-"Not often. We are actually here tonight to talk to people about Haven. Mostly work, and some entertainment." she added with a smile, nodding towards the stage "How about you? What brings you here?"

Haven huh? So he had stumbled upon some more of Devon's people. As he looked at the two beautiful women he could understand why Devon would want them there working the crowd, making contacts. If he was a potential donor to the organization these two seemed like they could get him to write a check.

"Well to be honest much the same myself. Got an invitation from Devon to come and talk to people. Though the entertainment was a big part of saying yes. Man I wish I was up there." Max admitted looking at the stage.

How many people had Devon invited to this event to promote Haven? Max gave the room a quick glance, looking for any signs of other members. It was a waste really, it wasn't like they all had signs on. He took a drink of his champagne.

Devon turned at hearing his name said formally and found the positively inspiring and beautiful, Ms. Rebecca Grey. He nodded as she neared and lifted his hand to take hers at nearly the same time. He shook it gently, softly. “Yes, Ms. Grey. Thank you for coming,”

>> “..Thenk ye fur th' invitation. Colur me flattered, an' quite curioos tae learn mair ay whit yoo're plannin' haur.”

His eyes narrowed and he started to cant his head slightly to the right. He grimaced, a faint rouge raising on his cheeks. “I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not sure what you said,” the blush deepened as he admitted the struggle. “I’m more than happy you’ve joined and are here. If you meant what we’re planning long term, I’m happy to speak more on that.”

There was a quick pause as his tone lifted. “I love the dress by the way. I’m a blue fan,” he grinned.

Rebecca had been in America long enough to learn she could not get offended when people could not parse through her accent. She chuckled at Devon’s comment, doing her best to be polite to the host of the evening’s event.

The vlogger did she could to lighten up her accent, but she was not going to go so far as to slip into her “American” Voice Acting accent, because as far as she was concerned, that would be like asking Devon to speak in a bad Australian accent all evening. ”Sorry! Ah’m just quite interested in the lang term plans of yers, an’ Ah’m sure mah fanbase is, too.” If she liked what she heard, Rebecca was looking forward to putting out a video on “Haven” when he returned to her apartment. The subscribers who also followed her on Speedigram or Chirper already caught sneak peaks of her at the event, so she was creating buzz for an eventual recap.

Flattery was not going to win Rebecca over, but it was not a bad place to start. She curtseyed, which seemed like an appropriate thing to do in such a gown. ”Thank ye. Ah don’t get many chances tae dress up like this for X-Men work,” she admitted. She was there mainly as a member of the new media, but she was publicly known as a member of the X-Men, so she had to see herself as an ambassador for the team as well.

”But Ah’d like tae believe we’re both working toward th’ same things. Tae make the world safer; a place for mutants an’ humans tae feel at home, right?” There was nothing stopping Devon from lying to her, of course, but she wanted to hear the man's opinions on what he was setting out to do. When an organization emerged and clearly indicated it was looking to take care of both humans and mutants, it was a welcome step forward, but humans eyed it with suspicion. Maybe it came from a place of ignorance, but as an advocate for peaceful coexistence, Rebecca wanted to be a woman asking questions to calm anyone's doubts.

>> ”Sorry! Ah’m just quite interested in the lang term plans of yers, an’ Ah’m sure mah fanbase is, too.

“No, don’t be sorry,” Devon persisted. “I’m sorry,” he nodded his head. “And I’m glad you’re interested.” He was thankful she understood his plight without seeming angry at it. He wasn’t going to pretend he understood. His way was to ask, be clear, but he still apologized for the confusion.

>> ”Thank ye. Ah don’t get many chances tae dress up like this for X-Men work,”

He chuckled and nodded. The X-Men had their missions and their public to attend to. Rebecca answered to them all the more due to her journalistic presence on social media. He was happy to have her interest and energy in Haven.

>> ”But Ah’d like tae believe we’re both working toward th’ same things. Tae make the world safer; a place for mutants an’ humans tae feel at home, right?”

“Safer, better. For everyone. We want Haven’s interests to be in empowering and educating, both our members so they can continue to good works, but also the public. Society is enriched by its leaders and investment in its wellbeing, or so we hope anyway,” Devon nodded. “Our initial aims are in education programs and after school organizations as many lack good resources there, let alone struggle with tight budgets. Politically we have a few efforts underway regarding transgender and gender identity rights, as well as some publicity for mutant litigation and education.”

