After they walked out of the Infirmary and into Twyla's messy room (she hadn't asked, just sort of led the way--it was where she needed to be at the moment) the blond didn't say a word and she barely even looked at her girlfriend as they silently climbed the stairs and she closed her door behind them. The girl wasn't sure what to think and since she wasn't sure if she felt like screaming or crying she had deemed it best that she pretty much ignored the object of her conflicted emotions, namely Maya.

Her face revealed nothing--her eyes were faraway and her mouth was pulled in a neutral line. The only thing in her manner that betrayed any emotion was the briskness in her walk and the quick movements of her hands when they had unlocked the door to her bedroom and turned on the light. A blond head of hair rested on the closed door for a moment after the girls entered. There was a small sigh the emitted from Twyla's slightly chapped lips (biting her lips made them crack sometimes).

This was decidedly a different scenario than their last late night...conversation. Twyla was tired but she was trying her best to keep it hidden from her face--she had a job to do and that was to keep Maya awake until it was safer to let her sleep. The girl wanted to ask about what really happened earlier that day but it seemed abrupt to just start an interrogation after she'd been given a brief explanation. It wasn't that she didn't believe Maya, it was just that it had seemed too simple--she wasn't lying so much as omitting the truth. Maybe. This was the main source for Twyla's emotional confusion.

That and there was a big green monster growing in the back of her mind that hadn't been there before...

Saying that you were 'wandering around' when you met a girl wasn't comforting, at least not to Twyla. She really wanted to know what kind of wandering had been going on so she could determine whether she was paranoid (and possibly the jealous type, a strange thought) or if there was something else going on that she needed to be concerned with.

But she wasn't going to just up and ask. Not in a million years.

"So, we need to keep you awake." A statement rather than a question. Smooth, so very smooth.

Maya could tell she was in trouble. Well, she had been in trouble for the better part of the day (and the previous day... and the day before that), but this, this was different. Meeting mutant killers and getting beaten up was one kind of trouble. Making Twyla angry was a whole different level of' 'oh shoot'.

There was silence, and more silence as they climbed the stairs. Maya was moving slower than usual, the concussion didn't go away, and the effects of Garrett's powers didn't last. Which meant she had a headache slowly building up.

Once in the room, she couldn't help but remember what happened the last time they ended up there, and felt a tinge of disappointment that it didn't happen again. She followed Twyla with her eyes, then walked over to the bed and sat down with a sigh, resting her head back against the wall.

>>"So, we need to keep you awake."

"Yeah." she agreed. She also had a few ideas in mind that would have definitely kept her awake, and more, but even Maya had a basic set of feminine instincts, telling her not to come up with any of those.
At least, not yet.
(Maybe it was not the feminine instincts. Maybe it was survival.)

Maya sighed again, and looked up at her grilfriend. Better get over the awkward part.

"Ask away."

Maya sat on the bed, they just sort of looked at each other for a moment with Twyla looking away first. She was tired and with that tiredness came increased emotional sensitivity. The brown eyes looked away because they were about to brim with something warm and wet. Omg, you're such a spazz. The blond leaned against the door again and slid down it, sitting on the floor with her legs extended in front of her.

She was about to grasp for some normal conversation when she was surprised by Maya's response.

'Ask away'? How convenient, part of her noted. The rest of her deiced it would be best to not totally freak out--she still didn't know why she had the urge to freak out. Honesty was the best policy in this situation...hopefully. "I feel like I'm over-reacting about something and i don't even know why..." A bit of mostly normal laughter escaped her lips, lighting up her face and even reaching her tired eyes. Take that warm, salty, wetness. Take that. There is nothing more powerful than laughter. "I think I'm just tired..."

Serious was back now, ready to check and see if it was really just that Twyla was tired and not because of Something Else. "So...care to elaborate on what you did today?" Her tone was normal and curious, which wasn't hard to fake seeing as she was curious. Maybe giving the other girl the option of replying in the negatory was not very useful in the end, but if she was just overreacting she didn't want to seem like a crazy person more than she seemed to with her girlfriend.

