>>“I always really liked ‘Sleeping Beauty’ just because he meets her before he knows she’s a princess and all that. Neither of them know the other one is royalty and they hit it off anyway. I always thought it was cool..."

Maya smirked an all-knowing smirk. "Ya don't wanna know how the original tale goes, then."
Disney actually managed to improve that one. Or at least make it suitable for the 21st century version of romance. Maya ate her way through the Grimm books somewhere before Mom left, and she still remembered most of them as her scariest experiences ever...

>>"‘The Princess and the Frog’ I liked for pretty much the same reason and when I was little I used to have a thing for frogs. My brother and I used to collect them, I mean.”

Maya grinned at that. What fun. She'd never been a very outdoorsy child, mainly because it was easy for her to go indoors... but she still had her fair share of mud, and scratched earned from climbing trees and fences.
"Did ya ever kiss one to see if it turns into a prince?" she asked curiously.

>>“What about you, favorite fairytale?”

Oh, that was easy.
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." she answered without hesitation "All right, so it's not technically a fairy tale..." sipping her drink for a while, she thought really hard about the question before she answered "I think it'd be the Twelve dancing princesses. Sneakin' out at night to go to a party is just somethin' I can relate to." she grinned, spinning around on the bar stool, mirroring Twyla.

“Probably not.” Twyla agreed. She’d read some older fairytales and she knew that they could get...interesting and more than a bit scary. Mostly scary though. “Sometimes ignorance is bliss.” A laugh made it’s way out of her mouth before she sipped more of the Cinderella that was already almost half empty. It was good and she liked it, so she was having a bit of a problem controlling her sipping frequency.

Twyla giggled at Maya’s question. “Yeah...” She bit her lip and shook her head while rolling her eyes at the embarrassing memories. “In my kissing experience, kissing a frog is decidedly better than kissing a ‘prince’–you don’t have any awkward moments the next day at school.” In her life, Twyla Ashby had kissed a total of four boys and two frogs. Frog #1 was on a whim when she was seven or eight, she just had to test out the Prince Theory. Frog #2 and one of the boys had been on a dare–these experiences were fun and not especially traumatic, just silly. All three other boys had been in the two years she attended the highschool of her hometown, all of them had been kissed once, she never really intensely liked any of them, and all of them had been uncomfortable moments she’d rather forget. Not to mention that even from her lack of experienced point of view they were terrible kissers. Kissing was gross, and if she had to pick between the ugliest frog ever and one of the boys in her class Twyla would pick the frog.

Instantaneously Maya produced ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ as her favorite fairytale. It wasn’t a fairytale at all, but it made sense considering Maya was named Gawain half the time. It seemed like Maya was thinking about saying more, so Twyla held off her comments until after she spoke again and spun her chair like Twyla had done a moment ago. “That’s really fun, isn’t it?” She herself spun again. “Um, anyway...sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of those Arthur tales, right? I wanna say we read it my sophomore year for English or I read it myself during class...That’s the one with the chopping heads off and the wife gives Sir Gawain something that he gets in trouble for later...right?” Twyla had read a lot in her life an sometimes everything got all jumbled together in her head, so she hoped the other girl understood her question. “That’s a good one, but how did they afford so many pairs of shoes?” She looked down at her own when she said the word ‘shoes’. Nate and Jonathan would have had to save up for a while to get her the sparkling pair of Nikes, something warm fluttered in her stomach at the thought. At least she still had her brothers back home, even if her mom wasn’t on board with her mutation yet.

>>“In my kissing experience, kissing a frog is decidedly better than kissing a ‘prince’–you don’t have any awkward moments the next day at school.”

Maya decided to bury her nose in her mocktail. The conversation had taken a weird spin again, and she found herself thinking stuff she swore earlier that day not to think. You just haven't kissed the right prince yet.
Life is not fair.

>>“Um, anyway...sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of those Arthur tales, right?...That’s the one with the chopping heads off and the wife gives Sir Gawain something that he gets in trouble for later...right?”

Maya grinned. Bubblegum did know the story. That was more than one could usually expect from her own age group, but after all, Twyla was Twyla, and she had a habit of meeting expectations Maya didn't even have.
"Yeah, that's the one. It's about... y'know, loyalty to Arthur, who's a great guy, and keepin' promises an' such. Also, Gawain's the one knight in Camelot who says 'a lady deserves to decide her own destiny'. I kinda like that."
That was another story though, the legend of Dame Ragnall, and Maya knew it word by word, because it was among the first ones Mom read to her over and over again. She suspected that story was one of the main reasons Gawain got named Gawain.

