Owner Pose
Raven Darkholme Another day passed on the asteroid, another night arrives. The only real way to tell is the dimming if lights in the halls and rooms, as the asteroid matches the time zone of Genosha. It gets confusing at times, given the Brotherhood goes all over the world, but in the end it all works out.

At the end of this day, Raven sent a text to Azazel to invite him to the bar for drinks and some good news. As per the usual, there are mutants everywhere in the bar, but Raven has chosen a table off to the side and already has her whiskey and cherry grenadine syrup with ice.
Azazel     With the expected *BAMF*, Azazel appears in the chair opposite her. There is one difference from his normal arrivals, however. He has a large disposable cup in his hand. "You called, milady? Always happy to pop up for a visit. Do you know that the humans actually came up with something worthwhile?" He pauses to take a drink from the cup, then continues "It's called a frappucino, and they are simply marvelous. I think I've had three or four today already. So what's the big news?"

    Surely it must be an optical illusion, but you could swear he's actually vibrating in his seat.
Raven Darkholme Raven shifts only slightly as Azazel appears, but then he goes into high speed conversation. At first she wonders why, but he answers that question rather quickly. Caffeine. Not something the devil would be used to all right, and it showed.

Azazel my darling," she offers with an amused smile, almost purring. "You're vibrating. It's adorable really, but I think you might want to stick to one or two frappucinos a day, at least until you get accustomed to that much caffeine."

She slides the apple fritter she selected for him across the table, then just sits for a moment watching him vibrate, now waiting to see what happens and if he will vibrate the chair into pieces.
Lydia Dietrich     It's early in the evening, which means that Lydia is in her evening wake-up routine. She got up, spent some time with her fiance, then showered and got dressed. She just spent the last fifteen minutes in the medbay for her morning feeding, and decides to hunt down Raven to find out what her plans for the rest of the night are.

    She arrives, looking more flushed and alive than usual, thanks to her recent feeding, and it doesn't take long for her to spot Raven with Azazel. She hesitates for a moment, wondering if it's a good idea to interrupt, but figures that if they were going to be having a private conversation that they'd be somewhere a little more, you know, private.

    "Hello, love," she says, as she gracefully walks up to the pair. "Azazel." Her eyes catch his fidgetiness, the slight dilation in his eyes and increased heart rate. She can smell the frappuccino in his cup and chuckles. "You should probably cut back on the caffeine," she says. "The crash you're going to get is going to be harsh."
Azazel     "I wouldn't think something to mundane could possibly affect me. I mean, sure I have never been much for such things other than the occasional tea, but I would think my constitution could handle something like that. After all, they sell these things openly, not like the more fun things the humans enjoy like their weed and opium and the like."

    He takes another sip from the cup, then takes the offered fritter and takes a bite. "Don't they tend to regulate the things anyone enjoys? Their system of government seems mainly to exist to make as many of them miserable as it possibly can. Oh, and you still haven't told me what you invited me up here for. Hi Lydia, how's things? Raven asked me to pop up but hasn't so far said why."

    "But they're quite good, have you had one? What crash?"
Raven Darkholme Raven reaches out to take Lydia's hand once she reaches the table, guiding her to the chair beside herself. Azazel sped up caffeine was amusing the shit out of her, because for all the things he knew and how long he's been alive, there were still moments, like this, that he was clueless.

"Caffeine isn't considered a drug to be regulated," she explains with a chuckle. "Humans drink tons of it in their various beverages, even some sodas have it. It's a mild stimulant, speeds you up, thus why you are vibrating in your chair."

Leaning over she places a soft kiss on Lydia's lips, then one on her cheek before sitting back. "I invited Azazel up to share our good news Lydia," she then says with a broad smile. "I was going to send you a text to join us, so was stalling... but he's vibrating, and that amused me too much."
Lydia Dietrich     Lydia takes Raven's hand and lets herself be led to the chair. "A couple of times," she says, answering Azazel. "I'm more of a tea drinker than coffee, and while tea has caffeine in it, it's not quite like what's in coffee." Light laughter bubbles out from her, "Once the caffeine is gone from your system you'll crash. All that energy you had will be sucked out of your system and you'll be dragging."

    She returns Raven's kiss with a little murr of pleasure, "Mmm. Which good news?"
Azazel     "Ah, well, we'll see. I'm not usually negatively affected by the downsides of these things, so I'm not terribly worried about it. Besides, all I have to do is remind myself that I could still be trapped in the Brimstone dimension and whatever is bothering me becomes much more bearable."

    He takes yet another sip from the cup as Raven and Lydia kiss, then points at Lydia "Exactly the question I'm waiting for an answer on! Raven chose to focus on my frappuccino instead of what she asked me to come up here for."
Raven Darkholme Raven laughs, then gives Lydia's hand a light squeeze.