"My day was boring. I watched a little-kid movie with some of the younger kids and worked on homework all day..." Pretending things were normal, good plan, good plan.

>>"I feel like I'm over-reacting about something and i don't even know why... I think I'm just tired..."

"Yeah, me too." Maya answered quietly. She just wanted to show her it was okay... not that she was overreacting, but that she was reacting at all. On second thought, overreacting was not bad either. It showed that Twyla cared enough.

>>"So...care to elaborate on what you did today?"

There. Maya looked at her girlfriend again - now she was sitting on the floor by the door, and didn't look cheerful at all. In fact, she looked as if she was about to cry.
Uh-oh.
One of the perks of being a part-time girl is that one has some basic understanding of what goes on inside girls' heads. Or at least enough knowledge for a wild guess. Maya re-ran the conversation at the Infirmary, trying to collect the details Twlya already knew.
I was downtown, wandering... I met this girl... bla bla bla...
Damn.

Maya's eyes widened a bit as she watched her grilfriend. Could she be...
No way.

This was the point when she decided she needed to tell her the whole truth, a.s.a.p.
Mirror rarely ever decided on stuff like that.

"I was looking for my mother." she admitted, almost as if she was admitting doing something much, much worse. It sounded silly when she said it out loud. "I usually jus', y'know, wander around. It's a snowball's chance either way, so I might as well just... not plan anyhin'. So I... usually run into all kinds of people."
Don't be pathetic now, this is not about you.

That was only one half of the story.
Maya was silent for a while, pondering how to move on with the story. Or where to start.

"Umm... you remember that during the fight with Chtulhu... er, I was attacked by Juka? He thought I was someone else, so it was not really his fault, I guess we were all pretty freaked out back then." she added with a small smile. All included everyone. Even knights on shining steeds.

"So, umm... after that, he told me about this girl who attacked him, an' how somehow he thought I was her. Duh." she shook her head, the smile still on her lips "I thought he was just, y'know, overreactin' or something. He said all kinds of things about this crazy girl who kills humans and whatnot." Maya paused, not really sure how much she sould tell Twyla right now. But there was no clear way to back out of this.

"That was the girl I met today."

Twyla pulled her legs in, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin a top her knees. It felt safer that way since earlier her soft parts had felt a bit exposed with nothing between them and the open air of her room. Not that there was anything dangerous in the girl's bedroom but it was a reflex, a subconscious need to consolidate and protect. She didn't even really notice that she moved at all, just looked at Maya from her spot near the door. It was kind of strange, viewing her room from this angle--everything looked a lot messier from a low vantage point that it did from her bed. It still didn't bother her that someone else was seeing her room in the state it was in. part of her that wasn't attached to the situation wondered if she should be at least a little bit embarrassed...

Maya started talking, and the girl on the floor straightened up her back that was pressed to the smooth wood of the door. She was looking for her mother? Insta-guilt erupted in Twyla's tummy and its acidic properties attempted to destroy the walls of her stomach. That made her feel like an epic douche-bag, being all insensitive-like. Here she was giving a the mini version of a cold shoulder as they walked to her room and she had been in the city looking for her mom and not a few of the other things that the green monster growing in the back of Twyla's mind had suggested. Cheeks tinted pink and her chin was buried deeper into her knees. "Oh." Was all the girl managed to say as she stared at the carpeting and her feet, which had started masking themselves as soon as the guilt kicked in.

The both sat there in silence for a moment and then her girlfriend continued. Cthulhu? Of course she remembered that moment...Running, panic that Gawain was getting attacked by a supposed ally, a tentacle, more panic, landing on Henri, getting...Alright, focus. A lot happened after that moment, she just needed to focus on the Juka/Gawain memory. That's the girl she me? Looking back up, Twyla blinked. She was confused. "You meet the psychopath that messed with Juka or whatever and you didn't get hurt until some random anti-mutant guys showed up?" She tried to keep her tone curious but it came out a little more incredulous that the blond intended. That was crazy...Gawain had been lucky...

