Owner	Pose
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell slowly shuffles along the sidewalk, head held low. She's bundled up in a pair of thick blankets, yet doesn't seem bothered by the heat. She had just been released from prison an hour or so ago, and almost regretted leaving. Prison food and a cold cell, as unpleasant as it was, was still free food and a bed. While most seem to ignore her, seeing her as just a homeless woman, one man on the other side of the street seems to recognize her and glares daggers at her. He shouts some unheard obscenity at her before stomping off in a huff.
Mystique	A figure is shadowing Maya, staying far enough back to not be obvious. It's a middle aged man, hair thinning, wearing a cheap suit. He looks like one of those lawyers that run ads on the television, trying to get everyone on the planet sued so they can line their own pockets. At the yell from across the street, the man glances that direction then hurries his steps to try and catch up. "Miss?" His voice sounds as weasely as he looks. "Oh miss? A moment please?"
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell doesn't seem to notice the first call, but she stops and pivot around at the second one, glancing around before she locates the owner of the voice. "H-Huh? What?" With her face no longer hidden in the shadow of her blankets, it's easy to pick out a few distinguishing features. A length of messy, black bangs suggests longer hair hidden in her makeshift cocoon, while her sharp cheekbones suggest a life of hunger. She -does- seem homeless, after all. Most curiously, though, is that her breath seems to come out in frigid clouds. Those blankets aren't to protect -her- from the cold, it's to protect -others-.
Mystique	The man catches up, puffing out air as if he ran a mararthon instead of exerting himself for about twenty feet. He stands before her, a hand to his chest as he takes a moment. Once he is breathing normally, he stands to his not-so-impressive height and puts his thin shoulders back. "I am sorry to bother you but I wondered if we might have a word? In private? It is in regards to your recent incarceration." Beneath the false veneer, Mystique is taking the time to size up the girl before her. The power that is contained there, held close by the blankets? That would be a benefit to her team. "I promise I will not take long," the 'man' continues, giving a little smile which does nothing to help his appearance.
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell is on the tall side, at six foot ten, but still easily dwarfed by most statuesque supers. She glances down at the manm "I, uh...I-I suppose? What about it?" She looks around. "Where to?"
Mystique	"Just here, a little off the sidewalk." He motions to the side, where they are near the mouth of an alleyway. Not in it but close enough they could step in should they choose but out of the path of anyone else on the sidewalk. "I won't waste time on small talk." He flicks out a card with his name, John Everett, and a phone number. "I represent a certain faction who have an interest in helping mutants in need." He looks her over in an obvious way. "I believe you may meet those qualifications?"
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell follows the man into the mouth of the alley, then flicks her eyes down at the card. She gently takes it, the cold coming from her hands obvious from even half a foot away. "Uh...I-I'd appreciate...something like that." She looks back to the man's face. "What is it? I mean, th-the, uh...faction and the...qualifications?"
Mystique	"Honestly, they call themselves the Brotherhood," he explains. He doesn't add the 'evil' that many people would have because it's just so silly. Why would anyone name themselves that unless they thought they were evil? Mystique knows they are not, they simply are going to protect their rights as mutants in the way they see fit. In her eyes, there is no evil involved. "The qualifications are few. Be a mutant. Be willing to help support your fellow mutants who are persecuted for what they are. There would be some training involved should there be--conflicts." He watches her carefully.
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell hesitates, then looks down at her bare feet, toes barely poking out of her blankets. After a few moments of pondering, she asks, "...What would it all, uh...i-involve? Supporting mutants, I-I mean. There's some mutants that...ah, p-protest peacefully, and others that...ah..." She clears her throat. "Y-You know..."
Mystique	He narrows his eyes at the way she phrases that. Things are not looking positive from that reaction. "In any way necessary," he says in a more firm tone than he has used before. "Mutants have been forced to live in hiding. They are treated like criminals just because they are different. They are thrown in jail for crimes when they shouldn't be." He pauses after that one since he's just described her situation. "Just because they are born with powers that homo sapiens do not understand and fear. If they are willing to do what they will to mutants, killing them for existing? Then the Brotherhood will do what it must to stop that. No matter the cost."
