"The world is your oyster." Twyla held her hands out in a large gesture with a smile on her face. She didn't like the idea that Henri's plans were being derailed by her genetics. "That's kinda a funny saying, isn't it? What if someone is allergic to seafood? I wouldn't want an oyster if it was going to make me break out in hives or something." Random tangent but the girl was trying not to think about the other girl's worries. No, there was no way she wasn't doing what she wanted to do because it just so happened that she could camouflage herself. Nope.

"You'll do whatever you want to do with your life because it's what you want to do with it." A brighter smile and a pat for Henri's hand. Those things were much too big to worry about at the moment. Much, much too big. Definitely things to be worried about...eventually. There was a time and place for everything...eventually.

Nate was sitting back on his stool and looked like he was half brooding. He kept glancing at each of the kids at the table, seeming to study each of them periodically as his brown eyes traveled around. The fingers on his left hand drummed slightly on the counter but he didn't say anything. His eyes were neutral and his mouth was a straight line--revealing nothing. Even Twyla wasn't sure what he was thinking, they didn't talk about her mutation much or what it meant for her. It was amazing how good they'd gotten in their short phone conversations at picking distracting or safe topics.

It seemed like Henri was embarrassed about what she'd said and wanted to change the subject. Twyla shot another smile her way, this time a comforting one, and then tried to oblige her. She thought of that night in the park. "Maybe Central Park isn't ready yet...I guess I didn't think of what I was going to show Nate now that he's actually here--I was more concerned with him getting here." Her mind wandered off, trying to plan the rest of the week.

"I just want to see more of the city." Nate finally replied quietly. "This is the farthest away from home I've ever been and I want to see as much stuff as possible." His straight-line mouth morphed into a half circle smile.

>>"Whether or not I or anyone else like it, I'm a mutant and that isn't something I can or want to hide anymore. I want people to like me inspite of what I am."

"That's a mistake right there" nodded Gawain with a half smile "Mom used to scold me over that one. People don't have to like you 'inspite of' what you are'. People just have to like you because of who you are. It's a difference."
Yeah, Mom was great at stuff like that. Gawain was suddenly very glad he got that kind of education from the start; being a mutant didn't come as a shock to him. At least it didn't change any plans.

He chuckled at the latest wave of Twyla randomness about seafood. "I like seafood." he admitted "But we can always just say 'the world is ours', an' leave it at that."

Whining time was over before it started, and soon the girls were making plans about giving Nate a tour of the City.
"Yeah I wouldn' recomment Central Park right now, they are kinda renovating it." Gawain chuckled "But I think we could show ya all the other places worth seeing... or, I mean, Twyla could."
If the siblings needed some time together to talk, that was completely fine by him. He could tell this visit meant a lot to Bubblegum, so he left the choice up to her.

Twyla made many smiles at Henri and helped change the subject, but not before going off about seafood. The seafood tangent had made the girl grin and laughed here and there. The blonde always seemed to be good at making Henrietta feel better and making her laugh. It was one reason the girl could think of Twyla as her best friend. One of the many reasons, actually.

The subject was dragged back to Henri’s outburst momentarily when Gawain told her she had made a mistake in what she said. He said that his mother told him something important. It was that people should like you for who you are, not in spite of what you are. Henrietta smiled and nodded. “That makes a lot of sense, thank you, Gawain. Your mom sounds like a very smart woman. When you find her, I’d like to meet her.” The brunette was sure that Mirror would find his/her mother. He/she seemed very determined. She could understand that. She was determined to meet her father someday.

Nate said he wanted to see as much as could of New York since he had never been so far away before. Henrietta smiled. “Twyla’ll have to show you all the stores and the subway station and stuff. I bet you don’t have anything like that back home, huh?” She knew they were from a very small country-like town. “I’ll have to come to see your guys’ town sometime. I’d really like to see where you come from, Twyla.” She smiled at the girl. “Maybe I could show you around Springfield.”

