2025-01-10 - Chrysalis

Having been busy with parents, Hanukkah, and everything else Angelo's been busy and everyone else seems to be going similarly for their own reasons. Maybe he's been letting things sort out over time. Whichever it was he does reach out to Trace sending a little picture of something that looks not entirely unlike himself in costume being some large insect with leaf-like wings and little clear wings below- apparently some butterfly friendly katydid.

[Txt to Trace] Angelo: Check it out. I found my people.
[Txt to Trace] Angelo: Still no more excited about salads tho
[Txt to Trace] Angelo: Hanging out with some butterflies checkin out the animals if you need to hide from science a while

[TXT to Angelo] Trace: Hey. Oh, that's neat. Those wings look a lot like yours.

[TXT to Angelo] Trace: Over at the animal park? Yeah. I could catch a ferry over and take a break for a bit.

[TXT to Angelo] Trace: I'll be there in.. like.. 20 minutes?

And so it is that in about closer to thirty, Trace wanders into the butterfly house after catching a ferry from Castle Island and then walking through the park over to the exhibit. He goes through the process of the little airlock area to keep the buggos from escaping, and wanders inside. He's dressed for work, so in his black jeans and a button-down in a pale grey with black suede Oxfords on his feet and a comfortable black blazer, his name tag still on the lapel and his badge hanging at his hip.

Spotting Angelo over among the butterflies, he drifts in that direction, careful with his movements to not interrupt any that might have landed on the ground. "Hey," he says, "Happy New Year."

Angelo is sitting on one of the benches, elbows forward on his knees inspecting one of the aforementioned bugs doing their thing with a small halo of gold flecks around his feet like the sun hitting dust. Recognizing the 'hey' his attention shifts. Spotting Trace a grin warms, "Heeey happy new year again. We're not going to make you cook this time though."

As Trace comes over he points without trying to touch the little creature, "Yeah check em out. I thought it was something different to finally check out. You get any good sleep yet?" New Year's show was huge, but there are always other shows Trace spends his day on that Angelo's been aware of, and people's shows too. As if to suggest he's not looking for the polite surface answer he follows up, "Sit. enjoy. Hide from responsibility with me."

Trace grins as he makes his way over and says, "Not that I minded cooking the last time." He makes his way over to the bench and checks for butterflies before taking off his jacket and folding it over the back of the bench. Then he settles down on it and crosses one leg over the other comfortably, taking in the butterflies flittering around and then glancing down at the bit of gold flecks on the ground around Angelo. "Did they hit you hard with the glitter gun today or something? Looks like you're shedding."

Then he chuckles, "Yeah, I've slept fine. New shows to work on for the new year. Got a couple for an engagement and a wedding come up to that I'm working on. But it's back to kind of standard levels of chaos. How about you?"

Angelo admits, "We let Saint start the grill not actually man the grill. You did good. We'd let you do it again." High praise from the dining crowd there. When Trace calls attention to it Angel looks over and then around with his lips turning thoughtful. Turning his arm over where more skin is visible there's a faint shimmer to him.

Looking back his eyebrows furrow, "I can make this go away." And holding up his hand it goes back to a matte normal finish, but he points at the little bits around him, "That I've not figures this out. Like Icarus did I fly too close to the magical sun? I dunno. Started after that blue...situation happened New Year's. Doesn't hurt or nothing at least. Poor Wes sprouted a tail so we've been helping him sort that out."

Leaning back he checks behind Trace which is bench and coat but he's sitting in it properly at least. There's a nod. Angelo thinks on how he is for a bit before "Figuring some things out. Old friend I used to compete with moved up here. Got a new project going which is going to be work for the props department and not me so I'm doin alright. Just coming down off the holiday stuff. Starting to reach back out before I call into hiding in work." His hand lifts, "So I thought to call you which there are 0 crisises... crississ...crisii... problems going on."

Trace studies the arm that's lifted and he realizes that the shimmer is actually coming from all over, not just the little pile of pixie dust at Angelo's feet. "Oh, hey.. shiny." Then he watches it turn back to how it was pre-NYE. "I mean, I think it suits you. Gives you a little of that all-over sparkle that they used to have to paint on you. Do you like it? Or do you hate it?" He reaches back and tugs his collar down a little to show the tattoo at the back of his neck, "I got this. Didn't even have to pay for it or sit for the needle or anything."

He then nods a little as Angelo fills him in on things going on. "Nice. Having an old friend around sounds good. And a new project for the props department. Don't happen to need anything to explode, do you?" There's a little crooked grin at that question. "Yeah the holidays were.. a ride. A rollercoaster ride." He nods though and says, "Glad you did. I meant to after the ski trip but then it was like.. a lot all at once leading up to New Year's and immediately after."

