15697/Is that you

Is that you
Date of Scene:	24 August 2023
Location:	Recreation Room
Synopsis:	Evan goes looking for Mystique with a somewhat awkward question.
Cast of Characters:	Raven Darkholme, Evan Sabahnur

---

Raven Darkholme has posed:
The sun had set, which meant the teachers and X-Men were no longer in public places for Raven to be nagging them. The blue mutant was managing to keep herself from losing it entirely, but it was requiring a lot of will power and just a dash of alcohol.

Dressed in a pair of jeans with a white shirt that may be a little too low cut for a school, her feet were bare as she paced slowly around the pool table with a beer in hand. She wasn't really interested in playing pool, in fact she wasn't fully seeing the balls on the pool table. Her mind was presently focused on finding a new way to nag Scott Summers and get the X-Men moving toward finding where Anna-Marie was being held. She didn't believe that her daughter had willingly handed herself over to the mercenaries, there had to be foul play there.

Evan Sabahnur has posed:
    Poking his head into the rec room like he's looking for someone, it appears he's found her when he spots Raven. He walks in and over towards the pool table, saying "I thought I saw you between classes earlier. It's a little weird to see you here, but it works out pretty well, cause I wanted to ask you something and I don't know how the teachers would handle it."

    He leans against the back of the couch, looking her over as she paces with her beer and continues, "But it looks like this might not be the best time. What's going on Raven? More of this cure stuff, or do we have even more problems?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Hearing Evan speak, Raven turns her head to settle her yellow eyes on him and takes a moment to actually focus. The pacing stops as she leans herself against the table itself and a small tight smile dances across her facial features.

"You're more than welcome to ask me any question you'd like Evan," she says calmly, just a hint of tension in her voice. "Under normal circumstances I would tell you to speak to your teachers about the current situation, but tonight, I'm not going to do that."

The takes a large drink from the bottle, the name on the beer is in German, then she turns her body more toward him. "It was reported that Anna-Marie, my daughter... you may know her as Rogue, voluntarily turned herself over to C-G-I's personal mercenary squad." Her entire body tenses for a moment, and something flickers through her eyes but she shoves it down. "I do not believe it was entirely voluntary, but I cannot seem to nag Scott Summers or Charles into taking action just yet."

Another brief pause for a drink before she adds, "Since I cannot effect the changes toward action that I would like, answering your questions is a welcome distraction."

Evan Sabahnur has posed:
    Evan blinks, then nods. "Wow, that is a majorly sucky situation. If I can help out, just let me know. Which actually runs into my question, come to think of it."

    He pauses a moment to phrase the question correctly. "So, it's a pretty open secret that most of the teachers here go out in the world and do the whole superhero gig. They can call her Mighty Woman, but I recognize Rogue, just like I recognize Ororo blowing bank robbers back into the vault until the cops come and arrest them."

    "What I don't know is if they are some kind of official team like the Avengers or Justice League. Which I'd like to know, cause I want in. Working at Hope House most of the summer gave me plenty of time to hear the stories some of those folks have lived through, and they need all the help they can get, and I don't just mean a roof overhead and some food. I want to make a difference, but I don't really have an idea where to begin."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
And there it was, a question Raven shouldn't answer but was going to anyway. Charles might not be too happy about it, and it was likely he would know about it only minutes after she spoke... he had a way of finding things out.

"Well," she began softly, hmming a little as she walked over to the couch he was leaning against. "From what I understand, the group that gets together to go out in the world to help out, wanted to remain an unknown factor. However..."

Sitting down on the couch, she pats the place beside her as she crosses right leg over left to settle in. "The X-Men are presently enemies of the state due to a series of events that were basically a trap they walked into." She snorts softly, once again thinking of Jean attempting to burgle the senators office. Never send an amateur to do a professional's job.

"If you want in, you should speak to Scott Summers or Jean Grey, they are operational leaders of the team. I know that some students, when they reach a certain age, are allowed to begin training with the team," another snort here, this one for the students having to be a certain age. Any mutant who wanted to learn self defense should be allowed to, no matter the age. "and I believe you are the correct age."

Evan Sabahnur has posed:
    Sitting down beside Raven, Evan nods as she explains the situation. When she mentions being enemies of the state, it's his turn to snort. "Like the country would ever be happy about having a mutant superteam running around. Apparently it's better to be an alien or scientist who gave himself powers than to be a human born with them."

    He waves his hand dismissively and continues "All of which doesn't really matter to me. I'd rather be a part of something then go stumbling around out there on my own, but one way or another I intend to start helping people. I'm officially an adult at this point, so if it's an underage thing they worry about, I'm past it."

    He turns to her with a serious look on his face and says, "And to be perfectly honest, I'd really like some training. I keep testing the limits of my abilities... and I can't seem to find any. I need to start training before I hurt someone by accident, especially with all the anti-mutant uproar, I don't want to be on a news report titled 'Mutant punches man's heart through his spine' or something."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Secretly, in this moment, Raven would really like to see Evan punch a man's heart out through his spine. Humans were ticking the blue mutant off, pushing her thinking back toward things she had been fighting to avoid... and then her daughter was taken and all bets were off.

