Never a dull moment. "That's for sure. Be it giant robots, or bat-shaped men." There were far too many variations on the normal crime, when mutant powers became involved. Everybody was a wildcard. There had even been a guy who controlled wild cards. He'd had one hell of a poker face. Too bad he'd been a woman. Not physically.

>>”So did you grow up playing cops & robbers, or was it a calling later on?” She asked.

"Life decision," He said decidedly. "My dad wanted me to enroll in the military. I had other plans." Simple as that. No need to omit a thing. Certainly not the reason why he'd had the change of heart.

Riley shook her head when Ashton pointed out what had to be real-life experiences while working with mutants. She gave a small toast with her coffee before her next sip and hoped he took it as a compliment, because it was one. Someone had to deal with all the drama out on the streets, and it sure as heck wasn’t going to be Riley Sommers.

He answered her question, and they moved out of the mutant territory and into something Riley was far more comfortable talking about. Parental disagreements. Boy…that said something.

Ashton’s dad had wanted him to go into the military…but police work had been better. Riley could appreciate that.

”My mom just wanted me to…pretty much not bug her once I turned 15. I don’t even know if she realizes I’m in New York.” Riley said with a shrug of her shoulders, ”I think I left her a message once.”

She toasted. Funny. He raised his cup, then drank. They moved on with their lives.

Then parents came up. He wasn't sure why. Ashton didn't really want to delve into murky waters like parental disagreements. That certainly hadn't been the aim of his mention of dear old dad.

"Mhm," He was quiet. Noncomittal. He changed the subject. "Which magazines?" Hm? Maybe something he'd read.

Boy…he just wasn’t going to give up without details, was he? Riley frowned for a moment, considering Ashton over the rim of her glass. Could she tell him? More importantly, could he handle it?

Probably not. Most people couldn’t handle it. They looked at her differently when they knew what she really did. She hadn’t lied to this point…not at all, she did do advertising work…but…

She looked him right in the eyes, ”Pin-up magazines. Those aren’t advertising gigs. They’re something else entirely.”

Was she frowning? Why was she frowning? That bad, huh? Hustler? Duke's? Was talking about mommy better to her than talking about the work she'd done. God, he hoped not. Girl had issues, if that was the case.

Ashton didn't say anything, he just let her decide what she did and didn't want to talk to him about. This was her choice, not his, and not even a big deal.

Pin-up, she said. Pin-up work, she'd said earlier. Was this suddenly new? Maybe. Maybe there was a whole different kind of world between pin-up work and pin-up magazines. 'Something else entirely'. Whatever.

"Alright." He took a drink, and watched her. "If you're not comfortable talking about it, there's always other topics." How had this suddenly started going badly? Was he failing? Was she? "Plenty of topics..." He trailed.

Uncomfortable? Riley shook her head and laughed, ”I’m not uncomfortable…I figured you would be.” she paused and frowned a bit more, looking around the coffee shop for a moment before returning her eyes to Ashton, ”Most guys either brand me ‘easy’ or brand me ‘cheap’” Man…why was she explaining herself? When had this gotten awkward? Riley sipped at her coffee and sighed.

Sure, there were plenty of other things to talk about. Plenty.

Riley took another sip…the cup was half empty now.

”Sorry.” she said, with a pained smile in her companion’s direction. ”I didn’t mean to make that awkward. Back to detective movies?” she asked with a shrug. It didn’t really matter, she’d probably blown it.

Easy? Cheap? She watched love movies and could appreciate classic Bogart. Did being in pin-up magazines make her either of those? And who was uncomfortable?

An eyebrow arched, slightly. He wasn't getting any of this. It was almost like she was down on herself, like she had a reason to be down on herself. And that wasn't the kind of feeling one wanted a woman to feel when they were drinking coffee and shooting the breeze. He hadn't been the one making things awkward, had he? Naw. Apparently, she blamed herself for that.

She must've been feeling strange because she was sharing. It was true. This was a bit more sharing than he was used to on a date. Usually, it was more 'this song is great', 'I love beer', 'you have great eyes'. A topic change was a good idea.

