Twyla leaned back on her elbows and stretched herself out more so she could get a better look at the sky. It was starting to get lighter out. The pinks and oranges of the sunrise were giving way to the blues and whites that painted the sky during the rest of the day. She laughed again when Tulelo acknowledged the previous giggle. A shrug was all the reply he would get when he apologized for any awkwardness felt. What was done was done. Awkward or not the hug was already given and such things cannot be taken back....most of the time. He asked her what her mutation was and told her that she looked normal to him.

“Normal is in the eye of the beholder.” She replied, sitting up again so she could better show him her gift. A spark of sudden mischief alighted in her brown eyes as she looked at her companion again. “Let’s see if you can guess.” Most people guessed that she could turn invisible, this wasn’t the case. It would be interesting to see what Tulelo assumed she could do. Taking a deep breath, Twyla let herself relax. It was much easier to imagine herself as letting go of her normal coloring than to consciously take on the patterns around her. Sometimes she wondered if her body’s natural state would be camouflaged if she didn’t keep herself focused.

Slowly, very slowly she let her breath out and in doing so let her coloring go so that she matched her surroundings. It started where it usually started–her feet. First the trainers were gone, then her ankles and calves following that. Once her legs had taken on the coloring of the fountain and the pavers around it her torso followed to match. Then it was her arms and shoulders and up to her neck. Her head was last. She focused for a moment and soon all her features were gone, save for the smile. She was going for a Cheshire Cat effect. Hopefully Tulelo would appreciate the joke. She laughed a bit and her basically invisible form shook with it, so that her edges didn’t match their surroundings exactly as they had the moment before. That was all the hint he was getting.

Tulelo watched Twyla as she looked at the sunrise. She seemed relaxed to him, which was a good thing. Then, she turned her attention to his question. She was going to show him her mutation. What could it be? His mind wandered at all the different possible ideas he could come up with. He hoped she wouldn't turn into something out of The Toxic Avenger. He was glad when he finally realized it couldn't be that. What would it be?

He was surprised when she began to vanish. Her feet went first. Then slowly up and the rest of her body. It made him jump a slight bit out of surprise. He looked on quizzically as all but Twyla's lips disappeared. His acute sense of smell, hearing and solid eyesight told him she was still there, but he could barely see her. Her frame shuddered when she giggled. His first thoughts were that should vanish, but after seeing her almost full cloaking of herself he knew she was just able to blend into things.

"Youu look leeke the Chesheere Coat, Twyla. Thoat coat from Oalice Een Wonderloand. Ee soaw thoat moveee when Ee woas oa leettle boy. Ee coan tell thoat youu don't juust deesoappear, youu blend een. Ee coan tell becoause Ee coan steell smell youu, Ee coan hear youur breatheeng, oand see youur outleene. Thoat muust be oa fuun theeng to be oable to do. Ee weesh Ee couuld do thoat.

As he spoke he looked at her smile. When he got to his last sentence, however, he looked at the sunrise and grabbed his right horn. Being able to be seen was his biggest problem in this world. His horns were what had plagued him all of his life. He was beginning to feel a little envious of Twyla. He looked at her smile again. He smiled back.

"Buut, Ee do theenk youu look prettee'er oas youur fuully-veeseeble self."

Her ‘disembodied’ smile widened when he guessed right. It fell for a moment when he said he could smell her. She HAD been running, did she stink? She ruined the lines of the camouflage again by trying to covertly check her pits for sweat-stinkiness. One sniff. Then two for good measure. It wasn’t TOO bad, she’d smelled worse on many an occasion. The rest of his statement helped quell her stank anxieties. If he could hear her quiet breathing he must have some heightened senses. The smile came back. She wasn’t going to apologize if she stank to someone with a better nose than herself.

“Ee weesh Ee couuld do thoat.” He was no longer facing her. His right horn was in his hand and he was facing what was left of the sunrise. Twyla thought she understood the mood change. It was harder for some mutants to blend in that others. Blending in usually makes life easier. It went back to fear. People fear what they don’t understand and they usually don’t understand things that don’t look ‘normal’. While he looked away she brought herself back in and looked like she normally did. This process was faster and she looked ‘normal’ again by the time he looked back at her, a smile on his face.

"Buut, Ee do theenk youu look prettee'er oas youur fuully-veeseeble self." Her replies to his guess and her powers all died in her throat at this. The conceited route would be to agree, the argumentative route would be to point out that there were things she could match that were much prettier than anyone could ever look, and the humble route would be to blush and try to change the subject. Twyla’s route was a combination of the three. Her face almost instantly turned pink and then she spoke. “Uh, thanks...There are prettier things to look like.” She reached a hand down to a flower that had broken away from its friends in the flower beds and rooted itself in a crack between pavers. Her hand quickly matched the light purple and green hues of the plant. “I WAS going for a Cheshire Cat theme. I used to practice that trick in the mirror when I first discovered my powers. It has a tendency to freak out people on subways.” Twyla usually didn’t go out of her way to scare people but sometimes strange moods overtook her and she gave in to her urges. She decided not to mention his slightly envious comment, it seemed easier that way

Tulelo felt better now that he had talked a little bit with Twyla. She was a very fun person to talk when he wasn't being depressing. He hoped she would be his friend. She was very nice. He liked that about her. She was honest, and he liked that, too.

