It was a hell of a coincidence. The idea that Ms. Grey dated both of them in their youths? What were the odds? It almost boggled the insect queen’s mind. That was why she asked for Nessa to elaborate. There was still a lot that she didn’t know about herself -- such as why she would date the teacher? Granted she understood that that wasn’t current Agnes, but she was interested in how it came about.

From what Nessa said, it was her brother who told her about the crazy break up. That things had been “messy”. That’s unfortunately. Nessa was so nice. Who would make things complicated like that?

With Nessa’s admission, it was only fair to say that Agnes herself had also apparently been an ex of the English teacher. Stepping into the hot tub, careful to mind the wings, she slowly submerged herself, sighing at the warmed that colored her pale skin. A soft moan escaped her lips, moving low enough for her to dip her head back and soak her scalp.

That felt superb.

Agnes smirked as she took looked over to see that Nessa had spotted Ms. Grey dangling her feet into a hot tub, staying on the edge. ”Right? I can’t even imagine the odds of this. She grows up to be a teacher and two of her exes appear, deaged, and she has to teach them? Very strange.”

Agnes sighed contentedly, her gaze shifting over to Nessa who had just turned back from staring at Ms. Grey. There was an odd look in her eye, like she had more that she wanted to say. After a moment, Nessa finally spoke up, posing a rather interesting scenario. Apparently the “messy break-up” had been because Ms. Grey had cheated on Nessa with an ex. Nessa didn’t seem truly bothered by it but thought that it would be interesting if Agnes herself had been that ex.

Did she know? Did she help her cheat?

Agnes stared at Nessa for a long pause before her lips cracked into a wide smile. A bubbling laughter floated out. ”I don’t think so? I mean, what kind of odds would those be?” she laughed. ”Ms. Grey told me we were on and off for a long while but never said we cheated with one another. All she told me was that we drifted apart and soon after she lost track of me.” Another shrug of her shoulders. ”But, it’s like you said, that feels like a me that’s…not me, you know?” She leaned back against the edge of the tub. ”I don’t know who that Agnes is. And...maybe I never will.”

Her voice grew slightly morso at that comment. There was a lot she missed out on but as the weeks passed, it felt more alien to even consider that the future Agnes was ever her to begin with. More like a dream that was half-remembered at this point. It still hurt a little but it was a scar that was beginning to heal over. With her head turned to Nessa, she gave her a smile.

”I hope you’re making Ms. Grey feel bad for cheating on you and milking it for all you can.” She giggled.

She was... happy. Happy to dodge Spencer's questions, and happy to flaunt the fact that she was in such control of this situation that she didn't have to answer to even the press. Spencer was just happy to be let in the door. Press had a bad rap, and rightfully so. Standards had slipped of late. Spencer wasn’t inclined to prop up journalistic integrity, either.

As bad as that felt, it was hard to be mad when someone else was happy. Spencer gave her the most cheerful of teasing side-eye.

"Alright then, keep your secrets."

And then she called herself 'den mother' which was laughable.

"Are all these de-aged kiddos your scouts? All these upstanding citizens?" Spencer moved to stand at Sveta’s elbow so that she could better see the crowd in alignment with the blonde.

"What’s the girl with the water wings do for you?”

>>"Alright then, keep your secrets."

"Oh I will" Sveta chuckled. She knew it was reckless to admit she was keeping secrets, but surely the press already knew that? And surely, she was still off the record?

Spencer seemed to find the idea of her as a den mother amusing. She did not know the half of it. Looking around at the people having fun in the hot tubs, it felt like she might as well walk away now, for all the good her supervision was going to do.

>>"Are all these de-aged kiddos your scouts? All these upstanding citizens?... What’s the girl with the water wings do for you?”

"No... this is a charity event" Sveta reiterated "A lot of them are just guests. And we don't have scouts. We have employees, all legal and everything..." she looked at Ms. Gartner again. She was kind of hard to miss, with the wings and the champagne. "She doesn't do anything for us. We do things for her. Haven helps mutants, you know? We try our best to, anyway. Anything from paperwork to legal help to counseling to... oh, that's right. I'll make a statement about some of that soon!" she noted, raising her glass as she turned back to Spencer.

Maybe she misjudged how close the journalist was to her naked elbow.

Just a tad too close.