>>“That’s a good one, but how did they afford so many pairs of shoes?”

Oh, right. The other story.
"Well, they were royalty after all" Maya pointed out with a shrug "Kings are loaded, ya know."

She spun around again, and sipped her drink but all she could taste was water. Oops. Cinderella was gone, and no one even noticed. Talk about fairy tales...

"Talkin' about dancin'" she grinned, setting her glass down "Ready to hit the floor?"

Once again, her memory served her right. It was amazing how much from those first two years of highschool Twyla remembered while she was starting to forget things like which road her aunt and uncle lived on and some of her classmate’s names. It was weird but it stood to reason–she studied class material but she hadn’t been home in over a year.

“Wow, sounds like he was very forward thinking considering the women’s movement didn’t start until like, the 18th century.” Something like that...maybe? In any case, it was an interesting little tidbit that she made sure she tucked away in a safe spot.

Oh, King, right. Princesses are Kings' daughters. That made sense and Twyla felt a bit like a goober. “I think I’m losing it.” She muttered, shaking her head and laughing. An über goober.

It looked like both girls were pretty much done with their drinks when Maya suggested they hit the floor a gain. “Sounds good to me.” She sipped the rest of the orange-ness and then continued. “I think it’s safe now, my creeper radar isn’t going off.” Twyla hoped off the stool and placed the almost empty glass on the bar. She was used to the noise and all the people now, so attempt #2 at ‘gettin’ down’ was set to go smoothly.

>>“Wow, sounds like he was very forward thinking considering the women’s movement didn’t start until like, the 18th century.”

Maya grinned. Yes he was. Well, in said situation kinda his life depended on it, one does not play games with an enchantress, but still. Women's movement had always been something Maya studied with mild curiosity. She liked her two halves equal, but sometimes it seemed that era was still a long way away.

>>“Sounds good to me. I think it’s safe now, my creeper radar isn’t going off.”

Maya smirked as she took Twyla by the hand and led her back to the dance floor once again. "Well, it should. Places like this are full of creeps. But don' worry, ya're good at sensin' them, and I'm good at gettin' rid of them."

She was. Maya, especially. She didn't appreciate getting hit on by guys.

Once they found a good spot on the dance floor, she let go of Bubblegum's hand, but only after spinning her around with a laugh. Let the dancin' begin.

It was fun. Maya enjoyed the music, the rhythm, the freedom to dance, and she had to admit, even without the shots she usually drank before hitting the floor, it was fun. Bubblegum's presence might have had something to do with that. She positively shined when she danced, which was the complete opposite of her powers. Fortunately, no creeps tried to approach them again; either the word spread that fast, or they were just lucky.
The short time they had left till midnight passed like mere seconds; one moment they were dancing, the next the music was cut off and some D.J. at the microphone yelled "One minute to midnight, people!"
Maya grinned, and everyone cheered, and then the countdown started.
Ten... nine... eight...

Once it was made clear that they could handle any creepers that felt the need to creep up creepily on the two non-creeping girls Twyla and Maya made their way onto the dance floor. The hand holding routine was becoming...routine. It had never felt weird to hold hands in the first place, but this time Twyla was expecting it as they made their way to a likely looking section of the floor. She was not however, expecting to be spun around and she thoroughly enjoyed it and it reminded her of something but she couldn’t quite remember what. Maybe it was just the dancing but Twyla got a funny sense of deja vu when she was spun. In any case, soon both girls found their rhythm.

The second time around Twyla got comfortable a lot faster with all the people. Only a few moments in she was letting herself go and really getting into the music. It was obvious that Maya was finding her zone too. It was fun, dancing with someone else in that kind of a situation. Soon the girl decided that she would be visiting a few more clubs in the near future–it was no wonder why Maya had suggested going clubbing in the first place. Twyla liked the feeling it gave her as she spun, twisted, rolled, and swayed to the beat of unfamiliar and loved songs alike.

Apparently dancing had a time altering quality because it seemed like it was only a few minutes from when they hit the floor that the DJ was announcing that it was a minute to midnight. The only inclination Twyla had of the passing of time was the dull ache in the bottoms of her feet and the slight sheen of sweat that she could feel on her body. All too soon the countdown began and Twyla stopped dancing so she could yell off the numbers along with her fellow patrons.

