A Moment's Peace (Mystique)

There was also a message from Artie waiting for her. ‘I don't know what you're doing but don't get too cozy with her yet.’ At that, Barbara sighed and rolled her eyes. What did he think they were doing? Honestly, the man was paranoid. All they were doing was simply having some girl time, away from the idiot boys who were having fun throwing rocks at each other. As Barbara took notes on her messages, she noticed Mystique looking around and shifting back to the redheaded woman she first saw. Why she didn’t go back to her normal blue state was beyond her. No one could see what she looked like, not here anyways.

She waved the woman off as she started to strip. “I’m an educated woman and I’ve gone to university, so seeing another woman in her underclothes is nothing new to me.” Also, being in the bush for weeks at a time meant that privacy was not always a guaranteed thing. But seeing the wounds was still a shock. They were smaller than before, but by the way Mystique was acting, they weren’t as they should be. Giving her a few minutes of privacy to slip into the bathroom and finish undressing, Barbara laid out a blouse and a pair of slacks from her closet as well as a pair of pajamas, in case she would prefer something a bit more loose against her skin. She wasn’t worried about them not fitting her since the mutant woman could change her size at will, but she didn’t want to put her under any undo stress either.

“I’ll have that drink ready and waiting for you, Mystique. Take your time though. No rushing or pushing yourself needlessly. Your clothes are on the bed,” she told her through the closed door before giving her more privacy. A drink would be a good thing to have, but Barbara wasn’t exactly going to let her get away with just having that. Alcohol and blood loss weren’t good bedfellows. So, Barbara called downstairs and asked that a lunch selection for two be brought up promptly. With any luck, Mystique would follow her advice and take her time refreshing herself or stitching herself up or whatever it was shapeshifting mutants did to make themselves feel better, and by the time she would re-enter the living room, their food would be here and drinks would already be poured.

While Mystique was busy with sutures and administering medical aid to herself, Barbara thought about their current situation. Admittedly, Cade’s message did warrant some caution. After all, they had only just met Mystique and that introduction was due to her blowing up a ferris wheel. However, from what she had gathered during the interrogation, she wasn’t some lunatic bent solely on doing anything and everything she could in order to further her goals. She was intelligent and could be reasoned with, and she honestly did seem sorry for her actions upon being told about the repercussions. If anything, Mystique needed this bit of kindness, especially after what Cade put her through, in order to show her she could be trusted and this alignment wasn’t entirely one-sided. There had to be trust on all sides. If Barbara had left it up to Cade, he would have had Mystique followed and monitored at all times. Clearly he had done the former if his message was any indication, and that made Barbara wonder if he watched her at all times as well.

Her lunch order arrived promptly and while she told the attendant to place everything on the dining table, she instructed that it all be left covered. That was a bit unusual as he was want to have her inspect everything to make sure it was all to her liking, but Barbara waved him off, saying they had never yet ruined her food, and she doubted that they would ever be able to do. Besides, she could easily smell what everything was under the dish covers. There were two entrees; one consisting of sautéed brook trout with lemon, while the other was chicken under glass. An assortment of roasted potatoes and vegetables accompanied them, along with the standards of fresh rolls and a small salad. To finish it all off, there was apple pie keeping warm in the oven and a pint of vanilla ice cream in the freezer. Depending on how long it had been since she was in Germany, Mystique would either consider this to be extravagant or just about right, either way Barbara didn’t care. The woman had nearly died today, so let her be spoiled. Removing a small selection from the liquor cabinet and pouring herself a glass of wine, Barbara waited for Mystique to join her.

Thankfully, there was never the telltale sound of a passed out body falling to the bathroom floor, and her guest soon rejoined her in the living room. She walked easier this time and there was actually a small smile on her lips, always a good sign. “Yes, I’ll admit, I was listening for any sounds of distress coming from you and, had you taken longer, I may have checked in, but honestly this is just me being a proper hostess. You survived a gauntlet that not even I was aware of.” That was the truth. When Cade spoke of torturing people in his Rabbit Hole, Barbara had imagine something a bit more American mob boss rather than a mechanical deathtrap. “Besides, you’re the first guest I’ve entertained while here in America. It’s nice to have company for once.” Had that been why she grabbed the woman as soon as she could? Was she really that lonely? “Help yourself to whatever you like, and if I’ve overlooked anything, I’ll ring and have it brought up immediately.”

