Lenna joined them in the pool, and Sam stood up. It was clear he was looking for whomever Lenna was talking about. Someone who might have been driven off by Lenna’s spices? Ranger had to agree with Lenna, ”Yeah. Spice is life.” Especially with food, but there was certainly nothing wrong with some excitement in life too. Ranger was known to jump out of airplanes and get involved in a rolling gun battle or two. On at least one occasion that had basically been date night.

Sam sat back down. Next to Ranger. Ranger was not opposed to the adjusted seating arrangement and sipped at her drink. He mentioned that he knew several of the people that were there, and that many lived at the mansion.

Lenna answered Ranger’s question and addressed Sam’s mansion comment. It was someone she remembered from before the deaging. Someone not affiliated with the mansion. Which made it odd that she would recongize-. Oh. A vision? Of her boyfriend?

She meant Ranger didn’t she? Though how could she have seen Ranger? Her mind scratched against something. She instinctively shied away from it.

“I… Don’t know? Actually… Yeah, I think I would.” Ranger was unsure at first, but as she spoke she reframed it from just deaging to what she would do while being a woman. A woman that she couldn’t quite place. Not knowing yourself was very much her situation. ”I’ve been findin’ myself in those kind of situations all t’ often lately.”

He made a face at Lenna then sent it towards Noel, with their spice is life comment. He enjoyed spice, different variations of it but Lenna’s spice was a little too much for him. He was hoping Noel wasn’t as spicy as Lenna’s cooking. ”I understand you there.” he said raising a glass and cheering her then taking a swig. His free arm now wrapped on the edge of the hot tub behind Noel.

”Boyfriend.” Sam said smirking saying it more to Noel than to Lenna. ”I find it easier to avoid people, however I feel like everyone knew older me.” he said shrugging, ”Hard to avoid everyone right?” he asked, ”Then again,” he said remembering his conversations with Lenna, ”What do I know, I’m like to keep things chill.”

”Seems like it is going around then.” he said after Noel’s comment. Another shrug and sip, ”Then again, who knows you could have had something special with them, if spice is life why not spice it up a bit?” he grinned mischievously and winked in her direction.

Mostly known as a bit of a tough cookie, the sheepish look on Saphirus' face when the gorgon shushed him was widely evident. He looked away a bit, nodding as she asked about Jr.

"Oh, eh, great, everything's great. Doin just great." She finally removed sloth from him, and he thanked her quietly. His eyes caught the missing snake, and drew a questioned look before he once again recalled the track his mind was one.

The guy. Michael, apparently. Yeah. He needed to be followed, investigated, interrogated even. He had to find a way to extract him from this situ- Andrea asked to borrow him.

#@$%. There was no freaking way he was going to go away with her. Not with this guy in his grasp!

"Uh, yeah, I've got time." !@#hole. He looked over to Becca and the young killer and then back to Andrea, nodding nervously, and following her despite all of his sense of reason telling him he certainly should not be leaving the young man to his own devices.

"So... What did you want to... eh, talk about?"

So Noel agreed, spice was life. Yes. She nodded in approval of the very appropriate response.

Noel thought she would avoid someone like that, someone who knew a past version better than the present. Again, Lenna nodded. They were agreeing a lot. Seemed like they had the types of personalities that did not clash. Complementary, maybe?

She looked to Sam. Yes, he would feel that way would he not? Keep things “chill.” A small smirk touched her lips. Cool steel, chill. Right. She had forgotten.

Amelia chimed in from the sidelines. “I so totally do not care what future me did. Avoid talk of that past at all costs.” If the girl had still had her drink, Lenna suspected it would have clinked with another in a toast to avoidance.

”Cheers to that,” she agreed, with a sober nod.

Sam mentioned spicing the party up. As if on cue, across the party some people cheered and threw things up in the air like it was college graduation ceremony, with caps. Upon closer examination...

”Are those bikini tops being cast aside?” Lenna inquired.

Amelia laughed, but didn’t glance that way for confirmation. “Hey look Sam, spice!”

Under her breath Lenna mumbled something like I am not doing that. Amelia chuckled. Lenna noted that Amelia did not do any spicing up, herself. For all the amusement she derived from the act.

