Kiva had really, really missed the Mansion.

It was funny. She'd lived in that apartment of hers for years, and had rarely missed it when she left it to see her family. But this place, it was different. A cynic would say she just liked it better because it was fancy, but it wasn't that. This place just seemed to embody something important to her, though she couldn't quite put a claw on what specifically.

She wasn't thinking too hard about it right now, though. Right now, she was too giddy over the fact that there weren't snowbanks taller than she was and arctic winds making it minus forty degrees. Manitoba was a lovely place, but it was freezing.

Quebec had been better, sure, but that good part had been balanced by the fact that Kiva had lost most of her French by this point of her life and she was pretty sure that the people there actually took more offense to her being an anglophone than they did to her being a mutant. Which did have a certain amount of logic to it, since she could re-learn French if she wanted to. And she had, a little. Or, well, she'd learned some very impolite words that one of her cousins had ended up yelling at somebody, but still.

Nevertheless, it was good to be home. Clover clearly agreed, as the little black cat was prancing at the very end of her harness' leash from the moment they stepped through the gates onto the grounds, and Kiva couldn't help but give a deep chuckle as she knelt down to unhook her from it. "Okay, okay, kitty cat. Go have fun. Just be back upstairs for supper."

Clover raced out across the grass in pure feline joy the moment she was free, and Kiva watched her go with another chuckle. Yep. Good to be home.

However, there was one thing missing from this picture, and it was little and blonde with shape-shifting powers. If there was one thing Kiva had really missed about the Mansion, it was Paige.

She headed for the doors, her leather boots crunching against the grass. She was in her full 'biker chick' attire, black jeans, leather jacket, and all, her wings folded snugly under said jacket. Kiva's mouth was practically stuck in a permanent smile as she thought about inviting her friend for a ride on her motorcycle. It'd been too long since they'd done something like that. And of course they'd have to catch up on everything that had gone on since she'd left.

First on the agenda was checking the living room, though, since she needed to find her friend in order to hang out with her, and the big, scaly woman peeked her head in to see if it was occupied.

It was another boring day at the Mansion; with Paige being alone. Just her and her many insecurities. The living room was empty, so she'd grabbed the acoustic guitar from her room, and made her way back to the couch, sprawling across it and resting the guitar on her thigh. Holding the pick between her fingers, she began to just improvise, letting a soft, sweet tune fill the air.

Her mind wandered a little as she started to relax. She couldn't practice in her room anymore, it was just too much for her; she remembered playing for Kiva, but then...back around Thanksgiving or Christmas, she left to be with her family. It was supposed to be a short thing, but...she never came back. Aside from her girlfriend, the dragon-chick was her best friend. As she thought on this, the guitar's melody became slower, sadder, almost longing, even.

Then...wait...Paige looked up at the head that poked into the door, and within that instant, the guitar was back in the case, and Paige ran and wrapped her arms tightly around the neck that was attached to the head. "Kiva!" She squealed happily, holding on tightly to her friend and roomate.

Kiva found herself stumbling back a little as the girl she'd been trying to find promptly adhered herself to her neck. The moment she had her balance again, she wrapped her arms around Paige in turn, hugging the smaller woman close. "Paige," she rumbled softly. "I missed you so much..." She had no intention of letting go any time soon, unless Paige tried to end the hug first.

It really had been far too long. Her earlier happiness at being home soon became tinted with guilt, and she just barely resisted the urge to hug Paige even tighter, as she didn't want to accidentally hurt her. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long. Something happened with my family and things just got...I didn't mean to disappear on you, I really didn't..."

Paige just held on tight. "It's okay....I understand...I just...I missed you. I thought you weren't coming back..." After what seemed like forever and a split second at the same time, Paige finally let go.

"I just...alot's went on since you left.I don't know what's wrong with me lately...But, I'm so glad to see you. How've you been? You know...aside from the obvious."

I thought you weren't coming back. Kiva winced as she heard that, feeling more guilt coiling in the pit of her stomach. "I'll always come back, Paige," she said quietly, and once she said the words, Kiva wasn't sure if they were to assure her friend, or herself. Something could happen someday, after all. Something out of her control.

No. She'd always come back. Always.

Once they'd parted, Kiva found herself slipping off her leather jacket. Her wings unfurled and stretched through the open back of her shirt as Paige continued to speak, and Kiva had a distinctly-concerned frown, mentally cursing herself. She'd had to stay, but the fact that she'd left Paige to deal with whatever had been going on on her own made Kiva feel like she'd failed her friend.

