That little grin of Kitty's reappears, too; this time it's fierce.
"Everybody's different, everybody has problems. It's whether or not you're
both willing to put in the effort to work through 'em that makes the
difference." She shrugs; the gesture's casual, but there's a glint in her
eyes that is certainly not. "And it's not like the rest of them are the
ones doing the dating. They can disapprove all they like; it's your
choice."

Ria beams at Kitty. Oh yes, she likes this girl. "Sounds like you've been
there," she says, setting her mug aside and leaning back onto her palms,
still watching Kitty curiously. "And yeah, long as 'Pool is willing to put
up with me, I'm willing to try and make things work." Her smile trembles
for a moment before reasserting itself. "He's been hurt bad enough by
other stuff, I'm never giving him a reason to add my name to the list of
things that hurt him."

"Still am," Kitty assures Ria to that curious look. "I'm with a guy who
smokes too much, drinks too much, makes a hobby out of offending people,
and is generally nasty and moody and ten years older than me - and those
are his /good/ points." There's a brief hint of warmth in her brown eyes
as she adds, "But he makes me laugh." And then, when Ria's smile trembles,
Kitty hestitates a moment - then leans and reaches to touch her arm
lightly. "Hey. Hey. You know to be careful. It's okay." She hopes.

Ria sits up, giving Kitty a lock full of mock indignation. "Hey, are you
dating -MY- man?" she asks, and then dissolves into giggles. "Sounds like
you and I are dating twins." Well, not quite. Pete may be an angsty,
chain-smoking, head inna bottle Brit with a penchant for pissin' in too
many bowls of wheaties at the same time, but he can still go around in
public without having to wear a mask just to keep the nausea factor down.
Not that this ever even crosses Ria's mind anymore. She's used to it. "I
know it will be okay," she says to Kitty, her smile fading a bit. "It's
getting him to know it, and believe it, that can be tough. He.. he doesn't
think he's good for me."

That's /surly/, chain-smoking, head inna bottle Brit, thank you. Angst has
taken to being rapidly dissolved by being dragged out into the light of
day, talked over, and neatly ripped to shreds. Now he's just annoyed. But
still maskless, admittedly. "I /hope/ not," Kitty returns, and the grin's
finally open, laughing. "Two of Pete would be at least one too many." When
Ria settles down, though, so does Kitty. "Yeah. Yeah, but that one takes
time, you know? To let him see for himself." One way or the other.

Ria blinks for a moment. The only reason that the name means anything to
her now is because Kitty brought up Scott, stirring those old memories.
"Pete?" she asks, tilting her head to one side. Nah, couldn't be.. though,
he /had/ been a surly, chain-smoking Brit. For the moment, she leaves off
agreeing on how it will take time with 'Pool. Too much time for one
lifetime.. it's a good thing neither of them is stuck with just one, or
she'd have to give up.

Good thing indeed. Men are long-term projects at the best of times. Kitty
gives an amused shrug. "My boyfriend." Fiance. One of her fingers moves
absently to press against the dulled-silver ring as she adds
affectionately, "Surly bastard that he is."

Glancing over at the ring, Ria's eyes widen for a moment and then she
grins. "I think we've met, actually. Not certain.. I mean, there's got to
be a thousand Pete's in the city.. but, well, he sounds familiar. It was a
long time ago though, and I doubt that he remembers me much. We didnt'
exactly hit if off very well on our first and only meeting. My fault,
actually."

"If it /was/ your fault, I'd be surprised," Kitty replies amusedly.
"English? Black suit, thirty-something, bad temper, if he were on TV
there'd be about one word in five not censored?"

Ria can't help but laugh at that, drumming her heels against the mattress
with glee. "Oh /yes/," she says, giggling. "Though, can't remember if he
was that old, the rest of it.. that's him perfectly!" Sobering slightly,
she holds up a finger to silence Kitty. "It was my fault, though. He was
trying to give me a perfectly good warning, and.. well, I didn't know what
I was talking about, and I snarked at him really badly. So.. next time you
see him, tell him you met me.. and I said that he was completely right
about Scott. One hundred percent."

Well, he was seventeen at the time, so not remembering is perfectly
understandable. Kitty turns her attention firmly down to the mug, trying
not to let Ria's amusement be contagious. "I'll tell him. I /seriously/
doubt there are going to be any grudges - I don't know /anybody/ he hit it
off well on first meeting with, he goes out of his way to get people to
snark at him, and he's used to people not listening to him anyway. But
I'll ... definitely tell him." And probably enjoy the reaction.

