15760/An Invitation and Gift

An Invitation and Gift
Date of Scene:	31 August 2023
Location:	Genoshan Embassy - 3rd / 4th Floor
Synopsis:	Raven takes a moment to speak with Caleb about his fears of being attacked, gives him some security, all while trying not to deal with the emotions from seeing and speaking to Lydia again.
Cast of Characters:	Raven Darkholme, Lydia Dietrich, Caleb Dykstra

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Raven Darkholme has posed:
As the Queen retired following the events of the 'town hall' and the crowds began to disperse, Raven finally emerged from the security observation room to finish a final once over. In charge of the Queensguard, she relied heavily on their vigilance in these situations, but when it was all over she liked to take a final walk around to ensure nothing was out of place.

The blutant had another reason for emerging when she did, and it involved a certain hooded young man who had been so vocal about his concerns of being attacked. It was her experience that when someone was that outspoken about the fears of retaliation, it came from a place of knowing what that sort of attack was like. Mutant or not, she was interested in speaking with the young man and discovering if there was anything she could do to help.

Dressed in an impeccably tailored suit in white silk, complete with a vest and white pumps with a squire heel, she took a slow walk around while watching to see where the hooded man might be headed.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia lets out a long sigh, and pinches the bridge of her nose. "What a mess this is going to be," she mutters. She hopes it'll work out. She really does. But she can't help but feeling that this is all going to backfire on the Queen in unexpected ways.

    She turns to go, not really paying any attention to those who are around her when she finally spies Raven stalking the hooded man who was just as vocal as she was about their misgivings about this latest stunt from Lorna. The hooded man whom she's all of five feet away from right now.

    She gets a bit of a deer in the headlights look, as panic starts to rise in her. She thought that she had put her feelings for Raven behind her, and flashes of rapid fire emotions dash across her features, dread, shame, desire, despair, until it settles on a pained expression.

    "Raven," she manages to choke out. This is going to end badly. How could it not? She has no real idea what to say to her, so she hides behind formality. "It's good to see you again."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Oh, it's not just you thinking so?", Caleb replies, not being so far away from Lydia as to hear her comment.

And that's when his eyes fall upon Mystique, head of security.

Now, deep down his mind, he starts to wonder if he made the embarassing question or comment - or to a streamer, a threat - that would get him in some sort of trouble. And his heart skips a beat, naturally.

"Lemme guess...", he asks. "The comment to the streamer?"

No idle chit-chat. Might as well just ask.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Raven was not prepared to see Lydia, nor was she prepared to deal with her. She had spent a month hidden away from the world, fighting for a reason to even bother continuing to exist and it had taken the presence of her children to pull back from the brink. So the moment the words passed Lydia's lips, Raven's yellow eyes flickered cold then neutral as she skillfully shoved every emotion that slapped her down into the boxes she locked them in.

Lydia is offered a brief nod and a plain but calm, "Lydia." Was there more to say? Was she glad to see the woman? "I see you are well," she finally adds and leaves it at that.

Her attention shifts to Caleb and a small smile appears on her lips, a careful act that Lydia had seen a million times before. "Not at all, you were in your right to warn people off from filming you," she states. "If remember correctly, you are the young man who asked to be pixelated at the testimonials."

She pauses here to watch a few people pass by, using that moment to steal another glance Lydia's way, before once again speaking to Caleb. "I actually wished to speak to you about the concerns you expressed," she said once there were no others too close by. "You seem to be speaking from experience in regards to being attacked, is that the case?"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"Guilty as charged on all accounts, and where to begin", Caleb replies with a bit of a smirk. "I guess we all got monsters hunting us, one way or another, right?" He actually looks at a small band of people looking their way.

People. All together. Looking in the same direction.

Wait... Is that...?

But it looks like the streamer's got some friends, or fans, or some camera crew. They're talking to one another, even if looking at him. And once they do, they're off, some even breaking away.

There's actually a sigh of relief coming from him.

Turning to Lydia, who seems okay, he says. "I'm Caleb, by the way."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia just looks... sad. She doesn't have the kind of training that Mystique has in hiding her emotions, and it's taking all of her willpower to keep from bursting into tears on the spot. It takes her a while to speak up again. "Thank you," she says. "We should-- we should talk. Not now. But soon, when we're better prepared for it. I owe you an explanation. I owe you an apology." It's clear from the expression on her face that she feels that she owes Raven far more than just that.

    She takes a breath that she doesn't need and turns her attention to Caleb. "I doubt it's just me. Lorna has lofty ideals, which I applaud her but honestly, I don't think she's thought this through. I think this was a snap decision made without considering the logistics and she's going to find that following through is going to be more troublesome than she thought."

    She shakes her head. "Sorry. I make it sound like I want her to fail. I don't. I want this to work. Every mutant needs to be safe from their government and it's good that she's offering political asylum... no... human rights asylum to those who are in danger. But I feel that things are just going to get worse before they get better."