Can't be there for everyone all the time, silly dragon, she told herself, but, whether it was true or not, it didn't help.

The question got her to smile again, but it was a bit of strained one. "Stressed. Cold. Wishing I knew more than a few words of French." Knowing that last one would come across as a bit bizarre, she elaborated, the smile vanishing, "The 'something' that happened...was one of my cousins in Quebec having a breakdown when her X-gene kicked in. She's doing better now, but I was the only one she'd talk to for at least three weeks, and even after that it was rough."

Kiva sighed, and it was around that moment that she realized that they were still standing in the doorway, and she gestured at the living room couch with a clawed hand in a silent question of whether Paige wanted to sit and talk rather than stand and talk.

Paige nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah, well, family's important too. They needed you there; compared to that, barfights and getting thrown in washing machines really doesn't stack up," she gave a small smile as she sat on the couch, propping her bare feet on the table.

"Me...well, I've been having...breakdowns lately. Like I've had since I moved here, only more frequent. And...worse. But on the bright side I've gotten more confident, enough to play small gigs again. And I'm sorta getting a reign in on my mutation."

After she finished speaking, she opened the guitar case again, picked up the black acoustic guitar, and began to play lightly.

Kiva was not liking what she was hearing. Even Paige's attempt at reassurance wasn't doing the finest job--Kiva knew they'd needed her, but that didn't mean that Paige's problems weren't important, too--but she kept quiet and at least let her finish. She sat down on the couch next to Paige, draping her leather jacket over the nearby arm of it. She knew indeed what sorts of breakdowns Paige was talking about--not the long-lasting shut down cousin Monet had had, but still something she hated seeing Paige go through--and the fact that they were worsening was worrying.

The mentioned brighter side did manage to get a little smile on Kiva's face again, though, and it became more pronounced when Paige pulled out her guitar. The jet black acoustic had practically called out to Kiva when she first saw it, the first musical instrument in her life ever to do so. Getting it for Paige, to replace the one that had been destroyed in the fight a few day's previous to her move to the Mansion, had seemed to be fate at the time. While the gift Kiva would always be the most proud of was the painting she'd given Paige, this was such a close second that it was almost a tie, and ever since she'd adored to hear her friend play it.

"Well, good to hear about the gigs. I'll have to come around and listen," she said as the soft notes filled the air. While she did love Paige's music, part of her motivation for saying such was the fact that she'd mentally connected the word 'gigs' with the previous word of 'barfights,' and Kiva wanted to be able to watch her back, just in case; people were less inclined to pick a fight with a little blonde if there was a hulking visible mutant standing with her, even if the little blonde was the better fighter.

Her smile did slip away a bit, and she reached out a strong arm to wrap around Paige's shoulders, trying her best not to disturb her playing in the process. "And now that I'm back...I'm here if you ever need me. Promise. You're family to me, too, y'know." She withdrew her arm again, then added, "Now, who in the h*** put you in the washing machine?"

The additional question of 'and do I need to beat them up, or have you already?' was left unspoken.

Hopefully Kiva would never have to see one of Paige's breakdowns, which were less of a shutdown and more of a nuclear catastrophe.Page continued to play, the tune much happier this time, though still at a slow tempo.The blonde smiled. "Yeah, you've been like a sister to me. And I'm here if you need me, too."

The girl chuckled lightly at the washing machine thing, then it faded, remembering that didn't end so well for either party involved. "Well, I was practicing my shifting, and shifted into a purple Guns N' Roses shirt. Some kid decided to put me with the rest of his dirty laundry. Long story short, I slapped him." She gave a shrug, playing it like it was no big deal.

Kiva smiled when Paige said she'd be there for her too. Paige had broken a guy's nose for her the day they met; Kiva knew she always had her back.

However, the explanation of the washing machine incident caused Kiva to stare for a second. "He just picked up a random T-shirt that wasn't his?" she said, "In a place full of mutants? What kind of idiot does that?"

Now, Kiva would admit to being the kind of person who would have no trouble picking up and washing someone else's clothes come laundry time, but only under circumstances where she knew whose clothes they were, she was either asked to or asked herself, and she was certain the clothes couldn't talk. Though, having Paige as a roommate had made Kiva much more paranoid in that regard than most likely would.

