driftfleet | may mingle (blameless!)

...Tell me about her?

[ he's free to refuse. but maybe if he can begin to try and explain it to her, he can graduate to explaining it to kara. ]

Er.

[he probably should. He wants to]

We - uh, met when I was still with the CIA, eleven or so years ago? She's - Charles' adopted sister. After we met we sort of - bonded over wanting to be normal. [he rubs the back of his neck] And . . . then we had a relationship. She's, uh - she's the reason I'm blue. [he makes a gesture and lets his hand drop]

Describing what she's like is hard, since . . . she's changed a lot, but - once you get past what she's become, she's - one of the kindest people I know. But she's also very proud in what she is - she does things for mutants that Charles and I can't.

Her name is Raven. [he doesn't know if Kate is familiar with who that is, so -] You - might know her as Mystique.

[ y'know, she swallows all of this very well -- following each new sentence with a good temperament and lots of patience. right up until he says the name. not raven, but... ]

Mystique? [ oh, crap. all of kate's nonchalant tough'n'threatening act sorta...melts away. because mystique is someone she's never met (she doesn't think; but how could she know for certain?) but someone whose reputation is not unknown to her. she bets clint's gone toe-to-toe with her on more than one occasion, maybe. ]

Huh. I, uh, wouldn't have thought she was your type. Necessarily.

[ hank why can't you just settle on a nice non-villainous girl ok. ]

[she's not a villain in his world she's a hero!!

But he figured Kate knew her, or knew of her, considering everything they've talked about. His expression turns sheepish for a moment]

She's the reason I even have a type. [he didn't exactly grow up with crushes on girls or anything - all the girls were much older than him.

Then again - Raven is at least ten years older, too. Maybe he does have a type] You can say it - out of my league, etc, etc. [he desperately wants to lighten the conversation a little]

Really not what I'm taking about, Hank. [ her cheeks puff. kate even goes far enough as to set aside her theatinin' knife and instead perch her loosely formed fists on her hips. ] Where I come from, Mystique's...bad news. Usually.

I know. I figured. [he crosses his arms in response to her setting the knife down] She isn't - that in my world. She recently saved the president, actually.

Oh, sure. She went on the straight and narrow for a while. Captain America even put her on an Avengers team but -- [ more perplexed than anything, kate is simply shaking her head. who in their right minds would pass on KARA for MYSTIQUE. ]

It didn't last long.

Captain America? [some of these code names, man] She's - I wouldn't say it's the straight and narrow, but she's never been an enemy, either. The first group of us - I really should just call us X-Men at this point, but she was apart of it.

I'm pretty sure the only time my world's Mystique was an X-Man was when she infiltrated the team. Something like that. Honestly? She always seems to be infiltrating something...

I don't know much about what she did in the years we were separated, but she's always been fighting for mutants. That much I do know. [he huffs out a faint, amused noise] It seems like no two people are the same in any our worlds.

Maybe that's just as well.

Oh, it is. I'm very happy I'm nothing like the Beast some of the people here know.

[ she nods, thoughtful. ] At least if you're different, you can feel like yourself. Y'know? Lots of people have the name Kate. In all kinds of worlds, I'm guessing.

[ so it's a little different than that, but maybe they need a little positivity. ]

[positivity is good. He smiles a little] If it makes you feel better, you're the only Kate I know.

Hank isn't a common name, but my real name is Henry. I think that's a little more common.

Maybe. A little. I don't know too many of either, if I'm honest.

Heh, me either.

[he's going to stay positive with this, even if it's going back to the first initial conversation] Listen, I - know you're probably still upset with me about - everything, but - thank you for coming to talk to me, too and not just - assuming things.

[a pause] And thanks for not throwing a knife at me.

Oh, it was just a prop. I was never gonna throw it. I basically never miss; it wouldn't have been fair. [ she sighs. ] But yeah, you're not my most favourite person in the fleet at the moment.

But it could be worse.

I don't know, I think it would've been a little fair. [he has absolutely accepted that people are going to be upset with him and that he deserves any and everything they say]

It could be a lot worse. [he'll take that. And - ] I'll - let you know how it goes. That way if I screw it up you can actually throw something at me.

Thanks. I like being in the loop.

Mm, I figured. And - I mean, you'd probably hear it from Kara, too, but - [a shrug]

But [ she leaps in ] maybe I've decided I wanna be on both sides of this thing.

Ah. [a faint smile] Well - I'll tell you too. So you can be.

In that case, I figure our business here has been concluded.

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