"The world is ours...?" Twyla's hand went out in a grand gesture. "That sounds kinda mutant supremacist to me...Maybe 'the world is whatever-you-want-it-to-be." The girl bit her lip and then stopped as the conversation moved on--she really didn't need to worry about being politically correct so early in the day.

Renovating....riiiiight. More like picking up the pieces after getting destroyed by a bunch of kids attacking a giant clay monster--not that Twyla knew from first hand experience or anything. "I'll figure it out, we'll play it by ear." She smiled distractedly as she planned out a few days of sight-seeing. Most of his trip she wanted to spend just talking and being with her brother. Even if it would be a challenge they could pretend like everything was normal and he was just visiting her at college or something. When they greeted each other things had seem normal--Twyla figured she'd be playing pretend for the whole week.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Nate started and Twyla finished. "No." When Henrietta suggested visiting them in their hometown. "That's not something you need to see." Nate shook his head. "Springfield, sure. Podunk little town in Wisconsin, I think not."

"There's nothing to see anyway, Henri. Except maybe some corn, some cows, and a tractor or two." Twyla rolled her eyes at her friend. "It's the most boring place ever and you'd stick out like a sore thumb." The girl shuddered inwardly at the welcome she knew a stranger like Henri would receive. Besides, she probably wasn't going back home in a long time, and even then she'd have to be very careful while she was there. She knew how conservative her tiny town could be and what happened in the gossip mill to people who deterred from the norm too much.

((OOC: Next post I think I'm gonna start to wrap this up. Sound good to all parties involved? ))

>>“That makes a lot of sense, thank you, Gawain. Your mom sounds like a very smart woman. When you find her, I’d like to meet her.”

Gawain flashed a smile at Henri. He didn't need to answer that. She sounded like she really believed he would find Mom, not just saying it to comfort him. Henri was like that. A good friend.

>>"The world is ours...? That sounds kinda mutant supremacist to me...Maybe 'the world is whatever-you-want-it-to-be."

"Amen to that." he nodded with a grin. It sounded like a very good phrase to live by. Also, if the would could really turn into whatever he wanted it to be... guys were in for a treat.
Ummm.

>>"There's nothing to see anyway, Henri. Except maybe some corn, some cows, and a tractor or two."

"No place like home, huh" he kept grinning, listening as the siblings tried to convince Henri they came from the middle of nowhere. It was still better than coming from everywhere, obviously. Not like he minded traveling at all.

((Sure go ahead ))

Twyla came up with a phrase and Gawain seemed to like it. The brunette nodded in agreement and smiled. “It sounds good to me too, Twyla.” Her first phrase sounded a little mutant supremacist, she was right about that. It was also something that didn’t sound like it could come from Twyla. The blonde didn’t seem to like one group more than the other. It may have been partly because she had Nate, but she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t that Henrietta liked mutants better than regular humans; she just wished they were treated better. Maybe then some mutants wouldn’t be so violent.

Nate and Twyla told Henrietta that she did not want to go to their town. They explained that it was boring and the younger sibling said she’d stick out like a sore thumb. Henri wasn’t sure what that meant, completely. What part of me would stick out? The girl glanced down at her clothing and then looked up at Twyla. “Um, okay. I’ll just take your word for it.” She smiled. ‘’Is it because they’d immediately know I’m not from around there?”


((Sounds good to me too. ))

"No place quite like home." Twyla smiled at Gawain and rolled her eyes as images flooded her mind of what it would be like if someone like the teenaged boy came back home with her. 'Hi mom, by the way, this is my girlfriend--tomorrow she'll be my boyfriend. Is this cool with you if she stays here?' I think mom would crap herself. Twyla decided as she pictures her mother's round face becoming the tell-tale purple color that meant she was upset. A good plan to keep in mind... Not that they were anywhere near meeting parents or anything, it was just a funny thing to imagine.