It was only the fact that she knew that Paige wasn't capable of drowning in object form that was keeping Kiva from being absolutely furious. That, and it'd happened some time ago and Paige was fine right now and shrugging it off. Still, the thought that she would have done worse than a slap if she'd been there crossed her mind as her protective instincts flared and her wings flexed subconsciously.

She gave a small shake of her head to try to banish that thought, and managed a small chuckle and smile as she asked, "Do you want a lookout next time you practice? I can growl at anyone who tries to pick you up." If there was one thing Kiva knew she could do, it was act fierce and territorial.

"Yeah. He claimed he was doing a good deed, asked how he was supposed to know the shirt was a person." The girl gave a hearty laugh, then calmed. "I kinda felt bad for hitting him; he was just a kid...But he swore up and down he was right, so...I reared back and slapped him. He's lucky I didn't do worse. Little brat," she grumbled.

Her mood lightened considerably at Kiva's next question. "Yeah. That would be great. Someone to keep watch, yelling at people not to touch their spork, spoon, underwear...whatever, heehee..." She giggled lightly at the thought of that. Priceless.

Kiva bit back the urge to growl. Stupid, stubborn kid. But still, as Paige had said, just a kid. Better to just be glad that Paige was fine and not dwell on it.

However, what Paige said in response to her offer earned a deep laugh. "Oh, no, don't you even dare on that last one. I'm not chasing people away for you if you turn into any kind of undergarment." She pointed a claw at Paige for emphasis, not being able, or even really trying, to hide her amused grin. "Especially if it's not even my size."

She reached over with the intention of ruffling Paige's hair after her joking ultimatum with a chuckle, adding, "Unless you can come up with a really good reason why you have to practice underwear-shifting where people are likely to find you, sis." She wasn't consciously aware of the 'sis' that slipped out, and wouldn't have thought much on it even if she had, since she'd already said that Paige was family.

Paige gave a smirk. "And what if I did, hm sis?" she playfully challenged as her hair was ruffled, purposely adding the sis to the end in response. "Besides, what reason do you need, besides that it's funny?" She leaned over, putting the guitar in the case and shutting it before setting it to the side. "Really, I've only shifted into underpants once, and it was by accident. When I try to shift and don't put my mind into it, weird things happen. Like underpants," she explained.

Suddenly, her eyes flashed with a hint of evil and mischief, a grin crawling its way up Paige's cheeks. Just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. As was Paige's entire body. On the couch next to Kiva, now lay a pair of bright purple lacy undies with black trim.

Kiva gave a grand, over-dramatic roll of her eyes at the reasoning of turning into underwear being 'funny.' Funny for Paige, sure. Not so much for the dragonkin who had to go protecting said underwear. Though, she supposed the fact that the potential for accidental shifts existed was a decent poin--

Lacy purple undies.

Kiva knew that the sight of her eyes bugging out would be hilarious, but she couldn't quite stop herself from doing it for a moment all the same. Luckily, she was incapable of visibly blushing, and she shot the undergarment a scowl. "You. Are. Evil. An evil, evil woman."

After looking left and right to check to surroundings, and listening just to be sure there were no approaching footsteps, she looked back at Paige. "If you don't turn back, I'm gonna shove you in between the couch cushions," she mock-threatened. Of course she'd do no such thing, but it was the first thing to pop into her head beyond a general thought of, Please let no one see me talking to lingerie.

Paige giggled. "No, I'm an evil pair of underpants, at the moment~" she answered back, a smug, victorious inflation to her voice, though mostly joking. "Go ahead, I'll just shift back before you can get me in there," she taunted, before shifting back.

"Sorry, I just had to," she said, giving her friend a hug. "Oh my GOD the look on your face was just...priceless." She gave a small laugh.

Kiva tried to scowl at Paige when she shifted back and hugged her, but it didn't last long, and Kiva hugged her back with only a token incoherent grumble at the apology. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled in response to how 'priceless' her reaction had been, "Big scary dragon panics at the sight of frilly underthings. Hilarious."

The attempted sarcasm in Kiva's voice was undermined by the rumbling chuckle that escaped her, and the fact that, once she'd pulled away from the hug, the first thing she did was ruffle Paige's hair again. "You're still evil. But I love ya anyway, sis." That time, the 'sis' added to that statement was very much deliberate.