“Seven!” She was grinning, lost in the excitement from dancing and the yelling.“Six!” A few steps and then she was closer to Maya, looking her in the face and matching her grin. She grabbed both her hands and held them because she wanted to share the sudden excitement that was coursing through her veins. “Five!.”

Seven... six... five...

The crowd was getting wild. It was also getting very loud, in fact, louder than the loudspeakers, which meant that at least one person in it was using some kind of special power to amplify the many voices. It sounded kinda cool. Maya wondered if it was the DJ.

"Four! Three! Two!"

Twlya was holding both of her hands, with an excited, radiant smile on her face
God she's beautiful
Hurry up Gawain dammit
the crowd was getting even louder and since everyone joined the dance floor it was also becoming more of a crowd; Maya pulled Bubblegum closer and put an arm around her waist to keep her from being crushed by strangers standing nearby.

"One!"

The next moment the crowd exploded in a incredible storm of cheers, yells, screams, whistles, claps, with the additional popping of champagne bottles and a rain of glittering confetti. Maya laughed, pulling Bubblegum into a hug, since she had to yell into her ear if she wanted her to hear.
"Happy New Year, Twyla!"

It happened soon after that. Quite soon. When the music was back on with a loud boom, and the lights were flashing again in all kinds of colors, and Twyla was still very close to her, it made her skin get covered in goosebumps.
Maya's body started to move with the music again, but the goosebumps didn't go away.
Oh. Right. Midnight.
She could feel herself shiver with a familiar sensation, and she put a hand on Bubblegum's shoulder while she talked into her ear.
"Time for me to drop the glass slipper" she grinned "Gotta go change. Meet ya at the bar?"

Maya and Twyla were already in a half hug because of the amount of people that when the countdown started had amassed around them. When the countdown was over at midnight Maya hugged her and yelled in her ear (it was very hard to hear the other girl over the sounds of people’s excitement, champagne bottles popping, and the sheer closeness of all the other loud noises). “Happy New Year, Maya!” She yelled back while returning the hug with a friendly squeeze of her own. She just got the words out when the lights started their flash dance again and the music resumed in full force. The two girls were still half in a hug when they started dancing again, as if the music controlled their bodies.

Well, one of their bodies anyway.

“Aye aye, Captain. Beware of frogs.” Twyla saluted Maya and after she moved away the blonde started making her way back towards the bar. Now that midnight had come and gone it felt like ages since she’d sat in one of the stools and drank a Cinderella while discussing fairytales. The girl had almost made it the whole way before: “Hey beautiful. Where’d your friend go?” Really? Was this really happening? Twyla turned on heel and stared up angrily into a nasty soul patch. “To go drop off her slipper.” Was the reply thrown from her mouth before Twyla could think about it. Soul-Patch looked confused for a moment but it didn’t hinder his game–he just smirked down at her. From her vantage point Twyla could smell the alcohol that was oozing from his pores. Another reason she didn’t drink–it made you stink if you drank too much of it.

“That gives us some time to, you know, get to know each other.” He leaned forward and the girl ‘s nose crinkled at the rancid smell of his tequila breath. “Or not.” She turned again on heel and was about to make a beeline for her original destination when a clammy hand was felt on her right wrist. “Hey, where are you going?” On instinct she collapsed her elbow and rammed it right into Soul-Patch’s stomach. With her free left hand she shoved him (to the immediate discomfort of her braced wrist) and because of the drunkenness he fell right into his ever-silent friend from earlier. The friend saved him from toppling over and before she walked away she heard the friend mumble “I think we need to leave now.” The rest of the way to the bar was simple and easy–Twyla even managed to procure two seats next to one another. She’d have to tell Shin about the little incident and thank him for the training he’d done with her after he got back from wherever in Europe most of the Mansion adults had gone. Gawain would of course be told as soon as he got done doing his thing.

Maya made her way through the crowd to pick up her backpack; once that - not so easy - mission had been accomplished, she turned and spent some time trying to find the bathrooms. The after-midnight chaos was worse than the before-midnight had been; she could feel her skin crawl and her body shiver before she finally found what she was looking for.
She walked into the men's room - in her long line of experiences she figured out catcalls on the way in were still better than screams on the way out.