The fan girl frowned at the two of them, what with the wine glasses and the “honey”. The girl made her decision, before ShadyShay could really react.

“Oh, um. Just a fan. Keep it up! You’re amazing!” She said. And then, she turned tail and ran. Daintily. In heels. Amelia DID NOT look. Not at the girl in heels at a hot tub party, at least. Not much, in any event. No. Because as her eyes passed that way (to make certain the inconvenience had passed), something subtle came over her. A sudden loosening of inhibitions. Right as she focused on a vision in a weird cat bikini, settling in to a hot tub.

At that moment, she was bored. Bored of whatever possible conversation she might have had with this (probably very nice) person who had been caught flat footed by a fan. It was not very polite, but—

“Sorry about that,” Amelia said. Without looking back the woman’s way. “You seemed uncomfortable. Which is probably what you are right now. Enjoy the wine. I’m gonna bail.” That said, Amelia peaced our.

She drained her wine glass as she approached the hot tub, and passed the empty off on a helpful helper. Then, she slipped on in.

The warmth was exquisite. After several seconds of just leaning back and basking in it, she refocused her attention on the woman in the cats.

“Really is nice.” She said. “By the way,” a crooked smile slipped onto her face as she looked at the other woman. “Really like the kitty cat bikini. It’s cute. Where’d you get it?”

She didn’t really care where the other woman had purchased the outfit. This was what they call in dating ‘flirting.’ Creating an opening. Speaking of dates... didn’t she HAVE a girlfriend? Maybe. But she wasn’t there at that moment. And if she had been, she would probably have had all the questions. Because first off, deAged?

Heh. Amelia just skipped over that entire train of thought. She didn’t even wave at it as it passed her by.

The warm water felt amazing on her skin. She hadn’t been aware of how tense she had been from everything over the past few weeks until it started melting away. A soft moan escaped before she willed herself back from the sudden slip into Condition White. She really wanted to just let her mind wander and enjoy the water, allow her security personnel to do their jobs while she relaxed. She found it incredibly easy to do so. However, even if she wasn’t in her body, she still needed to maintain at least a relaxed level of alertness in case something happened.

A look to see if Noel had a drink and if he was following, and Ranger saw him waving at her. Noel gave thumbs up with her mouth open like some kind of clown. The kind of clown Ranger often was.

So that’s what she normally looked like when she did things like that…

Noel was talking to someone. Ranger didn’t recognize him. Maybe he was someone Ranger knew from before losing ten years? They were in Haven and Ranger and Noel had lived in Haven for a while. It stand to reason that more than just the people at the top would know them.

Whatever the case, Noel was signalling… something. That everything was good? That made sense. Ranger waved back in a way to let him know to take his time. Ranger was fine enjoying the water for a little while, and Noel was a big boy who could handle himself. Especially with that body’s seeming invulnerability.

It wasn’t long before the sound of nearby feet drew Ranger’s attention. She turned her head in time to see a teenage brunette in a black bikini had approached and was sliding into the hot tub.

The girl leaned back and took a moment to just enjoy the hot tub. Ranger understood the desire to as she had just done that very thing. The girl then complimented the bikini Ranger was wearing and asked where she got it.

Ranger looked down for a second. Right. Cat with pizza bikini. ”Thanks.” Ranger said, feeling a little uncomfortable being complimented on a bikini she was wearing. ”Found it in a small store in Uptown… I’m Noel.” Ranger said as she extended a hand to the girl. She knew the taste of the lie was coming. It was a half-lie and so she hoped she had not made a face.

After having a good look at the girl’s face, Ranger thought it familiar to one she had seen in SUPER files. Another deaged SUPER Agent? In Haven no less.

It was then that everything started feeling funny. Ranger allowed her self to just relax into the water. She sank down until just her head was above the surface. "It really is nice."

Passing by one of the many hot tubs-- she still couldn't get over the hot tubs-- the Greek spotted a somewhat familiar head of fiery copper. Was that...? It was, wasn't it! She hesitated briefly before making her way over to the woman. It had been a while since she had been back to the school without some task in mind to take up her time... She knew many faces there, but Ms. Grey's face was a very familiar one. The poor woman had been subjected to trying to teach her ex-husbands delinquent daughter for a few years, after all.

"Ms. Grey?" Andrea smiled politely, adjusting her grip on her clutch purse as she paused by the edge of the water. Huh... she hadn't really thought this through, had she? Was she just going to stand there awkwardly while trying to talk to the woman? It would be weird to take her shoes off, wouldn't it?

