Well, it was either this, or risking a jealous Twyla. Nobody wanted the latter.
Mirror had been spending some time with the Mansion's resident fire elemental lately; she was a nice girl, and more than a bit lost to being with, and she needed new friends. Mirror was a friendly person, especially with girls. That didn't mean s/he would hit on them; but in the Mansion, students were used to sticking together, and all that.
Kate was fun.
And it was time she was introduced to Twyla.

It was a sunny autumn day, and Maya stood at the front door of the Mansion, wearing a sweater and a scarf, with a (fairly big) Angua prancing around her excitedly, hoping for a walk. It was just that kind of weather.
She'd told Kate and Twyla about each other, and asked them to come join her for the walk; it seemed like a good excuse for introducing them. They were alike in some ways, and different in others; Maya hoped they would get along well.
There was no reason not to.

Kate had barely been able to sleep last night, she was so excited to finally meet the infamous Twyla. She had heard so much about her from Gawain and Maya that it was time for her to meet the real thing. It was only a natural next step.

She most defiantly wanted to make a great first impression. She didn't want to have to stop spending time with Gawain and Maya because Twyla didn't like her, even if Gawain had reassured her that they would get along rather well or so he thought.

She had spent 15 min just standing in her closet starring at it before she grabbed an outfit which she vetoed as soon as she tried it on. Why was it so hard to pick out clothes these days? Would they really not like her because of what she wore? Was she putting in all this effort over nothing? Really it didn't matter. Kate liked making good first impressions and she liked looking nice and put together. It was one of her things. One of those things that made her her. So, she trekked back into her closet and pulled out a dress, tights and shoes. This time she decided they were a good choice and she new exactly which jacket to wear with it.

Kate glanced at her clock and it was just about time to meet them downstairs. She grabbed whatever she may need for walking around outside in November, gloves, jacket, and 2 water bottles, which she tucked into her bag for when she got thirsty on their walk.

Kate walked out the front door to see Angua making circles around Maya on the stoop, "Hello Maya.Twyla not here yet?"

Everyone had friends. That was normal, an assumed fact about life. Normal. No big thing. Twyla Ashby understood this, so when her S.O. had told her about his/her new friend Kate. Normally, the blond would have been a bit up in arms and a bit (cough, cough) jealous since Kate was a female friend but something in her thought process had been changing since she got back from camp. Perhaps she was just more mature from being older in general, or maybe she was just feeling more comfortable with herself and her relationships with people in general.

So they were going for a walk apparently. It was a good day for a walk, at least and Twyla lucked out and didn’t have any homework for any of her high school classes or college credits due that day. She could hang out with Maya and Kate for as long as they decided to, she was basically free. It would be a good day.

She was running a little late that day, having slept way too long post several all nighters that week.Catching up with school credits combined with whatever training she could squeeze in was going to be the death of her. Maya and Kate were (presumably) waiting for her when the blond finally managed to get down the stairs. The girl also noted happily that Aguna was also waiting for the walk. The first thing the blond noticed besides the dog was that the girl she assumed was Kate was dressed much more...fashionably than herself. Twyla looked down at her jeans with the worn out knees and her faded yellow cardigan over a simple tank top. Oh well. The young woman decided, smiling and walking up to the pair and the dog.

“Hey Maya.” She gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek and patted the large dog on the head. “And you must be Kate,” Turning to the other girl, she extended her hand. “I’m Twyla Ashby, nice to meet you.” Twyla’s hands were bare, she had a hat and gloves in the satchel bag she had on her shoulder. She’d rather have been a little chilly rather than warm.

They were both late. Well, Kate not as much as Twyla; but she was not early either. It was a girl thing. Maya chuckled to herself, looking around for a stick to keep Angua occupied. She turned around just in time to see Kate approaching, dressed as fashionably as ever.

"Hey Princess" she ginned at her "Enjoying the weather?"

Angua yipped, and jumped around, hoping to see the stick finally fly.

Twyla appeared in the doorway; Maya's face lit up with a bright smile at the sight of her girlfriend.

"Hey Bubblegum" she chuckled, kissing her on the cheek, very politely. Twyla then turned to introduce herself to Kate; Angua wanted most of her attention, so Maya turned too, and tossed the stick as far as she could. It would only give them a few seconds in peace.

"Fetch!"

Smiling, Maya turned back to the girls.

"Twy, meet princess Kate." she grinned "Kate, this is my girlfriend Twyla."

They both knew the rest. They had heard a lot about each other.

Angua returned with the stick, and dropped it at their feet.

"... and you both know Angua."

>>Hey Princess, Enjoying the weather?

"I am enjoying getting to see the leaves up close if that is what you mean. I am usually tucked inside by this point. Though, I am not enjoying the temperature even slightly. It is terribly cold. I am beginning to wonder if I will be able to make it through the winter." Kate said slipping on her gloves and raising the temperature of her hands to warm them up.

>>Hey Bubblegum

Bubblegum Kate had never heard such an odd nickname. Her eyes were drawn to Twyla's pink hair and she wondered if that was the source of the name.

>>Twy, meet princess Kate. Kate, this is my girlfriend Twyla.

Kate laughed at her introduction. Why did he insist on calling her that, "Very nice to meet you Twyla," Kate bowed her head slightly in greeting, "And, contrary to what your girlfriend, as she is at the moment, says, I am not a princess. I'm a Countess. There is quite a difference."

>>... and you both know Angua.

Kate knelled down to the dog and tentatively went to pet her, letting her know that her hands were only warm and wouldn't burn her. Kate looked at the little circle on Angua's nose and felt that familiar twinge of guilt. She had burned the dog's nose only days earlier in an incident in the kitchen. At the time she hadn't realized she had hurt her, but now it was plain as day on her nose.

"I'm so sorry Angua. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Twyla’s hand hung in the air for an awkward moment before it darted back to burrow in the back pocket of her jeans. A finger found a hole in the denim that hadn’t been there before. Well. That’s new. The blond resisted the urge to pick at the ragged edges and brought her attention back to meeting ‘Princess Kate’, who apparently wasn’t a princess at all but a countess. She was right, it was probably a big difference. Twyla smiled at the countess and the puppy, awkward and failed handshake or no.

Kate spoke to the growing dog softly and said something about being sorry about hurting her. One of Twyla’s eyebrows cocked slightly and she turned to her girlfriend. Her mouth made a questioning twist, but she didn’t ask--it seemed rude to.

“So...” Her free hand swung at her side, unsure of what it needed to be doing but wanting to be part of a forward moving feeling. Topics of conversation flashed through her mind but most of them had something to do with mundane things like the weather and random news stories.

“Shall we...?” The arm kept moving and Twyla looked between the other two people, feeling a bit sheepish and wondering what she was supposed to be doing.

>>"Very nice to meet you Twyla. And, contrary to what your girlfriend, as she is at the moment, says, I am not a princess. I'm a Countess. There is quite a difference."

"Same difference" Maya muttered with a sly smirk. All right, so she was not royalty, but she was definitely nobility, and she just had too much fun teasing her about it.

>>"I'm so sorry Angua. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"She'll live" Maya waved her hand "But I doubt she'll ever go near anything that smells like bread."

Twyla looked a bit shy. As usual. Maya smiled, and took her hand; Angua jumped around, then ran away to pick up a stick and carry it back, wagging her tail and waiting for one of the girls to throw it away for her.

"Apparently, we missed out on some epic boss fight against a bread monster in the kitchen" Maya chuckled at Twyla "See, I told you I don't get into trouble all the time..."