think that she'd be handy would be if they were going to Australia, but then the Brotherhood didn't seem to have spread out that far just yet.
"She's in New York. Reckon you and Aurora are up for a trip to collect her for us?"
John watched the exchange, his green eyes narrowing, but said nothing at this stage.
Blinking for a moment, Angie's mind misinterpreted slightly stupidly. Not enough caffeine, apparently.
"Do you think Aurora could make it that far? I mean, she'd have to carry two of us back." Her brain was thinking that Python meant for the two of them to fly over on Aurora's steam, with Angie healing her on the way. Definitely not enough caffeine, although the young Australian realised that Aurora had been able to drag Cain along.
"Neither of us has ever been to New York, though." Not that they'd been to Baltimore, either, and they'd managed well enough there.
Python's laugh was warm. "Don't be daft, I'll take you over there in the plane. And I wouldn't worry about not knowing New York, it's..."
"It's like the back of my hand," interjected Pyro. "I lived there long enough. We can find her pretty easily I'd reckon." He looked as though he'd come alive.
Angie looked from one to the other, her eyes slightly wide. Taking another sip of her tea - it was almost finished - Angie mumbled into the cup. "Do... D'you think it's a good idea? I mean, you're the FBI's most wanted and all that." She was hoping that it wouldn't pitch him back into his horrible mood, but it didn't really seem like the best idea for Pyro to be going anywhere in public just yet. Not until the hubbub about NovaTeX died down, and no-one had done anything to distract them from it just yet.
"New York's a pretty big place and I'm pretty good at keeping out of sight," he said, instantly. "It'll all be good. When do we leave?" The last was addressed to Python, who frowned.
"You don't leave, Pyro. Like the lady says, it's too much of a risk right now."
"I think I'm capable of judging risk and I don't think New York presents one. You have no idea how well I know the place, Python. So I'm going."
"I can't let you do that."
A difficult silence passed, broken only by the sound of Pyro's fingers drumming on the table. "I see," was all he said, his voice tight and strained. "It's like that now, is it?"
Alarmed, Angie drained the rest of her tea and went to make another. While she was there, she made a pair of coffees as well, handing one to Python and sliding the other across the table as she took a seat opposite Pyro.
"We won't get anywhere without you, Pyro. What if it's a trap? Much better to lose me or Aurora than you." They had no way of knowing just how far those business cards had gotten, whether they were in the hands of the authorities or not. She took a sip of the tea, ignoring the pain the boiling liquid caused when it hit the already-tender roof of her mouth. They'd get nowhere without Python, either, though Angie didn't think he'd been spotted at NovaTeX. Aurora, maybe. And maybe her. But John's face had been on the news and everything.
"I won't lose anybody, not any more. Not after we lost Dead Man at Baltimore." There was a quiet tone to his voice that Python definitely recognised, but which Angie was less likely to be familiar with.
Tap, tap, tap went his fingers, drumming out a regular tattoo on the table surface until suddenly he stopped.
"I'm going. There's stuff I need to do in New York anyway, so rather than waste airplane fuel, we may as well do everything at once." Still that same quiet, almost pleasant tone.
"No," said Python, with surprising firmness. "No you're not."
"I tried, but Dead Man was..." She'd touched him, and nothing had happened. There had been nothing in his body that she could connect with, no life force for her to lend her own to rebuilding.
She returned to her tea, watching Python and Pyro go back and forth like a tennis match.
"Pyro." Her words were soft. "We can take care of your stuff in New York. I'll take my phone, we can give you updates every minute if you like. It's just... It's not a good idea, right now your face is all over the news and anyone that sees you is a risk the Brotherhood can't afford. We're talking about a city that has about half the population of the whole of Australia, that's a lot of eyes that we can't control."
Pyro's eyes flicked sideways to Angie. "I wasn't blaming you," he said, simply. "It was an observation. So how long, Python? How long do you plan to deny me the right to get off this island?"
"You're being stupid, Pyro." Python was as calm as ever he was. "You're our main asset right now. If we lose you, what will that achieve in the long term? Have you actually stopped to think about just what might happen to you if you are caught? What they'll put you through. No, Pyro, you aren't going. You've been sick, for a start. And with the greatest of respect, you're not convincing me you're in your right mind."
The boy looked like he'd just been slapped round the face and physically reeled.