Shifting was not pleasant. It wasn't painful either, but when your whole body decides to rearrange itself on a whim, it's bound to be uncomfortable. As soon as Maya found a booth to lock herself in, she leaned against the wall and gasped for air.
Mother Nature had a very good reason for making her sleepy before shifts.
Mother Nature didn't count on late night parties.
Maya bit her lips as her body shivered again. It was time to start stripping before Gawain gets stuck in an embarrassingly girlish set of clothes.
She was done with changing clothes just in time for changing gender.

Gawain sat on the floor with his eyes squeezed shut, trying not to make sounds that would make people outside the booth curious. He waited for the goosebumps to leave his skin, breathe in, breathe out, it was almost over.
Cons: awake shifting sucks.
Pros: awake shifting comes with insomnia, he's not gonna be sleepy anytime soon.
Also. Twyla.

Walking out of the booth with the backpack flung over his shoulder, Gawain examined himself in the mirror on the opposite wall. Pale as usual, some cold water to the face will help with that. Once he freshened up, all was left to do was run his fingers though his hair, and the knight was back in the game.

Making his way to the bar a few minutes later, it was easy for him to spot Twyla. She was sitting on a stool with her back to him, guarding an empty seat. Gawain's eyes lit up at the sight. Here comes the better half of the night.
Walking up behind her, Gawain leaned against the bar casually, tilting his head forward, close to her face. Close enough for her to hear.

"Hey cutie, is beauty your mutation?..."

He. Just. Had to.

Elation from sticking up for herself pumped through Twyla’s veins like liquid fire and her nerves were jittery and jumping with excitement. It was hard to keep herself focused enough to keep her powers in check and her hands kept disappearing and reappearing as she rapped a fast beat with her nails on the bar. She felt strong and capable and weirdly safe in her own skin. Creepers beware, Twyla Ashby was not someone to try and creep on. So she really hadn’t done any damage to Soul-Patch, but she’d gotten him out of her hair, right? Score one for the girl with the pink highlights.

A few spins on the stool and any bad feelings brought on by creepiness were gone and Twyla was patiently waiting for Maya to do her thing and come back as Gawain. The people watching in Club Evolution was some of the best the girl had found. Train stations were good places too, but such a large gathering of mutants was incredibly interesting. Obviously most of the people in the room were older than her and the age group was interesting. Soon her wandering eyes began to catch the eyes of some twenty-something males, ending the people watching. Gawain had better show up soon.

Twyla had been contemplating ordering more Cinderellas and had just decided against it when she heard: "Hey cutie, is beauty your mutation?..." Her hands clenched instantly and her face screwed itself up into the angriest pose it could muster. Whipping he head around she muttered: “You’ve got to–Really!?” Gawain’s face was ridiculously close to her own and it took her a moment to focus on the face that had only a few minutes ago held female features. Without thinking about it one of the clenched hands smacked him in the shoulder, not very hard but her brace made a gratifying smack when it connected.

“Did you hear about what happened to the last guy that tried that line on me?” She raised an eyebrow and a smug smile spread across her face.

>>“You’ve got to–Really!?”

Smack. Gawain raised an eyebrow in mock hurt as he took half a step back from the lady; one hand instinctively closed around her braced wrist, in case she decided he deserved more hitting for that crappy line he'd borrowed from the creep.
In fact, that line in itself would deserve a lot more beating.
"Careful, Bubblegum, ya'll hurt yourself" he grinned, holding her hand in both of his.

>>“Did you hear about what happened to the last guy that tried that line on me?”

"No" Gawain shook his head, then stopped in his tracks when realization dawned on him.
Son of a...
"He came back?" he asked, looking around; Creep and Creeper were nowhere to be seen. Lucky for them. Maya grace period was over, from now on if anyone...
No, they were definitely not around. And now that Twyla was talking to a guy instead of a gal, a lot less other guys were sizing her up.
Good.

"So, what happened to him?" Gawain asked, walking around her and hopping onto the empty bar stool, flagging down the bartender in the process, new drinks were in order "Just so I know why I won't ever sneak up on ya again."

Right after she hit the boy her wrist was abducted by him. Gawain moved back from her and held her hand hostage as what she assumed was a safety measure against anymore violence. None was headed his way currently, unless he gave her another reason. It seemed like it took the dark haired boy a moment to register what she had said and a s soon as it did she watched him search the club with his eyes looking for some unfavorables but they had vamoosed or were at least avoiding their section of the bar.

