Agnes smirked, chewing on another fry as she continued to observe Mirror as closely as possible. Her resentment aside, she found Mirror to be a fairly interesting person. Not that she was fascinated by the woman as a potential lover, but simply fascinated by how much **** she could shovel. Truly Mirror was one of those who had no self-awareness as to how they existed in the world. Sanctimonious. Self-serving. Egotistical. Agnes truly found the Mirror to be a crime against nature; but not so much so that she wouldn’t continue to toy with the mutant’s attention.

Attention that was quickly beginning to dart to other sights of interest upon Agnes’ body. It was almost too easy, but again, she would play the game appropriately. They were getting to know one another, right? A rescuee would love to hear more about her rescuer, especially one as famous as Mirror of the X-Men.

>>"Well, what would you like to know?..."

Hrm, what could she pretend to care about? There were a number of things she would have liked to have known about the X-Woman, especially considering that she had been out of her life for quite some time. Really she wanted to know how much of her ex, Becca, the little b**** had conquered. It seemed that no matter what, the two of them always ended up together in some disgusting way or another. God, she wondered if there were chat groups and fansites dedicated to the duo hooking up. Ridiculous.

But no. She couldn’t give herself away that easily. She would inquire differently -- or she would have if Mirror didn’t try to guess what questions were formulating in her head.

>>”Let's see... yeah, this is my main job. No, I don't really have a secret identity... yes, we pick our own codenames. That's how we ended up with Cold Steel...No, I don't wear my underwear on the outside... What else?"

She grinned. Her nose wrinkled cutely at the X-Woman’s attempt to get the standard questions out of the way. She was sure that Mirror had heard them many times before. Therefore, she would have to try a different tactic.

”Well, why don’t you tell me about you? The person ‘inside’ the X-uniform?” She teased, her ruby lips stretching into a sweet smile before she bit another fry. ”I mean, clearly I’m not asking for your address or phone number,” she smiled teasingly. ”I doubt you’d give me either. But tell me about you. What do you like to do? Aside from rescuing poor damsels with really bad dating habits?”

Maya hurried to answer the most cliché questions up front. Not that she expected Abigail to ask any of them, but it got certain things out of the way. Plus it was a great icebreaker. Maya had encountered enough people curious about the X-men (thanks to the darn AMA) to know what the first questions were to pop into certain people's mind.

>>”Well, why don’t you tell me about you? The person ‘inside’ the X-uniform?”

Maya smirked. She barely had a uniform, honestly, but it was nice that Abigail did not get stuck on the whole superhero thing.

>>”I mean, clearly I’m not asking for your address or phone number. I doubt you’d give me either. But tell me about you. What do you like to do? Aside from rescuing poor damsels with really bad dating habits?”

"Hey, one swipe right doesn't make a habit" Maya grinned. She was not sure about the number, although it probably would have been a bad idea anyway. She was not even sure she wanted to date, really. But talking about herself? Sure... "Uhh... Archery? I mean it's kind of part of the X-men thing now, but I picked it for a reason. Believe me, there are more efficient weapons..." she chuckled "What else... dance? I like to dance. And... uh, dress up in medieval costumes." she added, a little red in the cheeks. That usually took a bit off the coolness factor. "Okay, your turn."

Agnes knew how to play her part well enough. She didn’t like Mirror but she could stomach the X-Woman long enough to get what she wanted. Of course it was going to take a bit more than just a few flirty glances and coy words. She was in it for the long haul, to ensure that Becca had no place to turn that wasn’t already touched by the insect queen. Besides, for as much as she loathed the gendershifter in front of her, there had always been the mildest form of curiosity about them. Why not take full advantage of the opportunity?

Sadly Maya had already proved to be somewhat resilient to Agnes’ straight-forward flirtation so something a bit more subtle was required. She wanted to know about Maya. Not just the standard X-Men, heroics questions that she was bound to get time and again. Maybe something a bit more personal and real was called for. It would allow Maya to talk about herself, after all, something that Agnes was fairly sure the mirrorwalker loved to do.

>>"Hey, one swipe right doesn't make a habit"

Agnes giggled as she took another nibble from her fries. Her iridescent wings flexed at the savory flavors before once again settling against her back. She listened with interest (not really) as Maya began to explain.

