((OOC: this is a future fanfiction we've wanted to do for a while, for hilarity's sake. It is in no way connected to the Future Plot. Or any plot, really. It's not even planned. Point of the game is to write posts to surprise each other, and then play off each other's posts. For more surprises. Yup.))

15 years in the future

Maya Morris parked her car in front of the spacious house that basked in the early autumn sunshine, and marched up the driveway as if she was going to knock down the front door. Her dark hair was pulled up into a long ponytail that swung with her every step, and the few loose locks were held back from her face with the sunglasses she pushed up onto the top of her head. She was wearing jeans and a green tank top that said 'NO, I just look like her', and had a backpack flung over her shoulder. Some stay-at-home mother in the next garden turned to stare at her; Maya ignored it. She knocked on the door, then took a step sideways to peek in through the nearby window.

"Open up, big bad wolf!" she yelled cheerfully "I'm here to excercise my rights as a godmother, and I ain't got all day!" she folded her arms and tapped her foot, humming for a few moments before she knocked again.

"C'mon sista, if you don' let me see the pups I'm comin' in through the window, an' you know I mean that!"

The neighbor lady was staring again. Maya grinned back at her, which made her buck behind some bushes in embarrassement. Oh well. As long as she didn't bring out a camera they were fine.

About five minutes later the unlocking of the front door was heard, and then it opened to reveal Emerald, in all of her motherly glory. She wore a long apron over a pair of torn up jeans and a plain black t shirt, that was covered in flour. Actually, most of the wolf woman was covered in flour and her hair had managed to entangle some tray pieces of marcoroni. It was a lovely day in the small beachside town and Emerald had been tempted to take the kids outside today, but oh no, she just had to do craft day.

“Now you come over, when I have the pups finally settled down.” She told her old friend, rolling her eyes. “Now you are gonna go get them All Riled up again.”

From behind Emerald tiny hands clung onto her pants leg, peering over at Maya. The little girl that held onto her mother’s leg had red hair, mirroring that of her mothers, but her eyes were green instead of blue. Patches of freckles were on her cheeks and all over the rest of her body for that mater. She wore a pair of overalls and a backwards baseball cap covering her head.

Emerald looked down at her daughter, unable to forget the girls shy nature until she got more so into her comfort zone. The little girl was a wolf girl like her mom, her features more pointed and her teeth were long and sharp for a child her age. She also had a wolf russet furred wolf tail that drooped between her legs a little as she looked at Maya. “Hey Lilly, You remember your Aunt Maya.” Emerald told her daughter gently.

Lilly seemed to become more comfortable when she realized who it was, her tail wagged a little and she waved at her “Aunt.” She still clung to her mother’s pants leg, just in case.

"Nice to see you too" Maya grinned at Emerald, walking in "Got a day off from work, they're only payin' Gawain now, so. Thought I'd come over and spoil your kids."

The mirrorwalker smiled as she noticed the toddler behind Emmy's legs, and bent down to look at her.

"Hey there, Lilly flower." she reached out her hand "Come to Auntie, li'l beast."

Seeing the tail wagging she fished the litle girl out from her hiding place behind the mother wolf, and picked her up. "Thaaat's more like it."

Dropping the backpack onto a chair Maya walked in, still cuddling the pup as she went.

"So, what's up, Ems? Expecting guests or something? You look like a mother. How are you doing it?" she grinned, moving towards the kitchen; she figured she'd interrupted something there and she didn't want something to get burnt. A wolf cub, for example.

Lilly was scooped up by her aunt and contently snuggled in her grasp. All of the child’s former discomfort was gone and was replaced by the comfort of being held by someone who cares about you. The young child took a chance to poke at Maya’s ear curiously between being snuggled and a confused look appeared on her face. She tucked a strand of unruly hair behind her own ear and felt over the slight tip, then feeling over the side of her Aunt’s ear which had no such tip.

Emerald smiled at her daughter’s investigation of her Aunt’s ear, a light chuckle escaping her lips. The little one was as confused as to why no one else had pointed tips on their ears like her and her mother. Even her older (by five minutes) brother had no such tips on his ears. When she had asked, Emerald could only respond, “Mutations work in different way and not everyone is the same.”

