No matter what happened in her life, no matter how badly she had been spurned, betrayed, forgotten, there was one thing that Agnes knew she could count on -- flowers. Flowers had always been a weak spot for her, maybe even moreso now that she was bonded with the Hive Queen. The fragrance always managed to pull in her senses and now the young woman found herself utterly allured by them. That was probably why it was such a natural fit for her to take a job in a florist shop. Really, it was the most natural call for her, and one that was the least suspicious of any other means of making money she’d rather partake in.

Petal Pushers was an up-and-coming business that started out of some woman’s backyard over in the Bronx. Now she actually had a two shops, one there, and the other here in Manhattan. Really it was a quaint little place but it certainly needed more TLC.

The walls on the outside were peeling a little but the beige coloring blended enough with the material underneath that it was difficult to really tell unless you pressed up close to eyeball it. The awning outside the shop’s from windows was new, a new verdant green, but the windows themselves still had a crack or two that begged a need for replacement. Lastly, the stands out front were large and secondhand. They needed to upgrade to smaller ones that wouldn’t take up so much sidewalk space. Still, the stands held and impressive array of flowers, plants, bouquets, and other fragrant things to draw in potential customers.

The inside was much the same, in need of some love, but it was brimming with flowers left and right, both on display and in cold units in order to keep them “fresh”. Agnes really didn’t mind working her, as much as she despised the human manager who ran it, but she was willing to swallow her pride in the meantime. After all, she still had to make money in order to live in this city and she had no plans of leaving, not when there was a pretty redhead’s emotions to play with.

Sitting on a stool behind the counter, Agnes casually crossed her jean clad legs. The top she was wearing was low-cut, exposing a fair amount of cleavage. While the owner didn’t much care for Agnes being on display like this, at the end of the day, certain customers were more likely to pay double what they had come in with a mind to pay when so utterly distracted. Agnes was good at taking advantage of those moments and, as a perk, enjoyed the attention. But, it wasn’t all just sitting behind the counter, taking payments.

Tasked with setting up the display outside, Agnes gave the nuisance of a manager a salute before she hopped off her chair, gave a small breath and picked up a few pots that needed to be replaced outside. Humming a soft song to herself, she pushed open the front door with her hip and slipped her curvaceous body out into the warming, afternoon air of the city. With a glance left and right, she moved in front of the displays and started to replace the pots of flowers and plants before she went back in to grab a few bouquets that needed to laid out as well.

As she set the last of these, she grumbled when she noticed a few flowers falling and knelt down to grab them. However, in doing so, she quickly felt her rear nudge against someone walking by. ”Oh, apologies,” she said, turning around to see whose day she just made better by nudging them.

Sveta was getting the hang of walking around the city again. Since Nate had taken her out on a walk like a shy puppy, she was slowly getting over her fear of SUPER, and her worries about being out in the open. With at least some of her past confidence regained, she was now going about her daily tasks with a certain ease, just like millions of other people who inhabited the same city. Today, she decided to indulge, and went wandering on streets that offered colorful things to look at, but were usually out of her daily routes. She smiled as she passed cupcake shops, and vintage clothing stories, and delightfully aging store fronts filled with...

"Oops..."

Sveta stumbled and caught herself, quickly making sure that the second of physical contact did not set off some kind of a mutation. She was fully dressed, of course, so no skin had been touched... even though, as she looked down, she could clearly see that the woman she had almost tripped over was displaying quite a lot of it.
She should have been watching where she was going. This was New York, after all. And the flowers were quite nice. It would have been a pity to knock them over.

>>”Oh, apologies,”

There was a flash of... something familiar. The voice? The eyes? It gave Sveta a pause as she pondered if she had met the woman before. She was certainly pretty, and probably hard to forget... then again, Sveta had a busy life, so chance encounters often went forgotten on the long run.
This girl, however...

"It was all me" she apologized, keeping a safe distance "I didn't see you down dere. Sorry..."

>>"Oops..."

Agnes apologized for accidentally bumping into the new person as they passed on the street. Honestly she didn’t care, but she supposed it was polite to at least apologize for the action. Some people were not as accustomed to touch as she was and they tended to shy away from any kind of contact, out of whatever inane fears or morality that they have. So Agnes issued the apology, straightened up from her kneeling spot and turned around to eye them.

>>"It was all me...I didn't see you down dere. Sorry..."