>>"Uhh... Archery? I mean it's kind of part of the X-men thing now, but I picked it for a reason. Believe me, there are more efficient weapons...What else... dance? I like to dance. And... uh, dress up in medieval costumes."

Most of these things she already knew. The medieval costumes was a new one, though. Agnes had to grin a bit impishly, giving the mirrorwalker an ‘Oh REALLY’? look. Clearly Maya was a little embarrassed at having admitted that about herself. In all fairness, she should be. Could there be any nerdier hobby? God, what did Becca see in this moron? But rather than appear too judgemental, Agnes merely smiled sweetly.

”That’s so cute,” she said with an earnest smile. ”Like...the tights and puffy shoulders and everything?”

>>"Okay, your turn."

Maya seemingly didn’t want to spend too much time on the subject so she quickly turned the question around on Agnes, inquiring the same of her. What did she want to know about her? There was loads that Agnes could say, but all of it could lead a suspicious mind directly into who she actually was. But something on the fly could sound too unrealistic as well. Instead she would twist her story around, just enough to sound like someone else but with enough detail to sound genuine.

”Well, let’s see…” she sighed. ”I’m originally from South Carolina. Town called Goose Creek. I moved out here to pursue a modeling career because no one wants to live in Goose Creek forever,” she laughed. ”Been out here a few years now and...I’m a florist,” she bit her lip disappointedly, then shrugged. ”Guess I didn’t realize how hard it would be. There are a lot of pretty girls in the world and a lot more willing to do things that…” she sighed, looking down at the table, ”...to be quite honest...I won’t stoop to do.” She sounded annoyed with herself now, revealing something so intimate.

She shook her head, leaning back against her seat and shaking her arms as if she were shrugging off a wet blanket. There was something so humanizing in her eyes as she tilted her head to look back to Maya. It seemed that she too had shared something she didn’t immediately want to share, but there it was.

”Sorry. I told you,” she clicked her tongue, and nodded in a faux-impressed manner. ”I’m a pretty big screw up.”

>>”That’s so cute. Like...the tights and puffy shoulders and everything?”

"Umm..." Maya realized just in time that going into nerdy detail about armor and tunics was not going to bring her coolness factor back up to superhero level anytime soon, so she bit the correction right off at the beginning, and left Abigail with that. It was really not that important right now. "Sure."

It was the other girl's turn anyway.

>>”Well, let’s see… I’m originally from South Carolina. Town called Goose Creek. I moved out here to pursue a modeling career because no one wants to live in Goose Creek forever... Been out here a few years now and...I’m a florist. Guess I didn’t realize how hard it would be. There are a lot of pretty girls in the world and a lot more willing to do things that…...to be quite honest...I won’t stoop to do.”

Maya arched an eyebrow. Sure, it was not an unusual story, but somehow it sounded... very personal. Even if Abigail had done nothing wrong or embarrassing, by Maya's book anyway, she was still acting like she was embarrassed about her small town past. Or maybe that she had not made it big yet in New York. Which was crazy.

>>”Sorry. I told you. I’m a pretty big screw up.”

Maya realized that she must have been staring without saying anything. She sighed, shaking her head, and leaned over the table to look Abigail in the eye.

"Hey, listen. You are not a screw-up. You are smart, and pretty, and funny, and not doing the kind of sh*t some old wrinkly ***holes want you to do does not make you any less of a great person. Okay?"

>>"Umm...Sure."

God s/he was a nerd. Bu Agnes had to hold her tongue, if only for the fact that Abigail would. She still had her plans to set into motion and there was no point in burning this bridge just yet. So rather than draw more attention to the blushing gendershifter, she merely moved past it. There was no need to make Mirror feel small, after all. Rather, Agnes could use this. She could use the opportunity to earn a bit more favor with her.

So she was asked -- what about herself? What was her story. Oh Agnes had managed to come up with something that was fairly close to her life but with enough twists in it that it shouldn’t ring the bells of familiarity.