Ria laughs, reaching for her cooled cocoa and turning the mug in her
hands. "Well, he didn't go out of his way to make his advice easy to
swallow," she admits ruefully. "But he was right. Hanging around with
Scott was definitely not good for me. I'm doing much, much better with
'Pool." If Ria could see the way her face softens when she mentions
Deadpool, she'd probably be terribly embarassed by it but luckily she
doesn't have a clue about how transparent she is. "Speaking of which..
what /did/ Green and Godly have to say about 'Pool?"

"Probably coated it with little spikes and bitterness." Kitty really
shouldn't be allowed to sound that fond when saying that kind of thing,
either. "If I've got the timing right, he was in pretty bad shape around
then himself. /So/ glad you found somebody better for you, though." And
then Ria asks about that somebody, and Kitty flicks an amused glance over
to her. "Not a whole lot. He mentioned meeting him once, but that bit was
all kind of confused."

Ria mulls that over, and then gives Kitty a guilty look. "Oh yeah.. that
was back when I was.. well, misbehaving a bit. I'd.. turned somebody,
well.. more human than they wanted to be, and she was threatening me, and
Green Lantern was trying to restrain her, and 'Pool was threatening her,
and being his usual self with Green Lantern and.. it was a mess..." She
giggles. "But I could see why that one meeting might have, well.. made him
nervous. Though he doesn't have to be. 'Pool treats me like, well...
gold."

Given the sudden sharply increased curve to Kitty's grin - well, perhaps
she heard about that from another angle. "Oh. Oh, man. Yeah, that doesn't
sound like it'd be the best kind of situation to meet somebody in. The
second the threats come out, everything gets out of hand." Got to love a
city where this kind of thing can come up in casual conversation. And then
Kitty pauses, and her eyebrows go up. Uh oh. "I hope he doesn't /just/
treat you like gold," she adds, sly. "I mean. Getting admired is one
thing, but definitely not the /only/ thing..."

Judging by the flush moving over Ria's face, he doesn't.. and judging by
the way her lips curl into a smile, she doesn't mind in the slightest when
he doesn't. "Well, I have to admit.. I may have earned her threats..but I
was glad to have 'Pool to back me up." Glancing over at Kitty, she tries
to tone down the blush without much success. "So, will you be telling him
that I'm okay, and he doesn't have to worry about Deadpool?"

Good, good. And Ria is absently slipped onto Kitty's 'far too much fun to
tease' mental list. She starts to nod even before Ria finishes the
question - and then Ria /does/ finish the question with Deadpool's /full/
name, and Kitty's caught in mid-nod for a moment. Blink. "Just a second,"
she says in reasonable tones. "I need to stop myself from yelling at
coincidence." Or starting to snicker.

Ria tilts her head curiously. "Yelling at coincidence?" She repeats,
looking confused. The mug is once again forgotten as she turns her full
attention on Kitty. "What do you mean?" If it occurs to her that Kitty
might know Deadpool, or -a- Deadpool, she doesn't show it, and a face as
easily read as hers couldn't hide anything that easily.

"Stupid... portal games," Kitty manages after a moment, lifting one hand
and waving it somewhat helplessly in the air. "I, uh, used to know
somebody by that name by reputation." And oh, that explains why Erik might
be Less than Fully Approving. "I'll let the green guy know you're okay,
though. His worrying about your guy or not is his department." Because
heaven knows Kitty has no right to say a word about anyone /else/ dating
an assassin. This Pete's retired; the other one wasn't so much so...

Ria blinks, surprised, and then relaxes. "Ohh, you came through a portal
too," she says, the idea finally sinking into her brain. A moment later
and her eyes widen a bit with dismay. "And where you were, there was a
Deadpool... so.." She stops, biting her lip. "What did you know about him,
then?" There's a hint of defensiveness in her voice now, spitting kitten
getting ready to defend her man, though from the look on her face, she
knows full well that she won't have a leg to stand on.

Kitty cradles the cocoa again, cold or not. "Mercenary," she says, because
it's somewhat more polite than the aforementioned 'assassin' or 'psycho
killer.' "Not all that stable, but good at his job. I don't know how
similar yours is." There's a perhaps unexpected lack of accusation in her
tone.

Ria listens, some of the starch going out of her at the calm words. "All
true," she says quietly. "And put more kindly than most would. He's a
mercenary, and he's a little nuts. After everything he's had.. it's no
real surprise that he is." A little nuts.. yup. Just a wee bit. "But, even
so, he takes care of me, Kitty. He's good to me, and he makes me happy.
And he doesn't deserve to be hurt any more, no matter what he's done.
Everyone needs a little something in their life to make them happy, and if
I can do that for him, then I'm glad for it. And.. I don't.. I won't let
anyone else change my mind."

