02 | text / action

[intelligently]

text.

Considering we're actually in a nice place we should make the most of it. I'm shopping. Since I don't have my best friend it'd be nice to have someone else to shop with.

[ She means it nicer than it sounds, it's just a Lydia thing. Shopping is definitely more fun with others ]

Anyone can come. I'll text you the shop.

[ And she actually means anyone. She won't deprive someone of shopping, she'll just deal with the 'no killing' if she has to ]

action.

[ And now that she's sent the invitation out Lydia gets back to the task at hand: black boots or brown boots?

She'd been looking at the clothes a few moments before, and judging by the handful of coat hangers she's carrying it has been going well. Obviously. But now she just needs shoes to go with it ]

Comments

[permutates]

It was probably just a different world.

I don't think so, but there were mutants who are like animals. My best friend has wings like a dragonfly.

[intelligently]

Were they a lizard? [ Yeah, she might have done some reading about the kanima after that whole thing. Second stage with wings? Gotta check ]

[permutates]

No... the rest of her looks human. She can spit acid, though.

[intelligently]

That is definitely some mutation. [ And it's said in a more sciencey curious way, and going from the use of the word mutant, too ] How did she get it?

[permutates]

I don't know. It's just - a gene. My brother is studying it.

[ She lets her skin change - her scales flutter, leaving her blue. This is scary, it's always scary, but she keeps her eyes steady and her voice steady. ]

This is what I look like, when I'm not trying to look like something else.

[intelligently]

Then it's a-

[ Her words cut off as Raven shifts, caught in surprise. There's a definite stare as Lydia looks at her, takes in what she can do and the fact that, underneath everything, she's blue. It's not a nasty, or judging stare (maybe a year ago it would have been), but she can't help herself for the moment.

Until she's looked to take enough in, and then her brain kicks her mouth back into gear ]

Does that come in other colours too?

[ It's a joke, and no doubt a bad one but underneath that it's also an honest question. She can go from blue to a natural skin tone, and although Lydia did mean green or purple rather than the full spectrum of skin tones she is genuinely curious. It's a science thing. She's not interested in lab rat testing, but a genuine curiosity of what this mutation is, and what it lets her do ]

[permutates]

[ It's not the worst possible reaction, and a tiny bit of tension leaches from Raven. A tiny bit.

She tilts her head, considers saying any color, and instead makes herself into a perfect replica of Lydia - down to the hair and the clothes. ]

[intelligently]

[ If Lydia wasn't staring before she was now, but who really expected to walk into a copy of themselves? Even with the conversation she'd been having before ]

Well. Now I know what the mirror doesn't tell me.

[ Because as much as she might look at (or study herself) in it, a reflection isn't as real as it being in the flesh ]

That is slightly creepy.

[permutates]

[ She lets her body shift back to blue, again. ]

Most people think that.

[ That it's creepy. That she's creepy. ]

[intelligently]

Wouldn't you think that? I've never met myself before, and I don't have a twin.

[ But the girl herself wasn't creepy, at least. Lydia liked her, she'd gotten to know her a little. And, minus seeing herself, what she could do wasn't creepy ]

How did you find out you could do that?

[permutates]

I don't know... I guess I'm usually really happy to see other mutants.

[ But there's no reason that would be true of a human. ]

I can promise not to look like you, if that helps? I'm sorry, I'm new to being honest about it.

I don't really remember. I was really young. [ This is a lie. Not that she was young: that she doesn't remember. It's something she doesn't really like to think about it. ]

[intelligently]

I think the honest is good. [ Lydia doesn't say anything about the offer, although she would definitely be appreciative to not see her face again. When the shock wears off maybe it won't be creepy, just weird, but it was unexpected ]

You're obviously good at it, and you should be proud of your talents. [ She's never said that and meant anything like this before, but a talent is a talent, and it fits ]

I guess growing up with it could make it easier. Less surprising then it just suddenly happening. [ Unless you had a terrible time with it, but she doesn't say that. But you'd learn the skill quicker too - the defense ]

[permutates]

Thanks. [ At the compliment. A flash of a smile. ]

You know, my adopted mom and I used to shop in places like this. She was insistent that I dress well.

[intelligently]

It wasn't bad advice. If you're not especially pretty then good clothes can still make all the difference, but you're pretty, it just adds to what's already there.

[ Blonde version or red head, they both worked ]

Which means that you get to just relax and look fabulous.

[permutates]

She was really rich. Old money. The kind where keeping up appearances is everything.