Abigail’s history was like any young woman from a hick down that wanted to make it big in the world. There was hope, there were dreams, and there was the tragedy of not achieving them. She said she had wanted to be a model, but there were steps that wasn’t willing to take to make it happen. It was all crap, but she told it convincingly enough that even she felt bad for the moronic South Carolina native she portrayed.

Shamefully she bit her lip and looked down at the table again. It seemed like she was so embarrassed about her story. Anyone reading this tale would automatically think about how stupid she was to try and pursue a dream like that and fall into the same trap that so many have before. Clearly it was all her fault for trying to take a shortcut to success. But Maya...she didn’t seem to think that.

Agnes gently lifted her gaze, watching Mirror as she leaned across the table to look her square in the eyes.

>>"Hey, listen. You are not a screw-up. You are smart, and pretty, and funny, and not doing the kind of sh*t some old wrinkly ***holes want you to do does not make you any less of a great person. Okay?"

The color raised in her eyes, her eyes twinkled with emotion. She listened to Maya impassioned words and for the briefest of seconds felt almost like Maya was talking to her, the real her, to Agnes. But it was a fleeting moment, one quickly replaced with a reminder of what her plan was. Still, it was touching.

She gulped. Gently she nibbled on her bottom lip as she reached up, smiling caringly as she reached up and gently stroked the palm of her hand against Maya’s cheek. As she responded, her voice dropped to a whisper as soft and fresh cotton. ”You...eally know how to make a girl feel special, don’t you?” She smiled. Leaning forward herself, she sweetly turned Maya’s face and pressed her full, ruby lips against her cheek and sighed, her nose nuzzling against her skin for the briefest of seconds before she leaned back. ”Just so you know, sweetie, I would have swiped right for you...in a heartbeat.”

Maya meant what she said. Modeling was one of those careers that, ironically, tended to chip away at a girl's self-confidence, especially when she was constantly expected to do 'extra' things to get ahead. It was bad for everyone. And she was glad that Abigail knew where the line was that she was not willing to cross. She needed to hear from someone else that she had made the right decision in her career. She could see it in her eyes, and her smile, that it meant a lot to her.

>> ”You...eally know how to make a girl feel special, don’t you?”

Maya smiled a little, but she was once again distracted by Abigail leaning closer. There was something in her, some not-so-innocent quality, that was way more captivating up close. To Maya's surprise, she pressed her lips to her cheek softly.

>>"Just so you know, sweetie, I would have swiped right for you...in a heartbeat.”

Maya inhaled, her eyelashes fluttering. This was... a pretty clear message. And she was still wildly distracted by Abigail being close, and that other... something. She tilted her head a little; they lips almost touched, but she allowed Abigail space to move back if she wanted to.

"You know... I still have a couple of hours left before I turn into a guy..."

Oh she knew that she had the little gendershifter right where she wanted to. Agnes had never before realized how good of an actress she really could be. But she guessed that so long as you had absolutely no scrupulous and no problem lying your ass off, then really what was to keep you from creating fantastical personas knowing full well that the people you were lying to simply didn’t matter? Mirror didn’t manner, at least not so much that Agnes actually cared about lying to her/him. The X-Man was merely an ends to a means and she was closing in on exactly what she wanted.

Her interest was clear in her eyes. As she leaned over, gently stroking the other’s cheek and pressing her lips against the soft, sensitive flesh, she could practically feel the flush of Mirror’s skin. Her words were sweet. They were lies, obviously, but she delivered them in such a way that anyone would be fooled. Agnes wasn’t Agnes right then, she was Abigail, the South Carolinian actress who failed to start a modeling career and was just saved from a horrible blind date. She was a woman who was hurt, then rescued, and offered sweet and tenderness for all of her troubles. What wasn’t there to love?

As she retracted, she didn’t pull all the way back, instead she still lingered close, allowing Maya to have room to turn her face to greet her. In doing so, it would put the both of them in extremely dangerous close proximity. But that was what Agnes wanted. She wanted to keep Maya on the ropes, she wanted to overwhelm her with the sweet flirtations that Abigail embodied. Only when she was off center could Agnes really make her move.

