Kitty and Illyana | Halloween Party

[ax_magik]

Kitty and Yana break down and actually talk. Plans are made.



Kitty had seen Illyana right away. It was a little hard to miss the witch in step at Vex's side. She didn't really know Vex, other than what she had researched when she learned that she had a magical power and might possibly be a help to Billy. Seeing her at the party with Illyana, though...that had hurt. Sure, Yana had to find other friends, and nothing she'd seen told her that Vex was anything other than a sweetheart. But it still hurt.

And, upon sipping at a wine spritzer and sitting off to the side, examining these feelings, she realized that she wouldn't be hurt if she didn't still care about her ex-friend. A lot. And yeah, she missed Yana. She didn't really agree with what had happened, but Yana had been a great help when they'd been rescuing the kids from the Right, and it wasn't like the Brotherhood had done anything terribly horrible lately. Maybe because they had Tessa now. Not that Kitty wanted to examine those feelings, because she had just as much anger there. Maybe more, if only because she'd thought Tessa knew better.

So instead of thinking about Tessa's betrayal, she'd decided that she needed to take Billy's advice, and she waited until she saw Illyana on her own to ghost through a few people on her approach.

Illyana had seen Kitty when she'd arrived, but with a great deal of effort had pretended she hadn't. There wasn't much point, considering Kitty'd made it clear she was still annoyed at her when she'd texted her about her new job. She might as well spend her time with people who actually wanted to see her.

With that in mind, she helped herself to another beer and looked around, trying to figure out where Billy'd disappeared to. And instead caught sight of Kitty, heading towards her. Uncertain as to whether or not that was purely coincidental, Illyana raised her hand in something close to a wave and smiled, just a little. Kitty could always ignore it if she wanted to. But Illyana found herself feeling a little breathless, hoping her former roommate wouldn't.

Kitty resisted the urge to look behind her, just to see if Yana was waving to someone else. No, just...just pretend it was for her. She half-smiled, but didn't wave back (just in case it wasn't), and slipped around Simon and Jean-Paul to finally come face-to-face with her roommate for the first time in...well, months. "Uh. Hey. I like your outfit."

"I like yours, too," Illyana countered. She smiled a little and gestured towards Kitty's ensemble. "Did you rig up a working lightsaber for it?" Star Wars was a neutral topic, right?

Kitty pulled out the lightsaber, allowing the beam of light to project from it. "It's pretty, but it doesn't cut anything," she smiled a little. "I thought that might be a little dangerous to have at a party. Especially here."

Illyana let out a chuff of laughter. "Considering everything the people here can do without a lightsaber? I'm not sure it'd matter all that much."

"True," Kitty conceded. "But I'm not sure I'd trust myself with a working lightsaber and alcohol."

"Somehow, I can't see you drawing your lightsaber on anyone here," Illyana pointed out. "Me, maybe. But you?" She shook her head. "Can't see it." Maybe if there had been more Brotherhood here, but there weren't.

Kitty raised her eyebrows a little in question - not accusing, just curious. "Would you really?"

Illyana rolled her eyes. "Not unless they really pissed me off," she replied facetiously. Honestly, Kitty should know better.

Sighing, Kitty turned her lightsaber off and put it away. "I'm sorry. I really don't know you. Or I don't think I do. I thought I did, until you left, but that took me totally off guard."

"Yeah. You've said." Illyana sighed. "I get that you were hurt, and I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm not sure why you were that surprised, though. You kept asking me if I was going to, even before I ever thought of it myself."

"But I never actually thought you'd do it," Kitty sighed. "I thought we meant more to you than that."

"I thought I meant more to you, too. I mean, I didn't think you'd change teams or anything, just because I did?" Illyana admitted. "But I didn't think you'd just write me off, either."

"You walked out, Yana. In the middle of all that...all that chaos, I came back to the room to find you packing your bags. You didn't even give me a heads up or anything. It was just... poof. My best friend's leaving."