It's the compliment that humbles Angelo. . He'll boast when nothing is on the line but the compliment he takes in earnest. "Thank you. I think... I think I'm just getting used to some changes outside of my control but maybe that's a good thing? Keeps some perspective in memory, ya know?" He looks at his arm and lets it shift back to where it was when Trace came in. "Not like it follows us to the mainland or I'm going to have to have a lot of explaining to do in the airport." The TSA might get ruffled about something like that.

When Trace tugs at his collar Angelo turns and helps by hooking a finger in there and peeking. There's an upturn of a grin, "Well it looks cool. Having a couple tattoos I can assure you you are not missing three weeks of being itchy and doing everything in your power to like" his hand moves in a scratchy scratchy motion, "ya know."

Leaning sideways he nudges Trace's shoulder with his facing fowrad again, maybe as some assurance everything is still normal there? Maybe an attempt to figure out what the normal meter is set to. "Yooooou know I'm not going to say no to things that blow up. Nah the runt-wrangler from the resort, Aisley, reached out when we were all doing 4am laundry mentioning having to do a faerie theme birthday party for a group of kids in a couple weeks. She asked to borrow as many of us as are available and I'm not gonna tell a kid no so we're brainstorming on things to have made to like give the kids as gifts of our people and such. Gonna run some ideas by props to see what's feasible."

Sobering a little Angelo says with some sympathy, "Ya had a lot going on. Family, New Years Eve, the Hangover 2 tattoo. As Enzo didn't light up my damn phone with 18,000 texts I figured best to give people time to figure things out."

Trace nods slowly as he studies Angelo, "Yeah, I guess that's true. Do you know if anyone's gone to the mainland and confirmed it doesn't follow? Someone must have. It's been a week." He then says, "I think you're allowed to feel however you want about things that happen to you outside of your control. Like.. I like the tattoo. I'm not entirely sure what it means that I have it, but I do like it." He then grins about the itchiness and says, "For real. I'm glad that I didn't have to deal with that part. Though now that I have one, I'm kind of tempted to get more."

He smiles at the nudge, and that assurance of normalcy despite the changes. "Aw, that sounds cute," Trace says of the kids' faerie birthday party.

Trace blows out a little bit of a breath and says, "Yeah, about all that.. I wanted to talk about it over the ski trip but there was never really a good time. I know I said I wanted to work on just friends and things were complicated. Kinda didn't know how to tell you about the situation with Enzo. I know he's your best friend. And things were.. really complicated there."

Angelo takes a deep breath but turns to look to Trace listening though there's a small flicker of a smile, "Kids are fun to hang out with." He does look forward to that part. Trace goes into what sounds near like a borderline apology and finally Angelo lets out a breath. He reaches out a hand to give Trace's knee a squeeze. "He's still my best friend. You're still my friend. Giving me...someway to maybe having some peace between ya? I'm spoiled on holiday presents. Serious, Id' be a shit friend if I wasn't happy to see the people I care about BE happy, or maybe have a chance to be? I appreciate it though."

The knee gets a squeeze before he takes his hand back with a tilt of his head, "Made me think that maybe there are other priorities in my life I've not been considering or overall neglecting. Maybe that's a good thing? Complicated is sometimes good. Helps us see what things are important to ourselves and the people around you." There's a longer pause with a slow nod "If he starts being an ass cause he's scared lemme know. I am not shy about giving him a bap in the back of the head to reset em. I'll talk to em." And maybe keep Enzo from constantly trying to sabotage himself trying to be someone he's not.

Trace seems to appreciate the gesture and says, "Yeah, you could say that there's been a cease fire," his smile skewing a little bit crooked. "I've had a crush on him for a long time. And even though at the time, I didn't think that was ever going to end well... I couldn't think about dating somebody else while being twisted up over their best friend. Like, that'd just be a shitty thing to do. You deserve better than that."

"What sort of priorities?" Trace asks Angelo. Then he pauses and asks, "What is a good thing?" not entirely sure which part of the conversation that is referring to. Then he smiles a little wryly and says, "I think.. now that we're both on the same page, that probably won't be necessary. But I appreciate the offer."

Angelo's eyebrow go up with an "Awww love a good love story. There's been a drought of them." As for the ceasefire fixing the need to jostle Enzo back into reality there is skepticism, "Hmmm I've known him since we were like seven. Keep my number on favourites. We got you." Everyone has their quirks, and Angelo is fairly used to Enzo's with patience and endurance there.

When Trace asks for clarification there's a squint and the katydid on the plant in front of them buzzes off allowing a monarch to settle nearby and get nosy with some orchids. "When something challenges us sometimes it's an alert that we are not paying attention to our entire self in a way. I guess? Like I was bothered but also like I didn't know why I was bothered cause it's like- it's not you but it made me realize maybe that is something I want for myself, but to do that I really need to maybe look at what changes I need to make to have room for these things in my life."

