Mystique

The Avengers compound wasn’t Anna Marie’s first choice of a place to live, but here she was. Prof X, at least in this universe, wasn’t anywhere to be found just yet, dang it. Neither were a lot of her friends, as it turned out, but Anna Marie was happy about that. Lonely, but happy.

But she really missed the mansion.

Stark had designed the compound to be secure, but it wasn’t warm, wasn’t full of life, love and acceptance. Still, she couldn’t really complain. It was a roof over her head, filled with people who wanted to return her to the universe she belonged. It wasn’t built for mutants though, Anna Marie thought, as she walked down the halls. Superheroes, yes, but not people like her, and that was exactly what she was so homesick for.

Eventually, Anna Marie found herself in one of the many living rooms with a bottle of tequila. Normally, she wasn’t much of a drinker, but desperate times… “Ya want some?” Anna Marie asked when she heard someone else approach. “Got two shot glasses here and everything.” / @multiversalhq​

Raven had spent the entire day getting to know this new city. Raven had been to many places but she’d never been in a place like this before. It was a nice place to call home, thought it would never be her home. She’d yet to find a place she really belonged. She’d tried with Charles, she’s tried with Erik, she’d tried with many people but nothing ever felt right. 

Maybe this would be the place it would change, but she wasn’t hopeful yet. It was nice having Peter here, she’d seen a few other familiar faces, but they weren’t people she’d consider a friend, not like Peter. She’d been lost in thought, not even realizing she’d made her way to the living room. She wasn’t even sure she’d been in this room yet. 

A voice dug her out of her thoughts and she eyed the girl and the bottle of tequila and wished she could just leave this place all together. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” She didn’t bother moving from her spot, even if she did want to bolt. 

Raven didn’t seem frightened in the slightest. If anything, she looked curious about Wanda’s magic. It was a relief, she had to admit, and Wanda smiled as Raven made herself comfortable beside her. It was rare that anyone was bold enough to approach. Her incident had made national news, and if Wanda was being honest, she was sure that if she were human, she would be afraid of herself, too. The damage she had caused was immeasurable, but she had to believe that redemption could be found again. And if couldn’t… her purpose was to protect people.

“What can you do?” Wanda asked curiously. She wasn’t surprised to hear that — it took a certain kind of person to be so confident amongst a villainous Avenger. “I’m Wanda,” she replied, holding her hand out to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Why would people be afraid of you anyway?” Raven had a hard time believing that having some magical abilities in a world where The Avengers existed would be enough to frighten the public away. She seemed nice enough and her face was one of the ones all over the compound. Raven cursed in her mind at not being from this place so she could know more.

She smirked, looking from Wanda to a man just beyond the trees. “You see him?” She waited a second, for the man to go out of view before her skin changed to blue, her true form, before changing to the man. “Pretty cool, huh?” She teased before sliding back into her Raven skin. “Nice to meet you, Wanda.” At least now she had a name to fill in the blanks when she got back to the compound later. 

There wasn’t anyone here he knew yet. Well, not that he knew off anyway. Wanda was around but he didn’t really know her right now so other than that he was all alone. Not that he had an issue with that. Peter had isolated himself for most of his life until Charles and Logan had come along. That was when he’d found himself his little dysfunctional family known as the X-Men. Although he would never say it to their faces if they did show up (especially to Scott), he missed them.

Most of his days were spent speeding around like always. After a day of running around the compound, he’d headed up to his room to play on his PacMan machine that the big boss guy Tony Stark had so kindly got for him after he had nagged him for hours upon hours to do so. A voice was what brought him out of his game. A familiar voice. “Holy shit!” He exclaimed, spinning around in a flash. “When the hell did you get here? I didn’t think any of you guys were here.”

Raven smiled moving further into his room. “A few days ago, I guess. One minute I was helping some young new students and the next, I was here.” She shrugged. Her eyes roaming around his room then going back to him. Of course his room here looked so much like home. How’d he managed that? She was going to have to get him to put in a good word for her to get some cool stuff. “What about you? I feel like I’ve not seen you in a long time. Have you been here this whole time?” She moved to sit on his bed, not even bothering to ask if it was okay. “How’d you get the PacMan machine? Bring it with you?” It really was good to have a familiar face in this place, especially someone like Peter. At least she knew that no matter what happened she’d have someone to hang out with. 

