At first, Marie simply stares at Mu, awaiting a 'Just kidding' of sorts. With nothing forthcoming, she lets out a laugh and asks the question herself "You're kidding, right?" But the other woman remains quiet. What the... "What do you mean, our years? What...four hundred years? Don't be ridiculous."
Poking the fire, so it grows stronger, throwing in another log, Mu turns to Marie "It is quite a thing to say, is it not?" with a smile and clarifies "I am saying I will, quite soon, have ended the four hundred and fifty seventh year of my life."
"But that's just..." Marie starts and falls silent. Running through her head are the inconsistencies she found along the way, since first finding out about Mu. The unprecedented speed of some of this family's members' apparent education, without anyone caring about it, the seemingly instant appearance of Mu taking over a shady company with inexplicable ease, "The genetic defect...but how does it..." she murmurs, loud enough for Mu to hear. The other woman remains silent, letting Marie work through her thoughts.
"Alright, fine." Marie tries after a few minutes, shaking her head at herself You're really going to go along with this, Castaneda? With a sigh, she says "Let's put aside the age thing and start with you saying 'your planet'. So you are trying to tell me you are..what, an alien?" She remembers Mu's response to that clearly now. "Are you saying you tried to insinuate just that, when I joked about it?"
That makes Mu smile, as she answers "In a sense, yes. Your scientists would classify my mother, my sister, my family...me...we are indigenous lifeforms. Now, after so much time of cohabitation, almost three generations of your people growing up, living their lives and resting wherever their beliefs would have them spend their afterlives, now I would say we are not as much alien anymore."
"Right, of course." she says, sarcastically. "So, what are you, then? And why didn't the first settlers find anything? The colonization of a planet begins with basic to thorough scans and tests and yet...And why did...your people? Why didn't they contact us? Damn it, you're even saying you were there, so why didn't you?" Mu doesn't stop the flood of questions streaming from Marie, while she tries to get her head around even just the possibility of this kind of story being the truth. The feeling of belief Marie harbored since their initial conversation is stretched to its limits, to her amazement, doesn't go away completely.
"I will answer your last question first, so that our unnoticed presence among you is explained." However confused Marie feels right now, she can clearly see Mu doesn't know where she should start to explain either. Question is if she has to make up the story on the fly or if it's just as...incredibly ridiculous as she says. I mean, it's just...oh geez... So she assumes the woman just picked out the first question that stuck to her mind.
"While I neither can, nor want to deny that I was very curious, I would not have wanted to anger mother, who was very adamant I stay away from your landing party. That said, the decision not to initiate contact was made by our elders. And they have led us well for millennia. So it was not until a while later that we decided to mingle with your kind, when you established a steady settlement. It allowed for our intrusion from the outside to be easily masked."
"Many centuries before, we had started to intercepted radio waves from your planet, at least we gathered, over time, that it was from one single planet. It proved an interesting source of information and even led to creation of new technologies upon which we could build. It allowed us to create ways to find and monitor your vessel approaching our planet. Early enough, so that we could create technological ways to prevent yours from finding even mere traces of us."
"You did not disappoint our predictions. We learn fast and we are born with an eidetic memory, so, when you set down and we gained access, even learning and remembering everything necessary to interact posed no problem. In the beginning that was done just in case, though later on it was even integrated into our schooling as a precautionary measure. Some, like me, took a deeper interest, though that is not important at the moment, I suppose."
"As for what we are..." Mu closes her eyes and sighs yet again. "Well. That would be the other reason I brought up the question about fantasy stories at the café this morning. By the definition of some of the more imaginative minds of your species, we would be what you call dragons."
"Dragons." Marie repeats, blatantly disbelieving. "Really, how would you have me believe..that..you're..." Her voice trails off, as she stares wide-eyed at Mu. Specifically at her hair, which suddenly started to change colors, dyeing itself in the multitude of colors Marie noticed before, but couldn't think of as anything more than an illusion.