He agreed and some of the weight on her shoulders lifted a little. She'd been nervous that he would flat out refuse her seeing as they hadn't exactly parted on good terms.

She stepped far enough away that she felt like she could talk at normal volume without interrupting Becca or Michael. "So... okay, first I would just like to apologize." She shifted awkwardly, suddenly acutely aware that she was barefoot since her shoes were over by the hot tub still. How mortifying!

"I have been avoiding you for...years, and I am so sorry to have placed that burden on you. I allowed myself to get trapped in my own head and I fear it has only made you suffer." Gosh, she really hoped that didn't sound pig-headed. She certainly didn't think the world revolved around her after all. "I deeply regret the way I handled things and if I could go back and change it, I most certainly would. You didn't at all deserve what I did to you."

It was hard to even look at him, so her eyes bounced around their surroundings guiltily. Looking at but not really seeing anything at all.

"I am not asking that you forgive me, because I don't really feel like I deserve it, but I did want you to at least know that none of it was your fault. I didn't leave because of anything you did or said, really. I left because I needed to have a reckoning with myself and the only way I could see that come to fruition was to just... go. I needed to learn to rely on myself instead of selfishly relying on everyone else to fix things for me."

Drawing in a slightly shaky breath, she hurried onto her next point without giving him time to respond. "and secondly I just wanted to say that I am so, so happy for you! I will admit, Elke has been keeping me updated on a few things going on in your life because I was very worried for a while there, but I simply cannot contain my excitement over how cute your little family is!"

Th guilt and shame washed away, easily replaced by sparkling eyes and a light, excited blush on her cheeks. "She showed me a few pictures of your son and he is the most adorable little baby I think I have ever seen! I am so very happy that you found someone to share your life within such a way!" And she was. So deepy that it was practically seeping from her pores. She had known Saph as long as she had lived in the country and had loved him as deeply as you can when it came to first loves.

"A-any way..." She tried to reign herself back in a little, "I just... wanted you to know those things."

His move had startled her, ever so slightly. Though had it been his move? In the moment, his brain conveniently glossed over any and all details about the unconscious usage of power. Not a mental block, per se. just weaponized stupidity. She loved winning, after all. And he wanted to see where things went. What better reason was there for playing dumb?

The moment of startled hopping, he did enjoy. Even if he glossed over the why. Mischief covered up any uncertainty she had about him and whatever.

And, she stole his shirt from where it lay. Covering up to some semblance of decency. Didn’t seem like it was fully on, just temporarily a bikini topper. One button. No more, no less.

Ashton laughed out loud. Now that THAT was out of the way, she’d said. A shame she’d covered up, but he could not blame her. He even respected the move. There was only so much room for that kind of blatant fun at a party, and turnabout was fair play. Plus, where she currently was made any wet shirt thoughts sort of drift away.

And she murmured something. He smiled. ”Sounds good to me,” He drawled. He brought his face up close to hers, and whispered into her ear. ”Is it stating the obvious to say you wore it better?”

Before she could answer, he went in for a sly kiss. The statement had been a rhetorical question anyways.

The party had been getting sadly predictable, with a bunch of people splitting off into pairs and being... romantic.

Wellll, L wasn't going to get far with any of that. So? She was going to have some fun. Don't get me wrong, her mini entourage of young men was fun, but they were starting to catch on to her ruse. That fun being gone, it was time to derive entertainment from ruining the fun of others.

Okay, who looked like they were throwing mad game? Who needed to be put in their place? A quick scan found a target. a certain Mr. Suave was leaning in for a kiss with a ridiculously attractive woman. She looked like the dancer from that Drisney Hunchback movie, you know? Like she would drive a 1400's catholic archbishop insane just looking at her.

A success on his part simply would not fly in this situation. Target. Locked. Now, timing... Lean in initiated... wait for it. Wait for it. One second to contact.

"CANNON BALLLLL!" SPLLLASHHHH! How could such a small being create such a big splash?

