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The Eight Ball is one of those spots that Kitty feels weird being. On one hand, it's an obvious mutant bar. She has no problem with mutants who look less human than herself, but the side-eyes she often gets at being in spaces like these merit some semblance of trepidation, even if it's relatively short-lived.
Her eyes narrow as they flit about the bar, and her head cants to the side with pensive irritation. She reaches into her jacket pocket and extracts a cigarette — a nasty habit if she ever had one, and one that she very recently picked up. One of the deathsticks it pinched between her lips, and her hands begin tapping each of her pockets to find a lighter.
It's fortunate to be a cute brunette in a mutant bar because in seconds flat, a fellow is snapping his fingers, and lighting the end of her cigarette, meriting a flicker of a smile from the petite woman. "Thanks," she takes a puff of the cigaret. Her neck cranes and she notes, cooly, "I'm meeting someone."
"Yes, you are." The young man extends his hand, "Damian Grey."
Kitty's lips turn downwards. "That's not what I meant."
*
"She's meeting me." David's voice comes from just a few paces behind Kitty, and he sounds amused. Probably something to do with the look on young Mr. Grey's face when the taller, fitter fellow announces himself.
No suit today — how frightening. David's dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt, with a lightweight jacket thrown on over it. He doesn't bother waiting for Damian to respond verbally, just moves up next to Kitty and offers her his arm.
"Never had you pegged as a smoker," David muses, raising his eyebrows at her. "Though I can't say that I blame you. New habit?"
*
Damian looks surprised when Kitty actually has company approach her. His mouth gapes, and his shoulders sag. Evidently disappointment is on the menu.
A three fingered wave has Kitty falling into step with David and linking arms with him. "It's been like… two weeks," Kitty replies as she takes a long puff on the cigarette. "It's weird how effective it is." And then as a sidebar she adds: "My parents would kill me. Literally, I mean. I'm pretty sure this would somehow be found to be un-Jewish. Or deplorable in the worst way possible."
The pair assume a quiet table int he back, and Kitty slides easily on her chair. Her lips twist to the side and her hands tremble slightly.
Her throat clears as a waitress comes by, and, she orders a coffee, only to change her order moments later to the first liquor she points at on the menu. She knows nothing about booze, just that drinking while talking about Sinjin feels apt; especially when the two times they'd met he'd gotten her blitzed.
When the waitress leaves, Kitty steels herself and manages, "The reporter. They found him."
*
David does not change his own order away from coffee, even after Kitty relays the news. His lips press into a thin line and he exhales slowly, running his hands back over his hair.
"I wish I could say that I was surprised," David murmurs, sounding resigned. "But we'd discussed the likelihood." With a sigh, he reaches across the booth to try and lighty rest a hand over one of hers. "How is he? Do you know?"
*
Kitty puffs long on her cigarette at the question. There's little reaction from her, save for the faint lift of her eyebrows and slight flare of her nostrils. In fact, if David was unfamiliar with Katherine Pryde, it might seem like this is merely water under the bridge. The silent anger the bubbles under the surface, however, reflects in her eyes as she levels her gaze at David. "Burnt. Nearly to a crisp. He's in hospital. Last I saw him, he was still handcuffed to a bed. Like he… I don't know… attacked himself." Her eyes roll emphatically.
She reaches into her back pocket and draws out the pages of notes he'd written in order to communicate with her. "He can't talk. Like physically can't do it. His jaw was broken," her eyebrows lift again. "Two people cornered him. Both…" her eyes settle on the table "..Japanese. One a woman. The other a young man. With metal knives in his hands." Her jaw tightens. "Made a sound like snikt when they came out. Asked for a light…" her lips purse.
*
That makes David's expression darken, but he does at least manage to arrest his fist before he can slam it down onto the table. Calm, David. Don't cause a scene. He closes his eyes for a moment and just… breathes.
"Does Logan know?" David asks slowly, opening his eyes again. "Akihiro was in there nearly as long as I was. And if they planted triggers in me — which, I am told that they did," he says lowly, with an irritable noise, "then it's possible they did the same to him."