"Nobody else /should/ change your mind," Kitty replies. "They might have
good points; they might not. Either way, your decisions are yours, not
theirs, right?" A little nuts. No, Ria's the one who's a /little/ nuts,
but that's in a nice way. 'Pool is likely to be a /lot/ nuts. Thank
goodness for phasing. "If he's good to you, that says something. If you're
/happy/ with him, that says more. /I'm/ sure as heck not about to get on
your case about it. Not with what else you've said about him." Like that
he's making you promise not to kill people. Now that's a startling thing
to hear from Deadpool.

Startled, Ria gives Kitty a bright, if surprised, smile. "Thank you. I..
I'm not dumb, Kitty. Even if a lot of people seem to think I am. I -know-
what Deadpool is. But.. I also know what made him that way, better than
most of them do, I think. They aren't there when he has nightmares from
it, they don't see how it's hurt him. I.. I know that someday I may get
hurt. Hurt bad from being with him, but it's a chance I'm willing to take.
He's worth it." There isn't any doubt in Ria's voice or face when she says
that. "Maybe I can't heal his mind, but.. I lift the pain a little. And he
lifts mine, a little.. and together we're better than we are apart."

If Kitty weren't quite so well acquainted with a certain ex-field
operative, she'd probably be horrified by Ria saying that about ... well
... Deadpool. But again, she can't throw stones. "I guess that's what it's
about, some ways," she says. "And who knows? Sometimes a little's enough,
sooner or later." For Ria, anyway. Not that likely anything's going to be
enough for her boyfriend. Then again, people used to think that about
Pete, too. "If it's worth it for you - like I said, /your/ decision. It's
good that you're going in with your eyes open; informed decisions are
always better than blind. It's good that you know the risks; you need to.
But... you also know he makes you laugh."

Standing up, Ria goes over to fill the kettle again, glancing over at
Kitty now and again. "Have you ever actually met him?" she asks, her lips
twitching. "I'll admit, I don't understand everything he says, not all the
time.. but then again, I dropped out of civilized society a long time ago,
so I miss things other people would get. But he.. he might be nuts, but
he's not always nuts in a bad way. Sometimes he makes me giggle until my
sides hurt. And I.. " And yeah, she knows exactly how weird this will
sound to anyone who knows Deadpool. "I feel safe with him, Kitty. I have
since the moment we met, and it hasn't changed yet."

Kitty shakes her head. "Never met him. Just heard /of/ him. Back home, I
used to date somebody who ... well, knew about that kind of thing." And
it's enough to make that sound weird to her, too. But she just looks down,
and drinks the long-cooled cocoa. Not as good as when it's hot, but hey,
sugar. Not complaining. "And I felt pretty much the same way with him. So
I guess maybe it's easier for me to handle the idea than it would be for,
you know," and she cracks a brief grin again, "the green guy or
something."

Ria walks back over with the tea kettle, tilting it towards Kitty's cup
inquiringly. "Yeah, I can understand why it's hard for him," she says
quietly. "Like I said.. not dumb. And I know what he is. But I also know
he wouldn't hurt me on purpose. If he were going to do that, he'd have
done it by now, instead of doing his best to keep me safe." She chuckles,
refilling her own cup and sitting down. "But.. enough. Tell me how you and
Pete met. Sounds.." And here she stops for a moment, looking at Kitty's
ring. "Sounds pretty serious..."

Kitty holds up the cup with a hopeful look - that, if it's filled, turns
into a grateful one. /Warmth/, oh yes. And cocoa, for that matter. "And he
has been trying. So - well - good... uh oh. My turn." Kitty hesitates long
enough to get a faintly rueful expression, then sticks with the easy,
factual, non-complicated version. "Actually, he saved me from getting hit
by a car about five seconds after I got dropped onto the street by a
portal. And I do mean dropped." Sparkle of brown eyes. "He took me to his
place to give me somewhere to stay while I adjusted, and I just kinda
never actually left."

Ria giggles, filling Kitty's mug as she listens, and then setting the
kettle aside. The two of them have too much in common. It's almost
frightening. "The day I met 'Pool, he white knighted me right out of a
building where people were /shooting/ at us," she confides. "It was scary,
but awfully exciting too." And there's more than a little mischief in that
smile. Sure, 'Pool may have been the cause of that shooting too, and Ria's
pretty well aware of that by now.. but it was still exciting. "He took me
home with him, and we tend to bounce between his place and mine..
depending on whether or not we feel the need for electricity and running
water."