Though Mystique wasn’t telling much about herself, she still spoke volumes by what she did say and how she acted. She was from Bavaria, though whether she was born there or not was yet to be determined. A lot of people enjoyed living there and some were not natives. It was something to do with the air and beautiful scenery. She was well spoken, intelligent, and assumed to be rather well-educated, which fit with both the dining etiquette Barbara observed and the mention of living in a manor. Her comment about playing hostess more often than being a guest fit with the bit of information she gave earlier about dining with the symbol of her destruction.

That little nugget of information was actually an interesting one the more Barbara thought of it. Members of the Nazi party tended to socialize with only the well to do people of Germany, so that begged the question of whether Mystique and her husband hosted those people as themselves or if she used her shape-changing abilities to infiltrate a gathering. Either ending was plausible since she was adept about sabotage and her husband did things in order to make gains, whatever those may have been. And for a brief moment, Barbara also wondered if the woman was Jewish. It would certainly add a one-two punch to her story, though it would be rude to ask. She could have thought of this in advance and tested her theory out by ordering ham for lunch, but that would have been in poor taste.

Lastly, the amount of food she put on her plate was telling. Either her body needed that much sustenance to repair itself or she hadn’t been living high on the hog for a while. Not matter the answer, Barbara was not about to ask that question. One never asked if a person were having financial struggles, even if the person were a true and dear friend. “I’ll be perfectly frank with you then, Mystique. I wasn’t much of a host in England either,” she admitted, serving herself once her guest had started eating. “I tended to either go to other people’s functions or simply meet friends at restaurants when I was there. Traveling keeps you behind the times in certain areas, particularly hosting and knowing who to invite and who not to invite. It’s more of a headache than anything else.”

The speed at which Mystique tucked in to her meal did not go unnoticed either. At that, Barbara sat back and relaxed, giving Mystique a long look. “Manners are one thing, but denying your body something it clearly needs is another. You are clearly hungry and I will not forsake you for having your fill nor will I write home to my mother about it.” A bit hard to do, since she had passed away a few years ago. “As I said, you are safe. No one is here watching you. No one will judge you.” To set an example, Barbara drained the remainder of her wine with a goodhearted laugh. “And we shall talk about repayments later. For now, just eat, drink, and be merry.”

“You speak as if your life is over. You can’t be older than me so you should have plenty of time to travel more if you like. I can even give you advice on where to go, Mystique. Granted, with all the trouble and destruction the war has brought, I can’t guarantee what is still standing or if it’s even safe to visit.” How Europe could just stand idly by as another ruler used his power to envelope countries entirely, doing exactly what the Germans had done and right after the entire world had just finished fighting a war over just that. Only this time, the excuse was that Doom could do all of his conquests because he fought on the side of the Allies. In Barbara’s personal opinion, it made no sense whatsoever and was as if world leaders were intentionally counting down to the next global conflict. “Traveling is nice though. It allows you to get away from yourself. No one knows who you are unless you want them to know. But I’m sure you already know what that is like.” She meant nothing ill by that remark and was simply trying to relate to Mystique.

“I believe I’ve heard of that restaurant in Vienna. It is Vienna, yes? Maybe I will visit in a few years and give a toast in the name of Holt Adler,” she smirked, enjoying hearing about that small, interesting gem in Mystique’s life. However, when she retrieved the bottle of wine, Barbara became momentarily worried. Had she unintentionally hit a sore spot in the woman’s past? Surely discussing such things was not that terrible. Thankfully, it all came to light with Mystique’s next few sentences. The sound of love was clear in her voice and for a moment Barbara wanted to offer help in order to find this woman Mystique called her destiny, but she doubted there was much she could do. Barbara had connections in the black market world, but that was mainly for the finding and distributing of objects, not people. She supposed that her contacts could tweak things, since they were always able to find buyers, but wars tended to make ruins of records and they also had the unfortunate tendency of killing people, even those who were not soldiers.

“She sounds lovely. Maybe you’ll be lucky and find each other again.” Stranger things had happened, and if they were mutants, the circles they ran in had to be small. Someone must know her whereabouts. Rather than continue down that line of questions, Barbara followed Mystique’s lead and spent the next few minutes eating in quiet, enjoying her meal. When Mystique next spoke, Barbara sort of chuckled in reply. “Please call me Barbara. Only the people that work for me and my scholarly peers refer to me by my last name. May I ask why you think I’m interesting? Is it the company I keep, the state of my eyes on certain occasion, or my lifestyle as it is, even without the two items I just mentioned?”

“Would it be too forward of me to ask if you would be my guide then? People familiar with cities are often better guides than any book or solo adventurer could be. I’m not saying let’s pack and leave right now, but when you wish to return to Europe…” Barbara didn’t quite finish that sentence, knowing it was easily a touchy subject and who could say that Mystique would even want to return? Even though England was a distance from mainland Europe, it had still been affected by the war, and having seen film of the destruction both he Allies and Axis had wrought upon countries like France and Germany, she could only imagine how heart-wrenching it could be for Mystique.