... actually, that sounded like a fantastic idea!

disregarding her dress or the strappy sandals she had been wearing, she bent to begin un-stapping them so she could settle herself on the edge of the tub and let her legs dangle in the hot water.

"Goodness, look at you!" She was both genuinely surprised at the sight of her and in more way than one. She was larger in regards to the baby since the last time Andy had fleetingly seen her, and also suuuper buff. The Greek was kinda jealous, actually. She doubted she'd ever be able to achieve such a defined muscular structure even if she tried! "How far along are you now?"

It didn't even register as weird that she was now sitting on slightly wet ground in a fancy-ish dress with her shoes and purse abandoned to one side. In fact, she had half a mind to unbraid her hair and let the snakes loose too. They did so love warm environments. Hm.. no, that seemed like a good idea too, actually. Let the serpents stretch for a bit!

She set about delicately unweaving all of her wiggling snakes from their large braid as she beamed at the redhead. "How are you doing, Becca? Are you enjoying the action so far?"

Some people had drinks, including something not alcoholic as she assumed what Becca had chosen. Should she also have a drink?

Eh, why not? It was a party, after all! Maybe after a nice discussion though.

No one expected Ezmeralda to be serious when she joked about things like stolen drug money. It sounded over the top and ridiculous for a young woman parading around in a bikini. Of the crimes she had been accused of on the internet, attacking drug dealers and stealing their money never broke the top ten. She should still be more careful making comments like that, but burning a garnet gave her an abundance of confidence, amongst other things.

Ashton, as expected, let the comment slide. Good choice. She could forgive the shirt, especially when he seemed so amenable to removing it in the vague near future.

Looking through the auctions, Asthon mentioned Cold Steel, which Ez did wince at. That was an X-Man, if she remembered correctly, and as much of a risk-taker as she was, she was not looking to get a date with some government-approved vigilante wannabe. No, she could do better, even if Sam Johnson was hot. Hot was not a limited commodity. Ashton was hot, she mentally pointed out as a shiver ran up her spine. "I don't know about Cold Steel, but how much for a night with you?" she teased, before correcting, "Date."

Skimming past food-related prizes, knowing they had no benefit for her, she did notice a voucher to shop at a high-end boutique. Ez smirked. "Oh, a fancy shopping spree. I'm sure the stuck-up Karens would love to see me in their world squeezing my Latina ass into their expensive dresses."

Contact initiated... His mark opened and shut his mouth as if he were going to say something, but chose not to. Up this close, something felt off, though... Did he look a little different?

It was the same guy. He knew it was. He didn't forget the faces of those he'd fought, especially when they were good fights. The experienced crime fighter took notes of all of the locations the man looked to. He checked on the security team. That confirmed that he was one of them, if the escorting of press wasn't a sure sign.

His target replied in a dialect that seemed a little different from before well... at least in comparison to the few words they'd spoken during the bowling alley encounter. Was he trying to throw Saph off? It wouldn't work. "I ain't got a need to hide. Looks like you don't either. You work here?"

His eyes narrowed as the man signalled to a woman in a hot tub. He took note of this person, and reminded himself to keep tabs on their position. "That's the last person you signal."

The man turned toward him, and he got a full look at his features. Did he look... younger? @#$%. Saphirus' eyes widened a bit, but he quickly regained composure. He knew the guy was a mutant. He'd been deaged, then? What did that mean for apprehending him?

He'd been speaking... Something about complaining about the door being far off. Great, he was playing games. "No bar. No help. You are going to answer my questions. Easy, now. I'm..." Was he feeling... off? No, not just off... It was a very familiar feeling. He felt relaxed... Like he'd had a few drinks. "What did you do?" No, this wasn't his ability. He'd been manipulating his own body during their fight, speed, durability, that sort of thing. This was different.

His fists clenched, along with his jaw. "You'd better not be pulling something..."

She was keeping her secrets! Spencer pouted full on. She was officially giving up on being professional. This was off the record and she was in a GD bikini while Sveta was a greedy little secret hoarder. Spencer had removed hair. That hair hadn't wanted to be removed!

