8283/The Facts of Unlife

The Facts of Unlife
Date of Scene:	17 October 2021
Location:	Mystique's Quarters
Synopsis:	Lydia comes to Mystique with what information she's learned about herself from Hatshepsut. They talk about how she's going to feed, who's really to blame for Lydia's current state, and what kind of powers she should work on in the coming months. Then there's snuggling.
Cast of Characters:	Lydia Dietrich, Raven Darkholme

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Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia returns to their room, looking a little flushed, which is unusual considering her undead state. She finds Mystique is sitting at her desk getting some post-China work done, and she walks up behind her, snaking her arms around her neck and down her chest to give her a backwards hug.

She gives the top of Mystique's head a kiss, "Hey, sweetness. How's the work coming along? We never got a chance to talk about your op. How're the kids you rescued?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
When the door opens, Mystique turns her head to see that it's Lydia, which means she looks back to the monitor long enough to finish what she was presently working on, get kissed on the head and hugged and then she's done and her attention goes to Lydia. Reaching up to hug her backwards for a moment, she then turns in the chair to pull Lydia into her lap.

"The children are doing quite well," she offers, kissing Lydia lightly on the cheek then wraps her arms around her. "A little malnutrition here and there, but over all they were pretty well taken care of. We have a few that are just starting to wake up, the ones that were being experimented on, but over all the missions was a complete success."

Another kiss is offered before she asks, "How are you?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia easily slides into Mystique's lap, and returns the kiss. She doesn't immediately answer the question. She takes time to check in with herself. How /is/ she? "Surprisingly alright," she concludes. "It's a big change, and there's still a lot to get used to, and I'm just kind of overwhelmed because it's all so much. But when you were asleep last night and I was still riding high on Hatshepsut's blood, I ended up doing a lot of thinking."

She leans around to point at one of her journals. "There. In that pink glittery one. That's my vampire journal." Mystique knows that Lydia does the majority of her deep thinking aloud, as it were, in her journals. "I'll let you read it once things have settled down. There's an awful lot of self-pity in there." She turns back around and lands a kiss on Mystique's head, "But I think I got that mostly out of my system now and I think things are going to be alright."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Amber eyes settle on the pink glittery monstrosity and instantly Mystique thinks, 'Wade would like that.' She then looks back to Lydia. "Would you be offended if I told you I don't want to read it?" She asks, being blunt and actually speaking her mind for a change. "I will read it, if that's what you want though. I would think however that your journals are your private thoughts." Now she was just beating around the bush about it.

"You think things will be alright, but you don't know." She finally says, trying very hard not to let her own level of panic and depression show. "Everyone has been on eggshells, trying to figure out if your safe or not. I don't care of you eat the entire asteroid, so long as /you/ are alright."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"I won't be offended," Lydia says gently. "Most of my personal journals I wouldn't share with anyone." She grins and boops Mystique's nose with a finger, "Except for you. I'll share anything for you."

"I'm safe," Lydia assures, "as long as I don't get too hungry." A scowl flickers across her features. "About that. I just got back with meeting from Hatshepsut, and we talked about the kinds of things we should expect, what I'm capable of, and how we can keep me from being a danger to innocents."

She takes in a breath to let it out in a sigh, "The long and the short of it is that I need blood. Fresh, human blood. Bagged or animals won't do. I got a top off from her which should last me another 24 hours, but I can't keep drinking from her."

Lydia gives Mystique a quick kiss before getting out of her lap to sit in her own office chair that she pulls to them with an ectoplasmic tentacle. "We need volunteers that I can feed from. I don't have to take it directly from them... they can bleed into a cup which I can drink out of, but trust me when I say this, they'd be missing out of one hell of a rush."

She reaches out and takes one of Mystique's hands in her own. "We're going to need to set up a schedule... and backups if one of my volunteers can't make it." She hadn't thought much about this in the past day, thinking that she'd just be able to have a blood bag supply and call it good. Now, she's just thinking aloud. "And... contingency volunteers that we can call on if I burn through too much blood and need some off schedule." She laughs a bitter laugh, "We'll need a spreadsheet."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique doesn't stop Lydia from leaving, though she really preferred having her close, a constant reminder of why she is still there and hadn't bolted for parts of the world unknown.