Maya turned, their gaze lingered, and Maya smiled. Agnes smiled in response, her palm still gently resting upon Maya’s cheek, warm and soft to the touch. When Maya finally did speak, it was whispered, but Agnes heard every word…

>>"You know... I still have a couple of hours left before I turn into a guy..."

Agnes purred softly. Shyly she curled in her lips, smiling. Her gaze flicked down nervously before darting back up to look into the mirrorwalker’s eyes: bingo. She was there. She had her. Now it was simply time to reel the little ***** in.

”Oh yeah?” she smiled nervously. She pressed in a bit closer. ”I...would love…” her lips grazed across the corners of the X-Woman’s mouth. ”...to see…” She tilted Maya’s chin up. ”...what you can do in two hours.” Her lips pushed against Maya’s. Deep down, her seeded anger towards the mirrorwalker flared. The Hive Queen wanted to drive a spine through the woman’s gut but Agnes held back. Instead she kissed the woman gently before passion parted her lips and the kiss grew deeper. This was all for the cause, and she would remind herself of that as much as she needed to.

Contrary to popular belief and action movies, rescue missions did NOT usually end like this.

Honestly, Gawain was more than a little confused (not to mention exhausted). He was in bed with a definitely attractive woman that he had rescued, and who had been more than eager to drag Maya to bed, having preferred the female version of Mirror. And boy, it had been nothing to regret. Abigail was attractive, and definitely flirtatious, and... well. Taking a break from having serious relationships, Gawain had to admit that this was the upside of that decision.
And yet, it felt a little off.

The only one night stand Mirror had ever had had been with Becca... and that had turned into multiple nights, and evolved in a friends with benefits arrangement. Which included the freedom to also sleep with others if either of them wanted to. So, Gawain decided staring into the darkness, no. Becca wasn't it.
What was it, then?...

As much as Mirror irritated the insect queen, she knew what she was doing was for the greater good. If she wanted to pick apart Becca’s world as much as possible, then she certainly needed get her hands dirty. At the moment she couldn’t think of anything filthier than engaging in amour with her most hated, but Agnes was still willing to stomach all that. As much as she despised the mirrorwalker, she really wasn’t all that bad looking. The passage of time had been fairly kind to her. So far she had only seen the hero in news reports and paper clippings, nothing else. Now, well, she was willing to push down her revulsion -- she wasn’t stupid after all.

After the kiss in the bar, it didn’t take long for the two of them to eventually make it to one of the X-Men’s safehouse. It was a simple apartment, sparsely furnished, stocked with a few supplies, but nothing really giving it any character. She guessed that wasn’t a necessary aspect, after all, this was supposed to be a place to lay low or crash when you couldn’t make it home safely, or to stash rescuees -- to make love to them, it seemed.

No sooner than they were inside and the two were a blur of removed clothing, pressed lips, and exploring hands. Finding their way into the bed, Agnes smiled blissfully, but not at whatever it was that Maya thought she was doing, but at the simple and inescapable fact that her plans for Becca were moving exactly where she wanted them to go…

[FTB]

They used up every bit of those two hours, ending not long before the change took over and Maya disappeared into Gawain. This was the worst part of all this. They were the same person, yes, but Agnes never really had any dealings when Mirror was wearing her Maya face. It was Gawain’s that she dealt with the most often. It Gawain’s smug expression she hated. It was Gawain that told the counselor what her parents did to her. And it was Gawain whom Agnes had both sucker punched in the eye and beat down with a bag of marshmallows. This was going to be the real test of whether she could stomach the full part of her plan.

But she could do it. She knew she could do it. So when she felt the shift of weight next to her in bed, Agnes made the soft sounds of a tender kitten trying to fend off sleep. Glancing over her bare shoulder, Agnes, or rather Abigail, smiled contently as she carefully turned herself around, the sheets twisted around and unable to hide most of her bare, smooth skin. As she leaned on her arm, clearly unembarrassed by her assets, she looked Gawain up and down curiously.

”Wow...you weren’t kidding,” she said softly. She continued to inspects unashamedly. ”That really is a thorough change.” Another grin and she laid her head against her pillow, watching Gawain closely. ”What’s wrong, hon? You seem...perturbed.” She pouted with concern. ”You didn’t have fun?”