It didn’t take long for Agnes to piece together who it was. She would recognize the blonde anywhere, especially after what your delightful little touch had brought out in her. Part of her will always be thankful for what Sveta did for her so many years ago, pulling her off the streets and into the cozy home of the mansion. However, that had problems too as it was the place where her life took a turn after meeting Rebecca Grey. Agnes could just as easily hug her as punch her in the nose (figuratively speaking, of course).

Giving her a sweet smile, Agnes placed her hands on her hips, the flowers brushing up against her side as she tilted her head towards her. It had been several months since she had last seen Sveta. She remembered she was responsible for bringing out the Hive Queen, but the after that, things kind of blurred. She knew she was in a hospital, some how, and that Rebecca had poisoned her with her constant visits. At least she was meeting up with her former friend now…

”Sveta…” she said with a sparkle in his overly sapphire blue eyes. ”It has been too long, hun.” She smirked. ”It’s me, Agnes.” She pouted playfully. ”Or after you already forgotten me?”

The woman stood up, and Sveta saw recognition in her eyes before she spoke. She was very familiar... but also with an attitude that Sveta could not place. Sure, she was very attractive, but also confident, and seemed a little... amused?

>>”Sveta… It has been too long, hun. It’s me, Agnes. Or after you already forgotten me?”

Sveta's eyes widened.

"Agnes?"

The eyes. The voice. She could see the similarity, she could sense that she was talking to the same person. But the look... she looked very different. She felt very different. The last time Sveta had seen Agnes, she had been accidentally boosted by her powers during a fight against METAbots, and turned into some kind of an... insect creature. This look was not that, but it was also not the old Agnes. Sveta stared, until she realized she had been staring longer than comfortable.

"What... what happened? The last time I saw you, we were attacked by the METAs, and..."

Agnes gave Sveta a comforting smile. The truth was that she still didn’t know how she felt about the other woman. She presented a rare conundrum for the insect queen who wanted nothing more than to burn down the matchstick world that her friends had built up around her. She wanted to show each and every single one of them exactly the kind of monster that she could be, but it wasn’t as simple as all there. There were those who, quite frankly, she didn’t know how to feel about; Sveta was one of those.

Standing back, she crossed her arms under her chest and jutted out her hip a tiny bit. She continued to smile sweetly at the woman, offering her a tiny, playful pout at being unrecognized, though it was all in jest. Agnes knew that she looked quite different now and it was going to be a surprise for many, many people.

Once she exposed who she was, Sveta’s eyes widened with recognition. It was clear that something about her had already triggered thoughts as to who she possibly was but she had yet to figure it out. With Agnes admission, the surprise on her face was genuine and Agnes momentarily reveled in it.

>>"Agnes? What... what happened? The last time I saw you, we were attacked by the METAs, and..."

She gave her a soft smile. Gently she shrugged her shoulders. ”Kind of a long story,” she said with a sigh. She placed the flower back into the pot where it belonged and leaned back against the wall of the establishment. She was taller now, surpassing Sveta by two inches of height, so she chewed on her lip in thought. ”I...woke up in a hospital. Was there for a bit. Becca visited me for about a month before I was released. Afterwards I...just left.” She trailed off, her eyes growing distant as events flashed through her mind. She shook out of those thoughts, though, offering the Russian another fine smile. ”I was out of state for a bit but I came back. I guess New York is just in my blood, you know?”

Sveta still had a hard time wrapping her head around the change. It wasn't like one of those makeover movies, when the girl lost her glasses and put on makeup and maybe dyed her hair. Agnes looked like a whole different person, height, face, and all, except for her eyes and her voice. Even more than that, her attitude was different too, her charisma... it was the same surreal feeling as when she met Akshay's doppelganger.
Wait...

>>”Kind of a long story. I...woke up in a hospital. Was there for a bit. Becca visited me for about a month before I was released. Afterwards I...just left. I was out of state for a bit but I came back. I guess New York is just in my blood, you know?”

"You look... different" Sveta managed to say, still more than a little stunned about the encounter "Don't take dis the wrong way... but are you... from this side of the rift? I know people have very similar lives on both sides, and..." she shook her head "Sorry, I know it sounds stupid. I'm just surprised."

The look on Sveta’s face was absolutely priceless but Agnes didn’t let that appear upon her own features. Rather she continued to looked at the Russian with absolutely innocence, merely looking at her with uplifted eyebrows, completely having the other woman’s attention and vice versa. Until Agnes knew how she wanted to feel about her, for the time being, she would continue to play the role of the old friend, someone who still felt something for those people who used to be in her life. How things would unfold afterwards, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t wait to find out.