"Sharing is caring." And she really had less than zero to go on if she had to resort to little kid proverbs to attempt to wheedle even one little morsel of information out. Spencer had thrown out an untruth to see what it might net her. She watched Sveta explain the champagne slinging child. Or, really, non-answering. But she might have gotten a promise of a statement.

Noticing her drink was where she left it, on Svetas other side, Spencer reached past the turning blonde to grab the alcohol she so dearly needed to get through this day. She just tapped her arm. Just a momentary brush of skin to skin. Normally she wouldn't think a thing of it, but...

Spencer got goosebumps. The hair-raising, spine tingling kind that made her think someone had walked over her future grave.

"I-uh. Ow? I think you shocked me." She took her drink back and rubbed the spot on her arm where they'd touched. That's all that was. A static shock.

"So what kind of statement we talking here?" It must have been the hot tubs all packed in so close that made Spencer feel warm. She fanned herself with her hand. "Off the record, still?" She teased with a most brilliant smile, the kind of full on smile that made flowers bloom and nuns weep.

[OOC: If you haven't already, start your 1 minute of 3x Spencer pheromone potency! Everyone is officially somewhere between 2 drinks in and impaired judgement, depending on how close you might be. Please remember this affect acts like alcohol: not all those affected will become agreeable. It is a magnification and freeing of what already exists within a person. Some may become more belligerent, more grumpy, more sad, etc. Whatever it is, it’s just more accessible and magnified.]

A small store in uptown New York? Cool. That was not very specific at all, but it gave her a ground level for the general area of where to search... if she even wanted a bikini like that. More like, she just appreciated it.

"Guess I'll have to go hunting, then." She smiled.

Amelia met the hand and held it for a shake.

"Pleasure to meet you, Noel. I'm Amelia."

Noel sunk down and relaxed. Amelia slipped back and joined her. "Yeah. It's SUPER." She drawled. "Just suuuper. Melts away all the troubles. Just keeping it simple."

Pretty girl. Hot water. Creature comforts. Simple.

"I'll tell you," she added with a sigh. "It's nice to keep things simple. Not worrying about deaging or any of that. Just me, a gorgeous girl. Hot water, and relaxation." She paused a heartbeat. "Heh. Did I say what I was thinking all out loud?"

He caught the wince, but wasn't sure why it had even happened. What, was Cold Steel a person? Sounded like a Fridge. Or maybe some really crappy knives that said they were from Japan, but were actually from some knockoff place. Like China.

The thoughts about who, or what, a Cold Steel was, vanished at the woman's comment. How much for a nigh with you?

She corrected herself pretty quickly there. An amended "date", instead of "night." It was not quickly enough to prevent him from that bright smile he sent her way.

'One need not act TOO desperate, Ashton' he mentally chided himself. He dialed it back a hair. No need to chase her away.

"I don't know, Ez. Let's see how things play out. Not hating the company, at the moment." Ashton said warmly.

The woman went back to skimming the prize list. Smirked at something. Fancy shopping spree, huh?

Something came over him, some loosening of his inhibitions. He couldn't help himself. She had set the comment up oh so nicely. And he felt, Bold.

>>"I'm sure the stuck-up Karens would love to see me in their world squeezing my Latina ass into their expensive dresses." She had said.

Ashton's smile had tailspinned down into a lopsided grin. "Well, it is a lovely ass." He agreed sincerely. His voice dropped a peg as he leaned in towards her, to joke with her about the whole thing. "Knowing the stuck up women in this world, they would HATE having you there in front of them. They would all be horribly jealous."

They couldn't have that, these, what was it, Karens? He hadn't heard the term. But he could guess at the idea. Grumpy women! All them Karens, mad at Ez cuz she was too hot. Steering their men's eyes away from them, elsewhere. He didn't say that part out loud, though. Lest Ez note her notable power over the lesser sex, and wander off.

He set the pen down, and held his beer.

"I ain' got a reason t' hide either." Oh. So. Slow. He was the slowest. The most turtle. He was channeling raw sloth energy.

> "That's the last person you signal."

"She's pretty cute, though right?"

Okay. So he was fishing for compliments and not really taking this as seriously as he should, but that was only because it was freaking hilarious that Michael had actually shown up in the pizza laser space cat bikini he'd picked. It was part joke and... well, partly just because he liked it. If that'd been him in a bikini, he would have gladly fallen on a sword by now. But it wasn't. It was Michael. So that was okay, right?