Now, though, Mu sits in the same seat in front of her as she did a moment ago, wearing the same homely slacks and shirt as she did just before, but instead of long, black waves of still drying hair splayed over the backrest and Mu herself, it is now the turquoise-blue-purple waterfall she thought she only imagined seeing in different lights. "My word, that's beautiful..." slips away from her in a whisper.
"Why thank you." Mu flushes slightly, causing Marie to react the same. "You may imagine I do not hear it commented on very often. It is, however, much easier to show, than tell, is it not?" she adds, self-consciously twisting a few strands between her fingers. "This also goes quite well with answering your likely upcoming question about magic. This is what I mean by it. Admittedly, limited to my person, it might still be rationalized away. I have a feeling that will not be the case with you, though."
Marie can't keep herself from staring, neither can she help herself blurting out "Hair, be it as colorful as it is, doesn't make you look much like a lizard, though." Which elicits a bright laugh from Mu, causing the both of them to relax a bit, when Marie joins in.
"I will have you know lizard is not a very nice thing to say." Mu says very seriously as she regains her equilibrium. Marie looks at her confused. "I do not shed." Mu says, smirks and thoroughly enjoys the confusion on Marie's face turning into a very noticeable flush, when the image that comment gives her obviously appears in the other woman's mind.
"Alright, you've successfully defused the conversation." Letting out a last chuckle, Marie turns serious again. "But it could still be a trick of some kind. I mean, it's just hair color and you're a scientist, maybe you did...something to yourself. Who am I to know?"
Pondering that for a moment, Mu holds up her index finger "Watch." This time, instead of a simple shift in colors, the now cloudy mass of hair around the gently smiling face of Mu starts to move on its own. Shrinking in on itself, the long tresses pull themselves up from behind the backrest of her chair, all of it slowly collects on the top of her head.
Marie watches with wide-eyed amazement when it clumps up just above her forehead, slowly taking on a solid form with a seemingly smooth surface, growing increasingly detached from and bent over high, slightly toward the back of her head. When the transformation seems to be complete. Mesmerized, Marie reaches out with her hand, realizing only a hands breadth away what she's about to do. Her hand stills and she looks into the eyes of the other woman, who merely nods in consent.
Marie closes the distance and her fingers touch the unexpectedly rough surface of the head-plate that Mu formed. "This is..." She strokes over the two long, thick and wide, horn like extensions while Mu sits still, letting her take it all in. My goodness..."It's beautiful." Tracing her finger along the fracture like lines that formed over the edges of the strong, strange surface, she grazes a much softer tissue with the ball of her hand.
She lifts her hand away slightly and finds, just above where her normal ears usually have their place, a long, shell like form protrudes away from her head, slightly to the back and down to where her human ear had its lobe moments before. Framed by the remaining smooth, now shoulder length hair, the colors of these vastly different ears match in the same turquoise-blue combination, but they are much more flexible than the head-plate, Marie feels its texture.
Utterly amazed, she looks back toward Mu's eyes, only to find them closed – decidedly not uncomfortable. Suddenly, her mind turns her perceiving the so far unconsciously continuing motions that resemble a massage into intimate caressing and, with a sharp intake of breath, Marie pulls her hand away as if she just burnt herself. "Oh geez, I'm sorry!" staring at the other woman in consternation.
"It is alright." Slowly the golden eyes open again, at first they try to avoid finding their opposite's brown ones, but when they settle in meeting, Marie can see that even they aren't in their usual state anymore. In the place of the round irises are now narrow, black slits, like those of a cat. A smile spreads Mu's lips, dispersing the anticipation of bad reactions that clearly showed in her features. "I see you are at least not repulsed."
"I..." Taking in the full change of the woman, now that she sits back a bit, Marie can't find any words to say. A moment of silence settles between the two, as Mu lets Marie work her way out of her daze. Thoughts race through Marie's head, most of them going nowhere but in circles. Some of them, however, connect with what Mu told her earlier and the questions of time lines they created. That would make sense, then. She really did know everything she needed to know before she started to attend university. And the time it took her to complete it, those seven semesters, fits with what I assume it takes to simply take all exams necessary.
