driftfleet | Try Catching Flootemon with your Communicator!

[ It's all well and good for Mystique to huff and sigh and speak to her, but it's awkward and uncomfortable for Raven. This woman is a symbol of someone she could easily have become, someone in another world another person just like her ends up being a mirror of, and it's hard to look at the future and wonder how much of you is the same. She doesn't know if she'll ever be comfortable around the other woman, but at least she can try to settle down and she shakes her head, glancing away. ]

Oxford habits die hard, don't worry. It's not you. [ But then she looks at her properly, tilting her head. ] I never thought of you as my enemy.

['Foolish girl', she wanted to say, was so tempted to say but knew that was hardly useful. Mystique didn't lie, she wasn't Raven's enemy but if it was the reverse Mystique would be ready to treat anyone like an enemy.

Then again, that just spoke about their differences.] Yes, I can guess.

If I may ask, [A though coming to mind as she glanced at Raven, thinking of her run ins with Erik and Charles so far on the planet and their reactions to her powers.] Are you limited to just taking human form?

[ Raven knows enemies when she sees them and, right now, Mystique doesn't rank as high as Trask or the presidency - there are more important people for her to fight against, and battling herself, quite literally, is not something that she's exactly prepared for.

Besides, she has Charles, Hank and Erik on her side. Mystique doesn't. ]

... I haven't tried anything but human form. [ She frowns, considering it, her eyes darting over the other woman's face. ] You turn into animals?

I can. [The fact she was even admitting to that information spoke volumes about how much Mystique was offering a hand of friendship. It was such important information and gave her such an advantage over others, but only if it was a secret. Not offered like she just had.] It might be something to consider, if it is possible. I haven't out right asked Kurt if his mother was capable of it, but he hasn't mentioned it either. It could just be another difference between the universes.

[ Raven is hesitant, at least for a moment, but then she shifts, moving a little bit closer. ]

I didn't really use my mutation properly for a long time, not until I started training. I haven't even considered it. How do you go back if you're an animal? Do you keep your mind?

[ The logical progression seems that once you're an animal you'd have it's brain size, too, but if it's like transforming into people... You don't take their mind, you keep your own.

And, well, the less she says about Kurt the better. ]

[Mystique was quiet for a long time before she answered, almost as mentally wrestling with herself on how to answer, how much to reveal about herself. To show any weakness was a poor choice, even to possible allies, a front of strength should always be put forward first.

Raven was right, habits were hard to break.] It depends if you already have issues with that. [Or if it was just something that came with age and the many, many faces she had used. To get to a point where she couldn't even remember what she originally looked like anymore. It was easy to lose herself in one of her disguises, to lose her sense of self and who she was. That struggle to try and find her face again after every use of her powers.]

[ She considers it for a long moment, thinking absently, before she shakes her head. Standing tall, she crosses her arms, watching for a moment - no, she doesn't have issues with it, but... Does Mystique? Has she lost what she looked like to the ever-changing faces that they both ended up using? ]

I haven't. Not yet. This is what I look like when I want to blend in, and I still know just how I first looked when I was... Me. [ Raven has never had the problem of turning into someone and picking up on their memories, their minds, themselves; she just wears their skin as a disguise and that's it. She wonders if it's different, or if it'll change with time, if she gets stronger or better... But it seems like a foreign idea. ]

Then I doubt you will have an issue. [There was a touch of coldness to her tone that hadn't been there before, the barest of chills that just lingered around her words.] It's a form like any others, you control what it does, [Before another thought strikes her.] Although it depends how in depth you're shifting goes already, if it's on a skin layer or something you can take all the way down through all your systems. Able to change muscle density and bone structure, move blood vessels if they at risk of bleeding out and numb areas by removing nerve ends. To restitch skin and flesh if cut or create internal splints to hold broken bones together. You need full body control to do this.

If it's anything like me... [Oh, was she really, really going here? With this... girl? When she herself never had a mentor, when she had to learn the hard way, when she had to suffer years of being stuck blue and red and unable to hide herself?

It appeared so.] It will take a long time to reach the level of changing outside of human form. Decades.

I just become the people I see - their faces, mostly. I don't think it's ever been as deep as anything else. I've turned into people bigger and stronger than me and I've never felt stronger, if that's what you're talking about. I definitely don't have any kind of full body control. [ It would have made Paris easier if she did; she'd have been able to lay low and not have to duck into a hospital or anything of the sort. She'd have been able to flee and hide and never be found, not at least until she had found Trask all over again.

Hesitating, awkwardly, Raven shifts, crossing her arms. She feels as though she's stumbled over something here, and it's a kind of intimacy she hadn't expected or wanted. ]

... I think I can wait decades.

[Mystique held her tongue for several long heart beats, feeling that same presence settle over her, and she didn't entirely welcome it. It was so... unusual and rare, not something she easily felt around others. Especially with looking at a younger and so different, but same at the same time, version of herself.] That may be for the best, to not strain your body beyond what it's currently capable of. I do not know if I have the knowledge I got now back then if I would even be able to use it.

Keep training though, it will pay off. One way or another.

[ This version of herself is older, much older, and Raven knows that she has time to catch up - she has decades ahead of her where she can explore her mutation and get stronger. Charles hadn't been as powerful as he was now at the beginning, and even Erik was growing in his powers day by day - it's the same for her. Maybe one day she'll be as obviously powerful as this version of herself, as Mystique, but she'll wait for that day to come for herself. There's no point forcing it.

Careful, she nods her head. ]

I haven't stopped. I can't, not when there's still so much to do.

Good. [Feeling that awkwardness continue to settle between them, Mystique let out soft exhale before moving to break both eye contact and the conversation, feeling she had said more than her bit.

At least once she added one more thing, said as she was half turned away from Raven.] If you do decide you want more options, you are welcome to come train with me. I have others I am helping but there is room for you.

[ It is awkward, but at least it's a step forward. The irrational anger and frustration - and, yes, admittedly, a touch of hatred - that Raven felt towards the other woman had faded somewhat, and she can feel herself calming, a little less tense in her company. It wasn't going to be a finger-snap fix for their awkward relationship, but at least it was a start.

Frowning, Raven hesitates before she tilts her head up. ] I'll - I'll think about it. I had some things planned with Erik, but... [ A shrug. Who knows how long that'll last. ]

[There was another pause as her eyes narrowed a moment at the mention of Erik. She was still so unsure about him, he seemed so much like the young man she use to know... before he started to destroy everything around him.] I understand.

[Wanting to say more, a warning about Erik, to not let him get swept away in his own hype, Mystique instead bit her tongue and held back. If it came to that she would step in, not make Raven do it. Instead she moved to leave, then stopped as she remembered those 'Oxford habits'.] Goodbye.

Try Catching Flootemon with your Communicator!

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