She listens as Lydia explains the situation, picking up her tablet off the desk to make a few notes. "You already know you can have my blood," she states plainly. "As much as you need." The notes get written down, so she can arrange what Lydia's need. Some people would be leery of feeding a vampire, but she knows enough out there who don't give a damn and would be willing.

Setting the tablet back down, she takes Lydia's hand back. "I can arrange volunteers, quite a few around here who won't give a damn about helping out with blood, so I'll approach it from an angle of keeping you alive." Business, it was all business, the rest she was keeping inside.

"Fresh won't be a problem, Lydia, if you're thinking it would be. I'm sure Victor would be willing, and honestly he won't notice the missing blood because that's part of the regeneration." As she says this, she reaches up to rub her arm where the vampire's sword at nicked her. The sleeves of her top concealed it, but Lydia's nose would pick up on the fact that the wound wasn't there. No blood scent from it at all.

"Honestly, I'd prefer that you rely on me as much as you can, and turn to others only when we have to," she finally admits, the first hint of her actual feelings showing. "That of course all depends on how much blood you need and how often."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
No, sitting in the chair isn't good enough. Once Mystique puts away her tablet, she crawls back into her lap, and just kind of curls up. "I know," she says about her lover's blood. "And once we get a schedule going you'll /definitely/ be on it." She leans into Mystique and nuzzles her neck. "You smell so good. Like sandalwood and rose. I have... very /naughty/ desires when I'm this close to you but I daren't act on them or else I might lose control." She heaves a wistful sigh. "Give it a few more days."

"I don't know about Victor," she says, bringing her head up from such a tantalizing target such as Mystique's neck. "That man frightens the hell out of me. I'd rather not rely on him if I can help it." She shakes her head. "Besides relying on just a couple of people, even if they /can/ regenerate, doesn't seem to be a good idea."

"I'd take from you... and only from you but I need too much." She curls up even more and lays her head on her lover's chest. "I need a couple of pints, or thereabouts daily. Less as time goes on but I'm pretty fresh so, like a babe, I'm going to need to eat a lot."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Once again Mystique wraps her arms around Lydia and snuggles into her, as much as the glowing ash mutant snuggles into her. She could stay like this for days on end if life allowed it, but life never does, so she'll take what she can get.

"Victor may be scary Lydia," she offer quietly, caressing her hand down Lydia's side. "But he's not really, in most situations. He's a fierce fighter, a warrior, deadly, accurate and he does enjoy his work, but he's also a considerate man, very loving, and he cares. You've never gotten a chance to know that side of him, but I assure you, he is. I'm certain he'd be willing, and his blood will not make you a psycho killer."

Offering Lydia a smile at that last part, she heads right into the next part of the topic. "The truth is, I don't think it's a good idea to inform everyone on the asteroid about the changes you're going through. I know some won't have an issue with it, others may, and it's those others that worry me. So yes, I will find some back up people willing to donate blood, but I don't think it wise to announce it over the intercom to the entire place. Who you tell is entirely up to you, but there are Vampire hunters out there, and I most certainly don't want to have to kill them for looking at you."

Lifting Lydia's head for just a moment, she places a soft, tender kiss against her lips before saying, "You have all the time you want and need, Lydia. I'm still..." she pauses, sighing. "... trying to accept that I did this to you."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia is silent for a moment, enjoying the heat of being next to Mystique. Sure she doesn't really feel hot or cold anymore, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy the warmth radiating from somebody she loves.

"I agree," she says. "I don't think we should announce it but..." she shakes her head. "People are going to notice. Even if I somehow manage to hide just how /pale/ I am now, people are going to notice that I'm no longer glowing green... that it looks like I'm always standing in the wake of Mt. St. Helens."