He smiled proudly, “And that’s just for starters. I think the programs will shift year to year, depending what seems necessary at the time, but the mission will remain the same.”

Agnes eyes widened a bit. Max admitted that he was here on behalf of Haven as well. It was just seemed as if they all were here on the same business. She knew that Devon had been recruiting like mad but she hadn’t realized that he had gotten this far in the process. Already he had pulled in an old teacher of hers, and now here was one of her best friends? Max she didn’t know but it seemed he had been caught up in the wave of newcomers that were spilling in through the doors of Haven. Oddly enough, that made her feel fairly…encouraged. More and more she was beginning to feel that this was the right decision for her.

Nodding her head in appreciation, she held her small flute of champagne up the both of them and gave them a warm smile. ”Well, welcome to Haven,” she said. ”Let’s hope we can all help do some real good.”

After the toast she took a sip from her glass as he eyes fell over the crowd again. She thought she caught a flare of red, similar in color to the hair of her ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Grey. None too far she could also see Nate Holloway, art teacher, if she remembered correctly, as he spoke and charmed some guest. Devon she had caught glimpses of as well. All-in-all, it seemed as if everyone here was doing their jobs and having a good time. Maybe this would work after all.

Turning back to the gathered duo, she gave them another smile and took a deep breath. ”Well, I guess I should get my butt back out there and continue trying to win people over. Wish me luck…” Talking to people was one of her lest favorite activities but she knew it was a necessity. She only hoped that she had the a fraction of the charm that Devon or Nate had.

>>"Well to be honest much the same myself. Got an invitation from Devon to come and talk to people. Though the entertainment was a big part of saying yes. Man I wish I was up there."

So, all three of them were here to promote Haven. Sveta wondered just how many people Devon had convinced to do the same... the gala appeared to be pretty saturated with them. She could see Devon himself, as well as Rebecca from the X-men, and some other mutants busy chatting up guests all around the dance floor. It was impressive, the social pull Haven already had. It gave Sveta bright hopes for the future.

>>”Well, I guess I should get my butt back out there and continue trying to win people over. Wish me luck…”

"You don't need luck darling, you sweep them off their feet" Sveta smiled at her friend as Agnes walked off. She was a charming young woman when she wanted to be, even if her powers made her shy. Sveta turned back to Max, curious to know him a little more.

"So... you perform too? Are you a musician?"

Devon was apologetic, but it was unnecessary. He was a good man (she was hoping) who happened to struggle when someone surprised him with a thick accented voice. Being on the internet, where many saw her voice as an opportunity for mockery or caricature, she would gladly accept well-intentioned honesty.

Rebecca opened the window for Devon to make a statement, and since it would have been rude to pull out her phone and record the response, she made a point to commit it to memory. She would not need to directly quote him in her brief overview of the night—she might pull him into an interview for that. For the moment, she was just looking to get general impressions and insights to share with her followers, and perhaps generate some hype for Haven’s introduction.

The message was promising: community outreach, education, and betterment. All excellent focal points for an organization looking to make a difference. He intended to work with schools to shore up resources and give children a better chance, which of course sounded appealing to Rebecca as a teacher. He even touched on work they were putting forward for the benefit of discriminated classes, including mutants and those struggling with gender identity issues, both matters being personally close to Rebecca’s heart.

Honestly, the pitch sounded ideal to Rebecca. She was unsure if this were the overview he was giving anyone who asked, or if he had done his homework on Rebecca’s stances, but regardless, she was impressed. He spoke of a mission that, while flexible, would look to keep core values intact. She could positive spin the hell out of this organization.

”Flexibility is important, efter aw. Th’ world’s a’ays changing, reit?” Who was to say what new struggles and injustices might arise in the coming years? She liked that Haven was not looking to pigeonhole themselves. ”A still look forward tae seeing whit comes next with Haven, but Ah think Ah hae mair than enough tae gie mah followers a taste.”

