Normally Megan wasn’t one to get herself into trouble without a good reason behind it, but something about the large, protective gates surrounding the mansion had caught her attention and held it when she had passed by a couple of days ago. She had heard about the place somewhere through the grapevine, but had never actually been interested enough to stop on by until now. It screamed boarding school, and made her wish she had chosen to wear a white shirt and a plaid skirt… Instead of the getup she was currently decked out in.

“Why do they make these damn things so damned itchy?” She muttered to herself, adjusting the waist of her skirt and then her sash. She was seriously considering tracking down the maker of the uniform to complain. Her babies had already scaled walls and windows alike, and had found a nice little vent with which to squeeze through. She would have eyes on the inside to scout out possible party poopers, even before stepping foot inside the gates! She dropped a hand to her shoulder bag to turn down the volume of her mp3player, effectively silencing the lyrics and tune of ‘Stayin Alive’ to anyone’s ears but her own. Then she adjusted the green beret on top of her head, and made sure to tuck the edges of her shirt in. Oh, the scouts would be so proud… if they ever figured out that it was she that had run off with a uniform and a cart full of boxed cookies, and managed to forgive her…. Puffing her chest out proudly, and with a deep breath, Megan raised a finger and poked the little button at the side of the gate. “Hello? Anyone there to open the gates?”

The pale finger withdrew and she grinned, tugging on the back of her skirt angrily while she waited. Who would have guess that she could still fit into children sized clothes? Not she, that’s for sure. Hopefully it didn’t look as bad as it felt, she would hate to scare away anyone she was soon to be meeting. A voice crackled back over the intercom, asking who she was and what she wanted, and she only had to mention her assumed job, and maybe mention a few free samples to get the gate open. Her grin widened, and she bent to pick up the handle to the small red wagon behind her, before making her way inside and toward the front doors. The twenty three year old raised a fist and rapped on the door solidly a few times, even throwing in a cheerful “Girl Scouts of America!” at the end.

Gawain was being lazy.

He really deserved it. After all the mess he'd been through lately, he really, really deserved some peace and quiet. He didn't have classes (yay to the summer break), and most of the students were out enjoying the good weather, or visiting home, or... being lazy, just like him.

In order to not miss anything interesting that might happen in the Mansion, Gawain wandered down to the living room with the book he had been reading, and now was lying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander free.
Thinking about life, the universe and everything.
Mainly, wondering who was supposed to keep the Mansion clean. There were spiderwebs up there. Old ones.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Gawain sat up. Visitor? New student? Trouble?
Either way, it couldn't hurt to take a look.

Opening the door, the young knight blinked at the girl scout.
Since when did girl scouts visit mutant boarding schools?!
But you can't spell 'girl scout' without 'girl'...
Gawain smiled.

"Hey there, lady. Can I help you?"

Bobbing her head while she waited, she resisted the urge to dance, and rolled her eyes skyward. At least, if her plans failed at scoping out the school, she could retreat into lovely weather- maybe the park. Plenty of people in the park to pawn cookies off on. The door in front of her cracked open, and she dropped icy eyes onto the boy who has answered her knock. Her grin dropped into a comfortable smile, and she held a box of Samoas up at her shoulder and waggled it temptingly.

"Hey there cutie, I’m going door to door today, to give away free samples of our cookies before sales fully start up again... I happened past, and thought it might be nice to drop some of these off for all of you hard working students." Also- eating said cookies, which are likely to be chalked full of msg, will most definitly get you hooked and you will crave those scout cookies until the day you take you last, ragged breath... She wasn’t bitter, not at all. Having to give up all things cookie when she had started producing silk way back when has turned out to be a blessing, a very mean, horribly, blessing... Megan tilted her head slightly at the end of her inner grump fest, smile still in place, and peered around his shoulder curiously into the room behind.

"Say, would it be possible for me to sit somewhere for a little while? It feels like I’ve been walking all day, and my dogs are barking..." Also while she was in there she could look around see if it was capable of being a good future hideout. With friends like meld, and a possible warrant on her head for the attempted theft of a spider, she liked to have all her bases covered when it came to living quarters. Silently, she broadcast an order to her waiting pets to move out.

They followed the order swiftly by crawling out between vent slots and in from outside windows, and perched on the walls and ceiling as they took a look around. She knew she only had a handful in there, maybe five or six jumpers- while the rest were well hidden in her hair. She was confident in their spying abilities.

>>"Hey there cutie, I’m going door to door today, to give away free samples of our cookies before sales fully start up again... I happened past, and thought it might be nice to drop some of these off for all of you hard working students."

