So Amelia was sick. And she couldn’t stop vomiting. None of which was true, mind you! And she absolutely hated lying to the police! But apparently she was a cop, and how do you explain how you’ll temporarily be absent and need to take time off because you’ve been regressed to an age where you technically couldn’t hold a police officer job anyways, and oh yes, you can’t remember any of your cases!

She’d been thrilled to find the badge with her things and her wallet. She’d been less than thrilled to concoct the lie. It had been a necessity amid several other less than thrilling necessities and developments. Such as the whole conversation when she’d woken up... and how she’d have to deal with all of that.

Amelia was of two minds about the whole thing. She was unaware how very much “of two minds” would have been a suck joke to herself just a day earlier. A sick suck joke.

Point was, she was conflicted and angry and a teenager. Which made everything worse. And she’d had to say she was sick and that there’d been tragedy in the family and that she’d need time... and she didn’t know how long the whole Seventeen Again thing would last and she just wanted to get on with her life!

When you’re a teenager, you never want to grow old and have adult responsibilities. When you get regressed and realize you were a somewhat competent adult... it isn’t so bad.

Mostly what her day amounted to at the moment was storming through the mansion, trying to figure out what to do. And maybe grabbing a cookie from the kitchen. Actually having a job and being a person would have been nice. Couldn’t even go to school because she’d already been to school, and—

Hey.

Her internal ranting was momentarily halted by strange noises coming from within the depths of a classroom she had just passed.

She eyed the lettering on the door.

C H E M I S T R Y.

Uh oh. Either it was a teacher, or else someone was gettin into somethin they really shouldn’t.

Is there a mutation where you need to eat sodium nitrate or potassium cyanide or other chemicals in order to digest your bacon and eggs?

She fumbled with her wallet as she pondered how cool and inconvenient that would be. Then, she stepped into the chemistry lab and held up her Totally Legit Police Badge.

“Freeze! Unless that would cause you to drop the chemicals in an inconvenient way!!” She said.

She had no idea who she was startling, barging in like this. Hopefully a teacher. Someone who didn’t drop things when they were surprised, and could laugh the whole joke off. Because she currently had Zero Legal Authority. Wasn’t that just a hoot!

Evelyn had behaved the past week, really. After the Molotov cocktail incident, she did not set fire to anything in the mansion. Well, intentionally. There was that incident with the stove and some rather flammable oil, but how did anyone expect her to accomplish much when she was too short to properly reach the stove!

Tonight she was not dealing with flames at least. This was more of an intelligence gathering reconnaissance, if she had to label it as anything. Rummaging through the supply cabinets, she was making note of what she found and storing that information in her brain. It really did save some paper being able to remember everything, to be truthful.

She was at the top of the shelf, trying to read whatever was hidden behind a little jar of potassium when the bottle fell over and clattered to the floor. Whoops. From her perch on the barstool she had used, she winced as it hit the floor.

Within moments, someone was hurrying her way. Not mirror not mirror not mirror... She was NOT going back into time-out. She was seven, not five, thankyouverymuch!

In came a girl, flashing a police badge. Evelyn's eyes had already adjusted to the dark so she could make out most of the outline. But the girl holding it, didn't quite...add up? The badge was current, she knew that, having seen a number at the station the other day. But there was no way she was an academy graduation at that size.

Crossing her arms, her eyes stared down the girl. "It may be dark in here, but I'm pretty sure that badge has no legal authority in your hands." she quipped. True, she wasn't really supposed to be here, but she wasn't the one flashing around a badge like a cop! Plus, Elke and her already decided, cops were the enemy!

In the dark classroom, it was hard to see the person talking down to her.

Amelia flipped the badge closed, stuffed it away, then turned towards where she figured there would be light switches. If only took her several tries of swatting at the wall before her hand came down on something that felt promising.

“That was a joke. Haha. Fat chance.” She said.

There we go! The lights in the classroom came on. You would have thought the mansion would invest in motion detecting lights, but whatever. Maybe too many students set those off.

“Maybe yesterday, it could have been. But today, you’re right. I’m much younger than I was. Anyways—“ She eyed the young girl atop the shelves. “Why in the seven Hells are you rooting around in the science lab in the dark? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Or did this girl need those chemicals to live.

Evelyn watched the woman swatting at the light switch, wondering if she should have taken the opportunity to run while she had it. This adult in particular seemed to lack a certain, coordination? Tactical advantage? She considered several different ways she could explain it while taking the chance to shut one eye so the light wouldn't blind her. Finally, there it was. She squinted, blinking as she took in the appearance of the stranger. She certainly didn't look as old as some of the teachers here, and something about the way she phrased things.