"There's something to be said for showers," Kitty responds - oh, she's
just not saying /anything/ about guns and Deadpool's vicinity. Anything at
all. Because Ria is being sweet and giving her warmth and
artificially-flavored chocolate drinks. "Particularly," she adds with a
mock-envious glance, "with hair like yours. Wow." Not to mention 'face
like yours' or 'style like yours' or probably 'body like yours.' Ria,
gorgeous; Kitty, relatively plain.

Ria has the good grace to actually look embarassed, tugging on one of her
curls. "It's really nothing," she says.. and sounds as if she meets it.
"Kinda like cheating, you know? I mean.. oh god.. when your hair can be
any color you want. Or length. Or whatever, its hard to see it as anything
special. But I like being a redhead, and my mom was one, so I like to
think that this is my natural color." And natural face. And body. Not that
she has any way of knowing for sure, after all this time. "But.. nothing
about me is the way it was when I started. I've changed this and that so
many times, how do I know I ever really went back to what I was?"

"If you're happy with it," Kitty says a little more practically, "and
'Pool's happy with it - and if he's not, he's crazier than /anybody/
thinks - I'm not really sure if it matters." Sparkle of amusement. "I'm
envious of your getting to play with the length, though. It's taken months
on end for me to get mine /this/ long."

Ria laughs. "He seems to have a thing for redheads," Ria says innocently.
Nope, the poor child has no idea just why her beau likes redheads so much.
"And if you really want it longer, let me know. I'd be glad to do that for
you. It's easy."

Kitty neither; the vagaries of timelines. Which might spare some angst. "A
lot of guys do," she agrees instead. "And you look good like that." Which
is probably blatantly obvious given that Ria, oh, probably designed it
that way. Then Kitty just blinks at Ria, at the offer. "How easy is it?"
Because Pete has a thing for longer hair. In case that weren't obvious.

Ria shrugs a bit, her brow wrinkling. "Well, I don't know -your- pattern,
so it will be a bit more difficult than doing mine, but it's just hair and
that's -easy- as long as you aren't some mystic goddess wannabe wierd
magical thing," she says, getting a bit fizzy as her thoughts drift. "But,
all in all, I'd only rate it a two or three outta ten on the difficulty
scale. Probably not even that, unless you want solid platinum hair."

Okay, that deserves a stifled giggle. Even if it's a faintly guilty one.
Goddesses with platinum hair... "Nope. Just a chick with a weird genetic
quirk. And metal hair sounds kinda heavy. Not to mention that it'd
probably freak out airport security or something." Back to teasing a
little, because Kitty's unfairly tempted on both cosmetic and experimental
grounds.

Ria can't help snickering. "Hey, hair I'm more than happy to mess with,"
she says, eyeing Kitty with barely disguised glee. "Now, you want big
boobs or anything like that.. you're gonna have to find a plastic surgeon,
but eyes, hair, that sort of thing..it'd be fun. Like helping you play
dress up."

Kitty makes a show of rolling her eyes over her cocoa mug. "Riiiight. Like
I could even pull off a chest if I /did/ find a plastic surgeon? We'd be
talking redefining the word 'topheavy.'" Cheerful self-mockery, this time.
Definitely cheerful: she's not all /that/ insecure about her looks.
"Better stay careful with eyes, too, I don't know if contact lenses'd mess
anything up." And she doesn't want to lose track of /her/ original colors.
Aside from the creepiness factor, there's a paranoid boyfriend to be
considered. "But if you - seriously wouldn't mind -" Please? Pretty
please? No, begging is undignified.

Ria tilts her head, observing Kitty carefully, and then makes her way over
to sit behind her, reaching out to touch her hair. Letting the strands
sift through her fingers, she nods to herself. "Easy easy, Kitty. It's
just normal hair, and if all you want is longer, that's.. no problem. Far
as the eyes go, you change your mind, just let me know. Eye color is easy
too."

"But it'd kinda freak Pete out." Kitty laughs a little nervously, careful
not to move her head. "Not that longer hair wouldn't, but that's small
enough I could explain - and something he'd like." She takes a breath.
"Would you? Please? It - doesn't have to be much -"

Ria is in her element now. "Just hold still," she tells Kitty, her voice
bubbling happily. A moment later and she's shifted her vision, until she's
holding the web of Kitty's hair between her fingers. It's a delicate
pattern, but easy to hold, easy to trace. Pulling on the individual
strands she encourages them to grow, keeping them shiny and thick. Going
further, she heals minor imperfections in the pattern, getting rid of
split ends, cleaning all impurities from them, until Kitty's hair falls,
long, shining and healthy, between her hands.