"You go there, you lose control again, we all lose out. So on behalf of the Brotherhood - no, John, you are not leaving Genosha. Not yet."
The young man's eyes flashed to Angie again, almost accusingly. "Do you agree with him? Do you think I'm still out of my mind?"
"No." Angie looked hurt as she shook her head. She looked over to Python, trying to tell him that now might not be the best time to have this discussion, but it seemed like it was too late now. She took a few breaths, not sure how to defuse the situation.
"But we need you here to lead us. In time, everything will settle down, but you're still all over the news." She'd been looking at another site just last night that listed all of the terrible things John was supposed to have done. Her eyes dropped from John's face down into her mug. Please listen to Python. The older mutant was right, but Pyro wasn't in the best of moods. She wondered what it would take to get him to listen, to realise that they only wanted what was best for him. And the rest of the Brotherhood, in Python's case, but Angie's concern was less for the cause than for the skinny boy sitting in front of her.
"Fine," said Pyro in a hurt voice. "Fine. I'll stay here and just VEGETATE!"
He hurled the still-full cup of coffee at the wall and it smashed just shy of Python's right ear. The man didn't even flinch as the young man got up and stormed out of the kitchen.
Python shrugged.
"That went well," he said.
"Are you...?" Angie stood, rushing over to grab a tea towel. "Did you get hit?" She didn't wait for his answer as she bent down to clean up the coffee, picking up the shards carefully. She sighed, dumping the broken mug into the bin carefully, returning to the puddle of coffee with a sigh.
"You're right, he just needs time to realise it." Mopping up the coffee, Angie winced at the heat that seeped through the towel with the liquid. "Maybe..." The young Australian shook her head as she mopped up the last of it and threw the tea towel into the sink. "Should I go talk to him?" She didn't know if it'd help. She didn't even know where he'd stormed off to.
"I'll ask Aurora about the trip, anyway, when are we leaving?"
"Naw, I'm fine. Kid's a lousy shot." Python grinned at her. "And I'd not go after him if I were you, he'll get over himself in an hour or so. It's kind of nice to see him back to normal, quite honestly."
THAT was normal?
"We'll leave just as soon as you ladies have got yourselves organised. You and Aurora are the two most likely to blend into crowds easily. Pyro's changed a lot in the last couple of weeks - physically, I mean - but I'm not prepared to let him risk himself. Not yet. Which isn't to say that I think you and Aurora will be at risk - you won't."
Blinking, Angie nodded. "I don't know if they got me on tape - only time I was really doing anything even the list bit weird was when I woke up Juggernaut." She was worried about it, actually, but had tried to push it to the back of her mind.
The fact that angry Pyro was the default state worried her a little, but then she'd seen a lot of versions of their leader over the few weeks she'd known him. It was hard to know which was the one she'd fallen for, but even when he'd been threatening her with silverware, Angie hadn't been able to beat down her attraction. She shook her head to herself. Get him out of there!
"I'll go look for Aurora then, we'll come find you." Not that Angie really knew where Python was most of the time, but if they got lost she'd always be able to ask Gill. He almost never moved. She wondered whether Pyro would calm down before they left.
Humming a tune to herself - she couldn't recognise the song off the top of her head, but it was something from back in the day when hippies were running around wearing lovebeads and not bathing for weeks at a time - Angie opened the cupboards again, as if there would be something new this time. Anyone who watched the amount of time the young Australian was around food during the course of the day, they'd wonder how she wasn't the size of a walrus. The trick was to not eat it, though.
Angie loved food. She loved the smells and the textures and yes, the tastes. She loved preparing food, and she loved eating nice food - but she was generally the type to eat a small meal and enjoy rich flavours, rather than to eat a big meal and fill herself up. The base was normally pretty good, Python kept them well stocked. And with Dharma and Jane, it wasn't like they needed to buy produce. But for some reason, Angie couldn't find anything that she felt like cooking. She contemplated a mystery dish from an unlabelled tin and half a packet of peanuts, but it could end up being peanut-garnished tinned pears, for all she knew, and that idea wasn't overly appetising.
"Tea. Tea's good."
Yes, she was talking to herself.
Wandering to a different cupboard, she pulled out a mug and started boiling the kettle.
Then she made the tea. It was all very boring, really. Very, very boring, and as she took a sip of the tea - which was hot enough to make her screw up her face and hope that she hadn't burnt the roof of her mouth, she wondered what she could do to occupy herself for the day.