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell gulps and stares back down at the ground. "...I-I don't want to kill anyone," she mumbles. "-I- don't even understand m-my powers..." There's a long pause, then, "But I-I don't...I don't like hiding, either. I...I just want a bed, some food, and...a-and people that won't judge me f-for what I am."
Mystique	"The Brotherhood would accept you. But they would expect you to be loyal to their cause. Even if you did not go into the field to help them pursue their goals, they owould require somthing of you to assist them. Information is the most powerful tool," he adds, fitting her into a certain area of possible ally but not full Broterhood material. Those need to be willing to take that forbidden step. "If someone were beating a mutant out there on the street right now, what would you do? Run and hide? Or do what you can to help them?"
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell hesitates, taking a long few seconds to formulate a reply. "I w-would...try a-and scare the other person off. I know, uh...s-something I can do to...look pretty menacing..." She clears her throat. "I-I'd be worse than him i-if I -killed- him, though. Beating someone up i-is one thing, but...-murder-..." She exhales a frosty breath.
Mystique	"I see," he says, the final piece in the puzzle. "So to save another person, if you had to kill the culprit, it would be wrong? If someone breaks into your home and tries to kill your family, you wouldn't do anything to stop them? Because that is what mutants are. Every one of them is your family. Your brothers and sisters. The ones who are not strong enough to protect themselves need others to do it for them. We need sheepdogs in a world of sheep. To keep the wolves at bay." He tilts his head to the side. "You know the government has been doing its best to destroy us for longer than you've probably been alive," he muses. "Yet to you, it isn't right to do anything within your means to stop that?"
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell lets out a pathetic whine. "N-No, I'd...d-defend myself, but there's a-a difference between self-defense a-and...killing someone for just...being a -bully-. People are -scared-, and I can see why. But we shouldn't stoop to their level--or worse--to prove th-that we shouldn't be feared."
Mystique	With a sigh, the man nods as he takes a step backwards. Further into the alley, half hidden in the shadows. "If someone wants you dead, you aren't in the wrong to defend yourself. By the very genes you carry, you ar damaged goods in the eyes of the humans. They will never accept you, no matter what other groups tout." With that his body wavers, a ripple effect going over his skin and clothes and where a moment before was a wimpy lawyer, not stands the blue-skinned mutant known as Mystique. She shakes her head, her expression solemn. "I will not let our people continue to be stomped upon. It is no different from stopping a person who has a gun to your head. The humans are just waiting to pull the trigger on all of us. It's time we were the ones with the gun to theirs."
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell 's eyes widen as the man before her shifts. She takes a nervous step back. "I-It's...No, that's not--W-We shouldn't -have- to kill! We shouldn't -want- to kill! An eye for an eye i-is no way to do this! I-I want mutant rights as much as the next person, b-...but not at the expense of others, that's...selfish!" Hey, -there's- a backbone, for once!
Mystique	"And your point of view is naive," Mystique returns, having heard such arguments before and, in her mind, knowing they are wrong. Her path is the righteous one to her splintered mind. "When you realize the truth of what I'm saying, when you are subjected to the tortourous existence the humans will force upon you for your entire life, when that day comes--call the number on the card. We will be waiting to take you in and protect you."
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell takes another step backwards, then glances down at the card again. She exhales sharply through her nose, then pulls the card into her blankets. "Ah..." She pauses again, then clears her throat. "Thanks. I...I-I think." She glances over her shoulder for a moment, double-checking to make sure they're not being watched, before turning her gaze back to Mystique. "I-Is that it, then?"
Mystique	Mystique watches with those yellow eyes, making it impossible to really read her expression. Then she nods. Just once. "For now."
Maya Caldwell	Maya Caldwell exhales again, frost dissipating in the warm, spring air. "...Right." She awkwardly turns around and starts stepping out.
Mystique	Mystique follows, her form rippling back into the mild mannered Mr. Everett. She takes a step between two people on the sidewalk and then seems to disappear, a new face on as she departs. A shame really that the girl has a moral compass.