Her hands gently placed upon her hips, she continued to grin at the other woman, watching her try to wrap her head around the two different Agnes that she had known in the short time that they were together. One had been meek and sickly looking most of her life; the other, far more robust and charismatic. Of course this was a game that Agnes had to play as carefully as possible as to not tip her hand.

Agnes went over, very briefly, what had occurred since the last time they spoke. They lived different lives, Agnes going through many trials, some of which leaving large gaps in her history, but she pressed on. Sveta took everything she said with stride but there was clearly some suspicion in her eyes. The itch from her retracted stingers scratched at the insides of her palm, wondering if she needed to disable the blonde before she got too suspicious, but the Insect Queen stayed her hand.

>>"You look... different...Don't take dis the wrong way... but are you... from this side of the rift? I know people have very similar lives on both sides, and...Sorry, I know it sounds stupid. I'm just surprised."

She smirked. She knew of the events in New York that occurred in her absence. Honestly it was the most startling thing she ever heard of, but it was not at the forefront of her mind. Others may cry that this was a sign of the end of times and other such nonsense, but Agnes wasn’t prone to such thoughts, especially when she had her miniature armageddon to enact.

She shook her head. ”No. It’s me,” she confirmed. ”I...came out of my cocoon like this.” she shrugged. ”I guess my mutation gave me a free upgrade.” She eyed the other closely. ”You? Are you from the other side?”

Svetlana did not want to jump into any conclusions or conspiracy theories... but she was also not the kind of person anymore who would just believe something strange like this without asking questions. Her gut feeling was telling her that Agnes really was who she said she was. And old friend, having gone through some kind of an amazing transformation, and now being the same, and not the same at all. The more she looked, the more Agnes seemed like the same person, and also somehow very, very different. Sveta could not put a finger on it.

>>”No. It’s me. I...came out of my cocoon like this. I guess my mutation gave me a free upgrade.”

"Uh-huh..." Sveta nodded slowly. She still remembered in vivid color the transformation Agnes had gone through when she accidentally boosted her. That... insect creature, it looked like something that could cocoon, at the time. So maybe this was... a very, very strange power growth?

>>”You? Are you from the other side?”

"No." Sveta shook her head stubbornly "I am definitely from dis side. I don't even know where the other Sveta is... she's probably a rich housewife somewhere." Or dead, but she did not want to think about that option. Even if it was more likely.

"So... you are not with Haven anymore? Or are you just... taking a break?"

Agnes tilted her head, looking over the blonde with curiosity. Sveta seemed to be having a hard time believing that Agnes was really...well...Agnes. It was understandable. If Agnes had not had her voice, she would have been confused for a completely different person. Her physical appearance, her attitude, everything was just so out of the ordinary to those people who knew the old her that suspicion should be expected. Still, the ex-runaway would have to adamant that she was who she was -- mostly.

Still, Sveta had seen enough strange things in her life that at least this shouldn’t be the oddest. Her arms crossed under her chest, Agnes leaned back against the wall of the flower shop, on leg bent so that her foot was planted against the brick facade. Talk had turned to the rift that had opened in New York. Agnes knew of it but she hadn’t experienced it yet. So she clarified that she wasn’t from the other side and teasingly asked if Sveta was.
>>"No...I am definitely from dis side. I don't even know where the other Sveta is... she's probably a rich housewife somewhere."

Agnes snorted a bit, chuckling as he flipped hair back over her shoulder. ”Haha, probably,” she said. ”I have to wonder if there is another me over there. Maybe one that came from a good family and wasn’t homeless?”

It was a odd but Agnes had wondered if that were the case. She had read about people running into their doubles, people who lived similar and yet completely different lives. It was strange to think that there was another Agnes running around in the world but, if there were, she couldn’t help her curiosity. But those were thoughts for a later day. She didn’t want to get into impossible to answer questions, especially any that could concern an alternate self finding happiness with a certain loathed Scot.

Shaking her thoughts away, she refocused on Sveta, watching her as she continued to make sense of the situation. However, the next words that came out of her mouth admittedly made Agnes pause.

>>"So... you are not with Haven anymore? Or are you just... taking a break?"

She tilted her head, her brow furrowed in confusion. Haven? It sounded familiar. However, as soona s the word popped into her head, she felt a small pang of pain. She winced, her hand going to her forehead as a sudden burst of buried memories flooded her mind. Eyes tightly closed, she heard violin music, she remembered screaming at a flying man who made it rain, and the scent of bug deterrent coming from everywhere. She growled a little before those strange memories refolded themselves and were sucked back into the inky blackness of her mind.