[Mentions yesterday, legal badge. Current predicament, match. Possible age loss.]

"Wait, wait, wait. Don't tell me." The girl plopped down onto the bar stool so her legs were hanging off the edge, and put her face in her palms. They were almost the same height this way and she had a rather cocky looking expression. She loved when she figured things out all on her own. "You magically de-aged, and now you're stuck in a younger body, so the badge you once carried had a certain legality in your previous lifeline, but since you lack those memories and experience your badge is pretty much just a costume prop now." She hopped down, and scooped up the bottle of potassium. This would be useful if she wanted to create a diversion. Volatile, and it reacted to water. Nice!

"And what does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking inventory. It's not the most well stocked assortment, but there are useful things here."

“Hey!” Amelia said dryly. She mimicked the tone, holding up a hand. “That was pretty good. Let me guess. In a previous life, you were like some sort of Sherlock Holmes.”

Her brother was obsessed with that guy. At least, he had been years ago. Maybe he’d grown up into liking girls.

She had pretty much hit the nail on the head with her assessment. Like she had personal knowledge of the whole thing. Probably did.

Was the mysterious De-Ager Lady going around doing this crap? It looked like they had a phantom menace.

The girl had to be seven or eight. Too small to be any older. Unless she was.

The girl scooped up a bottle of chemicals. It hadn’t broken when it had fallen. Was probably the thing she’d heard fall. Amelia couldn’t determine what it was, from her angle. Which made her suspicious.

She didn’t really trust the ‘inventory’ statement. But for the moment, she could play ball.

“Oh yeah?” Amelia said, stepping closer so she could check out the chemicals. “What do we got here?”

“You know,” She added thoughtfully, arching up for a bottle of something. “I was gonna study chemicals and forensics once I graduated high school. Be some sort of lab tech for the police.”

Apparently, she’d gone a different route. Cool. But surprising. She blamed Miri. Stupid CIAbabysitter.

She glanced down at what she had in her hands.

“Acetic acid.” She made a face. “Smells like vinegar.”

Evelyn took a moment to roll her eyes at the woman. ”In another life, I’m pretty sure I was better than him. I mean, he was what, thirty, forty? How much of his life was wasted before learning his true potential. I plan to utilize every second and become smarter than anyone. Starting with these chemicals.”

Why couldn’t this girl just leave her alone? Now she wanted to look at the chemicals too? ”You look like you could take another swing at the lab tech situation if you wanted. I mean, since you can’t be a real cop right now. Unless you think interrogating seven years olds is a qualified Assignment? I don’t think I would fit into your job description.” she snuck a container of copper sulfate to the side, tracking the other girl’s actions. Was she stopping her? Stalling? Or had it been undecided. Honestly, she felt this girl was testing. They were dancing a clever game of words now.

“Oh, better than him. I see.” She said.

Was that... a patronizing tone? Maybe. But she got what the girl was saying. Holmes has spent his entire life learning stuff. And she was much younger. And wanted to learn it all.

“Learning all the things is admirable.” Amelia agreed. “Especially if you want to be a detective.” Or a cop.

She was willing to let the whole experimenting with chemicals thing slide, maybe. If she’d been allowed to help. Because at least she had high school chemistry on her side. Or at least, until the seven year old gave her lip.

She was willing to bet said seven year old had nefarious plans and was just trying to push her away so she could realize them.

Rather than get pissy, however, she kept watching the girl.

“I think,” she said. “Chemistry teacher is a perfectly acceptable profession. If I am stuck here at this age and all.”

Not that she wanted to think of it. But hey, they were playing the long game. And was that — she thought she’d seen ‘sulfate’ on the chemical container the girl had tried to hide from her.

“Hey, is that Aluminum sulfate?” She asked, stepping closer to the girl.

Evelyn was very certain she was being watched now. The girl's eyes tracked Evelyn's hands while her voice tried to act casual. That was a combination of typical cop move and just general adult behavior. To other kids, it may come across as subtle, but Evelyn knew these tricks. Heck, she was certain in another life she used these tricks. Had she been the type of adult to call a kid out if they were sneaking around at night? She hoped she hadn't been. If she had been a stickler for rules Evelyn would never forgive future her. It was bad enough she even lived in this type of mansion. If she had been a teacher that was even worse.