"People are going to /notice/ and they're going to /talk/. Rumors are going to spread." She snorts, "God knows what kind of rumors they'd be, but they'll be out there. Sooner or later we'll have to say /something/. It doesn't have to be the truth." She looks up to her lover, "And the sooner we say something, the more likely it is to be believed."

She returns the kiss with tenderness in returns, but sits up straight when she learns that Mystique is blaming herself. "Is that what you think? That you did this to me?"

She adjusts herself so that she's now straddling the cobalt woman so she can look her in the eyes. "I want to make this /very/ clear," she says, deadly serious. "/You/ did not do this to me. /You/ are not at fault. The only person we should be blaming is That Bitch who kidnapped me in the first place."

Her stern expression softens, as she tenderly pulls red hair out of Mystique's face and tucks it back behind an ear. "You /saved/ me, Raven. You came for me and you /saved/ me."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique chuckles a little as Lydia talks about the rumormill that is the asteroid, and she's right about that. The cobalt mutant knew they'd have to say something, but whether it was the truth or not was up to Lydia. She was already working angles for things that could be used as the reason, after all a lot of shit had been going on, perhaps something happened to Lydia's powers and that was all they really needed to know.

That chuckle dies in her chest as Lydia shifts and looks her in the eyes, not giving her an escape. "That bitch is the reason Lydia, I agree with you there, but..." she pauses, watching Lydia's eyes, letting her mind repeat what Lydia has just said. "... Do you really believe that we saved you? I see it in your eyes, I hear it in your voice, but I also know you're an expert at saying exactly what I want to hear. I feel at fault. I didn't think, not even for one moment, logically."

She sighs again, trying to keep the pain out of her face but failing. "Hateshepsut said you were dying, there was no other choice and I let emotion answer the question. I've thought about it since them of course," she snerks. "Constantly. If logic had applied, I would have still likely had the same answer. You... you didn't deserve to die, not like that, not because of Hateshepsut... I couldn't let you go. I don't /ever/ want to let you go."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia watches Mystique as she speaks, picking up the movement of her lips, her eyebrows, her eyes. Blood tears start to well in her eyes. It pains her so to see her lover like this. "The heart wants what the heart wants," she says simply. I wasn't ready to let you go either. If God had come to me and asked me to choose between death and a peaceful afterlife, or an eternity as a monster just so I could stay with you, I would choose you over, and over, and over again." She punctuates each 'over' with a tender kiss."

"I don't say these things because it's what you want to hear," she says gently, as her tears start to fall, leaving red trails down her cheeks. "I say these things because they're /true/."

"She told me, Hatshepsut, that if you hadn't told her to turn me, she would have likely gone against your wishes and turned me herself. And if /she/ hadn't turned me, then That Bitch would have." She laughs a little bit at that. "It's like it was my fate to become a vampire all along."

"No," she says gently, still crying. "I didn't deserve to die. Those children you rescued from China didn't deserve to be experimented on. Clarice didn't deserve to be turned into a mindless assassin, and Theo and Pete didn't deserve to watch their parents die." She rests her head against Mystique's, red tears staining her face be damned. "Bad things happen to good people. It sucks but it's true. It's how we move on that matters."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Instinct. Mystique reaches to wipe away the tears, blood or not, she hated to see Lydia cry.

"Don't cry love," she whispers before kissing her. "There's nothing to cry for now. You're here, I'm here. No matter what happens, we're together and will stay that way. If fate decided this, so be it. If Hatshepsut would have done it any way, then clearly that's fate."

Another kiss, and this time she lets is linger a little longer. "I'll try not to blame myself, nor will I blame Hattie," she finally uses the nicknames Clarice gave the woman. "I'll try to accept it as what it is... you get to go on, which is what we all wanted. You to live and have a life, you'll just be doing it with a whole new level of powers."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia returns each kiss as tenderly as they're given. "I can't help it," she says smiling softly. "My emotions are all over the place. Seeing you sad makes me sad, which makes you sadder, which makes me even /sadder/, and then I start leaking blood out of my eyes and staining all our clothes."