A second after she spoke the girl was up and across the room to the bed which she leaned over so she could give Maya a modified hug. Despite knowing that the other girl was hurt, the blonde's arms were fierce as they wrapped around their girlfriend. "Oh my gosh, you're so lucky. I'm so glad she didn't hurt you." The urge for tears was back, but these were a happier kind and they showed a bit in her voice as she spoke into Maya's hair.

>>"You meet the psychopath that messed with Juka or whatever and you didn't get hurt until some random anti-mutant guys showed up? Oh my gosh, you're so lucky. I'm so glad she didn't hurt you."

Things were started to look better, as things usually do just before they get worse. Maya sighed and buried her face in Twyla's shoulder, hugging her with her free arm, enjoying a moment of peace before she had to move on. The story was far from over.
Two moments. Three, maybe.

"Twyla, promise me something." she muttered into her shoulder before pulling back to look into her eyes with all the seriousness of the issue "If you ever meet a blonde girl with a pink aura... just run. Okay? Don't talk to her, and don't even think about fighting her. Just get the hell outta there, as fast as you can. Please?"

The hug lasted for a while, neither girl said anything. The urge for tears had passed now and all Twyla's attention was focused on the moment and breathing and Maya's arm around her. They were alright, it had been silly to freak out--she was just tired was all. Normal. Everything was fine besides the concussion and her girlfriend being slightly banged up. No worries, just a bad day was all. Everything was--

Huh? Promises? What? When Maya pulled back she looked down at her from her standing position, trying to read the expression on her face. Why would she want to fight the girl with the pink aura? Maya and Twyla both knew what kind of person Twyla was--this didn't make any sense, unless...

And now for some paranoia...It was late, she thought gender shifters were aliens when it got this late. So sure her.

The green monster that had been skulking back to wherever it was kept turned on heel and crossed its arms over its chest. Paranoid, maybe. But it was just being careful, right? With her squishy parts. Protecting them from anything they weren't prepared for like girlfriends meeting with psychopaths and...

No, she refused to think like that. I am not that kind of girlfriend...I hope. Honestly, Twyla didn't really know what kind of girlfriend she was and her experience was so far limited.

Her brows were wrinkled and Twyla tensed up, cocking her head to the side. "Why would I want to fight her?" I'm not exactly that kind of girl... And because she trusted Maya she continued with: "I promise."

>>"Why would I want to fight her? I promise."

"Thank you." Maya noted with a small smile before she sat back. They were back on track. Better get the whole thing over with as fast as they can...
Who am I kidding we have all night.

"I'm not sayin' you'd wanna fight her, but looks like she goes around randomly fightin' everyone, so." Maya bit her lip "I made a mistake, an' I don' want you to do the same."

She paused, looking away, but it didn't help much, because she coud feel Twyla's eyes on her, so she turned back to talk to her.

"I saw her dancin' in an alley, an' stopped to talk to her since she's a mutant an' all, an' by the time she told me her name an' I realized who she was it was too late to just leave her there. I couldn't exactly tell her 'hey you almost killed one of my friends'... so, y'know, I decided to stick around and find out somethin' about her so I can, we can, figure out somethin' to do."

As good a reason as any.

"She was friendly. I mean, she is nuts, like, crazy nuts, but she's angry at humans for they killed her friends and she was kinda raised as a child soldier or somethin', brainwashed outta her mind. And 'cause I'm a mutant she was friendly, she has a thing for askin' about mutations. So we agreed that she's show me some moves without, y'know, killin' me." he sighed "I thought maybe I could talk her outta the whole killing thing. I don't know why I thought that. I was wrong."

Another pause. Not much left now.

"So we start to, well, she calls it dancin' but it's really like martial arts or somethin', and then these two guys show up with baseball bats to beat us up for bein' mutants."

Another pause.

"Mine got away. She killed the other one."

