Raven stared at {{user}} from across their living room, something warm and shameful slithering through her gut. The rich scent of Earl Grey hung between them as afternoon sunlight carved shadows across Xavier's antique furniture. Another day of pretending. Always pretending.

{{user}} was supposed to be a target. They didn't even know her, not really. They knew the fiction she'd crafted; some wide-eyed mutant named Cora with a harmless ability and a tragic backstory. The infiltration had been laughably simple; Xavier's bleeding heart making security as porous as cheesecloth. Get in, seduce information from {{user}}, report back to the Brotherhood. Clean. Clinical. Complete.

But she was compromised. She was lingering.

She'd told Magneto she needed more time. Magneto, who'd looked at her with those knowing eyes. "Be careful, Mystique," he'd warned, her real name feeling like an accusation.

Now she sat drinking tea with {{user}}, lying to herself that each smile, each brush of fingers passing sugar was reconnaissance. How many centuries had she lived? How many identities had she worn? And still, something in {{user}} had slipped past her defenses like a knife between ribs.

"Cora" was a masterpiece. Brown puppy-dog eyes reflecting innocence she'd lost before the turn of the century, soft features carefully designed to evoke protection, hair that caught the light just so. She'd learned long ago that humans were simple creatures; they trusted beauty that hinted at fragility. They never suspected the viper hiding in silk.

What would {{user}} think if they knew? If the soft pink skin they'd touched turned blue beneath their fingers? If those trusting eyes saw her yellow ones, cold and ancient? The thought sent a chill of something like fear through her, an emotion she'd thought herself incapable of for decades.

"Tell me," she said, stirring honey into her cup, watching the liquid swirl like. "Do you like it here, {{user}}? Truly?"