*
And now Kitty's eyes darken. She turns statuesque and rests her cigarette on a nearby ashtray. Her hazel eyes openly stare at David, and she allows the tension in her shoulder, neck, and jaw to grow. There's no question she's angry. "I threw my boyfriend out a window because of one of them," there's an edge to the words as she plucks the cigarette from the ashtray again. "I gave a former teacher complete access of my mind to clean it up. He seriously saw everything. Including the incredibly awkward moment leading up to when the music box went off to me throwing Pete out the second floor window — "
A few beats pass and her eyes finally "But John didn't think that was likely. The way the pair were discussing orders, the way they seemed… I don't know… coherent? It seemed like they were in it together. Aware. Cognizant."
*
"If he was coherent… then that probably isn't it, no. Blackmal, or a bribe. The metal, I'd guess," David mutters, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "His claws were bone the last time I saw them." He smiles tightly, and it does not reach his eyes. "He reminds me of myself in that he seemed awfully sure of his ability to take care of himself."
Maybe David should have ordered alcohol after all. He folds his arms tightly over his chest and frowns pensively, watching her across the booth. "…this teacher. Do you think he'd be willing to check my head out? If we're going to get your friend out of there, I can't be a liability."
*
"I'm not sure someone who works for them counts as my friend," Kitty deadpans back as the drinks arrive. Her fingers curl tightly around the glass like a security blanket. She frowns even before she brings the fluid to her lips, but her expression sours entirely as she takes a sip. "It smells and tastes like turpentine," she shivers. "But somehow I have to keep drinking it."
Her eyebrows lift at the thought of her teacher, "I could check with him. He's one of the good ones. Helped me when things weren't going so well with my whole falling through the floor problem. And the headaches, oy vey the headaches!" she raises a single hand in the air. "I just can't understand what he was thinking, you know?"
*
"I'd be grateful. It's hard to go about having a life when I don't know if I'm safe to be around," David says with a tired smile. "If Akihiro's anything like I was when the Project suckered me in..? He probably thought he was too smart and too strong to end up on the losing end of the equation. Young men are all different, except for how they are universally pretty damned stupid."
A shrug, and David scoops up his coffee — though when she reacts to her drink that way, he offers the mug towards her with a questioning tilt of his head.
"We'll figure it out, though. If he's trapped, we'll get him out. If he's not trapped… we'll let his father handle it."
*
Kitty slides her glass over to David. He can have the liquor, she'll take the coffee any day. Coffee is more her pace, regardless. She sighs softly. "You can't win with them. They stack the deck! Anyone can see it." Her fingers drum against the mug and she retrieves the cigarette she'd abandoned moments earlier. "I don't even know how to proceed besides," she lifts a single finger indicating 1, "find Stryker, and 2) reach into his chest and cause a minor cardiac event." Evidently Kitty has given this some thought.
"But if Aki is working with them — " her lips purse. " — Laura could probably track him. Or," her eyes turn upwards, "we could get Logan involved, probably to track him…"
*
David trades glasses with Kitty, settling back into his seat and loosely wrapping his hands around the booze. "I'd start with Logan. Laura and the girls… we have to consider that they likely have triggers of their own, too," he says in a quiet voice, his expression still one of grim thoughtfulness. "They only just got out. Started to learn how to be people. Relying on them for this could be like throwing them to the wolves."
He does not look particularly shocked or troubled by Kitty's two steps. But David's not used to the way Kitty normally carries herself, either. "If Aki is working with them, finding him could lead us to Stryker. That boy's got a mouth on him," he notes with a small, lopsided smile. "And he's got a pretty distinct look."
*
Kitty's chin drops. "Alright. We get Logan to find Akihiro, then we find Stryker." Her lips purse again and her nostrils flare. She brings the coffee to her lips and takes a long sip. Her fingers tap against the mug and she notes, "Stryker needs to be put down. Resolutely."
There's a pause as her eyebrows drift upwards. "I had intended to make the files someone else's problem, you know. But it seems everyone I get involved has doom rain down on them complete with lightning, downpours, and golf-ball sized hail. No more. This ends."