~~“Thanks, I knew I’ve heard that name before.” “I think I’ll do some research on my own when I get the chance.”

“okie dok.” He hoped she didn’t think he was coming on to her, I mean not that he wouldn’t, but he wasn’t and he probably wouldn’t not because she wasn’t…but because Katrina was… his cheeks turned a faint pink as he fought the urge to blush. Thinking quickly he mimicked his whole body to the color of his brightening cheeks.

~~ “I’m seventeen.”

“Oh, Cool. If you wanted to try out to be a trainee you could, or if you wanted to settle in and find out what they are all about you could always talk them into a try out later.” He shrugged as he realized he’d only met her and she only just moved in. Maybe she might like some peace and not be herded toward his own goal.

He didn’t seem insulted when she said that she wanted to do her own research solo. She didn’t mean anything by it, she just wanted to be able to find out what she could and look at the facts in her own way. It seemed like Koga was all for the X-men and their ideals and she wanted to for her own opinions, something she feared would he hampered if she got her information from biased sources. For some reason his mood had suddenly changed and he seemed uncomfortable about something. She noted the pink in his cheeks before it was promptly hidden under the pink that now covered his body. Secret secrets. She thought to herself but didn’t press him for information. It wasn’t her place or her style. She just threw him a secret smile and raised an eyebrow. “Real men are pink, right? Nice color though, seriously. I can just do that without major concentration. My body usually just matches whatever its near.” She kept talking so that she wouldn’t make him feel uncomfortable.

“It’s something I’ll have to think about. Mutant rights are such a complicated subject. It’s cool that you know what you want though. Some of us, like me, need those kind of goals. I don’t have a plan anymore but I’m sure I’ll find something that fits.” Eventually. She added mentally.

~~ “Real men are pink, right? Nice color though, seriously. I can just do that without major concentration. My body usually just matches whatever its near.”

“Absssolutely.” She had just called him a man…he liked that. It was no small thing that Female two years his senior was recognizing him as a man. Yup. “Ssstill, the detail that you command when you do, it is flawlesssss.”

~~“It’s something I’ll have to think about. Mutant rights are such a complicated subject. It’s cool that you know what you want though. Some of us, like me, need those kind of goals. I don’t have a plan anymore but I’m sure I’ll find something that fits.”

“Ooh man, tell me about it, before my body decided that it wasss going to be more Mutant than human, I had never missed a day of school and had a 4.0. My Parents were such slave drivers still though I was on a path... Just let yourself get used to the place and you’ll realize we’re all family.”

Koga stretched a little. What time was it? He had taken a nap because for whatever reason his room was really cold and he had forgotten to check what time it was. Should he be dressed better then he was?

ooc: Finished it tonight! HAH! Oh man, my editing is so bad. I meant to say ‘I can’t do that without...’ in the last post. Twyla’s power isn’t like that! Oops. So sorry!

She shrugged off his compliment. It wasn’t HER thoughts that matched her surroundings it was something with her subconscious. He had better control than she did if he could just decide to become a color. Twyla wasn’t going to argue about it anymore, that wasn’t her style. Everyone is quick to praise others and not themselves and she knew it.

“Geeze, that’s crazy.” Twyla replied at first when Koga told her about his academic life before his powers manifested. “I’m sure you’re back on it now.” She hoped he was, that was proof that she could return to hers as well. Not that she knew exactly where she wanted it to lead. Hopefully he was right and this place could become another home to her, she needed it to be. “I’ll find myself again.” She was suddenly optimistic and it showed in her bright smile.

When the boy stretched she noted the toothbrush again and realized that at some point he would have to return it to his room. Besides that Twyla was tired, it had been a long day. She was glad to meet Koga, but she needed to finish up with her room and maybe take a nap. A fidget came from her as well and she stifled a yawn. Another bright smile graced her features. “ It was nice meeting you, Koga. I think I need to finish up my room.” She nodded her head backwards towards the open door. 80's pop was still streaming from the tiny speakers of the alarmclock that was still sitting on the floor. Her tone was friendly and didn’t give an air of a blow off, she was just being honest. “So maybe I’ll see you at dinner or something, okay?” If she was brave enough to go to dinner. Facing all those students was daunting but it would be easier if she knew she could sit near someone familiar.

~~“Geeze, that’s crazy.” “I’m sure you’re back on it now.”


“mmmm, not quite, I don’t have the ssslave driversss behind me so I can concentrate on actually learning everything and not worry about perfection. Well that and the mansion let me enroll in advanced classssesss ssso I’m actually getting challenged in sssome of them, and then there is the training.” He shrugged. “ but yeah if I had the sssame curriculum, it’d be a sssynch….and that sssounded extra conceited.”

~~“I’ll find myself again.”

He was on a confident role and that smile encouraged him to encourage her. “ you’ll probably find you were never lost. But just incase you need any help, I’m in the guys hall all the way down to the left.”

~~“ It was nice meeting you, Koga. I think I need to finish up my room.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Twyla, have fun.”

~~“So maybe I’ll see you at dinner or something, okay?”

“I’ll save you a seat!” he said as he walked away his toothbrush coming to his mouth and he planted a foot firmly on the wall and slowly made his way to the ceiling again…maybe just maybe he was showing off.

Later that night, or whenever she woke up and noticed the bag on her door. Twyla would find a tiny Zune mp3 player and headphones taped to her door in a bag. The mp3 was white and the head phones were blue, the colors of the hallway carpet and the door frame, they just might have been the first two colors he saw Twyla change into. It was packed with every Pat Benatar song in existence, even some odd cover stuff he found that wasn’t on normal albums.

He worked around the neighborhood and had no bills and extra money. He remembered what got him through his first weeks at the mansion, besides from the awesome staff and other students. Music.

Twyla had ended up going to dinner, the promise of a saved seat was very reassuring. She had survived the noise and life of the students around her and made it back to her room unscathed. Her head hit her pillow soon after that. It had been a long day and sleep had been welcomed with wide open arms. When Twyla woke up she panicked–she couldn’t remember where she was. She shot out of bed and almost tripped over her bedclothes. A quick glance around the room brought things back and she felt safe again. The little neon numbers of the alarm clock on the floor told her that it was 5:15 in the morning. “Uhn.” A dissatisfied moan crept from her lips as she picked up her blankets and straightened them.

She was intending to go back to sleep when she noticed something was funny with her door. There was light coming through the crack in the top and below but the crack on the side was only letting in light from the top until about the door handle. It looked like something was caught in the door so Twyla groggily stumbled over and opened it. The obstruction was a bag. It took Twyla a minute to get it untangled from the handle, her hands weren’t quite awake yet. Glancing into the bag she saw something white before she carried it back in her room.

She sat on her bed to inspect the bag further and inside it she found a white mp3 player and blue headphones. This was unexpected. Twyla didn’t even have an mp3 player at home. She was very confused and wondered if someone had lost it and another person had thought it was hers. She turned it on in the hopes of finding some form of identification. ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ suddenly blared through the headphones as she messed around inside the menus. Finding the music again she went through the songs. All of them were Pat Benatar. Twyla smiled when she came to ‘Love is a Battlefield’, she understood the gift now. Plugging the headphones in her ears she stood up and began to dance around her room, all tiredness forgotten. There is only one reasonable response when you are listening to ‘Love is a Battlefield’ and Twyla gave it.