"Y'know...to you it was chaos. Lots of news feeds, Tilby on TV..." Illyana bit her lip and shook her head. "People I cared about nearly died there, Pryde. For a while, I didn't know if they had or not. And other than Tommy and Billy, no one cared. No one wanted to know if the story on the news was right, even though the same reporter had said shitty things about people from here before that weren't true." She shook her head. "I went to check on Pyro, and...I realized I couldn't do that again. Sit there watching on TV and wondering if he was still alive or not, with people who were half-hoping he wasn't."

"Okay, okay," Kitty sighed, rubbing briefly at the bridge of her nose. "We both know each others' reasons for freaking out. And for the record, I did care if the Brotherhood, or Pyro in specific, got hurt."

Illyana gave her a skeptical look, but let it go. It hadn't seemed like it at the time, but she was ready to admit she hadn't exactly been at her most observant, either. "So, we both freaked. And for the record, I had planned to tell you before I left. But you were in class, so I was packing first."

Kitty looked around, then nodded to a bench nearby. "You wanna sit?"

"Sure." Illyana offered a faint smile and headed over to sit down on the bench. "So, what've you been up to?" she asked, figuring it was a safe topic, at least.

Shrugging slightly, Kitty sat down beside her. "Working. It's...new."

"You like it?" Illyana cocked her head and eyed her former roommate curiously. "I was surprised - I know you were all excited about starting college this fall."

"I was looking forward to MIT," Kitty admitted. "Not necessarily college. School is just... boring, these days. I want to spend my time creating, and NolCorp lets me do that. I mean, for the most part."

"That's what you're doing, then? Creating stuff?" lllyana asked, because honestly, she wasn't altogether sure what a CTO was.

"Well yeah. And overseeing what other people are making. Technically, I'm supposed to oversee all the scientific and technology issues that come up," Kitty told her.

"Wow." Illyana blinked. "That's...one hell of a job."

"It's kind of a lot," Kitty agreed, smiling sheepishly.

"Yeah, but it sounds like you love it," Illyana pointed out with a grin.

"And it kind of sounds like you love Pyro. I'm glad you guys are together, and that you've found some place you're more comfortable than here," Kitty told her with a small smile.

Illyana's smile faded and her eyes dropped from Kitty's. "Pyro and I broke up," she admitted.

A frown slowly formed on Kitty's face, and she to fully face her friend. "...what?"

"After we took on the Right," Illyana explained, and made a face as she shrugged. "We had a big fight - I'm not even really sure what about, other than that I spend too much time in Limbo or with other people - and he told me I should just break up with him, because I'd been wanting to anyway. And I was pissed, and..." she shrugged again. "That was that."

Kitty started to apologize, to say she didn't know, but the explanation nagged at her. "You broke up with him because he thought you wanted to break up with him?"

"I guess?" Illyana made a face. "It was all kinda confusing. And then we tried to talk when I went to find my t-shirt, and it got more confusing, and...yeah." She sighed. "It all kinda sucks. And I really hate it when he starts telling me what I'm feeling. I mean, I have a hard enough time figuring that out myself, but I'm pretty sure I know better than he does."

"Have you told him that?" Kitty asked. "I mean, I'm not Pyro's biggest fan, but it really did seem like you guys loved each other."

"He's not listening." Illyana shrugged. Because she'd tried, kinda, and it hadn't exactly worked out, had it? "Anyway, all we do is fight lately. I don't know what he wants from me. I mean, I've been doubling up on time so I can get shit done in Limbo without actually being gone, and he doesn't even appreciate it."

"To be fair, you time traveling just so you can be with him is kind of a red flag right there," Kitty pointed out.

Illyana frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that's part of the reason that Bobby and I broke up," Kitty told her. "I just couldn't devote my attention to the relationship, you know? I'm not talking about dropping everything to be with a guy or anything, because heck no, but being a couple means...sharing. Sharing your life and what you're going through and what you're working on and all. It's about compromise, or whatever."

"Hey, I was willing to share," Illyana protested. "He gets bored in Limbo, though, and he misses everyone, even though we can be back before we're gone." She sighed. "I really thought he'd like the dragons, too. It took me months to do fire breathing dragons, and he didn't even hardly look twice at them."

Kitty’s eyebrows rose. “You have fire-breathing dragons in Limbo?”