“Nah, not expecting anyone, I just decided to let the kids try macaroni art and it somehow turned into a cookie making party, then it turned into, lets see if mommy notices us throwing flour at each other,” Emerald gave a look to her daughter, who started to giggle a little. While she was the better behaved out of the twins, when she planned on doing something mischievous her attempts were always well planned out and fairly well done. “Now if your wondering where my troublemaking little boy is, his father took him to the park to burn off some of his energy. As for how I'm doing the whole mother thing, I don’t know I guess taking care of Ruby and being sort of a pack leader kind of helped me out with it.”

The kitchen was covered with flour and pieces of Marconi were scattered across the countertops. There was a plate of cookies though, giant dog bone shaped, chocolate chip cookies. Emerald had already made her way to some cleaning supplies in order to clean up this mess. Lilly took a good look around the kitchen at her and her brother’s handiwork with wide eyes. She didn’t think they had been that bad, her attention was distracted though by the plate of cookies and the wonderful smell that came from it. She attempted to reach for one but found a much better way to receive the wonderful barked delights.

”Mommy,” The little girl whimpered, once her mother turned she gave her mother the infamous puppy dog eyes her Aunt Ruby had so frequently used on her mother. “CooOOKies?”

Having her little girl howl while she is saying the word cookies, was by far one of Emerald’s greatest weakness. It was just so damn cute, and the way the little girl’s tail wagged and by that pleading looking Emerald knew she couldn’t resist. “Alright, but you have to let Auntie Maya have a cookie too.” Emerald told her giving the little one a cookie. She watched the child nod eagerly as she devoured the sugary treat.

“Maya, I will give you more cookies if you distract the pup long enough in the living room so I can clean up this mess.” Emerald told her friend, offering a cookie to her.

Maya grinned as she looked around in the kitchen.

"Now this feels like home" she chuckled, swinging the puppy in her arms. She liked Emerald's house. It always felt like home. The home of a pack of wolves, but home none the less.

The grin turned into a soft smile as the girl howled for some cookies. It was a rock solid tactic for getting what she wanted, whenever she pulled the puppy eyes and the howl. Maya had never seen Emerald so weak as when Lilly was playing her.

>>“Maya, I will give you more cookies if you distract the pup long enough in the living room so I can clean up this mess.”

"You got it sista" the dark haired woman nodded, taking the cookie before she looked at the little girl "So, Lilly flower, ready for hopping mirrors with Auntie Maya?"

Of course she didn't have to ask. A few moments later they were both in the reflection of the kitchen in the back window, and then they were gone, the pup sqealing happily from the living room. After cookies were consumed, the games and the laughter started.
Maya was a godmother now, and she was intent on making the most of it.

Lilly, like every little kid, loved showing adult their new tricks even if it was as startling as the one she was about to show her aunt. While the little girl did have a visible mutation, Emerald had made no mention in her past few communications with Mirror about any new developments with her kids powers. Translation, neither of the pups had shifted yet. The little wolf girl grinned at her Aunty, scampering away from her Aunt and darting behind the couch.

"Aunty! I got a trick! No peek!" The little girl called from behind the couch, and then there was silence, with one pained growl. After around thirty seconds from behind the couch emerged a tiny wolf pup, with red fur and green eyes. If Maya decided to look behind the couch in that time she would have seen skin moving and fur growing. She looked up at her aunt and let out a loud bark, her little tail wagging eagerly. "I'm a wolf!"

Maya waited patiently and curiously to see what kind of a trick the kid had. She really hoped it wouldn't be anything dangerous. She knew Emerald was a real mother wolf, that was why she usually looked after her pups twice as carefully as she would have cared for her own. Survival instincts.

>>"I'm a wolf!"

"Wow!" Maya explained, genuinely surprised. She didn't know the pups could shift. But Lilly did, and from the looks of it she did a perfect job too. "That's amazing Lilly! You're great. Come here, pup." she grinned, picking her up and scratching her ears "Does Mommy know you can do this?" she asked, glancing towards the kitchen.