N-not that he was attracted to himself! That would just be... something.

> "No bar. No help."

Well, boo. Noel lamented with an eye roll so powerful that it made his head spin a bit. He wasn't typically a pouter, but the comment merited pouting. Or, judging by his would-be captor's reaction, maybe it wasn't just his spinning.

> "What did you do? ...You'd better not be pulling something..."

"What like... dancing?" It was a long shot. The guy was all clenched up and growly, but Noel just felt like dancing. That it was dude on dude dancing had really not occurred to him, until he'd tried to get his would-be kidnapper to move his hips.

.... fudge.

Okay. Just... roll with it. Noel wondered if he could twerk and thereby embarrass himself to death. Would his power assist? It didn't seem feasible without mutant gene intervention, honestly.

"Are you sure you're not lookin' for someone else?"

Oh my #@$%ing GOD could he walk any slower? Seriously, no one likes getting kidnapped but did this dude need to be such a pain in the ass about it? "Not my type." He responded bluntly. His type? Apparently no one, because every time he fell in love it ended in absolutely heart rending disaster. His eyes found the Gorgon across the room for just a second, and went back to the young man in front of him once more.

He gritted his teeth once again. Seriously. Why did life have to S#$% on him so much? What did he do? I mean, a lot, but he'd done more than enough to make up for it, right? Why was he thinking like this? It wasn't a feelings time. It was a drag a suspect to a room and get all of the info on the mass slaugtering of an anti-mutant group time, right?

No, apparently it was time to dance.

After an eye roll that would make the teensiest of teens jealous, the younger man... pouted. And then started dancing. "What. The. F#@%."

Was... he trying to make him dance? He asked if he was sure he'd found the right person, and it all snapped into place. He was trying to throw him off. That son of a @#$^& was playing MIND GAMES with him! God, he just wanted to punch that smug little face! Wait, was he going for it? Oh shi-Saphirus reached a hand back and sent it toward the dancer's face.

He couldn't help himself.

”Nice t’ meet y’, Amelia.”

Pleasantries exchanged, both women could relax into the water. Ranger side eyed Amelia when she said ‘super’.The word had the exact right amount of stress to be in agreement or to be a subtle hint at a possible association between the pair. Ranger gave a small moan in the affirmative. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the

Amelia sighed and mentioned how nice it was for things to be simple… Before hitting on Ranger.

Ranger’s eyes opened. That was unexpected. She was being hit on by a girl who, best as Ranger could tell, was greater than five years her junior. She turned to look at Amelia and gave an awkward smile. While Ranger normally would appreciate the attention from a woman… Amelia was a little young… And Ranger found a different flavor of human making her heart beat fast and hard than what she was used to… She did find herself appreciating the compliment though.

”Yeah… “ Ranger took a sip of her tea and found herself wishing it was something a little less Southern ice tea and a little more Long Island iced tea. ”Thanks, y’r cute y’rself, but… Y’ might be a little young f’r me… An’... Ranger looked out across the party, Noel was talking to some other guy. Noel had been the one to get her heart going. ”I’m… Not… I’m not in to women.” Ranger slowly said it as she made the realization herself.

Noel agreed. And called her cute. But Amelia sensed a but. And there, it was. Cute, but maybe a little young for her. And--

Amelia caught that pointed glance. Noel was looking elsewhere, at some other person. Another girl? A guy? Amelia followed the glance, and saw a guy. Talking to a guy.

Noel flat-out said it. She was not into women.

Amelia smiled sheepishly, and laughed it off. "Heh. Figures. Well. Worth a try. I liked a guy once, too. He could turn into a girl though. Best of both worlds." With a sigh, she leaned back against the hot tub.

She was silent for a moment. Then, she followed up.

"So. Who is he? This guy who has your heart going pitter pat? Is it a sure thing, or do you need a word of encouragement. Because damn girl, if he doesn't notice you and is off talking to other people, he is an idiot. To leave you all alone. You deserve someone who notices you. Not to talk bad of him or anything, just--"

Amelia looked at Noel. She smiled warmly. Not in a hit on you kind of way, either. "People deserve to be happy. And not neglected. Just sayin'."

She could move on, now that she failed. But at her heart, Amelia was all about love. She always had been a matchmaker. If she had not met her match in this hot tub, it was still fun to try and encourage that person to go off and talk to hers.