Tulelo has just moved into The Institute. After wandering around in the early morning following his arranging of his room the way he liked it. The air was brisk, and a little chilly for a summer morning, but his walk allowed him to clear his thoughts. He was sure his life would be easier than it had been in the past. He walked out onto the front lawn of The Institute, grasping his horns as he walked slowly toward the beautiful fountain. He sat at the fountains edge and watched as the ripples flowed through the pool of water.

The professor had set him up with arrangements to live here for the present. Tulelo chuckled to himself as he remembered this. He didn't think he could go anywhere else. The world would hate him for being different. He examined his hands. No one could learn to be comfortable with such a monster as him. As he walked into the institute even, he felt like he was not completely safe, even though the professor assured him he would be safe here.

There must be somewhere where he would not be made into a monster and this was the closest place he could think of to be for something like that. He shivered and looked to the sunrise for strength. He desperately needed someone to talk to.

OOC: I always us the RP Requests to get my threads out there. Hopefully you don't mind if I answer to one of those for once.

Her trusty Walkman had survived it’s long trip in a cardboard box from Wisconsin to New York. The Walkman, a few of her CDs, picture albums, a pair of running shoes, and a huge letter from home had all been packed into a big box and padded with some of her clothes and shipped out by way of FedEx. The package had been a total surprise and Twyla had been glad to receive it. Things with her family were finally beginning to feel ‘normal’ again, or as close to normal as a family in their situation could feel. The Walkman in question was playing a mixed CD that had a lot of her dance team music on it, which meant a lot of hip hop, and bobbing along in her right hand as the teen ran around the grounds of the mansion. It was early but after she had realized how out of shape she had become in her months away from home it had seemed appropriate to begin a running routine.

The running shoes in the package had been the deciding factor. It seemed like a sign or something to Twyla. So here she was, feet pounding a steady rhythm onto the still dew wet paths. The pounding beats in her head and the beat of her feet began to match and she picked up the pace to match the new song. Her brown ponytail bounced wildly as she passed a fountain. She couldn’t hear the sound of the water but she knew enough of the grounds through her new runs that she knew it was there. Out of habit she turned to look at the water falling into the base. Who she saw sitting there made her slow and skid to a halt a few feet away from the fountain. A mutant sat there, his mutation was obvious, more than hers at least. He had curving horns protruding from his head and seemed to be covered in hair. Twyla realized she had been staring and her cheeks flushed. Through her gasping breath from the run she managed to speak. “Sorry...I didn’t notice you there before...you scared me.” This was followed by a blink. Bad choice of words. She reprimanded herself mentally. “I was a too into the music to be aware of anything else, I mean.” Pulling her ear buds out of her ears and turning off the CD player she attempted to remedy her assumed insult.

Tulelo was feeling sorry for himself for what had happened the night before. He was wondering whether his father was alright. He knew he wasn't alone. His horns made hearing easier for him. A girl was running around the grounds. To Tulelo, she seemed so graceful yet strong. He could see the muscles in her leg muscles flex as she ran. She had a cute, short, brown ponytail. She was listening to dance music, he could hear it from where he was.

Moaybe she leeks to donce. Ee leek to donce. Coming up next to the fountain she was running, looked up, stopped, and began to speak to him. He was amazed at how friendly she was toward him. Her big brown eyes looking at him. He knew she must be a nice person. He didn't realize it, but he had been watching her since he had first heard her running. Her voice was a breath of fresh air from the highest mountain. Tolkeeng to someone moay moke me feel better. Then, he became nervous. Meeting new people made him nervous. Especially girls. His hairs on his knuckles stood up.

"Oh, heelo. Ee ome very soa'rry. Ee heard you comeeng, buute Ee... Well, my nome ees Tulelo Meszaros. Don't worry obuute eet. You were not... Eem soory. My Engleesh ees bode when Eem nervuse. Ple'ase, whote ees youur nome? Don't be frightened. Ee mean youu no hoarme." (Oh, hello. I am very sorry. I heard you coming but... Well, my name is Tulelo Meszaros, Don't worry about it. You were not... I'm sorry. My English is bad when I'm nervous. Please, what is your name? Don't be frightened. I mean you no harm.)