"It's okay." Ashton forced a smile. "Like I said, plenty to talk about." It sat there for a moment, the 'plenty'. Ashton filled in the blank. "Want to hear about real detectives?"

Detective stories. Way to impress a date, number 1.

It was okay. Riley nodded her head. It really was, wasn’t it? Nobody was hurt, and nobody was saying nasty things. Nice. This was how people were supposed to interact.

They were running short on conversation topics though, and for a moment Riley wondered if they were going to just fade into silent, awkward, obscurity. It would be a shame, she decided for a conversation that had started out so revealing to end in awkward coffee and shrugged goodbyes.

Maybe that was the problem though…maybe they’d both shared too much, too fast. It was kind of strange…Riley didn’t relate to people. Especially not strangers…especially not in movie theaters.

Did she want to hear about real-life detective stories?

”Absolutely.” she said, eyes lighting up a bit as the coffee cup sat down.

It took him a moment to dig up a real good story. Something juicy and interesting, that'd make him look good. Ashton mulled the decision over with his cup of coffee. When he'd settled on a good one, he set the drink down and begin.

"This one happened a few months ago, in New York city. The Metropolitan area. There was a rash of jewelry thefts. Locked door cases. It was as if the goods had just wandered off. MRC and I tracked the culprit down."

The story was a good one, if only for the way it was told. Riley leaned forward a little, interested in what Ashton was saying. Closed door cases, huh? MRC was involved, so obviously the thefts had involved a mutant. That was a given though, how else would they have gotten in and out without the door being opened?

She grinned, sipped more coffee. ”You’ve got me hooked. Who was the culprit and how did you track him down?”

She waited for a moment, then a thought occurred that Riley simply had to share, "Wait...had the jewelry somehow just wandered off?"

Ashton laughed at her suggestion. "Naw," He shook his head coolly. "The jewelry didn't wander off, although that would have been interesting. For a while, that's what we figured. It wasn't until we checked some surveillance tapes from stores in the area of the thefts that we caught wind of how he was doing it."

How? Ashton smirked at her. "Ever hear of Frodo Baggins?"

Ashton held his right hand up by the side of his head, and twisted the ring finger on his right hand with the index and thumb of his left... As if to indicate... ring.

Even though Ashton laughed it off, Riley grinned a little. Her idea had merit…even the fancy schmancy detectives had thought the jewelry walked off on its own. One never knew with mutants in a city…they could do all sorts of things. Making jewelry walk wasn’t all that far-fetched.

There was more to the story, and as Ashton dropped a name, Riley’s eyes narrowed slightly in concentration. Where had she heard that name before? The hand gestures did it.

”The little guy from Lord of the Rings?” Riley said, eyebrow rising.

”He was using a ring?” Suddenly…Riley wished she knew more about movies.

"He had a magical ring. The little guy. That made him invisible, but got him a whole lot of trouble. When he was invisible, the things he was holding were not, so, he could make a dagger dance in the air in front of enemies if he really wanted to. I suppose. But the point is, he wasn't seen. They didn't see him. And." Ashton raised his finger to make a point. "They still saw what he was carrying. Such as it was with the guy pulling those crimes."

Soooo. The jewelry kind of had walked off on its own…at least to most appearances. Riley simply had to smirk a little at that revelation and congratulate herself on her good intuitions. The Lord of the Rings stuff was a bit over her head…but then again, Riley had never been a big fan of current pop culture or current movies.

All of that was great. It wasn’t every day you heard stories about people who could simply turn themselves invisible, and it answered the how…at least as far as the jewelry was concerned. It didn’t, however answer how the case had been solved.

”So…how do you catch an invisible culprit?” Riley said, true curiosity tinting her voice as she waited for an answer.

"I caught him in the act," Ashton said simply. "Watched his habits, figured out his pattern, traded places with him while he was visible. Then, he ran. I didn't have to get up and shake off the massive migraine to catch him. He had my scent all over him. We sent in the hounds."

Ashton almost sounded proud of himself. Of course, the whole thing would require massive explanation.