Straightening up and shaking her head, she swept her gaze over to Sveta and smiled tiredly. ”Sorry. Random...ice cream headache.” She breathed before she glanced to her old friend. ”Um...break.” that was probably the safest bet. Agnes remembered being approached for that benefit concert, the Sound of Unity concert, but she couldn’t remember much details beyond that. Did she do more work for them? An investigation would have to follow. She cleared her throat, looking back to Sveta. ”I guess you are working for them? I hope it’s not some boring paper pusher position,” Agnes said, regaining her composure. ”I don’t imagine you’d do well behind a desk.”

>>”Haha, probably. I have to wonder if there is another me over there. Maybe one that came from a good family and wasn’t homeless?”

The joke had gone over well. It was another small piece of proof that this Agnes was really the Agnes Sveta knew. She was slowly beginning to relax, and accept the strange reunion with one of her best friends. It was good to know that Agnes was fine, after how they had last met. Better than fine, apparently. Sveta wondered the same thing now, about Agnes in the other world. Hopefully, she was fine too.

When Sveta asked about Haven, however, Agnes gave her a long pause.

>>”Sorry. Random...ice cream headache.”

It did not seem like one. Mostly because there was not ice cream. The pause made Sveta suspect that something might have happened between Agnes and Haven. Did Devon have a fight with her? Did she lose trust in them somehow?...

>>”Um...break. I guess you are working for them? I hope it’s not some boring paper pusher position. I don’t imagine you’d do well behind a desk.”

"I'm living with them" Sveta shrugged "And run occasional missions. Nothing dangerous, because of my powers... I'm too valuable" she grinned "But no, not desk jobs. I suck at those. So... you work here now?"

Haven. The name sounded so familiar. It was one of those words, the kind that you forget from time-to-time, but you could feel them, just dancing on the tip of your tongue, ready to slip off into the void if you didn’t hold onto it for dear life. The feeling was nagging, distracting, and took the fun out of her engagement with Sveta, but she couldn’t tip her hand all at once. Sveta assumed that Agnes still worked for them and while Agnes had snippets and memories of faces and things done, they were nothing concrete for her to latch onto. Therefore, it must have been a mistake, but it was a mistake that Agnes wouldn’t let on about.

It was better to pretend she knew what the Russian was talking about, as a means to ensuring suspicion wasn’t being brought down upon her. Whomever this “Haven” was, it sounded like it was something that she had been a part of, but in what way? Agnes wouldn’t dwell on these thoughts, instead simply she would agree with whatever Sveta said in hopes of steering the conversation to things she actually could remember.

>>"I'm living with them...And run occasional missions. Nothing dangerous, because of my powers... I'm too valuable. But no, not desk jobs. I suck at those. So... you work here now?"

Agnes paused for a second. Missions? Dangerous? They were using her powers? Agnes had to wonder a bit more about this organization. Exactly what was she doing with them? She shook the thought away, just smiling and nodding to the other. She giggled a bit when Sveta mentioned that she was “too valuable”; an understatement. With the Russian’s abilities, she always was a sought after commodity. She could only imagine what it would be like if she fell into the wrong hands.

Her arms unlooped from around her torso, hand slipping into her tight pockets. ”Yeah, you keep yourself safe. I wouldn’t want anything happening to a friend of mine.” A soft smile followed. When Sveta gestured to the flower shop, Agnes nodded. ”Oh, yeah. Some hours here and there. I just wanted to get away from the music scene,” she sighed. ”This is nice and quiet. Oh, here, I can hook you up...” she turned around and handed Sveta a dahlia, a flower with multiple petals, each of deep, bloody red, and tinged at the ends with white. ”A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady.”

Sveta really appreciated Haven. They were there for her the way no other team had been there before, they knew what they were doing, and they were actively trying to make the world a better place. Everyone at Haven she had met so far, in their own way, was a good person, and that was a very rare kind of place to be in. She felt a little sad that Agnes was not a part of the team right now. Maybe she'd return when she was ready...

>>”Yeah, you keep yourself safe. I wouldn’t want anything happening to a friend of mine.”

Sveta smiled a little. "I have already been kidnapped by SUPER" she shrugged "But dey rescued me." THe way Sveta's life had gone so far, being kidnapped was beginning to sound like a regular Tuesday. Hopefully, Haven could change that too. And at least Agnes was flying below the radar, with her new mutation change.

>>”Oh, yeah. Some hours here and there. I just wanted to get away from the music scene. This is nice and quiet. Oh, here, I can hook you up... A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady.”

"Thank you" Sveta smiled, taking the flower. Since she could not hug her friend, it was nice to share a gesture like that at their reunion. "So... was it only the looks that changed? Or did your powers change too?"