No worries, Maya just didn't want her approaching a psychopath--that's totally legitimate. No worries, none at all. The looking away was a little strange and so was the lip biting...but she did have a concussion after all. Her eyebrows wrinkling again, the blond sat down at the edge of her bed, her eyes not leaving her girlfriend. Twyla felt weird again and she hoped that it was just because it was late and Maya had a concussion...

A hand crept across the comforter to snag one of Maya's, just in case it wasn't because it was late and the dark haired girl had a concussion, just in case.

Okay, now normally Twyla didn't imagine herself as being an overly clingy person. There had been times she'd...clung to her significant other but those were after very traumatic experiences. Jealous people were clingy, in her mind and she figured they just didn't have enough trust in their relationships. This was not so traumatic but for some reason the idea that her (at the time) boyfriend had been walking around New York City and had stopped to talk with a female that was dancing (the mutation part was conveniently forgotten) irked her and the blond bristled up. Am I jealous? What the heck?The green monster that had appeared earlier had its hands on its hips and had a smug look on its face--it knew what was what.

Or at least it thought it did...

Jealousy apparently has a tendency of gumming up ones ears because soon Twyla's hearing became very selective. "She was friendly...she has a thing...for mutations...show me some moves...she calls it dancing..." All the while a controlled look was plastered on the girl's face. Her mouth was tight and as she listened to Maya explain her afternoon she felt herself get more and more agitated...it was really weird. She'd never felt like that before--she wanted to punch someone but she couldn't decide who and part of her started to feel really crummy and another part was screaming for some kind of display of affection towards Maya. It was all very confusing.

She was clenching Maya's hand. Then it was dropped. "Sorry." Barely audible and through tight lips.

The last bit was heard with more clarity--it was hard to twist violence from outside sources to fit a crazy theory (it was not crazy, argued the green monster). "She just killed him...?" Twyla could tell her tone was off--it wasn't emotional enough...or maybe it was too emotional? Either way it was off, she was off, everything was off.

The story was complete, or close to complete, and Maya felt herself calm down a bit. She stole a glance or two at Twyla while she spoke, and she noted the hand...
... actually, towards the end, it was starting to hurt.
Which meant Twyla was getting upset.
Not good.

>>"Sorry."

Twyla dropped her hand and Maya found herself instantly missing her touch.

>>"She just killed him...?"

"Yeah." she nodded with a sigh "It was..." blood and guts everywhere no don't say that you shouldn't say that "... not a pleasant sight."
Wait.
Something was off. Maya looked at Twyla again, and noted her expression. She didn't look pale, or scared. She looked more... upset? Pissed off? And she didn't react to the killing part the way she thought she would. She seemed more worried about the details she said before that, Aura and the dancing and...
But...
That didn't make any sense.

"Twyla?... What's wrong?..." the clicking sound from Maya's brain was almost audible as she tried to figure out what happened just then. She couldn't. So she made a wild guess.

"Look, I'm... I'm sorry. I shouldn't get into trouble like that. I'm sorry I made you worry. Really."

The gum was back in her ears--or was that blood? Something was pounding in the girl's head and she couldn't decide if it was the steady rhythm of her breathing or her heart...probably her heart--her breathing was slowing and speeding up in crazy increments as she tried to find a sense of control over herself. It was nothing, you're totally...well...maybe...maybe it was totally...maybe not. The comforting voice knew itself too well and could form no logical argument against the sudden strong emotion rippling off of Twyla like waves.

If I were stopping to talk to someone because they were dancing I'd probably only do it if they were--no, that's crazy and totally uncool. No...Gawain wouldn't do that. You're just being...paranoid.

Maya had apparently caught on the sudden change in atmosphere of the room because she was grasping for an explanation. Oh I'll tell you what's--better not... The internal Girl Code told Twyla that it was not very nice or feminine or nurturing to come out and explain what she was thinking. Ladies, after all, did not feel such silly emotions as jealousy (it was obvious to her now that she was jealous, of a psychopath no less) as they were much too understanding and caring to be distrustful. Anger was not something you were allowed to feel out in the open either, everything had to be done secretly and in good taste so no one would get hurt.