She was still wearing the same awkward face when someone walked into the room.
In stark contrast, Pyro didn't like food. It ate - no pun intended - into his time. He was still struggling to force himself to eat three meals a day and when he did eat, it still tasted like ash in his mouth. He had promised to try, though, and so was coming to make himself a sandwich, or toast, or something simple.
He entered the kitchen, therefore, with a resentful scowl on his face.
Somehow, Angie managed to pull her face into some semblance of order before Pyro noticed that she was looking like she'd accidentally put salt in her tea instead of sugar. Not that she did put sugar in her tea, but either way the metaphor was still valid.
At least, she didn't think that he'd noticed. He was scowling, obviously not pleased about something, and the sight of his face made her take another sip of her tea without thinking.
It was still extremely hot. She only just managed not to spit it out all over the place, but that uncomfortable face returned and she realised that she actually had burnt the roof of her mouth that time. Swallowing carefully, almost convinced that tea did not in fact fix everything as she had previously believed, Angie gave Pyro a little wave.
"Hi." It came out as a little squeak and she somehow managed to sit herself down without spilling tea all over herself. Because that was the only thing she could imagine that would make her look like even more of a dork.
"What?" His scowl grew deeper, then faded as he saw it was her. "Oh, hi Angie. I'll go away and come back again if I'm in your way. Just came to get some toast before Python accuses me of not eating. Again."
He forced a friendly smile onto his face. It wasn't, after all, her fault. "How are things going with you?"
"Not in my way." In fact, she welcomed the chance for something to do other than stare into the cupboards blankly and hope that something jumped out at her.
There wasn't much else for Angie to do around the base. She'd been working on a few things on the net, had gone for wanders down to the beach, had started exploring and then stopped when all she found most of the time were empty rooms. Unless something happened where someone got hurt, she had nothing to do, and that wasn't exactly the sort of thing that could occupy more than a couple of minutes of her time.
"Things are ok. Kinda boring. What about yourself, how's everything coming along?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" He was instantly on the defensive, then checked himself. "Heck, I'm sorry, that sounded nastier than I meant it to. I'm fine. Slow process, but I'm fine."
He tried the friendly smile and headed for the bread bin. Whoever had made toast last hadn't taken a fresh loaf out and the one there was sporting some interesting mould spots.
This did very little to improve the young mutant's temper.
Blinking, Angie took a sip of tea. Thankfully it was cool enough that she didn't choke on it, this time.
"Uh, well... You know, someone could give you a hand if you wanted." With the mood that he was in, she felt the need to clarify. "Cause, you know, we're here to help." That might not have been any better.
Spotting the loaf of bread that was... well, growing in the bread bin, Angie made a face. "Oh, ew!" Her nose crinkled up in disgust, and the expression made her look like more of a kid than ever. "Did someone decide to run a science experiment in the kitchen?" She hadn't noticed it yet, and she couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she hadn't been the one to find it. Pyro wasn't looking any happier.
"I think there's more bread in the freezer. Hopefully the kind that isn't about to grow legs and launch a revolt." She grinned.
"It was like this at the Institute sometimes," he grumbled. "Lazy sods never bothering to think of anybody else..." He wandered over to the freezer and retrieved a fresh loaf of bread. He took two or three frozen slices out and stuck them in the toaster on defrost setting.
He ignored Angie's comment on helping. Seemed he wasn't in such a effusive and friendly mood today.
"Fair enough." She sat watching him stomp around the kitchen with her mouth mostly hidden behind her mug, but she couldn't hide the fact that her eyes were smiling. "Put up a sign or something, that'll learn 'em. You know, something like 'You mess with Pyro's toast, and you'll suddenly feel a lot of sympathy toward it.' Or something." She took another sip of tea, grinning into the mug completely unable to keep a straight face.
Maybe she'd crack through his mood. Maybe she'd end up toast herself. It was hard to tell.
He turned his head to glare at her suspiciously, not sure if she was poking fun at him or not. Evidently he decided that she wasn't, because a grin broke through his expression. "Man, I'm sorry," he apologised. "Guess I got out of bed the wrong side this morning."
Though she was nervous for a moment that he actually was going to lose his temper and hit her with a well aimed fireball, Angie still didn't manage to get rid of her smile. When he finally decided that he was going to grin instead of glare, Angie lowered her mug to beam back at him.