Abigail shifted, turning around to look at him. The apartment was not exactly well lit, but street lights filtered in through the window. Regardless of all they had just done in the past hours, Gawain suddenly felt self-conscious in his shifted body. Abigail, on her part, did not seem to mind.

>>"Wow...you weren’t kidding. That really is a thorough change.”

"Yeah" Gawain smirked. He usually got drowsy after shifting awake, but in this case, it was hard to tell drowsiness apart from exhaustion. He watched Abigail's face as she inspected him. It was always strange for someone, to witness the shifting for the first time. And not everyone was Becca, to find it thoroughly appealing...

>>"What’s wrong, hon? You seem...perturbed. You didn’t have fun?”

"Oh, no, I did" Gawain shook his head. Last thing he wanted was to offend the girl he just slept with. Bad form. "I just... it's been a while since I've done the whole, casual thing" he admitted a little sheepishly "And it's kinda awkward, you know, shifting right next to you. I'm sure you liked the other version better."

She didn’t want the mask to be dropped too soon so she needed to act like she gave a **** about the confused looking gender shifter. Their time together had been exhausting, and fun, but Gawain looked particularly drained. Vaguely she wondered if it had to do with the recent shift into the male form. She could see that being a factor, being a partial shifter herself and knowing how much of a toll that took on the human body. To her, shifting between genders wasn’t as tough as peeling off your own flesh to reveal a new form underneath but whatever. Far be it from her to judge -- for now.

The coy looks continued, Agnes’ persona, Abigail, commented on how “thorough” that transformation had been.

>>"Yeah"

She had never seen Mirror transform before and it made for an interesting sight. For a moment she forgot why she was here, but it was only for a moment. Her plans were still too firm in her head to dissuade her from her tasks. Only when her curiosity was sated did she turned her gaze back to Mirror, watching the slight smirk on his face.

God she hated that smirk. How she wanted to just let the Hive Queen take over and drive a spine through the side of his head. But she restrained herself, merely pushing on and tried to wrap herself in post-coital bliss. Maya wasn’t too bad in bed. There was definitely room for improvement, enough for her to toy with the idea of attempting to break Mirror down to as obedient a creature as Becca was. It was an idea, but one that didn’t seem entirely feasible.

Still, a girl can dream, can’t she? All she would really have to do is lock Mirror up every other day. Hardly an inconvenience for herself.

The look on his made made her slightly suspicious. She had no doubt about her abilities in bed, but his confused staring into space made her curious as to what was going through his head. Was he actually having some kind of moral dilemma about taking a total stranger home? Really, with as much whoring around as she guessed s/he did, what was one little one-night stand? But rather than guess, she would gently ask. As ridiculous as it sounded, she asked if it were her after all...

>>"Oh, no, I did..I just... it's been a while since I've done the whole, casual thing...And it's kinda awkward, you know, shifting right next to you. I'm sure you liked the other version better."

A sweet smile on her lips as she reached over, gently placing her hand on Gawain’s chest. Forcing down the bile, she gently assured him. ”I’ve...never been with a man before,” she sighed. Her fingernails tickled his skin. ”Maya is pretty hot, that’s for sure. But...you’re not so bad,” she said with a smile, then followed with a shrug. ”To lie next to, anyways.”

She really had a hard time believing that it had ‘been awhile’ since he last did anything casual. She had been certain it was just part of the gendershifter’s attempted roguish nature. Still, Abigail needed to be understanding so she did her best as she continued to gently stroke his skin.

”Wait...really? she inquired at his admission of not engaging in more casual relationships. ”Huh. It’s a shame you aren’t more...casual,” she blushed saying that. She then sighed, her eyes never leaving him. ”Nothing wrong with going out and just having a good time. Far less stressful than trying to maintain a relationship.” A defeated sigh. ”Me and my ex were, like, the epitome of a poisonous relationship. She always made promises, always said things would be different, and in the end, they never changed. I still was left alone, I still was abandoned, I still ended up having my heart broken because she didn’t know how to do what was necessary to maintain ‘us’.” God the sentiment was exhausting, but she persisted. ”So why deny ourselves? The world is shitty, a lot of the time,” she said gently. ”It’s up to us to make us happy.”