Twyla wrestled with her inner lady, attempting to pin her down so she could be up front with her girlfriend. They grappled and slapped and scratched for a long moment and then Twyla mussed up the lady's hair with a noogie that would have made Nate proud--sending her flying to the bathroom in a dignified huff.

She'd be honest, she'd just have to do it as nicely as possible...

Blinking was done after Maya apologized for something that had already been pushed to the back of the blonde's mind. Turning back to the other girl she tried to summon the kindest Twyla voice possible--what came out...was interesting. "No, it's not that...I mean, it's not just that. I'm getting used to the worry, kinda...it's just...something you said" (selective hearing!) "um...you met that girl when she was...and you talked and...why did she catch your attention?"

Twyla had been reduced to a sputtering sputterer.

Maya watched Twyla fight herself, a serioes of emotions flashing across her face. Best guess, she was trying to tell her something she didn't really want to form into words, something Maya should have known, should have felt righ away, but dammit, she was half he, and she had a concussion and a shoulder that was starting to hurt like hell.

>>"No, it's not that...I mean, it's not just that. I'm getting used to the worry, kinda...it's just...something you said... um...you met that girl when she was...and you talked and...why did she catch your attention?"

That's it. Twyla was jealous.
Of Aura. Of all the women in the world.

Maya blinked, and shook her head, which was a bad idea, given the medical circumstances. A hand was lifted and pressed against her forehead in a gesure of confusion, and it moved on to run fighers through her messy hair.
You. Gotta. Be. Freakin' kiddin' me.

Part of Maya felt hurt. Not on the outside - being hurt on the outside was really her default state - but deep down, in the female part of her heart, soul, or whatever. She was in love with Twyla. Heck she was head over heels. She was even stupid enough to tell her so. And here she is, being jealous.

I guess I deseve it.

For a split second Maya wanted to yell. She caught herself in time; yellin at Twyla is not going to make things better. Quite the contrary. So she just bit her lips hard enough to hurt, and looked away.

"She had awesome moves." she muttered "Back when I was livin' off the streets, I had to learn all the cool stuff I could. It's instinct, I guess." she admitted "An' I usually stop to talk when I meet mutants. Some of them might know... things."

Things like where my mother is.

"It was a stupid thing to do."

Maya looked confused and Twyla attributed this to the fact that she was as eloquent as...as...as something that was ridiculously not eloquent. Or maybe it was because she wasn't making sense in her logic at all--Oh great, now you're totally the crazy girlfriend, way to go. This self jibbing didn't do much for the blonde's mood (which had already been hindered by the big green monster and her own internal struggling from a few moments ago). It was late, she was tired, she was angry...

Whoa...Twyla Ashby was angry.

She was angry. Angry at the fact that she couldn't sleep, angry at the fact that she'd rushed to her girlfriend in the middle of the night to find her sitting on a hospital cot with a concussion, angry that the world had hurt her again, angry that she'd been with another girl, angry with the fact that she was such a spazz, angry that she couldn't just be honest about being angry because she was a girl, really really angry that she seemed to have totally messed up her conversation with Maya, and most of all angry that she was angry at all and that it was becoming increasingly obvious.

It was enough to make one scream.

When Maya looked away the blond stood up abruptly and looked away too, clenching her fists at her sides so hard that she swore she could almost feel the crescent shaped indents of her nails in her palms. When the other girl spoke the clenching increased and...

Oh no, oh no no no.

There were two different types of Twyla anger--the righteous fury kind and the blubbering 'I might be crazy but really I just don't handle things well' kind. The latter kind came with tears. Twyla hated to cry--especially in front of other people. Dammit. Please, please no no no no.

They were welling up as Maya continued to talk, making it much easier to stare at a spot on the wall instead of behind her at the other girl. Add almost crying to her List of Anger. "No, what's stupid is that I'm apparently this insecure bitch who--" She she yelled--down her cheeks, warm liquid. Not good. Not good. Cue a few heaving breaths that were attempted to be muffled, making sputtering noises in their wake. "Who can't even talk b..b...b..because..."