Peace seemed elusive. For years, Wanda had been attempting to understand her powers, and understand her place in the world. Tragedy would always strike when she relaxed or least expected it, beginning with her parents death, and ending with her stint in Westview. At times, she missed it. Perhaps that was wrong, corrupt, but she had control there and she had joy in the form of Vision and her children. Of course, nothing could replace the hole that Pietro’s death had caused, but for a moment… Wanda sighed loudly, attempting to control her thoughts. The more she dwelled on the past, the more likely it was that her chaos magic would take control once more. 

Aimlessly, Wanda roamed the streets. Ideally, she wished to find some semblance of the multiverse reopening, similar to the energy in Westview, but thus far, her search was futile. Eventually, she ended up in a park and sat in the grass. She closed her eyes and began meditation, feeling the energy around her as she levitated. Idly, she twined a red blast of magic around her finger. When she felt someone approach, she immediately sunk to the ground. “I’m so sorry,” she said quickly. “I promise, I’m not threat, I’m just… meditating,” Wanda explained. Unfortunately, the public was not on her side. “Are you frightened?” /@multiversalhq

Fresh air was exactly what Raven needed. She felt like she’d been inside the compound for what felt like days, even if it hadn’t really been that long. Sure, she wasn’t familiar with this city but how different could it really be? She’d found herself alone at the park with nothing really left to do, she’d sat down and people watched. Found some faces that might be fun to shift into later, if need be, but nobody really seemed worthy enough of striking up a conversation with. 

Until Wanda showed up, of course. She’d heard about her and her chaos magic and well, she needed to know more. Her brow raising, a pleased smirk on her face when she watched her do magic in broad daylight. She figured most people would hide that and she liked that Wanda didn’t. Standing up, she walked over to the woman. “Not even in the slightest.” She sat down next to Wanda, her eyes darting around to make sure nobody had noticed. “I can do some pretty cool stuff myself.” She shrugged. “I’m Raven, by the way.” 

Wondering the halls, her eyes on high alert, she finally spotted him not running and grinned. Walking into the room, she leaned against the wall, “Finally. I thought I was going to be here all alone and what fun would that’ve been?” She didn’t move from her spot on the wall, her arms crossing across her chest as she waited for her friend to turn around. @petermximfs​

She wasn’t certain as to why it intimidated her. This wasn’t her first rodeo, as Sam said– nor was it her 12th, really. The massive shift from living her royal life in Tamaran to the dark times in the Citadel to Earth was a large enough transition, but now here she stood, in a different universe entirely. She didn’t understand the science, and a part of her had wished that someone was able to tell her what it all meant in layman’s terms… but would asking questions show a sign of weakness? No, no. She couldn’t have that.

She hummed softly to herself as she traipsed through the halls of the compound, taking in everything that she could without outing herself as a tourist. The compound, in and of itself, felt oddly familiar and comforting, reminiscent of Titans Tower. Titans Tower was the place where it was cemented that Earth was now her home, comforting– filled with people she loved. A place where she grew up into the young woman she was today. A place where her confidence was heightened, her understanding of the English language was bettered, a place of love and warmth and family. 

Was this just a different beginning of that?

She paused outside of the lab, staring at the sliding doors. She swallowed hard, uncertain if she wanted to go inside, uncertain as to whether or not the experiments would cause the negative emotions and memories to flood back as they had in the past. Tilting her head up, putting on her bravest face, she stepped inside, announcing herself.

“Helloooo?” She sang out nervously, peeking around the room, amazed by the size of it as she journeyed deeper inside. 

“Woooow, it’s MASSIVE. Hello, hello, helloooo.” She giggled as she recreated her own echo, snorting loudly before her eyes fell on the other person inside. She paused quickly, clearing her throat, lifting her hand to wiggle her fingers in a wave. “Hello, good friend! I come in peace! With questions!” ( @multiversalhq​ )

This whole multiverse thing was pretty damn new to Raven. She’d heard talks of it before, sure, who hadn’t? But it’d always just been rumors she never thought one day she’d be at the mansion and the next second here in the compound or whatever in some whole new world. It was a lot to wrap her mind around. But in typical Raven fashion she wasn’t going to dwell on it too much, life was more fun when you made the best of things anyway.

Deciding to leave her room and explore the new place she now called home, she wandered along the hallways, passing some pretty cool rooms, she’d have to tell Charles about this next time she saw him - whenever that was. They could use some updating in their world. 

Spotting the lab, she shrugged and walked inside. She wasn’t a science girl by any means but that didn’t stop her from helping out with experiments and the like in her world. Sitting down, she poked one of the machines and let out a sigh, thinking back to home and her friends. Wondering if any of them had made their way here yet. A voice drew her from her thoughts and she stood up to investigate. “Oh hey.” She waved. “You can ask, but I don’t think I’m going to have any answers.”