"I have no family, other than Azazel, left in this world," she finally says quietly. "My children hate me and could not give a rats ass what I do, so... he's it. So, like you told your parents, I'm telling him."

She looks from Lydia back to Azazel. "Lydia and I are engaged to be married, and it's very important to me that you be there. It does mean you have to behave yourself though."
Lydia Dietrich     Lydia is silent as Raven breaks the news, though she does frown a bit at the mention of her own children. Raven doesn't know it yet, and probably won't approve, but she's pretty sure she is going to talk to them and invite them anyway. They should, at least, have the /choice/ of declining to go. They still have a lot of things to decide before she broaches this subject with her lover. Things like a date and a location.

    "We are!" she says, beaming. "We're still deciding on the particulars, though. Raven wanted to slough all the responsibility of planning the thing on me, but I wouldn't let her off that easy."
Azazel     Azazel puts down the frappuccino and nods to what Mystique says, smiling as he BAMFs over next to her to hug her while saying "Congratulations, both of you. I'm very happy for you both." He holds a hand out to Lydia, offering to turn it into a group hug if she wants.

    "Raven, I would never ruin this for you. I care about you far too much to even consider it. Just tell me where and when and I'll be there. You already know I'm an impeccable dresser, after all." He is almost always in a well tailored suit, which somehow manages to stay unrumpled even by his rather acrobatic movements.

    "And if you like, I can take you both to any honeymoon spot you'd prefer. If you want to be yourselves without the humans staring, you're welcome to honeymoon on my island. My staff doesn't have much of a workload, so I might as well get some use out of them by having them take care of you two. For that matter, you're welcome to have the wedding there if you like. I can pop your guests in, or they can come in by sea. Afraid I didn't bother with an airstrip."

    "And as for your children, I know Grayson is a huge tool who hates mutants and could only make the day awful, but I don't think Kurt hates you. Perhaps wishes you were more of a goody-goody like him, but I doubt he actively hates you."

    He grins at Lydia and adds, "Yeah, she needs to do some of it, it's only fair. Poke me if she decides to weasel out of it and I'll pop notes in places she goes reminding her she has a wedding to help plan."
Raven Darkholme The hug is returned, and whether Lydia wants to or not, she gets pulled into the group hug. That wonderful moment lasts all of fifteen seconds before Azazel says something he doesn't know he's not supposed to say. Raven's entire body goes stiff and she sucks a breath into her chest so fast that it's clearly heard.

"She's right," she says quickly, far too quickly. In fact she starts talking as fast as Azazel was on caffeine to move the topic along as fast as possible. "I need to do my part, and I am. I have been thinking about flowers and clothing, already chose German beer for the reception and the cake flavor. Still trying to decide if I wear a dress or a suit."

She takes a single breath before pushing on, the knot in her gut getting bigger. "The offer of your island is amazing Azazel, thank you! We are looking for a place to hold the ceremony that is beautiful at night, but there will be humans invited, so perhaps not a good idea to use your island. The honeymoon... we haven't really talked about that yet, need to set a date for the wedding first, but we will consider your offer."
Lydia Dietrich     Lydia is pulled into the group hug giggling. The mention of Grayson and not Anna Marie has her blinking. Maybe that's Rogue's last name? She only has a chance to shoot Raven a quizzical glance before the conversation swiftly moves on.

    "I want to see her in a suit, personally," she says. "But it's her body, so she can dress as she pleases. Besides. There's nothing that says I can't ask to see her in a suit any time I like. She's been a good girl so far, only complaining a little bit. We've settled into a happy compromise. For every big decision I make, she'll make one of the little ones. I don't mind taking most of the burden myself, but I want there to be /something/ of Raven in the wedding."

    "Right now I'm looking at public parks in Paris that will be open late enough for us to hold the wedding in. I've narrowed it down to two or three places." She leans over and shoulder-bumps Raven, "I hope your French is better than mine. I'll need somebody to translate for me when we start talking to people."
Azazel     After the group hug, he looks a bit quizzically at Raven as she starts talking much faster than usual, as if she was trying to drag the conversation in a different direction. Shrugging slightly, he goes with it. "Well, I would think German beer would be the only choice as far as that goes. Feel free to give me a yell if you need anything, I can make a great delivery man. You want orchids from the heart of the jungle or anything else hard to come by normally? No problem, can get them the morning of the big day. Actually, probably evening given that the wedding will be a touch nocturnal." He winks at Lydia and adds, "Bursting into flames at one's wedding is frowned upon by the social elite, you know."

    "Mystique, once you choose between dress and suit, let me know and I'll take you to my tailor. The man's an artist, I have no idea how he makes suits that look so good and yet let me backflip and leap over a wall without tearing. I know you can just make the appearance of clothes, but you should have real ones for an important event like this."
Raven Darkholme Mystique says, "Mon francais est tres bon, c'etait ma deuxieme langue apres l'allemand," Raven states with a grin, then translates so Lydia has a clue what she said. "My French is very good, it was my second language after German, end translation, then came English. Talk about culture shock. English is a horrible language." She wrinkles up her nose a little. "Horrible, horrible language."