Because why, you ask?

"Because she'd a big d.d.d.d...dumb d.d.d......d.d..dumby head." And this was why Twyla never got in verbal spars with anyone, she was bad at comebacks--even against herself.

>>"No, what's stupid is that I'm apparently this insecure bitch who-- Who can't even talk b..b...b..because... Because she'd a big d.d.d.d...dumb d.d.d......d.d..dumby head."

She was crying. She was pissed, and tired, and freaked out, and confused, and jealous, and frustrated, and angry, and pink and blonde and adorable, and now she was crying.
Maya didn't even need to see her face to know she was crying.
Tears.
Mirror always considered herself/himself fully girl one day, and fully guy on the next, but if there was one thing that never changed... it was seeing a girl cry. It caused the same kind of blackout it causes to ever single male on the planet, to both Maya and Gawain.
Dammit.

Mission: stop the tears. And in the unwritten book of 'crying girlfriend policies' there was one way to do that, the only one the male (and Maya) brain could come up with.
Maya stood, slipping her left hand out of the bandage that held it up; it was not pleasant, but she needed both hands for what she was about to do. Namely, turn said weeping girlfriend around, and hold her in place.

The rest was a mess. Maya tasted salt from the tears, and metal from where she bit her lips; teeth clashed, and everything was slightly off balance, and very, very far from perfect. There were jolts of pain in her shoulder every time her hand moved, and the loose brainds Twyla had were hopelessy tagled once again. Breathing came randomly and in small, sharp intakes of air. Her lips trailed away along her cheeks, tasting more salt, before they returned to their place, pissed off and confused and persistent, holding on for dear life.

If one really thinks about it, a 'Please don't cry' might have been enough.

Crying was pretty much a full body experience and Twyla was rapidly deciding that it pretty much sucked--especially when you were trying really hard to pretend that you weren't. Her breathing made her shoulders and chest shake and the breathing itself was wild and sporadic. She tried to keep the gasping and sputtering sounds to a minimum but that was a job in itself and when your tear ducts were already commissioning the rest of your body to unload a whole wall of emotional...saltiness it was really hard to focus on being silent.

Did Twyla mention that she hated to cry? Absolutely, positively, hated it and the fact that she was crying with Maya in the room made the whole thing worse. This of course, made her cry harder. It was rapidly turning into a vicious, angry cycle.

Turning. What? Confusion. The girl was a bit dizzy for a moment and during that dizziness she noted that she was being held in place by someone else. Maya. What? More confusion.

Kissing.

She was crying and Maya was kissing her.

... ... ... ... ...

There were worse reactions, she decided after a moment. At first confusion made her stiff and then instinct won out. Eyes that were still dripping with tears closed and her mouth started to react on its own. This was a different dynamic than any of their other...moments. This one was angry and disconcerting (in a lack of meshing way) and very off and rough and even though the blond knew that her girlfriend was a little beat up already she pressed herself closer to her in a violent gesture, losing what space was between them. She wanted to get the jealous feelings out of her system, prove to herself and to Maya that there was no reason to be talking to other girls for any non-innocent reasons. Her hair was pulled out of the braid she'd fixed on the walk to her room but Twyla barely noticed as she forced her lips against Maya's, catching a shuddering breath when the other girl pulled away and kissed her cheeks.

It was a violent moment and an angry one and the blonde's body didn't really want it to end. Her mind, however, turned itself back into 'normal' mode when she took that shuddering breath. This is...we shouldn't be... After a few long moments of scrabbling for as much rough affection as possible before pulling away and taking a shaky step back. Wetness was rapidly drying on her cheeks but her breath was still a little crazy and gasping as she tried to speak. "That's probably..." Some breaths that sounded out of breath and like she'd been crying at the same time were choked out between the words. "not good for....a...concussion." She wiped at her eyes (which were closed down to a leaking at this point) as she looked at Maya. Her cheeks were warm from her own heat and the tears.

And then something else occurred to her--that kind of kissing had felt like arguing. Were they arguing?