When the boy spoke he had some sort of accent that Twyla couldn’t place. Whatever it was she had to pay extra attention to his words to make sense of them. Apparently, he wasn’t offended and seemed to be concerned that she was really afraid of him. He also kept apologizing–first for what she assumed was startling her, then for his English. It was strange for her to be talking to someone so nervous when she herself wasn’t. This was a bit unusual for Twyla but she decided not to dwell on it, lest she make herself nervous as well. Taking a few steps forward she stood in front of the boy, his name now known to be Tulelo, and held out her hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you Tulelo.” She was sure she had botched the pronunciation but went on regardless. “I’m Twyla Ashby. Usually no one’s out or even up this early, that’s why I got startled. So everything’s cool, okay?” She said with a genuine smile thrown his way.

The muscles in her calves ached, like they had ached every morning this week.Well, most of her muscles ached, but that was a good thing– it meant she was pushing herself. She fidgeted her feet in an attempt to stretch them out. She was almost done with her run anyway, she could go with skipping a few minutes. Using the fountain’s base for support she placed one of her feet behind her and stretched out her sore muscles. “So were you watching the sunrise or something, Tulelo?” Turning her head to the side so she could see him she waited for a reply.

The girl was so friendly. Twyla, thot's oa pretty noame. He was admiring her eyes as he shook her hand. Her pronunciation of his name was very Americanized, but he was alright with that. He figured he should just pronounce it that way, too from now on. She had an accent he recognized from movies he'd seen. She must have been from the South. Her handshake was a good one. He hoped she would not be freaked out by his hair all over his hands.

"Sounds good to me. Ee feel better now. Eem glad Ee deed not freeghton youu. Eet ees a pleasuure to meet youu, Twyla. Ee hode a very long neeght. Ee ome watching the sunreese, yes. Would youu leeke to join me? Ee would be most gratefuul eef youu deed. Someone to tolk to could moke me feel better. Please, join me?"

Tulelo motioned for her to sit next to him. He really hoped she would stay. She seemed to have a wonderful attitude about things. Positivity was a good thing.

She was done with both legs now and she worked her shoulders to get some of her newfound kinks out. The boy spoke again in reply to her question. "Sounds good to me. Ee feel better now. Eem glad Ee deed not freeghton youu. Eet ees a pleasuure to meet youu, Twyla. Ee hode a very long neeght. Ee ome watching the sunreese, yes. Would youu leeke to join me? Ee would be most gratefuul eef youu deed. Someone to tolk to could moke me feel better. Please, join me?" He motioned for her to take up the space next to him.

Everything was fine and dandy now and Twyla was glad for it. First impressions weren’t her strong point, as she had learned, so it was lucky that this one was working out fine. Deciding not to press him about his ‘long night’ she replied “Uh, sure. I got some time.” She plopped down heavily onto the spot next to him. It felt good to rest her feet. I’m so out of shape. She thought to herself.

Twyla knew what it was like to want to talk to someone. That urge had been strongest when she had had noone while she was a runaway. She wasn’t going to press Tulelo for details, that wasn’t her style, but she did fit the role of patient listener pretty well. It was usually her role back home when she was with her friends. But there was one thing she was dying to know first. “So where’d you get that accent?” In the wrong tone this question would seem rude, but the girl’s tone was friendly and sounded genuinely curious. “It sounds like a few different things, but I didn’t want to be rude and assume something, ya know?” She laughed a bit at her own accent and then apologized. “Sorry, laughing at myself.” She didn’t want him to think she was mocking him, but ‘ya know’ had been so horribly Wisconsin-ish that it made her laugh; the o was so much longer than the o’s she’d been hearing around the mansion and ‘ya’ sounded more like ‘yeh’ than anything. Accents were funny things and you never seem to notice that you have one until you’re too far away from home for it to be recognized.

Tulelo was glad that Twyla sat down to speak with him. He liked to talk to people and learn about them and their different life-styles. When he was in the circus he spoke to many different people from many different places. They had so much culture to their stories. He hoped he could get to know this girl. If not for her friendship, but for her stories she could probably tell him.

"Oh, me? Ee ome from Huungoary. My occent is from most of Huungoary ond oa few deeferent poarts. My foameely wose een the ceercuus uunteel eet buurned down one neeght when Ee wose youung."

He looked at her and smiled. Ee hope Ee don't soay oanytheeng stuupeed. She seems very neece. He chuckled a little.

"Well, whoat oabouut youu? Ee hove heard occents seemeeloar to yours before een movees, buut Ee don't know exoactly where. Where oare youu from?"

