Lita is confident that Rodeo has a hold on his buddy but she makes sure she is more aware of her surroundings from now on. A suckerpunch would be one thing...a herd of runners drawn to the scent of blood would be quite another. Lita knew she was immune (the bite mark scar on her forearm is completely healed but is a constant, shiny red reminder of how dumb she could be) but that didn't mean one couldn't cleave her head from her shoulders with a good hard yank. Besides, she has no idea of Rodeo's immunity status and she'd rather not test the theory.
Lita drops another tiny metal sliver into the saline-filled bowl as Rodeo makes a self-deprecating comment about his appearance. If Lita could roll her eyes any harder, they'd fall out of their sockets. His was the kind of face that broke a thousand girl's hearts. And unless he was far dumber than he seemed, he knew it too. Fixing those baby blue on her like she was the only girl in the world, shaking that long blond hair out of his eyes like he was in a damn Revlon commercial. Yeah, he knew what he was doing. So she let the comment slide; encouraging it would probably turn him in irresistible monster.
At the mention of the junkies in the subway tunnels, Lita's smirk turned into a frown.
"If I had a nickel for every time we wasted time and resources trying to dry out one of those wash-heads, I'd be rich again," Lita said with a sigh. "So it probably wouldn't have raised any eyebrows if I walked in with that story."
When Rodeo makes the assumption that she can throw a punch, Lita's smirk returns. He's not wrong. A down-home country girl she certainly wasn't but that didn't mean she hadn't done a little damage in her day.
"Knocked out a girl's tooth once," Lita said, pride creeping into her voice. Yes, she was a beautiful, talented, sophisticated doctor and had accomplished countless achievements in her short life. But was she tickled that she had decked a certain hotel heiress in the mouth at a Diane von Furstenberg fashion show after she had stole her boyfriend? 100% yes. It had been on Page 6 for weeks. She may have been prone to skirmishes back in her partying days but she was a grown up now...she hardly ever punched people nowadays.
"Alas, those days are in the past," she said somewhat wistfully. Gone were the days of all night partying, complementary drinks, and yanking out a girl's hair extensions because she looked at you sideways. Lita removed her bloody hands from the wound and wiggled her fingers.
"Gotta keep these guys in working order, they're my bread and butter. Literally. I had bread with butter for lunch yesterday, it actually was a nice change from eating out of cans."
They fell into a comfortable silence for a bit as she worked; the only sound was the tinkling of metal shards against the refuse bowl as she removed them. It was...surprisingly zen.
"Wow, how sad is it that this is the closest thing to 'peace and quiet' I've had in weeks?" Lita asked, more to herself than to Rodeo. "I should almost thank you. Do you have any idea what it's like for everyone to want a piece of you, like, all the time? Looking to you constantly for answers? No time to just...be? It's fucking exhausting."