"I have fire breathing dragons in Limbo. Just call me Daenerys," Illyana confirmed. Welcoming the change of subject, she smiled. "You can ask Tommy if you don't believe me. They're pretty cool, if I say so myself. They're still little, though." She held her hands about a yard apart to illustrate.

"Wow," Kitty breathed, having no idea what else to say to that beyond, "wow."

Thus encouraged, Illyana's smile brightened. "Right? Best thing I've done so far. Well, that and the tower," she amended after a moment's consideration. "But Pyro helped with that."

"I mean, when I got you into Game of Thrones, I knew you liked it, but I didn't think you'd choose to follow it as a life model," Kitty huffed a soft laugh.

"Hey, my life is pretty much a fantasy novel anyway," Illyana pointed out. "If I'm making changes, I might as well pick which one."

"Maybe I can see them sometime?" Kitty asked. "The dragons, I mean."

Illyana blinked, surprised. "Really? You want to?" Because...that was why she'd been working her ass off, redesigning Limbo - not specifically so Kitty'd want to go there, seeing as she'd figured that was impossible, but so that at the least it wouldn't freak people out.

Well...maybe there was a bit more to her reasoning than that, but that didn't matter right now. "I mean, sure. Whenever you want."

"Not tonight, only because this is my first night to party in... well, awhile, but maybe next weekend?" Kitty asked.

"Next weekend works." Illyana grinned. "Though if you want another party to go to, Pietro and Wanda's birthday's tomorrow. You could come meet my newbie."

Kitty stared at her. "You... want me to visit the Brotherhood, for a birthday party? Do you know what an incredibly horrible, terrible idea that is?"

"They really don't hate you, y'know," Illyana pointed out. "I mean, I know you don't like them? But the only ones who really disliked you after they got past you breaking in were Pyro and Fatale. He got over it, and she's here."

Frowning, Kitty shook her head. "I never disliked them. I didn't, you know, trust them to do the right thing all the time, but that's not the same thing."

"Well, they don't trust you guys to do the right thing all the time either, so I guess it goes both ways?" She shrugged and smiled a little. "Anyway, I'm guessing Tommy and Billy'll be there, and probably that guy Wanda's dating. Maybe Scott and Jean, if Wanda asks them. If you want to come, no one'd care."

Kitty hesitated. For the past year, she'd been dodging the Brotherhood members like a pro. She'd even managed to stay away from Fatale and Alex while they were at the school. But if Illyana said that they were okay with her now... maybe, maybe she could mend some fences. "If...if you really want me to come."

More than a little surprised, Illyana smiled - then paused. "Did you Want to, though? I mean, I'd love to have you come? But I don't want to corner you into saying yes. If you'd rather not, it's cool." She shrugged. "It's not like I'm gonna pull back the offer."

"I want to believe that we can patch things between us?" Kitty told her. "And I'd like to do the same with the Brotherhood, even if I still don't approve of their methods. And I can always just ghost out of there if something happens, right?"

"What do you think is going to happen that you'd have to ghost away from?" Illyana asked, more curious than offended. "I mean, it might come in really handy if Mort tries to hit on you, but honestly, so does telling him to get lost."

"The last time I dealt with these people, there were death threats," Kitty frowned.

"Actually, the last time you dealt with these people, we wiped the Right off the face of the planet," Illyana pointed out, "and the time before that, we overthrew a demon sorcerer."

Kitty pouted. "You know what I mean. In a situation where they didn't need me around."

"Okay, fair. I think it'll be okay, though." Illyana offered a half smile. "Besides, you need to dance with Pietro. You'll love it - he's amazing."

"Okay..." Kitty nodded slowly. "If I don't chicken out, I'll be there."

"Okay. If you want a lift, just text me - it beats the hell out of the bus," Illyana offered. She smiled a little and jerked her head towards the dance floor. "In the meantime...?"

"You go on," Kitty nodded. "Maybe in a minute? I wanna finish my drink and catch my breath." And think. About a lot of things.

Illyana nodded, then got to her feet and smiled. "Catch you later, Pryde." She hoped, anyway.

"You will," Kitty agreed, with a small smile.