He digs deep into his thoughts and finally reaches a point where he's satisfied with that explanation. "So I think it's a good thing. Like remembering to get some water before you dehydrate and get a migraine."

Trace chuckles a little at the skepticism and says, "Hey, I'm keeping your number in favorites because you're my friend, not because I plan on calling in any favors."

But then he is a little more focused on Angelo's answer, about what he wants for himself, or what he's doing self-evaluation wise. "I think I can follow that. It made you realize something that you wanted, but you're still figuring out where you need to get to in your own life before you have room for it?" It's more a question than anything else, checking to see if he understands what Angelo means.

There's a nod though and he says, "I'm glad.. that it wasn't a bad thing. After I kissed him at New Year's I felt.. not bad that I kissed him, but maybe a little bad that the impulse might have had repercussions I didn't think about, or even know about."

Angelo nods as Trace gets it in one. "That's- yeah. Just because I realized that's something I want doesn't mean that's something I can at al sustain. I don't want to be like the person that gets into a relationship and then lets everyone down because I have no way of sustaining time for it. Our neighbour kept adopting cats and getting mad at them or rehoming em because they were disinterested in her and she was like why and we were like... does she know cats are not accessories? Like I think the same math applies on a bigger scale but"

He shakes his head and thankfully his hair does not shed glitter. "It was heartbreaking and kinda horrifying to watch and I kept thinking poor cat." With a shrug he says on a very matter-of-fact note, "I had a hamster so I couldn't help em out there." There's a sigh of resignation, "I don't want to be the guy that does that to someone especially if I like them. It's just a shitty thing to do, but yeah some things I'm reevaluating to make sure I'm still getting the best value out of my time or how to change it."

The smile warms and turns back to a grin, "Look, once you get him on your side, people don't believe me, but he's loyal as hell. I'm really glad this means he's got more people around him that aren't looking to be around him for ulterior reasons ya know?" he pauses with a laugh, "And maybe he'll just stop complaining for fifteen minutes and be happy for frrrrrostbite's sake." He glances there's no kids around right? Hoping.

Trace watches as a butterfly comes and lands on a branch nearby while he listens, finally turning back to study him thoughtfully. He's quiet, not interrupting, just nodding a little here and there as he listens. But finally he says, "I think that's healthy. I think it's good to know where you're at and to know what you're ready and not ready for right now. You've got so much stuff going on, so much you're working for and training for, and honestly you have time. It's hardly like you're past your expiration date or anything." He flashes a little bit of a smile. "You've got time to figure out how you want to balance things in your life. I have faith in you. You'll get there."

As for Enzo? "Does he have a lot of people who try to be around him with ulterior motives?" It's not something that he thinks about a lot, that possibility. While he certainly was raised around a family where that could have been a possibility, his separation from it for so long has made that sort of a thing less and less likely. "You know he doesn't complain all the time. And saying no one cares about his work was.. maybe a little much. His work does matter. And he was technically on shift. Cut him just a little slack there."

Angelo can fall into the well of thoughts in his head which might be why he spends as little time there as possible and looks visible assured at the support. "Thanks. I- it means a lot." When he asks about Enzo's history with people there's a small frown. "Yeah, he has. It makes me super mad every time and he's so talented and the people he keeps trying to make happy throws that away until he thinks - I dunno he's not himself." And that's the deep pain.

There's a small nod at his words being harsh. That is likely true, or at least he trusts Trace's take to it. "yeah. I know. I care but he needs to let himself be happy once in a while too. I swear I get legit heartburn when he does that." There s a tilt of his jaw thinking on that culminating in an "Yeah I'll take em to lunch."

"He's lucky to have friends who care enough to look out for him like that," Trace says to Angelo with a little smile.

"He does need to let himself be happy. I think he's under a whole lot of pressure, though. And sometimes that can be hard," Trace considers as he watches the butterflies nearby flit from one branch to another. When Angelo says he'll take Enzo out to lunch, Trace returns the pat to his knee and says, "That sounds like an excellent plan."

Then he says, "I.. however, need to get back to work. We need to do this more often. Hang out. Yeah?"

Angelo Reaches over to catch Trace's hand to give it a squeeze. "Hey, I'm glad you have that too." and then the hand moves to a pat on the shoulder as he gets up to check his phone. He's got an hour before he needs to report back still. "And for flick to the head. It's good to have. But yes. Keep me posted aaaaaaaaand I'll make the time." Something he will have to learn to do in 2025: not let training take up the entire sum of his life but also allow himself opportunity for time well spent too.