Last Voyages Application

[scalesandsecrets]

User Name/Nick: Evy
User DW: scalesandsecrets
Other Characters: None

Character Name: Mystique
Series: X-Men Movies (Original Trilogy)
Age: 307 (appears 20’s)
From When?: Around a decade or more after the events of X-Men the Last Stand, about to be killed by Sentinels.

Inmate/Warden: Inmate. Mystique’s committed a very long list of crimes, Murder (including her own parents), Extortion, Fraud, if there’s a crime Mystique’s likely to have committed it at some point. She doesn’t really feel any remorse, justifying herself by it being necessary for her own survival and that of mutantkind. A Warden could help her see the error of her ways and allow her to contribute more positively to a future where humans and mutants live alongside one another in harmony.

Arrival: She agreed to come to the barge and graduate instead of dying forever.

Abilities/Powers:
Mystique is a shapeshifter, able to shift her body at the molecular level to perfectly resemble any human, humanoid, animal, and even some objects. She is not limited by size or sex (although usually changes are only cosmetic), and can replicate any form of clothing, jewellery or accessory from her skin.

In addition control over every cell in her body brings a number of benefits. For one she can quickly form a resistance to poisons and pathogens, while she is also able to rapidly self-heal using her powers but must be conscious to do so. Mystique is capable of adjusting the positioning of her organs to avoid injury, and can alter their functions to increase her own endurance and senses.

Mystique is also considerably more flexible than the average human, able to shimmy upside down up a pole with just her hands and can use her feet as capably as her hands. Her muscles are also denser than the human norm, making her considerably stronger than her slender frame would suggest.

On arrival on the barge Mystique will be locked into the human version of her natural shape. Her eyes will flash yellow when under stress or emotional but that will be it, she will otherwise be a normal human woman.

Personality: Superiority. Intelligence. Deception. Action. Adaptation. Anger. These are some of the key facets that define Mystique, a woman as enigmatic as her name suggests. Over her long life she has seen more than most of the world and how it works. She can be whoever she wants, whenever she wants, however she wants, and has spent most of her life pretending to be something that she isn’t. As a result she has pared down what she is to essentials, a solid sense of self hidden beneath the many masks she wears, and which she lets few people see.

Mystique believes herself to be superior, to all humans in general and to many of her fellow mutants as well. She believes herself to be smarter and more capable than almost anyone else, with perhaps the exception of Magneto. She takes some pride in training others up to her standards, but she never truly believes that anyone else is going to meet them completely. There is always some failing - a failure to succeed, a failure to understand, a failure to think, a failure to act. It is her long experience and meticulous attention to detail that lifts her above her fellow mutants and far above humanity.

In her mind humanity is a species that is doomed by its own faults; a species that kills millions of itself and repeats its own mistakes isn’t fit to rule the planet. Humanity are like sheep, weak willed and with weak bodies, they do not deserve the position they have and are a danger to all mutants that needs to be neutralised. She doesn’t hate humans individually, but collectively, and sometimes she can find individuals suited to her purposes, but she’s unlikely to ever befriend someone fully human unless it suits a goal of hers.

Her intelligence is what has kept Mystique alive for so long. It isn’t enough to just look like someone, to actually fool others you have to act like a person and that requires an immense amount of work, observation and an almost encyclopaedic attention to detail. Over her long life she has trained herself in a wide variety of disciplines. She has trained in combat. She has trained to fly, drive, and guide just about any type of vehicle, to analyse and act in a situation, to speak several different languages, and to observe and report. She has a sharp mind and a knack for diligence and hard work that allows her to pick up new skills very quickly. She also has a vast range of experience to draw from. She's seen many cultures, many people, many attitudes, and while she may not understand them all, she can typically call upon them when needed.

