Encounter ((closed))

[Erik Lensherr]

"Actually, I've yet to see her," he admitted, his face looking like a lover's lament. "How is she?"

[Shade]

Coward, Shade thought. And an excellent actor, too. Without what Mystique had told her and without her seeing with her own eyes how quickly Magneto had swayed from being desperate and furious about Mystique leaving to talking Rogue into taking the Cure so he could bed her, she might have fallen for it. "Quite well when I last saw her." she said. Which might change once she sees you. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

[Erik Lensherr]

"That's good," he said, visibly brightening. Rogue was a very passionate girl, much like Mystique. She would forgive him for things that had been out of his control. And if not... it mattered little. What mattered most at the moment was his Cause. And recruitment to his Cause, of course. "And how have you been? Working on your control?"

[Shade]

Interesting, Shade thought, how her powers would be the first thing to ask about. Or maybe not. Once more, the conversation with Mystique came back into her mind. He will use you and he will hurt you. Maybe it was just her own interpretation right now, but reading between the lines of Magneto´s question automatically, it sounded very much the way Mystique had been right.

"Oh, I´ve been very well" she gave back unsmiling but in a rather friendly voice, the only way to cope with the anger that was rising inside her by the minute. She would not lose her composure, she told herself, not against him. It was no lie. She had been well. Better than during the time she had been a member of his Brotherhood. Much better. "And yes, quite a bit." She wanted to tell him that she had quit the Brotherhood, wanted to yell it at him, tell him that she was no longer his tool, that she had been training her powers not for him but because she had been encouraged by those who saw her mutation as a part of herself worth being mastered, those who did not just see her as a potential spy as he did. But another part of her herld her back for now. Not because she didn´t dare tell him, not because she was scared of his reaction, but to toy with him. To see his reaction to her words, to find out whether he would try to work his charms on her again. Curiosity, no question, and a very last attempt to verify the opinion she had pieced together about this man in the last couple of months. She had considered him a friend once, she could still relate to part of his hatred, since the tattoo on his lower arm was still vivid in her memory, but she was looking at him differently now, from another perspective. No longer a potential tool. Only Magneto didn´t know yet.

[Erik Lensherr]

"That's good," he said brightly. "How far have you gotten with them?" he stepped forward, curious. His hand was no longer at his side, but raised slightly, as if to caress the small of her back, though she was still turned away from him.

[Shade]

Of course there had not really been a need to toy with him to prove her opinion since naturally all that interested him when asking about her powers was the potential he might see for his so called Cause. Shade felt herself tense ever so slightly when Magneto stepped closer. Not from anxiety, but because he was now just a step away from crossing an invisible boundary she had set. She turned and shifted on the rock in a way that looked casual and undeliberate, but that put more distance between them. She made part of her skull vanish from a mischivious impulse, in a way that the parts of vanished skin and hair let her look rather grotesque, even scary for one who had not seen her do it before. "Far enough to know that my mutation is part of me like everything else. And also, that I am more than my mutation."

There was quite a background to her words. It seemed to her now that Magneto, despite his kindness, despite the promise, had reduced her to her powers. Finding that out had hurt, but Shade had come around to accept and view things that way and their conversation right now was a confirmation for just that. She didn´t know how she could tell precisely. Asking about her powers usually did not make her suspitious. Gambit would ask things like that as well, but with him she knew that his questions rooted in interest in her and her mutation in a way that was not more than that. His questions not being a way to try and get from her in how far her powers could be useful.

[Erik Lensherr]

He hesitated at such a...raw display of her power, as she made half her hair disappear, her skin, displaying skull and brain, everything living, pulsating. It was unexpected. "That's fascinating," he said, impressed with her level of control.

"You have amazing control over your abilities," he told her. "I remember when you had trouble extending it to other objects for periods of time."

[Shade]

Shade usually didn´t display her powers like that, it was a subconscious gesture of ´don´t you get any closer than that´. Usually, if she did something more gross about her invisibility, it was to get a laugh from Gambit, this time it served a different function. She swiftly let her powers slip again. She remembered that time as well. Once she had made a metal table at the lair vanish and it had cost her huge efforts. It had been a time when extending her powers to others had still been extremely draining. That had changed, giving way to a much deeper and still dormant facet of her mutation which she could not access on her own yet but of which she knew it was there - stealth. Undoubtedly, she thought with an inward smirk, that would be of great interest for Magneto, but she saw no sense in telling him all that. He needn´t know. Her powers were her own, entirely her own and she used them for those she chose to use them for.

"I got encouraged." she said, looking back at him to hold his gaze still not smiling. His words were a clear compliment to her powers, one of the sort that would have evoked a shy smile or faint blush from her back then. "I developed and changed." In much more than just one way. She was still herself, her character had not changed, but some attitudes had. She had lost part of her naiveness, had become more quick witted and had developed a better gift of obeservation. All of this was helpful right now.

[Erik Lensherr]

"Changed for the good, I hope," he joked, a teasing smile on his face. However, he had noticed that in the lair, all of her belongings were gone, as were Rogue's. The lair hadn't been lived in for some time.

[Shade]

Defintely, she thought. She had changed for the better in many ways. Maybe Xavier would not be happy about all of these changes, but anyways.
She kept his gaze. "Yes." she said, her voice calm but firm. "I was looking for you. I never found you and obviously you never found my note." Or you found it and didn´t bother to call and hear what the matter was. The cabin had been deserted that afternoon months back when she had driven out there on Rogue´s bike to talk to him. "I got my stuff from the Lair and quit."

[Erik Lensherr]

"Actually, I had been meaning to ask you that," he said after a moment. "I noticed your things were gone, and I didn't receive your note." He hadn't gone back to the cabin yet, after what had happened there...

[Shade]

Shade gave a short nod her arms still crossed. "I left a long time ago." she said. She actually felt relieved. Not because his reaction was a calm one. She guessed he must have suspected something like this, because if Magneto had been to the Lair recently, he must have noticed it was deserted. And also he could hardly interpret her words and body language in any way different from being distant.

[Erik Lensherr]

"I'm sorry I didn't get it," he said softly, shifting closer to her. Of course he noticed her posture, blank expression, crossed arms... she was different now than before he'd left. The old Shade would be hanging on his every word. However, he wouldn't go down without a valiant effort.

[Shade]

When he stepped closer, Shade could feel anger boil up inside her once more. If he had snareled at her, she would have been able to bear it, but the fact that he didn´t, but played all understanding was getting her on edge. She knew with certainty now that Magneto was trying to play his charms on her once more, of course he would. It was so typical a thing to do for him. And that made her furious. It gave her the impression that he saw her as a prey, as someone to be manipulated and toyed with and that feeling made her growl inwardly.

She also was slightly angry at herself. How could you ever have been so naive, Shade, her inner voice scolded. You would have run into just the trap Rogue ran into and you know it. "Of course you are." she gave back, suppressing a snort, raising an eyebrow at him and making no attempt to react to him shifting closer. He was a short way from crossing her boundary. "you lost a potential spy after all."

[Erik Lensherr]

He felt his irritation rise slightly, but kept it perfectly under control. "And what, if I may ask, caused a sway in your opinions?"