"I think they'd be able to smell it on you before they even looked at you." Nate grinned at Henri and Twyla nodded her head in agreement. "And then, when they couldn't find a Kelinsmith nose or Skrede ears they'd mark you as Not-of-This-Place and treat you like an important guest until they got what information they needed for their rumors. Little old church ladies are vicious and Trempealeau county is full of them." The man screwed his face up in a serious mask. "They'd eat you alive if you said the wrong thing."

"He speaks the truth." Twyla nodded solemnly.

"On that note." A creaking sound erupted from the floor as Nate pushed his stool out so he could stand up. Grabbing the jar of pickles, he closed them and carried them to the fridge. "There's no place like hotel. Twyla I still need to get unpacked and everything after my flight." He turned back to the group. "It was nice meeting both of you." He walked over to the brunette and patted her on the shoulder before walking over to the boy, holding his hand out for a shake.

"Um, I guess I'm gonna go with Nate back to the hotel then, guys." Twyla stood up as well and deposited her apple core in the garbage.

Gawain listened to the siblings' description of their hometown with a grin.
"Sounds like a fun place to be. I bet the ol' ladies would love to have a conversation with their mirrors..."
Anyhow, it was not likely he would visit there anytime soon. Twyla neither, for the looks of it. Nate was cool, but if the rest of her family didn't even bother to talk to her in the past year, they would probably not like her showing up with friends. Weird friends. Some weirder than the others.

>>"It was nice meeting both of you."

"Nice meetin' you" he nodded, shaking Nate's hand "If she lets go of your hand long enough let me know, and we can, ummm." Steal beer from the X-men and have a night out? "...hang out together."

Meeting Big Brother didn't turn out to be so bad after all.

Nate and Twyla explained the reasoning behind why Henrietta would stick out. What's a Trempealeau? The girl shrugged slightly to herself and then nodded at the pair. "I could see how that could be a problem and kind of cannibalistic." Henri raised an eyebrow as she thought about it. Who's up for some Henrietta ribs? The brunette stopped herself there. Yeah, yeah. I don't need to think about this anymore. Well, at least not me getting eaten by old ladies...

Twyla's elder brother decided it was time to go unpack and whatnot. He patted Henrietta on the shoulder and said it was nice to meet both her and Gawain. She grinned back at Nate. "It was a pleasure to meet you too. I've heard good things about you and now I know why."

His little sister said she would go help him and the brunette nodded. "Yeah, that'll probably go a lot faster that way. Well, I'll talk to you later, Twyla. I hope it's a nice hotel. Sometimes they can be kind of gross and creepy." The girl glanced and watched Gawain and Nate shake hands. Well, it's good they like each other. This could've been pretty ugly otherwise.

"Oh sure, that'd probably make front page in the paper." Twyla could about imagine the headlines...
STRANGE FIGURE LURKS IN PIOUS WOMAN'S MIRROR
IS IT THE DEVIL OR A CITY KID?
And then there'd be a picture of Maya/Gawain next to Twyla's school picture and some embarrassing caption. She could just about imagine what those bored women would do with such a phenomenon.

Nate smiled at Henri again before replying: "Same to you." in a bright tone.

He then shook the boy's hand, grinning conspiratorially as he did so. "For sure, for sure." A wink and a final hand squeeze and Nathan Ashby was ready to roll.

"I'll see you later, Henri." Twyla hugged the other girl's shoulders and whispered in her ear. "I can tell he likes you, thanks for making this easy...five bucks says Nate's getting that beer thing straightened out." She stole a glance at her brother and her...something. "Hence the wink. Anyway," another squeeze. "See you later." The blond crossed the room to where her brother and Gawain were still standing. It seemed weird to hug him or something, she kinda wanted to...but at the same time...Awkward...Twyla settled on a small wave. "Bye, Gawain."

---

"See you cats later." Nate started walking down the hall, his younger, shorter, shyer, sister not far behind.