This is part of why she's such a successful doppelganger. She's seen bias. She's seen hate, love, lust, anger, power, charity, friendship, greed, control, loyalty, manipulation, betrayal. She's seen it in her own life, and in the lives of those she's watched and imitated. She's observant and careful, and she knows how to act the part. When she slips into a role, she flips a switch: she is the role, or she is Mystique, with very little in between. It's a coping mechanism, a part of keeping her sense of self firm and separate in a world where she is rarely herself on the outside. A method actor you could say. She immerses herself in her work and leaves only a tiny part of her brain to note and record, and then when needed, flips back effortlessly. It keeps herself from getting lost.

Deception is as much a part of Mystique as anything. A mother, a father, a sister, a banker, a politician, a plumber…you name it Mystique has lived that life, sometimes only for a few minutes, sometimes for months on end and often without detection.

She has therefore spent most of her life being other people, therefore living a lie. Lying comes entirely naturally to her and she is able to craft stories and manipulate situations to meet her need. On meeting another she will learn as much about them as possible, mannerisms, body language, etc, seeking to learn their weaknesses and exploit them. She has grown so skilled at dissembling that she is rarely caught and can usually tell when she herself is being lied to.

Mystique is action-oriented. She's not one to make much conversation. She won't sit around and talk to you about your love life, or hers, although she may occasionally listen (gathering intelligence). She prefers to speak with actions. She prefers to wait until something needs to be done, and then do it, always thinking and planning ahead. She hates dithering about, hates indecisiveness, and hates stupidity. If you can't get the job done, if you're not capable, then you have no place in sensitive positions until you can become so. She's willing to teach - enjoys, actually, seeing a student improve to useable standards. But she has no use for those who aren't dedicated to improvement, or who have a falsely positive image of themselves and their skills. She's unlikely to say so, but as in all things, her actions speak louder than her words.

Mystique is also a very physical person. She wields her body as her weapon, both physically and psychologically. She has no compunction about mimicking someone else in order to get what she wants or needs. She has no problem with using seduction or violence to make her point. In general, she will see a route to what she wants, consider the options, and if it makes the most amount of sense, use it. She very much believes that the end justifies the means. And she has little patience for those who argue otherwise.
Mystique is extraordinarily adaptable. She has kept herself alive for well over a century by adapting to changing society and customs, all the while positioning herself to survive. In recent years she has taken to shaping events rather than reacting to them, a more proactive approach which suits her temperament better (and her agenda.)

Lastly Anger. Mystique has never forgiven her human parents for attempting to kill her (something she repaid in kind). Not being able to walk down a street in her natural form makes her angry, and she channels that anger into her work. She isn’t one for emotional outbursts or for letting it rule her, instead her anger burns coldly, driving her overall motives and not her individual actions.

Barge Reactions: Mystique’s a survivor who prides herself on being able to weather anything that comes her way. She’ll adapt quickly to the environment, although finding a modus with the others on the barge might take a little longer. Generally she’ll keep to herself, observing the others on board, perhaps making some allies among some of the other inmates and wardens, keeping her options open.

Path to Redemption: It’s going to be a rocky ride for any Warden assigned to Mystique at first. Until she realises that everything about her is written in the file she would act the part of Ronnie Lake, and then shifting to the part of a remorseful soul to try and get her powers back. If and when that happens she’d cease co-operating altogether. Although she won’t seek to harm her Warden (that would be pointless and she’s not one for futile gestures) she wouldn’t be particularly inclined to co-operate at first. For example she might spend an entire session without speaking a single word, simply staring unblinkingly at her Warden for the whole time or spend the time weaving an intricate lie for the Warden’s benefit only for them to realise it was entirely false.

She doesn’t like being called by her ‘slave’ name and if pushed might become violent. To get through to her a Warden would need to first gain her respect followed by her trust. It would probably take awhile and she might go through a few Wardens before getting to that point. She is overwhelmingly practical however and that will help guide her toward redemption as well as keeping her from causing too much trouble. Another motive might be access to her powers, she HATES being human, and is trying to work on mimicking the powers of other mutants when she shapeshifts, if that’s a potential reward of redemption she’d be very interested in it indeed.