Delicate, and just a little strange: securely connected to itself and to
Kitty, but like the rest of the girl, not so securely placed in the rest
of the world. Not harder to touch with Ria's power, but as if that pattern
might slip between and through others and away at any moment. Kitty did
say she walked through walls. And she does hold still, closing her eyes:
there's a caught breath once, when the mass of curls shifts and tugs with
unaccustomed weight at the back of her head, but beyond that she's
obedient, quiet, unmoving. Maybe a little stunned.

Blinking her eyes to clear the pattern from her vision, Ria eyes Kitty
with some bemusement, letting the long coil of hair slither through her
fingers as she sits back. "Well, your pattern isn't too weird, but.. it is
odd." She says quietly. "Couple of times it felt like it might fall right
through my hands. Still.. we got it done.."

Kitty starts to twist where she's sitting - then sets her mug down and
turns more carefully, trying not to tangle those curls. "Are you okay?" is
the first thing out of her mouth - that was quieter than the rest of what
Ria'd been saying. She looks startlingly different with the longer hair;
it makes her features gentler, softer, gives the set of her jaw a merely
determined aspect rather than mulishly stubborn. Still not beautiful by
any stretch of the imagination, but now she's at least actually pretty.
"And I, uh, promise I don't fall through anybody's hands unless it's on
purpose." A more sheepish tone, though her eyes are still wide. "I -
thanks, Ria. Thank you."

Ria lifts her head, shaking off the daze. "Oh, I'm okay," she says, her
voice gaining strength. "It always takes a bit out of me, but that wasn't
bad, honest." And then she stops talking, and grins. "You look amazing,"
she says plainly, seeming to mean every word. "You should keep it that
way. Seriously." Considering a moment longer, she nods. "And I wouldn't
change anything, Kitty. You might not look like some playboy bunny, but
you've got.. I dunno. You're /you/, and it all works. I like it."

Kitty's willing to take Ria's word for it, on it not being bad, but she'll
still hover just a little bit. If it were her place, she'd probably be
trying to ply with food and drink and pillows, but it's Ria's and, well,
the kettle's right there. "I think you just stole my boyfriend's line,"
she teases gently instead. "If I get the chance, I'll try and get a
picture of his expression for you." Even odds whether it's priceless or
paranoid, alas.

Ria flushes, reaching for her mug. "It's just.. " and then she's giggling.
"So many of the people I meet think they want to look like this or like
that, they don't stop to realize they look perfect just the way they are.
I get tired of it. I like how I look, but I've also looked this way every
single day for the last.." She stops, flicking her fingers as she does
some quick calculations. "five or six years? I can't remember. Once I
started cleaning my pattern up every day.. well, I haven't changed at all
since then, unless I did it deliberately."

"Cleaning your pattern up?" There's curiosity there, and a little
puzzlement; Kitty honestly isn't sure what Ria means. "I guess there's
something to be said for recognizing the face you see in the mirror. And,
well -" Kitty turns her hands palm-up with a little shrug. "Right now,
I've got a guy that I know is here for the whole package. If I don't start
messing around with what I look like, I /still/ know that. If I do? Things
get weird in ways I don't even want to think about. The media does
horrible enough things to people's idea of body image; adding
eye-color-of-the-day to that ... I don't even want to think about it. And
I don't know why I'm telling /you/ that, when if you settled down with one
face five or six years ago, you've probably already been through it."

Ria listens quietly, and then smiles faintly. "Cleaning my pattern means
just that. When you don't have access to showers, or baths, when you come
into contact daily with people who might have a dozen different diseases,
when you eat out of dumpsters.. your body gets messed up. So, every day I
clean it. I restore my pattern to what it should be.. or rather, what it
was before it got messed up. Which means, in essence.. that I don't
change, not physically." Not unless its intentional anyway, and when she
does change intentionally..well, "And yeah. This is how I've been for a
long time. And when I do change how I look, its for a reason. And I change
back as soon as I can."

The pattern of the /body/. Kitty's got a fascinated look in her eyes, just
for a moment - it's not often she's even momentarily, wistfully envious of
someone else's power. But to be able to perceive things like that. "Yeah.
I see what you mean." And remember, but she's not going to go into that.
"That's some of what you do for the kids, too, isn't it?" Piecing things
together, slowly.