"That's all good, don't worry about it." She refused to think about him in bed. "D'you want me to make you anything?" Pyro's version of food wasn't exactly the kind of thing Angie believed a human could subsist on for prolonged periods of time. "You know, only if you want to. Or something. ...Er..." She didn't want to break him out of the good mood, didn't want him to think she believed him incapable of feeding himself properly. Even though, sometimes, he kinda was.
"Nah, I'm good," he said, in response to her offer of food. "Thanks
all the same."
He lingered, however, for some reason not wanting to leave the kitchen. He had run out of things to say to her though and felt faintly awkward. This in turn made him feel faintly angry.
Fortunately, the moment was broken by the arrival of Python. "Hey, Angie, Pyro," he said, cheerfully. "Handy catching both of you together. Gill tells me that he's got another lead on a new member."
Nodding, Angie stood mute for a moment looking as awkward as she was feeling. She chewed on her lip for a moment before taking a sip of tea, trying to think of something to say in the process. She was rescued by the cheerful arrival of Python, and smiled over the rim of her mug with a slightly confused expression.
"Cool. Whereabouts?" The only reason Angie could think that she'd be handy would be if they were going to Australia, but then the Brotherhood didn't seem to have spread out that far just yet.
"She's in New York. Reckon you and Aurora are up for a trip to collect her for us?"
John watched the exchange, his green eyes narrowing, but said nothing at this stage.
Blinking for a moment, Angie's mind misinterpreted slightly stupidly. Not enough caffeine, apparently.
"Do you think Aurora could make it that far? I mean, she'd have to carry two of us back." Her brain was thinking that Python meant for the two of them to fly over on Aurora's steam, with Angie healing her on the way. Definitely not enough caffeine, although the young Australian realised that Aurora had been able to drag Cain along.
"Neither of us has ever been to New York, though." Not that they'd been to Baltimore, either, and they'd managed well enough there.
Python's laugh was warm. "Don't be daft, I'll take you over there in the plane. And I wouldn't worry about not knowing New York, it's..."
"It's like the back of my hand," interjected Pyro. "I lived there long enough. We can find her pretty easily I'd reckon." He looked as though he'd come alive.
Angie looked from one to the other, her eyes slightly wide. Taking another sip of her tea - it was almost finished - Angie mumbled into the cup. "Do... D'you think it's a good idea? I mean, you're the FBI's most wanted and all that." She was hoping that it wouldn't pitch him back into his horrible mood, but it didn't really seem like the best idea for Pyro to be going anywhere in public just yet. Not until the hubbub about NovaTeX died down, and no-one had done anything to distract them from it just yet.
"New York's a pretty big place and I'm pretty good at keeping out of sight," he said, instantly. "It'll all be good. When do we leave?" The last was addressed to Python, who frowned.
"You don't leave, Pyro. Like the lady says, it's too much of a risk right now."
"I think I'm capable of judging risk and I don't think New York presents one. You have no idea how well I know the place, Python. So I'm going."
"I can't let you do that."
A difficult silence passed, broken only by the sound of Pyro's fingers drumming on the table. "I see," was all he said, his voice tight and strained. "It's like that now, is it?"
Alarmed, Angie drained the rest of her tea and went to make another. While she was there, she made a pair of coffees as well, handing one to Python and sliding the other across the table as she took a seat opposite Pyro.
"We won't get anywhere without you, Pyro. What if it's a trap? Much better to lose me or Aurora than you." They had no way of knowing just how far those business cards had gotten, whether they were in the hands of the authorities or not. She took a sip of the tea, ignoring the pain the boiling liquid caused when it hit the already-tender roof of her mouth. They'd get nowhere without Python, either, though Angie didn't think he'd been spotted at NovaTeX. Aurora, maybe. And maybe her. But John's face had been on the news and everything.
"I won't lose anybody, not any more. Not after we lost Dead Man at Baltimore." There was a quiet tone to his voice that Python definitely recognised, but which Angie was less likely to be familiar with.
Tap, tap, tap went his fingers, drumming out a regular tattoo on the table surface until suddenly he stopped.
"I'm going. There's stuff I need to do in New York anyway, so rather than waste airplane fuel, we may as well do everything at once." Still that same quiet, almost pleasant tone.