Pleased with the content she could put into an upcoming video, Rebecca still wanted to generate excitement until she found the tie to record. Pulling out her phone, she smirked at Devon, who, for all his clout and accomplishments, was still younger than her. ”Ah hope ye dinnae mind; mah job is tae appeal tae millennials, an’ naething daes that loch a good selfie. Especially with a handsome philanthropist,” she added, hoping the compliment was in good taste.

”Would ye induldge me?” she asked, gesturing to her phone, already open to its front-facing camera.

Agnes dismissed herself to go perform and Max gave her an appreciative nod. She seemed pleasant and Max was glad to have good company to work with him at Haven. Sletvana turned to him.

"So... you perform too? Are you a musician?"

Max gave a small smile, "I play guitar but I'm nothing amazing on it. Dance is my real passion."

Max gave a look around the room. Large high society social events such as this were not the normally accepted place to cut a rug. Max looked back at the blonde.

"What about you? What do you do?" He asked.

>>"I play guitar but I'm nothing amazing on it. Dance is my real passion."

"Dance is good" Sveta nodded with a smile. He did not seem like the ballroom dancing type, so he was probably not going to demonstrate his skills right here at the gala - but Sveta enjoyed dancing, and liked people who took similar enjoyment in it. Not to mention that if the guy could charm some women into a dance, he would score major points for Haven... everyone loved a dancer, after all.

>>"What about you? What do you do?"

"Many things" Sveta shrugged with a chuckle. There was no good answer to that question "I mostly... well. I'm here to charm people with my exotic accent." she grinned. It was partly true "I have powers that are useful to Haven, but I only recently joined... it is good to have a sense of purpose for once. I was just surviving day to day for a while, and it was not much fun."

"Dance is good"

Max smiled and cast a look out to the small group of people dancing elegantly on the floor. Dance was universal, from cavemen to present dance has been a social construct to interact with others. There was a magic too it.

"I like this augmented tempo stuff, but a straight waltz would be preferable." He said nodding towards the group.

He laughed at her statement about charming people with her accent. He had to admit, she was probably quite adept at recruitment. Those eyes, blonde hair, she'd probably have most of the people here signing up for just about anything.

. I was just surviving day to day for a while, and it was not much fun."

"I know the feeling," Max said with a sigh, "I had a chance run in with Devon when I was going through a rough time. Dudes an angel, sure the halos supported by horns but who doesn't love a little edge on a man."

His curiosity was peaked and he lowered his voice slightly.

"What kind of power were you talking about?"

>>"I like this augmented tempo stuff, but a straight waltz would be preferable."

Sveta chuckled, tapping her foot to the music. She was not here to dance, not unless asked and not unless it was useful for charming someone; she had to be careful anyway, lest she run into someone who had mutant powers without knowing about them.

"Is dat how you work the crowd, then?" she chuckled at Max. He was cute enough that most ladies would not have refused a dance...

>>"I know the feeling. I had a chance run in with Devon when I was going through a rough time. Dudes an angel, sure the halos supported by horns but who doesn't love a little edge on a man."

It seemed to be the common story with Haven. Devon running into someone, recognizing their potential, and offering them a place where they could be both safe and useful. Sure, Sveta was not naive enough to imagine that he was not getting anything out of it... but so far, the price was one she was willing to pay. She smirked at Max's comment.

>>"What kind of power were you talking about?"

He was quiet as he asked, but she could tell he was curious. She tugged at the edge of her gloves. Devon knew, and Haven had a right to know too.

"I enhance mutant powers by touch." she admitted quietly, holding up her hand "Hence the gloves."

"I'm not really sure how I work the crowds yet," He admitted,"small fish big pond really."

Max's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he gave a small low whistle as he explained her power. He'd heard of adapted people, basically giant Ghostbusters No Zones for mutant powers, but someone who could give you a boost? That sounded impressive.

"That sounds quite interesting." He said earnestly, "I take it it has to be skin to skin?"

When a young man hears about the possibility of power he can't help but imagine it sometimes. Max found himself wondering what he could do with a little boost, how much farther his power could grow. It was an understandable thought, but a selfish one. He quickly clamped down on it and smiled at the blonde beauty before him.

"I control gravity by touch. Not really flashy, I make stuff light or heavy." He said with a chuckle.