Secondly there are her children. Mystique is aware that she is a terrible parent and this is why she’s abandoned them and doesn’t outwardly acknowledge them in any way. But deep down she loves her children deeply (although probably not Graydon) and wants to build a better world for them.

History:
The girl that would become Mystique was born in a small Austrian village near Linz toward the end of the nineteenth century. From the start her father resented his daughter, angry that she was not the son that he had hoped for. Nonetheless, although clever and physically robust there was nothing particularly extraordinary about the young girl growing up genteel poverty in a quiet Alpine valley, at least until she turned thirteen. It was at this point that her mutant powers manifested, scales gradually erupting all over her body, her skin darkening into an unnatural blue, dark hair bleeding into red, her eyes beginning to glow with a sinister inner light.

At first the girl’s parents thought her ill, but their prayers soon turned to horror when their daughter’s transformation was complete, and believing her to have been possessed by a demon they enlisted their fellow villagers to burn her at the stake. Fortunately for the terrified girl her parents underestimated her newfound strength, and fighting tooth and nail to escape them she killed them both, fleeing into the forest never to be seen by the locals again. By all rights she should have died in the mountains, given that it was winter and that bears and huntsmen lurked in the forests. But her mutation gave her strength and her determination to survive kept her alive, and when she emerged from the mountains a year later the frightened young girl was gone, replaced by a woman who would go on to be one of the deadliest on the planet.

Over the next decades Mystique moved from country to country and from shape to shape, learning new languages, learning how her powers worked and enjoying luxury for the first time in her life. When World War I came along she stood apart, watching the carnage from a distance, disgusted but unsurprised by the colossal waste of life. In World War 2 she took a more active role, spying for both sides under different identities, something which she continued into the Cold War, moving from East to West, satisfying her need for adventure and excitement by playing both sides for fools.

But after so many years Mystique still lacked a purpose, and it was when she met a young Erik Lehnsherr that her life changed. A young man with the power to control metal, Erik or Magneto as he preferred had a vision of a world in which mutants would rule and the power to make that vision a reality. The Brotherhood of Mutants was formed, with Mystique acting as Magneto’s right hand woman.

See here for further details. (Original Trilogy sections only)


Sample Journal Entry: [A private note to her Warden]

There are worse places to be imprisoned than this, yet I do not like being caged by this and judged for doing only what was necessary. Perhaps by the standards of others I might have gone too far, but to me I have only ever done what has been necessary to survive.

To quote an example, even Erik did not know this, but I sailed on the Titanic on that maiden voyage so many years ago. I was posing as a wealthy businessman, for I had holdings in New York which needed attending to and while I have travelled second class and steerage before, I wanted to be able to relax as myself and enjoy the comforts that should be my right.

When the ship hit an iceberg I knew something was wrong, my ears are sharper than a human’s and I could pick up on the distant sound of sheering metal. When the deck began to tilt I knew the ship was doomed. So I went to the lifeboats and witnessed the boats being loaded by the officers, the boats departing half-empty due to their stupidity, letting only women and children board and leaving the men to their fate. I needed a female face and I took one, snapping the neck of a woman I had dined with the previous day, leaving her body in her cabin and going up to board a boat.

Do I regret it? Why should I? That woman would have been dead only a few years later and I needed a face to escape. Thousands died on that ship, but would any of them have hesitated in recoiling and trying to kill me if they’d seen me like this?

So I ask you what was the moral thing I should have done? Perhaps this ship will be no different, or perhaps I might discover more about myself. Either way it doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice.

Sample RP: Link here

Special Notes: X-Men First Class, X-Men Days of Future Past and X-Men Apocalypse do not apply, as they radically alter Mystique’s origins motivations and character. I’ve used the comics to fill in some information about her backstory (non-existent in the original trilogy) and invented some elements to fill missing information.