[ Open rp post + TFLN overflown]

[n5]

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[n5]

Cliche, yes but accurate. Variety is also part of his family, they had been weirdos and unfit for general society since their odd birth happened. It's no wonder Five always feels out of place, out of time.

"Alive." He clarifies, even if her next answer makes it clear it's not needed. If they don't share her age-to-looks discrepancy they might have gotten older or died already. "Blood relatives are overrated, anyway. Especially if they don't want you."

[ceruleans]

"Or if they try to kill you." The barista comes back with their coffees at that exact moment and Mystique manages a smile that's borderline sardonic, shrugging her shoulders and taking her coffee mug into her hands so she can blow over the top of it.

The more they settle into the conversation, the less concerned she is both about keeping up appearances and keeping exceedingly formal -- he's obviously no direct threat, so now she can just sate her curiosity.

[n5]

Five doesn't say anything immediately, waiting for the barista to leave and wrapping a hand around his own coffee as soon as possible.

"My brother Diego might have tried that a few times. He's always been temperamental." He never cared much, if any, about acting liekt he 13 years old that he looks like, only doing it when it suits him. Now? Now it seems like Mystique couldn't care less about keeping up appearances and that's honestly refreshing. "Any reason why yours tried?"

[ceruleans]

"Mm." She takes a long, semi-thoughtful sip of her coffee. She might as well, she supposes, be direct.

"Genetic mutation. My parents never took to having a freak for a daughter." Her grin is sharp-edged -- it's a defense mechanism, keeping that mask on, but Five's probably got something like that of his own.

[n5]

So far no one is paying them attention, Five is keeping an eye on that even if it doesn't look like it.

"Their loss then." Five's face doesn't change much at the news, he's usually serious, but his eyes give away micro-expressions in the way he closes them very slightly or his eyebrows furrow. "You're on your own then?"

[ceruleans]

"For now."

She checks in on Charles now and again, but she's still working through some of the residual guilt over the lengths she'd gone to -- or had almost gone to -- to avenge the rest of the Brotherhood, through the fact that she'd become more like Erik than she wanted to admit at first. It's easier now, but those first few years were a problem.

"It never lasts, though. Like you said -- gotta keep watch on those fire-starters."

[n5]

"It's not always easy."

She looks like she can take care of herself and god knows, Five was to stubborn to lie down and die when he was stranded alone in a ruined planet, but that doesn't make the loneliness any easy. They're barely less than strangers and yet, she seems like someone he wouldn't mind talking to more often.

"You should meet my brother Klaus, it wouldn't be beyond him to start actual fires to get attention or cause a distraction."

[ceruleans]

Mystique can't help the laugh.

"I'm sure there's someone out there who's a literal firestarter," she says it the way someone might say 'telepath' or 'psychic', honestly, "but if your family's worth your protection, I'm sure they'd be worth meeting."

She smiles wanly, takes another slow sip of her coffee.

"You have a lot of siblings to take care of, then?"

[n5]

"There's always one of those in each family." To be fair, in the Hargreeve's household there's at least 3 that could do that sort of stupid and crazy shit. He appreciates her words, though, and gives a brief smile.

"Seven but one of them is a ghost. He's one of the most capable if you ask me." Five doesn't usually go around telling normal people these kinds of things about his family but she's not normal people. And besides, they were all over the news when they were kids and they had merchandise and comics, won't take long to find information about his family if one decided to look for it.

[ceruleans]

She probably flipped through a dossier with the Hargreeves' name on it at some point, but hell if she remembers it closely right now. She raises an eyebrow.

"And you have, I assume, someone who can see said ghost? Or is one of you just really great buds with a psychic? Because they're unreliable as hell, most of the time."

Looking at you, Charles. "Almost as bad as straight telepaths. Most of them have egos as big as my brother's." A little less specific, maybe, but there's no Xavier academy just yet -- so he's not well-known.

"Sounds like a hotbed for fires, you're right."

[n5]

They hardly bothered being discrete in public, the real horrors of their lives happened between the closes door of their big home. She can investigate if she so wishes, Five wouldn't care much any-more. His father was dead, that was good enough for him. The mention of psychic got him to perk up with interest.

"He can communicate with ghosts since we were children. I've never met a telepath before, that I know. They sound a bit like a pain in the ass."

No offense to her brother but anyone who could get into Five's head was someone he didn't want near.

"Yep."

[ceruleans]

"Oh, you have no idea. He's not so bad any more, but he was an incredibly smug twenty-something."

She snorts, shakes her head. "The ghost thing -- that sounds more like a pain for him." If it's anything like the downsides of telepathy, at least. Who knew what the upsides were, honestly? Maybe he could let people possess him to good effect. That'd be -- useful.