"Learning your limits is a very important first step," she stated before taking another sip of her beer. "I would offer to train you myself, but I have been warned away from 'stealing' students from the school."

Canting her head slightly, she studies Evan's face and eyes, almost as if she is attempting to look into his soul to see what he can do. "That said however, if no one here is willing to train you, I will."

Evan Sabahnur has posed:
    He nods, "Thanks Raven, if they won't let me join, I'll take you up on that offer. One way or another I need to train and I need to help people. There's got to be a way to make the world at least a little better than it is." He chuckles ruefully, shaking his head, "But if people don't follow examples like Superman and Captain America, I don't know that I can change minds, so I'll be content to save lives."

    "Seriously, though, what is it with people? I just.. I can't begin to understand why so many people hate us. How is a mutant so different from the Flash or Wonder Woman? Why do we seem to be the only ones singled out like that? I mean, I have heard a little anti-alien bias, but nothing like what we deal with every day."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Something flashes across Raven's eyes at the question of why humans hate mutants, then it's gone and a coy smile plays on her lips. "You are asking the very question we older mutants have been asking since the beginning of time," she states with a soft chortle-snort. "There is a reason I spent the majority of my life fighting humans for mutant rights."

Taking the last sip of her beer she tucks the bottle beside her. "I have tried very hard to understand. I have spent decades searching for clues to the answer for that question, and in all my time I believe it had come down to three factors. One, humans fear what they don't understand and that fear leads them to stupidity. Two, religion doesn't cover the creation of beings that aren't human and most humans have some sort of faith that guides them. And third, hatred is an easier emotion to show than taking the time to learn to care."

Glancing to the clock she raises one brow, wondering if the kids at the school had a bed time but not about to get into it. "I feel I should also mention that although mutant hatred is the most reported and loudest of the hatreds, there are alien haters out there as well. We don't hear about all the groups that hate, the mutant haters are the loudest."

Evan Sabahnur has posed:
    Evan shrugs and says, "I actually have a theory about a big part of the problem. Your son or daughter can't wake up tomorrow and suddenly be an alien, but anyone's kid could start shooting lasers from their fingertips as their X gene activates. It's the uncertainty, the whole 'Is someone in my family a freak?' worry. Kind of like how parents treat their kids who come out of the closet, look how many of those get trundled off to straight camp because the parents can't handle one of 'those' in their family."

    He shakes his head sadly, continuing "There's just so much hatred in the world, so much sadness, why can't people get past labels and see the person, not the category?" With another rueful smile he answers himself "And it's what you said - fear of the unknown and fear of the other, the different. And yeah, religion doesn't help, it's about the worst, actually."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Raven closes her eyes a moment, a single nerve struck from the topic of the conversation. She wasn't going to talk about it, she never talked about, but for that brief moment the sound of adult humans wailing in German about God and freaks went through her mind.

Taking a slow deep breath, she opens her eyes again. "You're right. That fear of a freak in the family is /the/ strongest fear out there. They're already talking about starting to test for the X gene in children," she snorts. "As if knowing the gene is there will stop the mutation from occurring."

She suddenly stops there, then picks up the bottle as she stands up. "I'm part of the reason humans hate mutants," she states bluntly. "The things I did in the past, the number of people I hurt or killed... I'm responsible for a great deal of the fear. I can't make up for all of it, I will never truly ever be forgiven, and with my mutation I will get to continue living on and on and on... watching the same hatred over and over again."

Turning to look back at Evan she smiles, "Never give the humans a reason to hate you. Always do your best not to kill them save for in self defense. Don't make any of the mistakes I made."

Evan Sabahnur has posed:
    "I'd prefer if I never had to kill anyone, to be honest. But as a realist, it could happen, but I'll be doing my very best to avoid it." He goes quiet for a moment as Raven explains her part in the current atmosphere regarding mutants then nods, "Still, at least you're trying to change. Too many people on both sides don't stop to really look at what they're doing, they just stay focused on their belief and ignore any other option. And back when you started, things were a lot different than they are now. Violence was a much more accepted form of protest, hell, it's not been all that long since formal duels were finally outlawed, and that was official violence as long as the forms were observed.

    He stands up from the couch and says, "I'm going to go see if I can track down someone official. If you need any help finding or recovering Rogue, let me know. Even without formal combat training, I can do a ton of useful things."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Moving to put the bottle in recycling, Raven pauses to look back to Evan. "They're making plans to go find her, or at least they better be," she looks up at the ceiling a moment as if x-ray vision would show here where Scott, Jean, and/or Charles were.

Looking back down she adds, "As far as I'm concerned, when the time comes, you can go to help, but I don't think I get a say in it. I've been following the X-Men lead on this, even if it's not my usual style. So talk to Scott or Jean, I suppose you have to call them Mr. Summers and Ms. Grey... but one of them should be able to help you out."