"Well now..." She starts, clearing her throat. "This is quite a lot to even just try to wrap my head around, you know." falling silent for a moment, still staring at the transformed woman and clearly considering how to proceed. "How did you keep your presence hidden all these years? What with injuries and all that. Such things aren't avoidable for everyone all the time. Which also brings up the question of how many of you there are..."
Those, however, where rather secondary question on Marie's mind, considering her lingering want to believe the other woman. She already feels a little disappointed, but, for now, the woman is willing to explain. Still, the unreasonable sense of betrayal lets her ask the question that concerns her the most that little bit more forceful than planned. Not that there is much of any plan left, at the moment. "Also, if you're so adamant about not lying, how come you're basically deceiving the entire world?"
The smile appearing on Mu's face clearly shows her amusement over Marie's questions. With a chuckle, she answers "The former are quite simple. You might even have an idea already. It is our people who not only upkeep these integral parts of the community on this planet, but we were the ones who had received the task of setting it all up. It was, as you know, not decided on the first days of settling to keep these kind of records in one central office, but there was actually a call for bids for such a project."
"And, well, it was not hard to buy in, considering we had quite a bit of time to accumulate a bit of your currency." She has the decency to look a little embarrassed, even though she had nothing to do with it. "We already had the facilities, albeit on a smaller scale, as we had foreseen this eventual development. I do not know much of the details, as that never caught my interest." she dismisses explaining the technological side of the process with a wave of her hand.
"I was much more interested in being around your people, interacting, challenging them and myself. So I had learned about science, about management and many other areas that helped me meet new people, find new interests. Which brings me to your second point. People are rather focused on the task at hand, looking no further than necessary into whom they deal with, as long as the superficial appearances hold up. Starting over in different areas of work from time to time made me, and others like me, nearly invisible to any closer scrutiny. Excelling at your field of choice also keeps people from actually wanting to know more. On the off chance someone does decide to delve deeper, we can be persuasive."
Only the tone of Mu's voice lets Marie believe there is some other meaning to it than threats, like she assumed immediately the last time the topic came up with the other woman's relative. "Your cousin is sure you don't mean threats with that" she so says, thinking at the same time And I would be thoroughly disappointed, now that I got to know you a little better. In some ways, at the very least. Whatever that means, with all this. With a frustrated sigh, she continues "so what would you happen to do, to persuade? I have an example which you could elaborate on. Your secretary mentioned that there were business-deal closures that nobody expected to happen anymore."
"Ah, did she?" A smirk appearing, turning into a warm smile "I was right to hire her, she is very observant and strong willed, indeed. Most attending people do not remember that something out of the ordinary happened, but she...Well, to make this a little easier, and especially more believable, let me ask you something in return. Did you enjoy your time at the City park?"
"How do you..." Marie starts, trailing off when she remembers the strange flashback of just before she left Mu's home. "You did something. Before I left your apartment." she states. "I was really very surprised to find myself at the park, as I would have never gotten the idea to do that myself. What did you do to make me go there?"
Mu expected an accusing reaction, but it appears her small gift didn't offend the Captain. "I am delighted to see you enjoyed it." she says, smiling brightly. "In a simple, but much too broad word, it would be hypnosis." she holds up her hand, before Marie can inquire, the surprised and wary look on her face indicating that to happen. "Please, let me explain.
It is not a thing that I can use to simply tell, or even force you to act in a certain way. It is merely a subconscious encouragement of an idea that is already present in your mind. Be it in the fore or unnoticed in a corner until something triggers it. If you were never inclined to do it, if your mind never had had the idea to go there, or simply had a stronger inclination to oppose it, you merely would not have gone."
With a relieved sigh, Mu receives an acknowledging nod from the other woman, who says "When you say it like that, I just have to ask. I have a feeling I'm accepting all of this a little too easy. I mean, put yourself in my shoes. This whole thing is just...out there, you know? Yet here I am, still listening to you. Despite the show and tell, nice as it may be, it's all still quite unfathomable, so...Might it be you have something to do with me not running off and getting you locked up?"