Gawain grinned. Being called 'cutie' he was kind of used to (but it was always nice to hear); being labeled a 'hard working student' made him grin even more, Girl Scout managed to run into the least hard working one of all the Mansion residents. When it came to academics. Probably.
Also, cookies. Always a plus, especially if a nice girl brings them.

"That's very nice of you" he nodded, opening the door wider. For a brief moment there, he strangely felt like Grandma opening the door for the wolf. The feeling, however, passed, as moments of insanity usually do.

>>"Say, would it be possible for me to sit somewhere for a little while? It feels like I’ve been walking all day, and my dogs are barking..."

"Yea sure, c'mon in" he nodded towards the living room "If ya don' mind a few weird people around, that is. 'tis a special school, after all" he chuckled, making air quotes around 'special'. Someone must have let the girl scout in, so she shouldn't be surprised that she was at a mutie school.

"Name's Gawain, by the way" he continued, walking with her to the living room "An' I'm not as hard workin' as I look."

Her grin spread in time with the boys, and she took her first steps inside, carting her little red wagon behind her. Yes, it was a nice idea, too bad it was mostly a lie. They could have the cookies once she left- she wouldn't eat them anyway. With the wheels of her wagon over the threshold, she glanced around curiously. Her scout’s received a silent command to spread out and search, and they did just that. One headed up the wall by the stairs, intent on checking out what rooms were held upstairs, while two others headed off along the ceiling for where the kitchen was located. One remained by the door, watching the interaction between his creator and the other biped, while the last one got comfy on the arm of the couch in the living room, its eyes focused on the TV. Such a small brain didn't understand what the moving pictures were, but it did know that the little dog on the screen was very, very captivating....

"If ya don' mind a few weird people around, that is. 'tis a special school, after all"

Her eyes narrowed like a cats for a moment, before she lifted a hand and waved it casually. "Oh, don't worry about me. I do well with weird..."
One of the spiders within her hair peeked out from behind her earlobe, little blue eyes watching as Megan dropped the handle of her wagon, and plopped herself down into a chair next to the couch. It. was. Heaven. "Now, which kind of cookie would you like to munch on?" She bent an arm over the side of her seat, and shuffled through her stolen merchandise. "Samoa? Thin mint? Do-si-do?" She paused, crossing her legs, and brought her eyes to him. “I’m Charlotte, by the way.”

>>"Oh, don't worry about me. I do well with weird..."

Gawain chuckled as he plopped down on the couch. If only Girl Scout knew the levels of weird people could get around here... it wasn't weird clothing (although some did that too) or weird habits. Weird was in everyone's genes.
Well, she didn't seem to mind.

>>"Now, which kind of cookie would you like to munch on? Samoa? Thin mint? Do-si-do?... I’m Charlotte, by the way.”

Gawain shrugged "Dunno, hit me with whichever ya like best." leaning over the arm of the couch to take a curious look, he managed to catch himself a moment (and a few inches) before he'd flattened out a spider with his elbow "Ow. Hey there." he muttered, wrinkling his nose "Man this place needs some cleanin' up."
Picking up a stray piece of paper from the table, he poked the spider with it. "I hope ya're not Calley, buddy, cuz I'm takin' ya outside." he murmured to the little creature. He also shot an apologetic look at Charlotte the girl scout, who was good with weird. "Ummm, some people here get really upset if we... hurt animals."

Especially because they turn into some of them.

The spiders trance was broken when the poking began. It turned around to face the poker, and tilted its body in confusion. It had done nothing to deserve such treatment, why was this happening? The human's lips moved, but it didn't understand. The small creatures mouth parts wriggled, imitating, and then the paper was back. Prodding at its behind. It drummed its front legs against the couch in annoyance and hunkered down low to the couch. Megan sat across from the scene, smiling slightly, and simply let what was to happen, happen.

"No no, I understand. I have somewhat of an affection myself for the little creatures." She uncrossed her leg and leaned back in the chair, hooking it over the chairs arm. It was amusing at least, to hear the questions shot her way from a speck of her own flesh and blood. She could hear the faint chattering of the others behind the questions, wondering how long they wold have to hold position, or how one had just happened into the kitchen, and one wanted to know if it could eat a nummy looking bug it had found under a bed. Megan sighed, and crossed her arms behind her head, her fingers intertwining as she prepped the others in her hair on what was to happen.