Barbara let her say as much as she wanted to. Letting Mystique go on was cathartic for her, healing old wounds and letting the memories make her smile. How she talked, their relationship was more than opportunity and out of necessity. It may have started as a business partnership, but it clearly had become more. It was almost like a good romance novel, not that Barbara was the type to read such things. “America is a big place, Mystique, and if you have only just arrived here, you have a lot of ground to cover. But, as you have said, you’ve been able to find each other in the past. I’m willing to assist you in any way. I am also willing to step aside and let you do this on your own,” she admitted, knowing how reluctant she was to accept help from humans.

Now it was Barbara’s turn to act distant or coy. She kept her eyes downcast, unsure if she should tell Mystique anything, or whether she would even believe her story if she did. Her thoughts went to the idol tucked away in her bedroom safe, but even if she brought that out, there stop a chance that doing such a thing would make her seem more the loon than without it. “I keep things close and secret because I’ve found that, more often than not, it is the easiest way to live. I’m not a mutant, no, though I do consider myself to be human.” She paused at that, fiddling with her wine glass as she made sure her thoughts would be collected and orderly and nothing inappropriate would slip out. “I’m a well-off woman, born to money, which meant I had neither problems nor challenges in my life. That also meant plenty of boredom. So, as any wealthy and intelligent woman would do, I followed in the footsteps of my favorite adventurers; Freya Stark, Gertrude Bell, Jim Corbett, and John Henry Patterson, and began to travel the world. Unlike them, however, I stuck to Africa mostly, with some excursions elsewhere. Having a doctorate in anthropology and archaeology lets you in to many places, both good and bad.”

Realizing she could easily start rambling at this point, Barbara finally met Mystique’s eyes. “What is it you would exactly like to know? It might make things easier.”

“Yes, it is nice being born into it, but it can also be a very lonely and empty life. My estate in Nottingham…,” Barbara paused, sipping her wine as she wondered how smart it was to have stated where she lived in England. But just how likely was it she would assume her identity? “When I was little, my parents held gatherings on a regular basis; balls, dinners, or even simple social lunches. But, once I inherited the property, all of that stopped.” She missed all of that, really she did, but she had neither the time nor the patience for such things. “I think whoever said ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ was right. It can do many things, but not that.”

Barbara pondered Mystique’s reasoning for exploring curiously. “But you can change your appearance, you literally can be anyone. Were the people of your home aware of what you could do? Is that why you couldn’t appear as someone else one day?” Barbara didn’t mean to pry, but this was a unique situation. At least she had enough manners not to ask Mystique what it felt like to shift her appearance into someone else. She smiled at the thought of her visiting Asia though. “Lucky woman. The closest I ever came to Asia was riding the Orient Express on holiday as a teenager. Come to think of it, that was probably what made me want to actually go out and explore rather than live vicariously through other people.” She signed contently as she remembered that train ride. The line had resumed services after the war, so maybe that would be the ideal way of seeing Europe for now.

“Africa was… I suppose I could be witty and say something in the manner of ‘I didn’t want to be another European going on crusade into the Middle East’ or ‘India has become too colonial for my tastes’, but the truth is far more simpler than that. As much as I enjoyed following in the footsteps of famous explorers like Lawrence of Arabia, I did not want to be an exact copycat, plus at the time, the Middle East was striving for independence and the last thing I wanted was to be caught up in a conflict. India is where my father is and I have no desire of being in the same country as him, no matter how large or how populated that country may be. Knowing my luck, I would end up sitting next to him on a train.” It was obvious that the more relaxed Barbara became in Mystique’s company, the less Lady Barbara she was, sinking back into the more frank personality she developed while in university.

“I chose Africa because, while it does have civilization and bits of Europe everywhere, it is mostly wild. I could lose myself there, being happy with either a small group of people or being entirely alone with nothing more than a herd of gazelle or zebra. It has all these different cultures and climates there, so you have the chance to see quite a lot. Also, unlike other places, where you still feel human and know you are superior to everything you come across, Africa doesn’t let you be at the top right away. Once you go into the bush, you start in the middle of the food chain and it can go either very well or very poorly for you. I will tell you this, being false charged by a lion is one of the most terrifying and exhilarating things I have ever experienced. You can’t turn away or show any sign of fear, otherwise they will chase you and they will catch you. You also don’t realise how quiet elephants can be until you step out of your tent in the morning and see about a dozen walking by not ten meters away.”