Trophies were an immature thing to claim from a sexual conquest. That did not stop Ez from keeping a few pieces in her drawers that partners just happened to not reclaim. The Hawaiian shirt was loud, but hey, if things went well here, it would certainly be a memorable souvenir.

”It might go without saying, but you get extra points for saying it anyway,” she murmured, guiding his hands under his own shirt and accepting a playful kiss. She was ready to nibble on his lip when an unexpected intrusion cut the kissing short.

After being sufficiently doused by the splash of a cannonball, Ez shook off some of the water from her face, looking for the culprit. Much to her surprise, she found a prepubescent strawberry blonde girl. Sighing, scrunched her nose and mouthed a sorry to Ashton before calling out to the kid. ”Really feeling the urge to be a troublemaker, niñita? I’m sure there’s a kiddy pool for you to cause havoc in, which I heavily endorse.” Anything to return to a sense of privacy. Maybe she had to accept if she wanted privacy, she might have to call it an early night and take her party favor home.

The comment, she liked. Her reaction, he liked. The toddler cannon balling in on their moment of supposed privacy, he... did not.

Ashton’s hands slipped out and away, and he broke contact in surprise. Hips swiveled as he turned towards the disturbance. Regretfully, he took his focus off Ez.

Who was—

What was...

Why?

Water dripped down his nose. He did not care for it one bit. Ashton opened his mouth to begin to tell the child how he felt about things, and if someone would have been reading his emotions at that point in time they would have read a fine mix of surprise, annoyance, a little embarrassment, and two different kinds of frustration... but anger? Anger, he controlled and held back. Because this was a kid. And if he blew up at a kid over being a kid, what kind of crappy monster was he?

He’d been a kid once, himself. He knew how their minds sometimes failed to work. Another part of him registered that blowing up at a child in front of Ez would also be bad in that area, but... that was the lesser concern. The first one... just, yeah. You don’t treat kids like garbage because they do stupid stuff. Not unless you’re their parents. No right. Not right. Wrong.

So, Ashton dripped and Ashton grimaced and Ashton caught Ez’s little “I’m sorry” mouth. And Ashton mouthed back “It’s okay.”

Ashton chilled. Ashton took a moment to let Ez respond, and see how everything played out. While he cooled off. And did not sulk. No, he did not sulk. He just relaxed a little and shook his head wryly. Once he did that, he could take a little amusement at himself and the stupid look on his face. Just a little, mind. He was not psychotic.

Ez spoke. Ashton chimed in, and let the Irish accent flavor his words. ”Havoc IS fun. Somewhere else, though? Please? We’re not really into cannon balls or Marco Polo, or other pool games.” They were party poopers. They only really had one thing on their minds, and it was not pool games.

Ashton rested a light hand on Ez’s leg, underneath the water. Just to reassure him she was still there, and to let her know he supported her response to troublesome ninitas, one hundred percent. They were of the same mind.

Operation ruin it for others was a shining success. One for the ages. She was biting her medal, flipping off the world, and kissing the nearest model, all the while seven steps down the podium as she celebrated under the water with a fist pump, and then surfaced with a wry grin.

The woman spoke first, and the grin washed away as she gave a dangerous stink face and replied firmly, "Kiddy pool? I'm thirty nine years old, hobag!"

The man chimed in as well, his irish accent cutting through her heart strings like a hot knife through butter. "Oh dam. Esmeralda over here certainly ain't snagged a hunch back. Yes. Yes I will gladly Marco your Polo." Was it a perfect coincidence that this woman looked like the female protagonist of the Hunchback of Notre Dam, and also shared her name? Probably. L didn't know that she'd guessed her name, and frankly, she didn't care.

She placed a serious expression on her face as she leaned in toward the man a bit, and spoke in a direct, calm tone. "You. Are a Tayto crisp sandwich... Catch my drift? I think you do. Without a doubt in the world. You sir, are an Irish snack." She then licked her lips, winked, but she didn't know how to wink so she just closed both eyes.

She paused for a second, blinking off a strange wave of... drunkness? Not that she even knew what being drunk was like, but boy did she feel loose! Her eyes landed on the lady again, and she smiled widely once more. "You're pretty, too. Hee hee."