"I'm not sure what I want to be right now," Evelyn commented. She considered the chemicals calmly. "I mean, there are lots of professions, and being a detective would probably be boring anyway. I hear there is a lot of paperwork. I can see myself wanting to do that much writing." Reading was one thing, writing was another. She drew but didn't generally write for fun.

"You...actually would want to be a teacher?" Evelyn paused, looking bewildered by the possibility. "In a school full of mutants? You wouldn't survive five minutes. Kids around here like, spontaneously sprout gills. Or sweat opals. Or like, blow things up for fun. You seem like you would be one of those student teachers to quit the first time someone called you names." she snorted rudely. She spun the chemical bottle in her hand and held it up.

"Copper sulfate. Can't be too dangerous for me to have right? I mean, they use it in kids chemistry sets to grow those silly little crystals." She unscrewed the lid, still judging the woman's reactions. How far would she let this kid go before she actually set off some chemicals?

Good thought there, professions. The girl was young enough, she had plenty of time to decide what she wanted to be. But it was good to have a plan.

And yes. Paperwork had to be boring. And what if you became a rent a cop or a meter maid or god forbid on traffic cop duty, all day every day! It didn’t need to be glamorous. You could be tracking hookers and pot dealers and inconveniencing a lot of good people!

“You make some great points...” Amelia said thoughtfully.

Did she want to be a teacher? The girl had asked her. Mainly, she’d been BSing in order to try and get into a parental role. Or, like, a TeACHER role. But... see. That didn’t seem like it had worked. And she really did not.

“No.” She said.

Because, the girl went on. She wouldn’t last five minutes.

That kind of comment made one want to be belligerent and try and prove someone wrong.

“Honestly, i would rather be CIA or something.” She said. “Track dangerous criminals like an old friend of mine. Or fight zombies like— the other night for me. And years ago for everyone else.”

But more on topic, what the hell was in the bottle?

Oh. COPPER sulfate. Which— yeah. She had no idea what that could be used for.

“Shit, yeah.” She said. “Honestly, you probably know more than me about this. Want me to google an experiment so we can actually learn something, or are you just trying to figure out what’s flammable so we can set the mansion on fire.”

“Because that’s totally cool.” She added. “If you are. I had a friend who did that... pretty much every time she had a bad dream. But I’d rather do a cool experiment. Unless we can actually find a safe recipe for fireworks online—“

She was tired of the idea of being the responsible adult. The girl had tired her out. Made her introspective. And she had already been de-aged. She could be immature, within reason. If that meant blowing crap up— hey. There was a science article for that!

The girl considered Evelyn's statements, and slowly, there was a change. The illusion of authority was vanishing and she started to act more her age. Evelyn paused, letting the echoes analyze the change. So, Ms. Cop didn't really want to be a teacher. Heck, it didn't sound like she wanted to be responsible even. Maybe the pressure of realizing what you grew up to be and suddenly falling back in age had gotten to her as well.

Evelyn felt her face soften ever so slightly. "No one said de-aging meant you have to live the same life even. Heck, it's like a second chance. Do I want to be an X this time around? No. Doesn't mean that I didn't try before, but that was a different me. There's this theory, that every choice you make has multiple possible outcomes, and all those outcomes can branch your life into different directions. In my last life, I lived at home until I was an adult. This time, I live her. The branches my life takes now are different. I'm a different me than I used to be." She moved over to one of the tables and started carefully arranging chemicals. Now that they were having a normal conversation, she seemed peaceful. Normal, even.

"I'm only seven. I'm not qualified to give anyone life advice. I guess the only point I have is instead of flashing a badge around because that's what you used to do, why don't you take the chance and try something different? Explore what the other multiverses have to offer? Right now, this one offers explosives."

Finally, she was on bored. Evelyn looked a little hopeful when she offered to google an experiment. "Actually, that could be useful. I don't have a cell phone, or the internet. I have had to scavenge the library for most of my studying and some of those books are a bit outdated. Plus, I don't think the mansion staff is ready to give me chemistry classes." It could be smart, realistically. She had a knack for taking knowledge and running wild with it. It wasn't like her best friend was an activist or anything, bent on arson and vandalism to the police force.

"I'm not sure we have all the materials for Fireworks. I used what I found for Molotovs but those don't involve the effort to pick colors and time explosives for specific reactions. Most of the chemistry cabinet is for teaching different principals."

As the girl spoke, Amelia set down the acid and picked up a bottle of blue dye.

