01st transformation . video . locks for erik & charles

[permutates]

[ She greets the barge with a smile. Her appearance is 'normal' - normal for a human. No blue skin or yellow eyes in sight. ]

Hi. [ And a little wave. She regrets it immediately. That's kind of embarrassing, isn't it? And not something that she should be doing, because she's here for a purpose. ] I'm Raven.

I heard a few of my friends were here, so I thought I'd come… help. I'm a warden.

And I'm here because I really believe that even if you're trapped, you still should have a chance to figure out who you are. I think that's important.

[ locked to Erik ]

Well, you thought I was crazy for trying, but I found you.

[ locked to Charles ]

[ She considered her approach to this for a long time. There are a lot of things that they should probably say to each other, and she's supposed to be responsible here. She can't just avoid him, as much as she wants to, while she gets her head together. ]

You should know that I'm here.

Comments

[permutates]

So I age even slower there?

Or the same?

[la_belle_rogue]

Not sure, really. Ah just know that the Raven Ah - [She almost says "grew up with" but she catches it.] know is older than both Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, and doesn't look a day over 35.

[permutates]

Hank said I'd still have the genes of a teenager when I was forty.

[ She's pushing it a little too hard, she thinks, trying more than she should to not be the Raven who - pretended to be a principal, was it? Does it feel fake to Rogue? ]

[la_belle_rogue]

[Oh she can tell Raven's trying a little too hard. Which is equal parts good and bad. Good in that her game is not half as smooth as the Mystique back home. Bad in that she's trying to have game at all.]

Probably. Mah Raven mentioned once that it was because of her powers that she stayed so young. Hard ta age when ya can rearrange yer whole physical cell structure whenever ya want.

[permutates]

So you knew her. You really did.

[la_belle_rogue]

Yes, Ah know her. [Much as anyone can know Mystique. Even having had a piece of her psyche stucking in her mind, Rogue still couldn't claim to understand Raven Darkholme.]

[permutates]

I don't really know where to go from there...

[la_belle_rogue]

Well, Ah guess from here ya either wanna know what she's like, or ya'd rather not.

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[permutates]

I think I know what she's like. And it's not good.

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[la_belle_rogue]

[ Well, you're not wrong, Raven.]

She's made mistakes, Ah won't deny. But she's not evil. [ Not evil, but definitely destructive. That's the conflict. That's what hurts the most. A lot of the wrongs Mystique does, comes from a place of love.] And her choices won't necessarily be yers.

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[permutates]

I don't think anyone thinks they're evil.

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[la_belle_rogue]

Ah don't suppose they do. [ Though one had to wonder about a group that put the word "evil"in its name.]

Mah Mystique is pretty honest about her motives though. Not evil, just... just very self-serving. [The topic was gettin' rather painful for Rogue, and it likely showed on her face.]

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[permutates]

What do you mean?

[ She can tell Rogue is uncomfortable. But she wants to push. She wants to know. ]

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[la_belle_rogue]

[She doesn't sigh, but the urge is there. They've come up to the point where it's all or nothing in this conversation. Might as well warn the girl.]

If Ah tell ya, it could be a little strange for ya. [Meaning "us".] Do ya really wanna know, or would ya rather not?

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[permutates]

If I don't know, it'll bother me until I do.

I don't want to go through life with my eyes closed.

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[la_belle_rogue]

All right. If you're sure. [Here goes everything.] Mystique is mah mother. Not by birth, but she adopted me. Raised me. Ah know she loves me, but she's done things ta me that...

She didn't like mah boyfriend so she posed as a student at the school we teach at ta seduce him and break us up. She joined the X-men later, shot me, put me in a coma, and then risked killin' an infant ta bring me back. All on the chance that Ah'd love her again, because that's what some prophecy told her.

[There's a whole lot more to it, but that's Mystique's part of the mess in a nutshell. Let the awkward commence.]

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[permutates]

[ This is far too much to process. My mother is where Raven's mind stops, where it catches, and the rest - it hardly skims across the surface of her mind. It's too much. ]

Do you... you don't love her. [ Otherwise her reaction to Raven would have been different. Wouldn't it? ]

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[la_belle_rogue]

Ah do. Always will. As much as she's done that's hurt... she saved me once, when Ah really needed it. Ah honestly don't think Ah'd be who Ah am today if she hadn't done that.

[And she's just not going to mention that the last time she saw her Raven, she had made the choice to kill her. It failed, but still, Rogue had tried.]

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[permutates]

I'm not anyone's mother.

I don't want to be.

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[la_belle_rogue]

Like Ah said, her choices don't have ta be yers. Where you're from, that world's version of me isn't even born yet.

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[permutates]

And she's already... older. And not Charles' sister.

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[la_belle_rogue]

[She nods.]

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[permutates]

And you don't want anything from me.

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[la_belle_rogue]

[That gets a small, kind smile. Poor thing.]

No, sugah. Honestly, Ah think it's great that you're here as a warden. It gives me hope.

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[permutates]

That it could be different this time.