>>"I have already been kidnapped by SUPER...But dey rescued me."

Agnes merely smiled. SUPER? That sounded like it was more drama than was it was worth mentioning. The world, it seemed, was changing, especially with the rip coming into being. Everything that was known about the world was changing and now there was talk of people from another world coming into this one. In reality it all sounded like some strange conspiracy theory, but it was hard to mistake the tear in reality when it was all over every news station. Really, this was a strange, new world, but one that she couldn’t fully bother herself with.

Still, she dipped her head, a small look of relief in her eyes as she looked over her old friend. ”Well that’s goodness that they did,” she said sweetly. ”Did you get hurt? What was it like over there?”

Once Sveta explained, Agnes wanted to give her a little momento in order to make up for her experiences; at least that was what she figured the “old” Agnes would do. So, turning around, she plucked up one of the prettiest flowers and handed it over to the blonde with her compliments.

>>"Thank you...So... was it only the looks that changed? Or did your powers change too?"

A genuine smile. Sveta was always a beautiful woman. Agnes wondered why she had never bothered to ask the other out. Maybe it was because of some non-related sisterhood she thought the two of them shared, or maybe because she felt like she owed the woman for saving her all those years ago, or just maybe she didn’t want to turn into an insectoid creature every time they would try to lock lips, whatever the case, it was a crying shame. Zeroing back into the conversation, she just shook her head.

”Nope,” she said with some perkiness. Pursing her lips and blowing outward, there was a faint buzzing as a pair of hornets crawled out from her mouth and started to buzz around her head. Agnes smirked, watching the duo fly about before turning back to her old friend. ”Bit more control but aside from that, and my new look, I’m still me.”

A lot had happened since Sveta and Agnes last met. Notably, the rip... and then SUPER, and ultimately her rescue. It was hard to sum all those up in so many words, but at least Agnes seemed to get the gist of it.

>>”Well that’s goodness that they did. Did you get hurt? What was it like over there?”

"I'm fine" Sveta shrugged. Physically, she only had a small scar to show for it where the tracker had been, and, ironically, a higher level of fitness thanks to all the training. Go figure. "It's... strange. Not, you know, science fiction, but... dere are differences."

SUPER, mostly. As far as she knew, this side's government had not gone quite that far yet. And since she spent her entire time on the other side under SUPERvision, she did not really have time to check if the fast food places had different menus or anything. She was sure they did.

She asked about Agnes' powers. Such a significant physical change had to come with a power upgrade... right?

>>”Nope. Bit more control but aside from that, and my new look, I’m still me.”

Sveta watched as the insects buzzed by. It was still strange to think about the technicalities of Agnes' powers, even though they were no news to her.

"So... your power upgrade was great new looks?" Sveta grinned, regaining some of her usual ease around her friend "Some mutants would be so jealous of that..."

>>"I'm fine...It's... strange. Not, you know, science fiction, but... dere are differences."

”Huh. That is interesting…”

Agnes nodded. She gave the blonde another look. Now that she really looked at her, she could definitely see something of a difference. She was more toned, stronger, than the last time that she had seen her. That she found incredibly interesting. She guessed that whomever SUPER was, they must have made sure that Sveta stayed physically fit. More investigation would have to be required, so that Agnes knew about all the new players in town. It was always best to be prepared.

When she asked about what it was like, there was some slight disappointment. Science Fiction and novels, etc., they always make it sound like other dimensions would lead to advanced technology, aliens, dinosaurs, or mole people; however from what she had read, and Sveta’s experience, it seemed very mundane. Aside from the people who kidnapped her, which happens all the time, things were the same but with some differences.

She wondered if maybe she should take a trip to the other side but that would, undoubtedly, have to wait.

Sveta was curious if Agnes new body had also come with an upgrade to her mutation. As far as she knew, aside from her lovely new body, and the scent of honeysuckle that she gave off, she still could do everything the same. The other upgrade was still the fact that the Hive Queen was ready to pop out should the situation become too stressful. But giving how Sveta and her met the last time, maybe it was best to keep that to herself

>>"So... your power upgrade was great new looks? Some mutants would be so jealous of that..."

A mirthful laugh touched her lips. ”Well, given how disgusting some people thing my abilities are…” she shrugged. ”...I’m willing to be a little jealous here.” She glanced back over her shoulder, into the shop, before turning back to the blonde. ”Hey, why don’t we take this inside? I’m supposed to be watching the counter for another hour. Maybe we can get some lunch after?”