[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/w18T1S3.png[/img][/center]

Lauren had been wearing a grin with all the earnest glee of a puppy as she latched onto her mother, but now she appeared struck dumb. The use of her full name by Amy had changed her face, turned away from her team and staring directly into her mother's enormous green eyes; she wore the chagrined look of a girl whose panties had all been replaced overnight with folded up pop quizzes and subpoenas. 

The look was born and killed on her face in a hummingbird's heartbeat, snuffing out under the weight of her enormous grin like a dead ember. 

[color=8882be]"This is my team, Mama!"[/color] she introduced excitedly, letting go of her mother and bouncing backwards to join her team. One arm gripped Sangue's prosthetic tightly around the shoulder in a one-armed hug, and Lauren kissed the girl's cheek with gust. Her free hand flourished, producing the bowing Sangue as though she were the eight wonder of the world. [color=8882be]"This is Sangue! She's, like, the cutest girl ever, she's like if I had a little sister that you left in the forest and she kinda sun-bleached or something...but she's, like, super nice and we just swore a blood oath of sisterhood last night! Desire, too!"[/color]

She cocked her head towards the ex-stripper. Costa Negasi's eyes fell on Amy briefly, examining the girl - and, no doubt, the illustrious and unique leather jacket she was wearing over her bare body - with a faint note of defensive skepticism.

[color=8882be]"Am's a little surly and she's always got a migraine, but we love her anyway! She can twerk almost as well as me, you should see Ben's face when--"[/color] Lauren continued, enthused. 

[color=662d91]"I see."[/color]

[color=8882be]"Oh, [i]fuck![/i] Right!"[/color]

Clearly she'd been building to this, despite her best attempt at pretending she'd forgotten the lone boy on the team. Lauren left Sangue's side and quite literally leaped onto Ben's back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a full Nelson and snaring her legs around his waist. Her tight clothes - or, rather, Ben's clothes - strained, and the unbuttoned collar of her new burgundy henley was downright abyssal as she leaned over her captain's shoulder to beam at her mom.

[color=8882be]"This is Ben! He's, like, my best friend on the whole planet - [i]ever![/i] I mean it!"[/color] she insisted, although her mother had clearly not said anything to the contrary and was now looking at Ben with a mix of amusement and understanding; it was an expression that conveyed sympathy with an amount of finesse Lauren quite possibly would never possess, but nonetheless the same note of protectiveness that she had while looking at Amy had positively calcified as she looked at Ben.

[color=8882be]"He practically ate me out in front of the entire combat class, and I broke his neck with my thighs!"[/color] exclaimed the organic ebony backpack currently clinging to a mortified Ben. [color=8882be]"Ever since then, we've been [i]mwwwwwwwwwwwwwah![/i] Inseparable! He reads [i]books,[/i] he's [i]responsible,[/i] makes me eat [i]vegetables[/i], and his Semblance gives him a humongous dick that can turn to tungsten and skullfuck giant monsters!"[/color]

...

Unfazed, Costa gave the whole team a wide, lush smile.

[color=662d91]"Well, that sounds very practical,"[/color] she joked with a wry politeness, one corner of her grin quirking up in a familiar show of amusement. [color=662d91]"It's an honor to meet you all, team...?"[/color]

[color=8882be]"Bas-fucking-stille!"[/color]

[color=662d91]"Basfuckingstille,"[/color] she finished smoothly. [color=662d91]"Thank you for keeping a careful eye on my daughter. I know she can be quite the little gremlin when around the people she loves."[/color]

[color=8882be]"Nuh uuuuuuh. If I was a gremlin then none of them would be able to get me so wemmmphrlgrglgrgl!"[/color]

The rest of her bawdy joke had been muffled by Ben's shoulder.