Since Azazel is still right there, he gets a kiss on the cheek as well before she adds on to what Lydia said. "I'm leaning toward a suit, it's more my style really, but I have to come up with something that won't send Lydia's parents into some sort of fit."

Letting him slip back to his seat, she wraps her arm around Lydia's waist instead, "I will probably be taking you up on that offer Azazel, once I have a style in mind. You're suits are always so stylish and amazing." At this time, she chooses not to go into that he's much more amazing out of the suits. One does not talk about that while discussing a wedding. "I have taken to wearing real clothing more often, it allows Lydia to rip them off my body... I think she enjoys that.""
Lydia Dietrich     Lydia puts her hands on her hips. "I don't /burst into flames/ in the sun," she protests. "It's just.... /unpleasant./" She chuckles at Azazel's mention of a tailor. "She's /definitely/ wearing real clothes on our wedding. Half the fun is taking them /off/ that night."

    Raven gets a grin when she speaks French to her. "Jestes taki seksowny, kiedy mowisz po francusku," she responds in a growl. "You're so sexy when you speak French." She breaks off laughing, "I don't think anybody ever accused Hebrew or Polish of being a sexy sounding language."

    "It's like a special little treat for me to begin my day." She reaches over and rubs her thumb across the fabric of Raven's shirt. "I'm beginning to be able to tell when she wears real clothes, if I touch her. I wouldn't have been able to before I had turned, but my touch is very sensitive, now, and new clothes have faint traces of factory smells on them." She looks up to meet her lover's eyes, "It's a little game I play with myself. 'Is it Raven?'"
Azazel     "Well geez, what kind of self-respecting vampire doesn't burst into flames when the sun hits them? You're letting down generations of vampires who came before you." he teases with a chuckle. "And yes, I can understand that, they make all types of clothing designed to be torn off at the proper time." He tilts his head, considering the happy couple, then asks "So which one is wearing the sexy lingerie on the big night? Or will it be both of you?"

    He BAMFs back to his seat across the table to be out of arm's reach in case one or both of them try to bap him. "See? I'm helping. You have to think about these little details."
Raven Darkholme "Lydia my love, you are sexy speaking any language you want," Raven comments as she scoots in closer and gives the woman a rather sound kiss. She breaks it to look into Lydia's eyes, winks then sits back again to look at Azazel.

"Lydia's a special vampire, bursting into flames it /sooo/ passe, old school, for those old Transylvanian vampire with no class," she nudges Lydia's leg with her own. "Isn't that right my love?"

She looks back to Azazel, "Yes darling, you are /sooo/ helpful... and I think we both intend to wear the sexy lingerie... without letting the other see it until the wedding night, or I should say, that's my hope."
Lydia Dietrich     Lydia closes her eyes and leans into the kiss when given. "That's right," she says, tearing her gaze away from Raven to look at Azazel. "Haven't you heard? We /sparkle/ now!" With that the glowing motes of ectoplasm that constantly surround her start twinkling on and off, and she jazz-hands with a huge goofy grin.

    "Yes. The sexy lingerie will be worn by both and will be a secret surprise for the wedding night," she says definitively. "It's tradition."
Azazel     Azazel blinks then shrugs, saying "None of the vampires I know sparkle. I think it may be against the rules, but I'll have to look into it. Still, you do you. It works for Raven, so that's all that matters."

    "But for now, I must be off, always things to do. Congratulations to both of you, and you'll have to text me the invitation, I don't exactly live somewhere with mail service." He picks up his cup, gives them both a slight bow, then BAMF and he's gone again.
Raven Darkholme A soft groan at the 'sparkle' comment escapes Raven, but she doesn't make the comment she really wants to. Lydia is a romantic, that sort of movie and... stuff, was something she really liked and enjoyed, so there was no way the cobalt mutant was going to state how much it sucked and that vampires do not sparkle, it would give them away in the dark.

"If you're a good boy Azazel, I'll share pictures... later of course," she says instead of the thing about vampires, and winks... but then he's gone. That's what he liked to do, just BAMF.

Looking back to Lydia she grins slyly as she leans in and brushes a kiss to her neck. "You and I should go back to our room," she whispers before nibbling. "So much... wedding planning to do."
Lydia Dietrich     Lydia just laughs when Mystique groans and slips out of her seat. She gives the woman of her dreams a kiss on the forehead. "I know, it's not the best example of vampire literature, but I loved it when I was twelve. Remind me to send him a copy the first book to his island."

    The nibble on her neck elicits a moan from her, which she breaks off. "God, woman, the way you affect me is unconstitutional." She tugs at Raven until she's up on her feet and says, "Yes. Let's... plan a wedding." And with that she leads them back to their quarters.