Raven had spent her first few months back on the island in constant motion, wandering aimlessly around town, unable to stay still in one place for more than maybe an hour at a time without getting antsy. She'd spent most of 2016 on the move after all, and that kind of forward motion was a hard habit to break.

But when she'd finally managed to stop, she'd apparently gone into full reverse. She hadn't left the apartment to do more than steal food from the diner downstairs since her work shift on Tuesday.

She could swear she used to have hobbies. She used to do things that weren't walk or eat. Or watch endless seasons of melodramas on Netflix while playing tap games on her phone. Hell, hadn't she been the one to tell Jono to just stop procrastinating and do his thing?

And yet, here she was. On the couch. A hospital drama blaring too loud from the television, and a breeding farm of adorable monsters singing from her phone. She liked the noise. Human voices, especially, her favorite scenes were the ones where all the doctors shouted at each other at once. The quiet of her last couple of months in the mountains seemed to be a million miles away, an entire lifetime, and she wondered now how she went from October to December without any company. The quiet was terrible. In the quiet she had to listen for all the things that weren't creeping up on her, the things that would never creep up on her again. In the noise the only thing she listened for was which doctor was sleeping unethically with which patient, who was secretly who's long lost sister.

She was getting hungry. She wondered if she could talk one of the servers downstairs into bringing her up a sandwich. One more episode and then she'd try. This one looked like it was going to end on a cliffhanger.

[open to the roommate or anyone else who might stop by!]

It took some looking, but the Mighty Dragon finally found her, dark, small, and solitary, her scales making her look more like his namesake than her own. She stood on the edge of a rooftop near the edge of what used to be Koreatown, watching something burning in the distance. A lot of LA was on fire, but she seemed interested in building more than others. She didn't look up when he landed, just kept staring out over the chaos of the city, her expression blank.

"I dropped her off at the Observatory," he said, giving her the same update he'd just given Gorgon. "Set up a movie for her. She seemed to like it." Her expression didn't change. "She won't get into trouble."

She nodded once, still didn't look at him.

"Did you find her family?"

"They're dead." Her voice was low, not quite monotone. "Sarah went fast. Head injury." She lifted one hand, turning it over in the dim light of the approaching dawn, as though she was examining her nails. "I took care of her parents."

This girl was all of 18 years old, the Mighty Dragon reminded himself. The same age as Banzai. They were going to be roommates in college or something. Now she talked about killing her best friend's parents as if it was taking care of the dry cleaning. He reached for something to say, ended up with "I'm sorry," and faintly hated himself for it.

She looked over at him, at least, her gold eyes flashing, her face crumpling from expressionless to devastated and then hardening into something that wasn't quite rage. "Promise me you'll take care of her."

The Mighty Dragon shook his head, confused. The girl had been arguing against taking Banzai out. Even if she'd changed her mind. . . . "Gorgon --"

She snarled, her teeth shifting momentarily into points. If he'd been someone else, he'd probably have taken a step back at the least, if not run off on the spot. "Him too," she said. "You and Gorgon and all you other damn -- heroes." She spat the word, then took a breath. Her features literally softened, and she looked like a blue teenager again, instead of a raging beast. "I mean look out for her. Keep her safe."

The Mighty Dragon nodded slowly. "Of course we will. So will you." She might not like the term just now, but he'd seen her fight, alongside Banzai and Gorgon and on her own. She deserved the name as much as any of them.

She smiled and shook her head. "There's a school outside Baltimore," she said. "Where Banzai and I met. We're practically normal there. If there's anyone who can help -- who can fix this, they're there. I'm going to go get them."

The Mighty Dragon shook his head. "The east coast is as wrecked as we are." She shrugged, stepping up onto the edge of the building. The Mighty Dragon braced himself, readying to catch her if she jumped. "It's three thousand miles away!"

Mystique turned to look back at him over her shoulder and smiled one more time. "Guess I'd better get started, then."

And where there was a blue teenager there was a blueblack bird that cawed at him and leaped into the air. The Mighty Dragon watched as she caught an updraft and floated effortlessly off towards the rising moon.

"I did not know she could do that."

* * *

[not long later, on the edge of San Bernadino]

The raven dropped down to the roof of an empty, burned out strip mall, panting, then shifted bonelessly into a blue scaled girl. She flopped over onto her back, chest heaving, and stared up into the cloudless sky.

"Okay," she gasped, when she'd finally gotten enough breath back to speak. "Not flying -- all the way -- to Baltimore." She erupted into hysterical giggles and flopped onto her side when the effort made her nauseous. "Boy!" She squeaked to no one at all. "Are my arms tired!"

[ooc: NFB, NFI, all that. Stay tuned to this space for further adventures of Mystique in zombpocalyptic America in the coming months!]