After Gawain sat down at the stool she’d saved for him and flagged the man behind the bar Twyla launched into the cliff notes version of her short episode. “So he came up to me right after you left and was all icky and smelling like alcohol and when I started walking away he grabbed my wrist.” After a moment she added: “The good one.” for clarification, not looking at the lumpy purple brace the held her left one. “I’ve been doing some self-defense work so I jabbed him in the stomach with my elbow and pushed him into his friend.”She smiled at the memory, proud of herself. “So let that be a warning, don’t mess with me because I’m a ninja.” Her tone was half serious and half giggle when she spoke and Twyla resisted the urge to spin in her stool.

The good feelings had returned now that the threat of pickup lines was severely diminished.

>>“So he came up to me right after you left and was all icky and smelling like alcohol and when I started walking away he grabbed my wrist.... The good one... I’ve been doing some self-defense work so I jabbed him in the stomach with my elbow and pushed him into his friend.... So let that be a warning, don’t mess with me because I’m a ninja.”

Gawain arched an eyebrow and his grin was more than a bit wicked. "Wow, Bubblegum. I'm impressed. I leave ya alone for ten minutes, and ya pick a bar fight." he chuckled "Good job."

Their drinks arrived - the bartender pretty much glanced at them and brought them a second round of Cinderellas, which meant his memory was exceptional, but he was not good at observing details. Like Maya being Gawain.
Sir Knight looked at the fruity drink and wrinkled his nose. It was not the taste - his taste was pretty much the same in both bodies - but a guy drinking a mocktail like that was not the coolest thing ever.
With a sigh, he sipped it anyway. No alcohol for Maya, no alcohol for Gawain.

So Bubblegum said she had been training? Now there was an image Gawain greeted with a smirk. What do you know. Self defense was useful, especially if you were a pretty one like Twyla, being hit on by ****s like that guy from earlier.

"So, ninja, huh? Been sneakin' into the Danger Room?" he grinned at her "I'll keep it in mind never to get on your bad side... in case ya ever turn into some mighty superhero..."

Now, there was another image. And this time, Gawain didn't mint the costume either.

“Thanks. I’m feeling pretty proud of myself.” She laughed and rolled her eyes. If only her parents could see her now–instead of being home for the holidays she was hanging out in clubs with underage people and getting into fights. Maybe lying to her and telling her she couldn’t come home for Christmas wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Twyla took a sip of her second Cinderella and practically spit it out when she saw the look on Gawain’s face. “How’s that tasting, sistah-girl?” Twyla tried not to smirk when she asked him. It was kind of a feminine looking drink and the blonde saw the comedy in the image of a teenage boy drinking a Cinderella.

“Not sneaking.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if you’ve met Shin, but he’s been teaching me some jujitsu. And no, you don’t want to get on my bad side.” Twyla gave him her best ‘I’m so bad@$$ look’ which was more of a combination of ‘intense eyes’ and ‘girly smile’. After a moment she looked away. Her tone was all serious when she spoke again. “ I am gonna be a hero...eventually.” After I’m stronger, faster, braver and a million other things. But it is going to happen. After Cthulhu Twyla had floundered with her goal of joining the X-men, but even if she was terrified at the thought of facing another Something Scary she knew that’s what made her want to be an X-man. She wanted to keep other people from sharing her fear.

“Anyway.” Twyla shook her head as if to disperse her seriousness. She didn’t have anything to follow the ‘anyway’ and instead stared at her drink intently as if a princess had the words that were running away from her.

>>“How’s that tasting, sistah-girl?”

Gawain made a face and put the glass down on the counter as if it was hot. He was right, it did look ridiculous. Damn that near-sighted bartender...

"Yeah, mock me please" he stuck his tongue out at Twyla "I'm not drinkin' shots only 'cuz someone'll need ta carry ya home when ya get high on sugar."

>>“I am gonna be a hero...eventually.... Anyway.”

Uh-oh. Another issue designed specifically for teenage mutants to deal with. How Do I Use My Powers for Good and Save the World and Life and the Universe and Everything. Gawain smirked.
Been there, done that.
Actually, he was about to do that again.

"Well, I dunno about ya, but since I got my @ss handed to me by a friggin' pile of clay, I'm considerin' doin' some trainin' with the grownups so next time I'd actually be of some help for the team." he nodded. Bubblegum just needed to know if she felt useless she was not alone with it. "People keep tryin' to talk me into joinin'. I might." his hand started to move towars the drink but he remembered just in time and cleared his throat. "Looks like I'm gonna be staying at the Mansion for a while."

And because he just had to know, and he didn't have a drink to bury his nose ine, he asked "How 'bout you?"