So he was from Hungary, huh? That would explain why she thought his accent was European but didn’t get much farther than that. He was from Hungary AND he was in the circus with his family– this boy was turning out to be full of interesting details. She hoped he’d go on but instead he asked her a deviation of the same question. “I’m not nearly so interesting.” She muttered with a shrug and an eye roll simultaneously. It was a move that only a teenage girl could make and she pulled it off. Lately she had been feeling more ‘normal’, even if she still wasn’t socializing with her fellow classmates at normal levels. She was pretty sure it was due to the fact that she was just more comfortable in general– things were finally starting to settle in her life and she was glad for it.

“I’m from Wisconsin. I don’t know if you know where that is...? I was born thirty minutes from where I lived my entire life up until recently. I grew up on my family’s dairy farm.” She stopped there, making the executive decision not to come right out and admit how big of a coward she was for running away from home. She also stopped so that she wouldn’t babble. Babbling did not a good first impression make. “So what brings you to the mansion, Tulelo? I’m sure it’s not the lovely country air.” This last bit was said with a laugh in her voice. There was no ‘country air’ anywhere near New York City, of this she was sure. Her intrest was still genuine so when she asked Tulelo questions she turned to face him and made sure to make eye contact so that she knew she was listening.

Tulelo was glad that they were getting along. Twyla was one of the first people who were actually interested in talking to him. He began to feel safe enough to talk to her about anything. It could have been the eye contact she was giving him while they talked. She seemed so gentle. Ees she oalreeght? Ee hope she tells me more.

It made him a bit sad when she stopped talking about herself and then switched to asking about him. He dismissed these feelings, though. She ees genuueenely eenterested een me. Her eye contact when she asked him questions made him sure that she was. He was still a little nervous, but her brown eyes were comforting to him.

"Well, The Professor brought me here becoause hees moacheene peecked uup me useeng my powers. Because Ee look leeke thees, people oare oafroaid of me. There were these men who found out oabout me oand treed to keell me. My foather treed to protect me, buut they oattoacked heem oand he told me to ruun. They buurned me. Ee roan oas foast oas Ee couuld oand ended uup somewhere Ee deed not recogneeze. Ee oam oa very foast ruunner. Then, the Professor found me. He brought me here. Ee hope my foather ees oalreeght."

Tulelo touched his hand to his right horn. He looked at her sadly, but with a smile. He hoped she would understand.

Sometimes Twyla thought that humans were terrible creatures but then she reminded herself that it wasn’t humanity so much as human emotions. Fear. Jealousy. Mistrust. Anger. Arrogance. Intolerance. Hate. All of those horrible emotions caused humans to do the terrible things that they did. Sometimes Twyla had to remind herself that mutants held the same qualities inside them--that the only difference between them was a gene, one single gene separated her from being homo saipen. Listening to Tulelo’s story brought forth in her the former thoughts. How people could be so intolerant and so cruel she didn't understand.. Then again, maybe she could. Maybe she did. Maybe this boy had hit the nail on the head when he said that they were afraid of him because of the way he looked. Fear of the unknown was part of the root of some of human cruelty.

The friendly smile that had been on her face a the moment before had slid off completely and was replaced by a sad frown and distant eyes by the time he had finished speaking. Her mothering instincts wanted to hug him, her maturity didn’t know how to react to such a story, and there was a small part of her brain that wanted to yell and scream and hate humans. She controlled her two strongest urges (to hug and to yell) and took a moment to find her next words. Her voice was soft when she finally spoke. “That’s terrible...I’m so sorry for you.” She patted his shoulder lightly in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. “I hope your father is alright too...” Not knowing what else to say she dropped her hand back into her lap and looked down at her tennis shoes.

Tulelo felt Twyla's mood change after he spoke. He knew her words to be sincere. When she touched his shoulder, he could feel her sadness for him. His next words would have to be something to lighten the mood. Ee shouuld try to moake her loaugh. He watched as she put her hands back to her lap, looking at her shoes. He felt he should assure her of something. Anything. Anything to get the smile back on her face before he started to get too emotional. He needed her to smile.

"My foather woase oalwoays oa strong moan. He weell proboably be oalreeght. So, how deed youu end uup comeeng here to the moanshion? Whoat ees youur story?" He asked her while looking up at her, hoping she would look at him. He was getting a little emotional and hoped her story would not nearly be as bad as his.