She nods, and it's her turn to initiate the kiss. "I get to go on," she agrees. There. They're in agreement. Time to move on.

"Speaking of powers," she says a little more brightly, standing up so she can go to the bathroom and was up. "I want your opinion. Should I have Hatshepsut" (she doesn't think she'll /ever/ be able to call her Hattie) "teach me awesome shapeshifting powers first, or awesome mind whammy techniques first?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Standing to to follow Lydia, Mystique leans herself in the doorway. She needed to stretch anyway, so it made perfect sense, even if she was plotting other things in her mind.

"Shapeshifting?" She questions, one brow lifting then adds with a teasing tone. "Moving in on my schtict?" The blood that had landed on Mystique clothing is already gone, because it was a part of her, so she just changed it. What that means for where the blood went, who knows.

"Tell me about the two, and I can help you decide if you'd like." And not pounce you, you said to give it time.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia finishes cleaning herself up and dries herself off. "Yes," she says with playful sarcasm, "It's part of my dastardly plan to take over the Brotherhood. Muwahahahaha!" She makes her laugh to be about as cartoonishly diabolical as she can. "But really, we're talking wolves, cats, ravens, bats... if I practice enough a whole gosh darn /swarm/ of bats. Even mist. It'd be great for breaking and entering. I don't know about people, though, but it would be handy to disguise my pallid skin."

She walks out of the bathroom, and takes Mystiques hand and guides her back to her chair, and insistently pushes her so that Mystique is sitting in it once again. Curling up in her lap she continues, "The other is the mind whammy stuff. Badly frightening people with a look, enchanting them to think they love you, erase their memories, hypnotize them... that kind of thing." She waits to see what Mystique's opinion is before she'll give her own.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique usually puts up more of a fight, if it were anyone but Lydia. Accepting being guided back to her chair and urged to sit, she accepts it with a smile, then wraps her arms back around her lover once she's sitting in her lap.

"Okay, now both of those sound really cool." she admit with a smile. "Regarding concealing your paler, we can use an image enhancer for now, but to the two powers." She steals a kiss of Lydia's neck, not seeming to care or perhaps even notice that Lydia isn't warm.

"Both of those have really useful potential, but honestly, I think the ability to be animals would be fuckin awesome, it's the one thing I can't do. The other power sounds extremely useful as well, but for a starter? Do something fun!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia's eyes all but glitter at Mystique's excitement about the shapeshifting. "I know, right?" she says, excitedly. "I know the mind whammy stuff is all useful stuff, too, and admit it: You're a little bit jealous that Claire can snuggle a wolf."

She takes a moment to stare lovingly up at Mystique. "I love you so much, you know that, right? Our love for each other is so much that even death couldn't separate us." She leans forward to give her a deep, passionate kiss, and breaks with a giggle. "Just like in one of my romance novels."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique's arms tighten around Lydia as she returns the kiss, having wanted one just like that for a couple of days now. In her head and heart she knew nothing had changed between them, if anything their love was even stronger, but there was still that little voice that screamed she ruined everything. Eventually she would murder that voice, and the kiss helped to shut her up for now.

"Does this make me the insane, Vampire stalking, fangirl ready to offer up my blood for the sake of love? Cause that's all true." she wiggles her brows, lightly kissing Lydia once more. "Yes, I'm totally jealous about the wolf snuggling. I mean I could go snuggle Victor, but that would break Clarice's brain, and lead to issue with you."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia can't help but giggle at Mystique's antics. "And we wouldn't want to break poor Clarice, OR have an angry vampire girlfriend."

She wiggles her bottom as she settles in and gets comfortable, tucking her head up underneath Mystique's chin. "I should get get up so you can get back to work." She, however, doesn't make a move to leave. "Should. Not going to, though. I just want to be here with you, like this, for now." She makes little satisfied noises once she's settled in, and for now she's just content to remain silent.