    She flashes Caleb a grin, and holds out a hand. "Lydia. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
It was taking a great deal of Raven's will to maintain the mask, to keep real emotion secured within herself. At one time she had questions that she wanted answers to, answers she never thought she would get and yet here stood Lydia, once again herself. She wanted to scream obscenities in German, and punch something... not someone, something.... but she couldn't right now.

As the streamer and his crew move off, Raven's eyes follow them for a moment before she taps the comm in her ear and says something in a very flowing language. Fans of the Lord of the Rings would recognize it as Middle Earth Elvish.

Once more she allows her eyes to settle on Lydia, to actually /see/ the woman and some how she manages to keep it together on the outside, in fact the smile she offered Caleb is still on her face. "Another time perhaps," she says with that same smooth, calm tone. She wants to say more, she would like to not be working, to not care about any of it any more, but after Irene, after Azazel, after her children... she knew all too well what shutting off those emotional permanently had done to her.

"Queen Lorna has thought out a great number of angles of this plan," she then says, looking between Caleb and Lydia, getting back into business mode. "If the United States passes this bill, they will be in violation of the Sokovia Accords and Genosha, as the officially considered 'mother land of the mutants' will have right to act. We are not looking for a war, but we will not stand idly by and have mutants forced into being violated."

Canting her head slightly, she slides her right hand into her pocket and removes a really expensive looking cell phone. "Caleb, this is for you," she states and extends it toward him. "It functions like any other cell phone on earth, but has a few added features I believe you might like." A coy smile plays on her lips now, "You see, that phone is linked direction to Asteroid M's mainframe, which means if you trigger the alarm it will take exactly fifteen seconds for assistance to teleport in, or if you would rather, exactly fifteen seconds for a portal to open for you to jump through safely to the Asteroid... though really, both are a possibility."

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
"I see we agree then, Lydia", Caleb concurs. "The word should've been 'asylum', not 'sovreignty', no matter how well-intended it was." He adds, "It's gonna come out as agressive, and no doubt some pencil-pusher in Washington is going to sell it as a 'red alert, all men to battle stations'." He shifts weight from one leg to the other. "Is there any chance the Queen will ammend her words? I got a family to protect, I don't need to get caught in the crossfire because some giant murderbot is coming after the next door neighbour because mutant." He shudders, "Fried one of those with an EMP. I'd like to not have to do it again."

He looks at the watch and to Raven, then back to the cellphone. "I... I dunno what to say..." He looks at it, gently taking it.

And then... He considers a possibility, wild as it may seem. "But... Aren't you afraid this signal could somehow be duplicated, if the proverbial shit hits the fan?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "She's not kidding," Lydia tells Caleb. "I've counted it. Fifteen seconds. They're good phones. Secure, too. Some of the best encryption around." She wishes she had kept hers but... She clutches her hands into fists, digging her nails into the palms of her hands, enough to draw a little blood. It's how she's managing to keep things so cordial.

    "I honestly don't think HB-485 is going to get signed into law. Even if it passes the house, I'd be really surprised if Luthor signs it into law." She nods at Raven, "Like she said, it violates the Sokovia accords but... you never know."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
"The Queen may alter her words," Raven says with a soft hmmm. "But only if she truly believes her words were incorrect. I will tell her what you said Caleb, it may in fact be helpful. I obviously cannot tell her what to do." That was a bag of feral cats she was unwilling to open save for the most dire of circumstances, such an assassination attempt.

"As for the signal," the coy smile goes mischievous, her eyes may have in fact sparkled a little. "No computer could duplicate it. We mutants have interesting tricks up our sleeves, so when I say that no computer on this planet can copy, mimic or replicate it, I mean it."

Once he takes the phone he feels it vibrate gently once in his hand, and she goes on to explain, "These phones are exclusively used by the Brotherhood, that's not to say their phone numbers are in the memory. Asteroid security will contact you to help set up the phone correctly, however for now I need to finish my sweep and report back to Her Majesty."

With all that said, she takes a moment to steel herself before looking to Lydia to say, "You have my number, it hasn't changed." then she offers a nod to both and begins to move away to finish once around the main room.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
At the reply Lydia offers, Caleb now says, "Well, let's hope you're right..." He adds, "By my experience - and surely as history will recount many times -, in order to make someone do something against a group, all you have to do is frame them in some fashion. Do something, and make it look like somebody else did it." He's had that experience numerous times with the mob back in Gotham, being pinned for stuff others did, or seeing others pin the blame on other groups. Mob politics, really. "Something egregious and placing mutants in a negative light."

"Thanks for the gift. I'll be sure to give it to my sister", Caleb says to Mystique. "She's the one that'll need it more than I do."

Caleb, the ever-worrying big brother.