The spider on the couch had had enough though. It sank back further, reared its behind into the air, and then launched itself at the face of he who pokes. Megan took that moment to release the other spiders from her hair. They repelled down the far side of the chair, out of direct sight for the moment, and crawled around behind the TV to split up. Between the ten of them, they each claimed a visible corner and started to set up webs of varying size. A few crawled across the ceiling and rooted their webs securely- before dropping down on silken lines like little eight legged spies. Megan blinked, crossing her eyes momentarily to fix her vision one one fuzzy black jumping spider before her face, then turned them Gawains way. She lifted a finger and pointed at the two small spiders fighting each other for a thread to the left of the boy. "It seems you have a bit of an infestation though..."

All right, Gawain decided, that spider was definitely someone.
Normal spiders don't jump people like that, right?

The young knight was so proud of himself - he managed to bite back a not-too-manly yelp when the little creature made contact with his face. Instead he just scampered back further on the couch and shook is head violently, trying not to use his hands. Having a spider holding on to his nose for dear life was one thing, having a spider accidentally smeared all over his face was another.

Since when do spiders jump at all?!

Gawain blew on the spider. It stuck. He blew harder. It still clingd to him. Gawain sneezed.
The force of the sneeze sent the spider sailing through the air, and it landed on Charlotte's lap. The mirrorwalker sniffed. "Sorry."

>>"It seems you have a bit of an infestation though..."

"What do you mean by..." Gawain looked around "What the heck?!"

The living room seemed to be transforming into a spider lair. The young knight was pretty sure those spiders hadn't been there a few minutes before.

"Yeeeah, as I said..." he frowned "... weird school."

He looked at Charlotte. She didn't seem to mind. Actually, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Gawain's eyes narrowed just a tiny little bit.
Hmm.

Holding back a few unladylike laughs, she watched the show calmly, and poked at the spider hanging in front of her face. With it swinging back and forth before her like a pendulum, she turned her attention back to the boy who was trying to blow the spider off of him like a big bad wolf. He sneezed, and the little creature sailed her way, landing snugly in her lap. "Why, Hello there." Grabbing the edges of her skirt, she tugged and bounced the spider from her lap onto the coffee table- where it ran a few circles as its head spun. Too much flying, not enough being stable. She felt her lips twitch in amusement at his mild outburst, and turned her gaze upwards to follow his for a moment.

"I wouldn't call it weird, it's the middle of summer after all. You probably have a nest somewhere close by." Her lips pursed, and she dropped a smiling gaze back down to him in time to catch the end of his frown. She couldn't stop herself from winking. "Now, to see this kitchen." She announced, and got to her feet quickly. The spiders that had been dangling dropped from their threads and darted back to the safety of the shadows as she left the room.

Her eyes swung left and right as she received scattered directions towards the kitchen. The small spider on the coffee table shook itself one last time, and turned to watch her exit, before swiveling about to stare up at Gawain. It still held a grudge at being poked... but the human hadn't smooshed him, so he was alright. For a human. It tapped its front legs on the table a few times, then turned and skittered away- just as Megan reached the kitchen door.

Nope, she didn't seem to mind at all.
Gawain noted the girl scout's cheerful way of dealing with spiders all around. Most girls (not Maya, though) would have run in every possible direction, screaming and demanding a knight to hunt the monsters down.
Well, not like Charlotte was the first weird girl he'd met.
Nah.

>>"I wouldn't call it weird, it's the middle of summer after all. You probably have a nest somewhere close by."

"Yeah, probably." Gawain frowned; he tried to remember if he'd ever seen whoever was keeping the Mansion relatively clean. He hadn't. "Or someone's jus' messin' with us."

Charlotte started towards the kitchen, and she seemed to know her way quite well. Gawain noted that as he followed, looking back from the door one last time. The spiders were gone, out of sight.

Again. What. The. Heck.

"Ya want somethin' to drink?" he asked, curious why the girl scout decided to scout out the kitchen, and also because it was a polite thing to ask "I'd offer you cookies too, but since you were the one who brought them..."

Let's hope that's the only thing she brought.

"Wow. Big kitchen." Pursing her lips, she stood with a hand on her hip and leaned against the door frame for a moment. Not as big as other kitchens she had seen, but adequate. The reason question was what they had stocked away in the fridge. The last two kitchens she had seen had been stocked full of junk foods... Many types of cheese, butter, and beer Her tongue poke out on its own, remembering how foul that particular beverage was. 'And fattening...'

"Water, if you don't mind. I could get it myself if you point the glasses out." Her eyes flicked to her sentry in the corner, only a flicker of reflective blue in the darkness of a shadow. It hadn't been able to squeeze itself into the cupboards to find out. It had stated a possible second exit through the back- apparently, though it admitted that it hadn't had the chance to investigate further. She doubted she would need that knowledge, unless her new friend had something against creepy crawlies.