An ant made its way across one of her shoelaces and Twyla watched it while she waited for Tulelo to say something. She made no move to brush it of or squish it–bugs didn’t bother her."My foather woase oalwoays oa strong moan. He weell proboably be oalreeght. So, how deed youu end uup comeeng here to the moanshion? Whoat ees youur story?" Was the reply she received to her pathetic attempt at being comforting. Feeling his eyes on her she looked up at Tulelo and tried to give him a reassuring smile. She really did hope he was alright, but she didn’t know enough about the situation to tell him that his father was alright somewhere. Twyla didn’t want to share her story. It would only prove to him how much of a coward was sitting next to him.

After a few moments of silence she made up her mind and decided to tell him the truth. Even if she thought it was horribly ugly and weak. “One night last fall I discovered my powers. I panicked and took the first train east the next morning. I traveled up and down the coast till my money ran out. I ended up in New York City and...” She trailed off as the story got more complicated. “Somehow my grandmother had found me. She set me up here. My family knows now that I’m a mutant.” There it was. Simple, with no details, no excuses, and almost no emotion. Twyla’s face, oddly enough, didn’t flush which was its usual reaction to shame. It didn’t change colors at all, all it did was face towards her companion. The tone she used was almost cold and defiant and there was an anger in her eyes, not at this stranger, but at herself for being so stupid and weak. She needed to change and she knew it.

Life as a mutant could never be easy for anyone. Tulelo could understand how Twyla felt. He had run, too. Not from himself, but from his attackers. It was still the same idea. Tulelo looked at Twyla's face for understanding as to why her tone was so distant. He knew something was bothering her, but he couldn't tell what. He centered on what he thought it could be and spoke.

"Paonic ees oa feeleeng youu oare not oalone een, Twyla. Ee, too poaneeced. Eet ees notheeng to be oashamed of. Moany people poanic when they do not know whoat to do. Thoat is whoat poanic ees. Leefe oas oa muutoant ees not easy. Not for oanyone, Buut, we do hoave people to help when we oare een need. Thoat, eet seems, ees why the eensteetuute ees here. Would youu leeke oa huug? Ee know we hoave juust met, buut Ee feel leeke oa huug wouuld be oa good ideoa."

Tulelo gestured to Twyla with his arms. His fur-covered arms held at an odd angle, he smiled at her with the most comforting smile he could muster.

He could tell she was ashamed of her fear and his reply showed it. She nodded in agreement when he talked about the mansion and not being alone. It was good for her to be there, jut like she assumed it was good for every other young mutant who called the mansion home. The mansion had given her life a direction again and structure. When he asked her if she’d like a hug she didn’t know how to react. That was kinda an awkward but not totally unreasonable prospect and Twyla got an embarrassed sort of smile on her face. “Uh...” She stalled. He was a stranger but he had been nice to her and Twyla desperately searched for a polite response.

When nothing acceptable to say instantly came to mind she realized that his arms were already open and things would probably be more embarrassing for the both of them if she just ignored them. His smile was comforting and he seemed like a nice person. What’s the worse that could come of a hug? Hesitantly and awkwardly she moved herself into a position in which she could hug him back. Her slightly tanned arms lightly wound themselves him. She could feel the hair, or should it be called fur, on his arms brush against the shoulders her tank top didn’t cover and she giggled a bit. Partly because of the fact that it tickled and partly because she needed to giggle to make the situation less weird and more normal feeling. She released the hug quickly and said: “Thanks. I think I did need that.” Her shame earlier and all the bad feelings were put back onto their back burners to simmer. Her smile came back as she fell back into her friendly mood.

Tulelo saw how Twyla was a little weirded out by his sudden incline for a hug, but he felt the two of them needed it, and it was a good hug. He tried to be as gentle as possible, because sometimes he did not know his own strength. He felt her arms embrace him and heard her giggle as she finally gave into his request. His worries all went away from his mind. Such is the power of a hug.

"Ee heard thoat geegle. Ee oam sorry eef youu felt thoat woas oakwoard, buut eet felt leeke oa good eedeoa. Ee feel better. Huugs oalwoays moake theengs better, Ee theenk. Ee wonder, juust out of cuureeoseety, whoat ees youur muutoation? Youu look leeke oa normoal geerl to me."

He looked at her up and down quickly to make sure that he didn't miss anything. Then, he nodded with a smile, eyes looking into Twyla's as if searching for the answer there.