The little puppy nodded her head, licking at Maya's hands eagerly. She was deffinatly a puppy, eagerly nipping and then licking at her aunts hands, looking absolutely adorable while doing it. Lilly had remembered her mother telling her was that this was how she acted when she was a young girl, except she tried to bite people who got too close to Aunt Ruby. Which was a funny though, Aunt Ruby was perfectly able to take care of herself, but her mom had said that when people were little they needed to be protected by someone who is big. Which was why her mama protected her!

"Uh huh! When I grow up I want to be as big as mommy and fight bad guys." The little wolf barked, snuggling her head against her aunt. The little one had apparently used a good deal of energy when she morphed, so she felt a little tired.

>>"Uh huh! When I grow up I want to be as big as mommy and fight bad guys."

Maya chuckled softly as she picked up the pup and walked over to sit on the couch with her.

"She does that, doesn't she." she smiled "You've got the strongest mommy on the planet, huh."

The pups probably believed that. Maya herself was pretty sure it was true, she had seen lots of mutant moms at the School in the past fifteen years, and although some of them were scary, none of them displayed the kind of strength Emerald did.
Well, minus the one who accidentally cracked the wall of the mansion that one time.
...
Nevermind.

"You'll need to go to school first though" she told the pup, scratching her ears "And with the cool stuff you've got, I'm pretty sure you'll be going to our school. How does that sound, huh?"

Maya had a special place in her heart for Xavier's. She hadn't been living there for long years, but she was still part of the staff, and it was as much of a home for her as it could ever get. She was still connected to that school.
In more ways than one.

Of course she had the strongest mommy on the planet! Little Lilly was convinced her mommy was the strongest, prettiest and most amazing lady in the whole wide world. So was her brother, both children were convinced that they had the best parents in the entire world. Lilly leaned into the head scratches, her little tail wagging back and forth happily.

"I will be the best on the team!" The wolf girl exclaimed

Connor, the older of the two Twins practically galloped towards his house on all fours, eager to go home and eat some of mommys famous cookies. It was one of the very few things his mother did not burn while she was in the kitchen, or so his daddy said. Speaking of his father, He got a call from the precinct only a street away from his home, while walking home with little Connor. When his partner offered to give his son a ride in the squad car, the child denied the offer and decided to run home instead.

Much like his mother, Connor was a little athelete and was active as any young pup would be. On his way home he saw an old beat up truck chugging down his road, and the little boy made it a point to outrun it. His mind imagined a great race between he and the car and he practically sprinted towards his house. Oh yeah, he was his mothers son alright, the way he ran, the way his blonde colored tail wagged in the air, the wild look of his hair, the determined look in his dark blue eyes mirrored the wolf woman in every way. With several shortcuts through peoples yards, ignoring thier obvious crys of alarm that a five year old boy was leaping and bounding everywhere, he managed to make it home and in through his front door. It was at this moment he noticed a lady was in the truck and it was pulling into his driveway.

Connor's blue eyes narrowed in confusion, his tail wagging back and forth with curiousity. Now there were two cars in front of his house, one belonged to his aunt Maya, but he had no idea who the other one belonged to. The little boy's tail fur prickled a little, he couldn't help but think, what if this was an intruder? He would have to defend his mommy and his family, and he would do it till he fell, or at least thats what he read in his story books. Though his Lupine features (besides his tail) weren't as noticeable as his sister, the growl that came out of his mouth was defiantly Lupine.

The little boy ran inside the house, panting a little from all the running, "Mama, Auntie Maya, Lilly theres a lady in a truck outside."

Emerald made her way out of the kitchen to greet her son, who was panting heavilly from running. The wolf woman shook her head, patting her boy on the head. "Racing cars again? Go get a drink of water and watch your sister, me and Maya will greet our visitor."

As Connor ran into the kitchen, Lilly wiggled her way out of her Aunt's grasp, following after her brother. Emerald on the other hand, had managed to clean herself up to peer her head through the screen door, to see whoever was in that truck.

Ten years was a long time, although if Twyla Ashby was honest things started changing for her fourteen years ago when she started college.That was the past now...so much was in the past now. So many life changing decisions--but did they really change your life if you were basically back tracking after your ‘new’ life fell apart? Twyla was trying not to think about it and focus on the ‘here and now’ as she kept repeating to herself and anyone who asked. Recently the ‘here and now’ had led her on a cross country tip back to the last place she called home, namely the Mansion. She was thirty two, in a few months thirty three, and she was unemployed and alone and living at a boarding school.