The girl had a lot to say. A lot of it was good stuff. Amelia tossed the blue dye from one hand to the other, as she thought on it.

“You make a lot of great points,” she said. “And I’ll really have to think on them.”

Yep. Branching paths. It really was food for thought. Off the top of her head, Amelia couldn’t think of any notable changes. But then, she had not thoroughly investigated her life. Maybe she should.

Serena had given her some things. But she’d kind of vanished.

While the girl was young, she had a good head on her shoulders. And explosives.

Amelia smirked. “You’ve got good perspective for seven years old.” She said. Inwardly, she thought ’Let’s see if we can’t get you explosives, too.’

She could google. And the girl thought that could be useful, because she had nothing. No internet? Good lord. She had needed to scavenge like a caveman.

And, wait— Molotov cocktails? Amelia bobbled the catch as the thought of this kid setting fire to everything really set in... the bottle of blue dye she’d been tossing bounced off her sleeve and crashed into the counter, spattering dye on her hoodie and pretty much everywhere.

Amelia swore.

“Fracking figures I’m worried about someone else having an accident with chemicals and I go and break the first bottle of something by mistake.” She muttered.

She hoped it washed off, and— hey. What was happening? The blue dye just sort of scrubbed off the fabric as she rubbed at it with a damp paper towel. Scrubbed off and left no stain.

“That... can’t be right.” She said, with visible confusion. “What principal is this? Scotch Guard?”

You've got good perspective for seven years old.

Evelyn looked momentarily amused, and chuckled to herself. "Oh, you have no idea." anyone who spend much time listening to her powers quickly decided she was somewhere between being smart, and absolutely crazy. Maybe she was walking the line between the two. It was a fun dance. And if she did loose her mind, wouldn't that just be part of the fun?

The bottle of dye spilled and Evelyn blinked, echoes watching with fascination as the color scrubbed off. [Repelling properties inconsistent with fabric makeup.] That was...different. Evelyn squinted again, and her brow furrowed. "You don't have like, a mutation that normally repels stains, do you? Because I've cataloged the mutants here and that is not on my list of possible abilities." No, super dye repelling was not something she had seen before.

“No,” Amelia said. She was mopping up the spilled dye with paper towels now. “Serena did tell me I do something with clothes and mentioned something about being bulletproof.”

Hm. A spark of an idea lit up her mind.

“Hey. You don’t think past me somehow figured how to manipulate clothing to make them bulletproof? Because if I could do that, I’d definitely also make them repel stains.”

It seemed logical. In a world where logic had gone out the window.

She finished cleaning up and threw all the towels away. Maybe they could do something to test the thought. Hadn’t they been talking about things like that?

Evelyn wasn't sure what to make of the situation. It was spilled ink, it didn't feel like the most important thing in the world, but the echoes, and even her companion, seemed to think there was something relevant about it. This was a clue, a hint toward powers they had not tested yet. She had wanted to do something fun, but maybe testing the girl's clothing could be fun? She couldn't get away with shooting at her to see if it was bulletproof, but maybe there were other experiments.

Maybe it would be best if they weren't trying things on the clothing the girl was wearing though?

Or, should they?

[Fabric properties inconsistent with materials.] Not helpful. "Do you want to test it more? Does it have to be something you're wearing? Has it happened with other fabrics?" Evelyn was growing more curious, and that made her want to experiment.

Amelia considered the questions for a moment before she replied.

"I will admit. From my standpoint, with the de-aging thingy, I got this power like night before last or something and haven't had a chance to play with it at all. Was too busy fighting zombies and moving Mirror out of the path of moving cars like Frogger." Amelia said wryly.

She had a feeling... a feeling that wearing an article of clothing helped confirm its identity as clothing. Because some objects might not consider themselves clothing until they were utilized in their appropriate purposes. For example, a large piece of cloth was simply cloth until it was folded into a skirt, a scarf, a dress, or maybe even a head dressing, like a turban or a hijab. Perhaps that was the case, here.

"I do want to test it. Nothing that could be lethal, obviously. Maybe we could throw rocks at me? Shame I don't know if it's fireproof, or I would suggest fireworks. But I'm not willing to set myself on fire over something a blonde X-men," (with a cute smile), "said."

"I think it's just this hoodie. I don't have any other articles of my clothing to test. And I think I need to be wearing it, or else it won't know it's clothes. If that makes sense. You have any ideas?"

Amelia did not want to derail the chemical train. Experimentation could be fun. But this kind of experimentation was fun, as well.