Removing herself from the doorway, she crossed over and plopped down into a chair, tapping her fingers on the table. She plopped her chin into the other hand and turned curious eyes on Gawain again. "So, what's it like living here? I assume you do?" The twenty three year old paused, watching as the hidden spider removed itself from the shadows to scramble across the ceiling towards the fridge. It had apparently taken her curiosity to heart. She turned in her head to watch as it disappeared behind, then reappeared on the fridges side, crawling over magnets and papers as it made its way towards the handle. "Actually, maybe milk would be better. I heard they were messing with the pipes or something.." Her lips pinched at the corners, and she rolled her eyes off in a different direction.

"Milk it is" the young knight nodded; Charlotte was still a guest, and a female one at that, so he took a glass from the cupboard and walked over to the fridge to rummage around for fresh milk.

"Yeah, I live here." he nodded, pouring some milk "It's all right I guess. I mean, this place is huge, there are lotsa things to do, and people are... good with weird." he chuckled "Lots of interesting folks to meet aroun' here. And a lot to learn."

Not in class

"So, yeah, I like livin' here. Why, are you plannin' on m..."

As the young knight turned back to the girl scout, he bit the end of the question. The girl was sitting at the kitchen table, looking completely calm and cheerful, and she had a spider skittering across her face.

"Um. Charlotte?" Gawain cleared his throat, setting the glass f milk down on the table as he moved closer, in case screaming and flailing ensued "Do you know ya have a spider on your face?"

She has to know it

"I'm just askin'."

Her smile widened. He was actually getting her milk? What a sweet heart. Her fingers resumed their rhythmic tapping for a moment. The small peering eyes from behind her earlobe developed thin legs, which curled out from behind her hair. The rest of the spiders face and body followed quickly, and the small creature crawled out into the light and scuttled across her jawline, and then up the opposite cheek. It disappeared behind the other ear, to peek out shyly. At Gawain's words, Megan raised widened eyes his way and pulled her glass of milk towards her.

"Do I?" She raised a hand and patted her face carefully, as if looking for the pesky creature. "Are you sure?" Tilting her head, she took a sip of cold milk, and licked her lips. It was fun, this new reaction to spiders she was witnessing. She was used to people stomping her children, or catching them in jars. With a silent command for her shy spider to show itself once more, she blinked at the boy innocently. The spider scurried out once more, resting on her cheek, and she dropped empty eyes to it.

"Oh, there it is." Her tongue snuck out, stuck the spider with a bit of sticky thread wrapped around her tongue, and she slurped the arachnid into her mouth- hiding it behind a set of white teeth as they clacked together. "Got it." She washed the web down as her spider too refuge on the roof of her mouth, clinging to silken thread stuck there. "Tastes like chicken." She muttered.

>>"Oh, there it is."

"Wait, what are y..."

>>"Got it."

"Holy..."

>>"Tastes like chicken."

"*****."

I'm never eating chicken again.

Gawain stared at the smiling girl racking his brain tryint o decide if he had ever seen anything more creepy than this one right here. A girl scout eating spiders, spiders, that, by the way, happened to infest the mansion just at the exact same time she arrived.
Gawain shook his head.

"So, Charlotte. Thinkin' about joinin' mutant high?" he smirked "Looks like ya'd fit in here just fine."

Taking another sip of her milk, she grinned and nodded her head. "Truthfully, I kind of was. Though, I don't know if I would fit in as well as you think." She rolled her eyes once again to the ceiling with a sigh, thinking about what he had said. "I doubts you all would want me here for long. I seem to attract bugs of all sorts.." An image of a certain cockroach she new sprang to mind and she grinned impishly for a moment. "It can be rather dangerous, depending on what type of bug happens to reside around the area."

She swirled the milk in her glass, and turned her eyes back to him. Under her shirt a batch of spider lings had just been born, but she didn't really have anything to so with them. Sentry spiders scattered about the mansion were enough, and a living room full of webs and hiding critters meant she had enough at her disposal. She opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted as the doorbell rang. "Oh... looks like you have more company."

Her eyes in the hall swiveled about to spy who it was, and had to squeeze out through the vent again to catch sight of the person. once it had gotten out and peeked around the corner- it spotted a ten year old girl in a tank top and running shorts, with a box of cookies in her hand. If the spiders eyes could have widened, they would have. An urgent message flew back to Megan as the jumping spider scurried for its life back towards the kitchen. 'The girl is here!' Had she been sipping her milk at the time, it damn well would have shot out her nose. The girl scout!