That was sad.

There were so many things she’d wanted by the time she was thirty five and now it looked like her plans were on hold. At least for the moment. At least for the ‘here and now’. She wanted to be married and she wanted to have kids almost already. Everyone else had kids, mostly. Well, she was almost almost married...but that didn’t count, not really, not anymore.

ANYWAY....

Twyla’s plan for that day had been to leave the Mansion (for the first time since she’d arrived again) and visit an old friend. An old friend that she managed to keep in some touch with while she was in California even though she hadn’t left some people with the best taste in their mouths. She and Em had exchanged some letters, Christmas cards, and some long distance phone calls so she knew the wolf girl’s children and the wolf girl knew about the lying, cheating, ***face fiance that she’d left in California (well, she knew about him and had seen pictures but she hadn’t heard about any of the extra adjectives yet--no one knew about that). Twyla knew enough from talking and pictures that she recognized the boy running alongside her truck as she pulled nearer to the address she’d found. As soon as she made it to the driveway he charged into the house. Of course he didn’t recognize her--even if he’d seen pictures she’d changed a lot on her way home.

“I love your long hair baby.” And it was gone, replaces by a short and choppy cut that was longer in the front than the back. Her hair was back tits natural light brown (that had happened a few years ago) but there were traces of who she was when she was younger in the blond and pink chunks of color on the left side of her part, glaringly obvious and screaming of a more fun time. A deep breath. Twyla pushed open the rusty door of the beater with her shoulder and stood in the driveway, leaning against the truck. With a welcome crew like the young wolf boy the adult version wouldn’t have been far behind. She’d wait. It was easier. Less scary. No one outside the Mansion knew she was back--she hadn’t wanted to explain anything unless it was in person, which meant no phone calls. And now she was in person.

As the woman waited she felt a brisk Autumn wind bite through the flimsy white top she was wearing over a silver tank top. It was hard to get used to non beach weather again. At least she was wearing jeans, even if her simple sandals were open. Twyla’s arms came up of their own accord and she hugged herself, feeling suddenly like this was a bad idea.

>>"Mama, Auntie Maya, Lilly theres a lady in a truck outside."

"Hey there Connor" Maya grinned at her nephew as he burst through the door. The Lupins had long ago given up actually saying hi to her - it was a sign that she was part of the family. That, and that there was always something more exciting happening around them.

Like, unexpected visitors.

>>"Racing cars again? Go get a drink of water and watch your sister, me and Maya will greet our visitor."

Maya let Lilly go and stood, following Emerald to the front door. She only needed a glance outside.

"Holy *** ****."

Now, long years in the acting business had cleared up Maya's speaking manners pretty well, but it all evaporated in a moment and if the pups had as keen ears as their mother they were in for learning some new words today. All of them conveying utter surprise and shock.

Twyla Ashby.

It was a classic story, really, so common it wasn't even worth telling most of the time. Well, minus the freaky mutant adventures, but those had been part of their life back in the day, and in many ways, they still were. First love, first heartbreak. Big deal. Many years had passed since; they were both reasonable adults now.

"I'm gonna go check on the pups."

Once the loud curse escaped Maya's lips Emerald realized who it was and her mouth dropped open a bit. She stayed where she was for a moment, she had no idea Twyla was coming over to her house today, nor did she know that Maya was coming over. Some sort of twist of fate had brought the three together and whether or not it would end well would be up to them.

Emerald walked outside to see her old friend, her tail wagging back and forth a little. The wolf woman was a good deal older than the last time Twyla saw her and things had changed. While She had kept in contact with Twyla, it had taken a while for her to do so, Twyla had broken Maya's heart and the werewolf was none to happy about it. But after a while, she had agreed to sending letters back and forth with her friend, right around the time she and her mate got married.