"Ee've never been on oa suubwoay before. Ee've seen them een moveees, buut never een real leefe. Whoat ees eet leeke?"

He looked at her with excitement in his eyes. He was very interested.

Twyla’s mouth opened a but when Tulelo admitted that he had never been on a subway. Not that she could talk, she hadn’t seen one either until she had hit the bigger east coast cities. Her initial reaction to the excitement she saw in his face was to jump up and take a bus in to the city so she could show him one. She jumped up suddenly and then controlled her enthusiasm and managed not to drag him to the nearest bus stop. For one thing she stank. For another she was dressed in sweaty athletic clothes. Oh, and most people preferred not to be kidnaped, even if it was momentary for a knowledge gathering trip.

Still awkwardly standing for no reason apparent to Tulelo, Twyla tried to answer his question as best she could. Truth be told, Twyla’s experience with subways wasn’t extensive. Subways cost money you see, but it’s free to walk and when you don’t have money for food things like transportation go out the window. “Um, it’s kinda like a train...but not really and it’s pretty fast but it’s not scary...Um, I’m not doing a good job of explaining it.” She thought for a moment of a better description. When none came to mind she attached herself to her previous idea of a subway adventure.

“I could show you one! We could go to the city and take one somewhere.” For whatever reason the prospect was exciting for Twyla. Maybe it was because she was actually talking to someone and she subconsciously didn’t want to be lonely or something. It was hard to tell, all she knew was that she was serious and it was up to him what came of her idea.

(OOC: Sorry about the wait. Been busy.)

Tulelo really had no real idea of what it could be like to be on the subway. Twyla told him that it was like a train. He had been on trains before. Most of the circus traveled by train. He had traveled with the train before. So, it must have been fast and it must have been a little cramped. Maybe it was faster, but it could be slower. Twyla's idea of showing him sounded like a good idea. He would love to go, but he didn't know exactly what he would do about his horns. Maybe that was why the Professor had given him that hooded sweatshirt.

"Thoat sounds leeke oa lovely eedea. Youu moay woant to choange, though. Ee don't theenk eet's weese to where suuch theengs een puubleec. Shouuld we breeng money? I oam goeeng to see eef Ee coan get oa job, but Ee don't hoave oany."

Tulelo stood up, looked at Twyla.

"Well, let's get ready to go. Roace youu to the front door..."

From there, Tulelo ran toward the door. He was a fast runner. Running at quite a speed, he got to the main doors very quickly. He almost tripped on the stairs, but he recovered fast enough for it not to look out of the ordinary for someone running up steps.

((OOC: It’s all good, I’ve been busy too which is why my post has taken a few days. So I think this thread should continue in the NYC section or something, but what do you think?))

Twyla’s initial reaction to Tulelo’s comment that she should change was to pretend to be offended but instead she just let it pass. She really did need to change and probably shower because she really didn’t want to take her early morning run stank with her to the city. “You’ll need money to actually get on the subway. I have a MetroCard but it doesn’t have any money on it anymore. We can take care of all of that in one of the booth-y things.”

Tulelo stood up and challenged her to a race to the front door. He started before it even clicked in her mind that she should be chasing after him. He was almost halfway to the door before she started running. Now, Twyla wasn’t a very fast girl, she had some stamina for long distances but quick little dashes like this weren’t her forte. It was no surprise to her when Tulelo made it to the front door first. As soon as he hit the steps she stopped running and began a slow, leisurely, stroll towards the door. There was no point in running at that point, might as well enjoy the flowers. She had a smirky smile on her face when she finally made it to the foot of the stairs. “So I’m gonna need like fifteen minutes, okay? I can meet you in the foyer if you want in like fifteen or twenty minutes.”

(OOC: I think we should move it. Do we just start a new thread there?)

Tulelo was a little sad when he got to the stairs so fast that Twyla began to slow, but that must've been because he was so fast.

"Sounds leeke oa ploan. Ee weell meet you therrre"

He looked at her with a smile. He opened the door for her to pass through into the mansion.

((OOC: Yeppers.))

“Alrighty.” Twyla replied brightly, smiling when he opened the door for her. Soon she had crossed the red carpet and was skipping her way up the stairs. It was more of a happy shuffle, it’s very hard to skip up steps, but that’s what Twyla was doing. She was in a very good mood and it showed in her walk as she made it up to her room in the girl’s hallway. A quick shower and a change of clothes were all that she would need and then she could show her new friend the spectacle of a a subway.