"No," said Python, with surprising firmness. "No you're not."
"I tried, but Dead Man was..." She'd touched him, and nothing had happened. There had been nothing in his body that she could connect with, no life force for her to lend her own to rebuilding.
She returned to her tea, watching Python and Pyro go back and forth like a tennis match.
"Pyro." Her words were soft. "We can take care of your stuff in New York. I'll take my phone, we can give you updates every minute if you like. It's just... It's not a good idea, right now your face is all over the news and anyone that sees you is a risk the Brotherhood can't afford. We're talking about a city that has about half the population of the whole of Australia, that's a lot of eyes that we can't control."
Pyro's eyes flicked sideways to Angie. "I wasn't blaming you," he said, simply. "It was an observation. So how long, Python? How long do you plan to deny me the right to get off this island?"
"You're being stupid, Pyro." Python was as calm as ever he was. "You're our main asset right now. If we lose you, what will that achieve in the long term? Have you actually stopped to think about just what might happen to you if you are caught? What they'll put you through. No, Pyro, you aren't going. You've been sick, for a start. And with the greatest of respect, you're not convincing me you're in your right mind."
The boy looked like he'd just been slapped round the face and physically reeled.
"You go there, you lose control again, we all lose out. So on behalf of the Brotherhood - no, John, you are not leaving Genosha. Not yet."
The young man's eyes flashed to Angie again, almost accusingly. "Do you agree with him? Do you think I'm still out of my mind?"
"No." Angie looked hurt as she shook her head. She looked over to Python, trying to tell him that now might not be the best time to have this discussion, but it seemed like it was too late now. She took a few breaths, not sure how to defuse the situation.
"But we need you here to lead us. In time, everything will settle down, but you're still all over the news." She'd been looking at another site just last night that listed all of the terrible things John was supposed to have done. Her eyes dropped from John's face down into her mug. Please listen to Python. The older mutant was right, but Pyro wasn't in the best of moods. She wondered what it would take to get him to listen, to realise that they only wanted what was best for him. And the rest of the Brotherhood, in Python's case, but Angie's concern was less for the cause than for the skinny boy sitting in front of her.
"Fine," said Pyro in a hurt voice. "Fine. I'll stay here and just VEGETATE!"
He hurled the still-full cup of coffee at the wall and it smashed just shy of Python's right ear. The man didn't even flinch as the young man got up and stormed out of the kitchen.
Python shrugged.
"That went well," he said.
"Are you...?" Angie stood, rushing over to grab a tea towel. "Did you get hit?" She didn't wait for his answer as she bent down to clean up the coffee, picking up the shards carefully. She sighed, dumping the broken mug into the bin carefully, returning to the puddle of coffee with a sigh.
"You're right, he just needs time to realise it." Mopping up the coffee, Angie winced at the heat that seeped through the towel with the liquid. "Maybe..." The young Australian shook her head as she mopped up the last of it and threw the tea towel into the sink. "Should I go talk to him?" She didn't know if it'd help. She didn't even know where he'd stormed off to.
"I'll ask Aurora about the trip, anyway, when are we leaving?"
"Naw, I'm fine. Kid's a lousy shot." Python grinned at her. "And I'd not go after him if I were you, he'll get over himself in an hour or so. It's kind of nice to see him back to normal, quite honestly."
THAT was normal?
"We'll leave just as soon as you ladies have got yourselves organised. You and Aurora are the two most likely to blend into crowds easily. Pyro's changed a lot in the last couple of weeks - physically, I mean - but I'm not prepared to let him risk himself. Not yet. Which isn't to say that I think you and Aurora will be at risk - you won't."
Blinking, Angie nodded. "I don't know if they got me on tape - only time I was really doing anything even the list bit weird was when I woke up Juggernaut." She was worried about it, actually, but had tried to push it to the back of her mind.
The fact that angry Pyro was the default state worried her a little, but then she'd seen a lot of versions of their leader over the few weeks she'd known him. It was hard to know which was the one she'd fallen for, but even when he'd been threatening her with silverware, Angie hadn't been able to beat down her attraction. She shook her head to herself. Get him out of there!
"I'll go look for Aurora then, we'll come find you." Not that Angie really knew where Python was most of the time, but if they got lost she'd always be able to ask Gill. He almost never moved. She wondered whether Pyro would calm down before they left.