"Hey Stranger, didn't expect to see you around here." Emerald called to Twyla, tail still wagging back and forth. This was when the traditional Lupin bear hug was given, squeezing her friend tightly. After a while she released Twyla with a small smile on her face. Emerald still had that Lupine smile that could be scary if someone didn't know her that well. The wolf woman really hadn't changed, She had gotten a haircut but that was the only thing about her that had changed, she still was tall and strong, looking as if she could kick some major tail with one hit. "My son seems to think you were racing him." Emerald let out an amused chuckle at that

Speaking of the wolf twins, the two had managed to eat over half the plate of cookies and were both siting on the floor of the kitchen with chocolate covering their lips and fingers. How they got them down from the high shelf, would only be revealed if asked.

Twyla wasn’t looking at the front door as she waited, she was too busy staring at the mother and daughter pair in the garden over that were having a tea party in the grass. Something gnawed at the woman’s belly--was it jealousy? Or was it something much more sinister like regret? Regret for what though? A million things maybe, one of them being staying in California for so long. She hadn’t particularly liked her life there but it was the promise of her dreams that kept her in the cold house in the desert. The thing about her ex-fiance Kurt was that he had a way of convincing her that everything was going to be alright. Of course it was fine that she was leaving without so much as a word to anyone and only a letter apologizing to a certain someone--it was her life after all! Why NOT be adventurous when she wanted to be!? And of course he was going to change and they were going to get married and have all the children she wanted! He just needed to get some things with his career panned out first, he loved her after all and if she loved him she could put her life on hold and wait--people did it all the time. Ten years. Wasted. On someone who never intended on giving her what she wanted--at least not on her terms.

She tore her eyes away from the scene in the garden when she heard someone speak. It was Emerald, walking towards her in the drive. She looked older--but didn’t they all now? She also looked very much the same and that was a comfort because maybe it meant that people didn’t really change, it was just their situations that made them different. Maybe it meant that she could become someone more like who she used to be...maybe. Despite any melancholic thoughts a soft smile broke on her face at the sight of her old friend. “No one did, I just got back a few days ago.” Twyla replied before she was snatched up in a typical Em-style-wolf-bear-hug. That was why she needed to see Emmy first, she needed that bone breaking hug. She buried her face in the shoulder that smelled like cookies for a moment and willed herself not to cry. They were friends, this would be happy. Time to stop being selfish, girl and figure out how to make right with the people you abandoned...some of them anyway.

“He definitely won if we were.” Another small smile and then she went on without thinking or asking--because seriously, Em looked like she was being a mom that day and that probably meant that she wasn’t about to leave her house or entertain any guests that day. “I wanna actually meet your pups, Em.” A small laugh before Twyla charged forward (deciding it would be less awkward if she wasn’t hesitant) and into the house. What she saw after she walked in the front door made her stop in her tracks and the smile waver on her lips. Maya didn’t even have to turn around and show her face for the brunette to recognize her. “Sh*t.” The woman mumbled under her breath, feeling the thirty year familiar blush creep across her face before it was replaced by a sudden influx of the powers that she thought by now she had down pat.

That moment, seeing her, that was when all the decorum and social tact she’d learned to fake in the presence of the higher society Kurt was a part of faded from her mind and Twyla made a complete dork of herself--not for the first time in front of either of the other adults. “Er..I should go, um, didn’t realize you have...erm...company. I’m so sorry, I’ll just..er.” The woman spun around and then tripped, sending herself sprawling. As she tried to gain her breath back she just lay there, letting her powers mask her form completely as she was on the floor. I could crawl in a hole and die now and I wouldn’t even complain.

Maya was going to bail. It would have been fairly easy to accomplish - Emerald's house had many mirrors in it, after all. Bailing would not have been the bravest response to the situation... but it would have been easy.
Maya stopped in her tracks as she walked into the kitchen. Pups and cookies scattered around the floor invoked her parental instincts. She'd worked a lot on those, and now they wouldn't leave her alone.

"Ahem." she looked at the pups, with her hands on her hips. "Are you planning on sparing some of those for me?..."

She could hear the front door opening again; from where she stood in the kitchen door, she could be seen from over there. And Twyla did see her. Maya didn't turn around; but she didn't walk away either. Bailing now that she'd been seen would have been ridiculous.

You're an actress, Ms. Morris. Act.

>>“Er..I should go, um, didn’t realize you have...erm...company. I’m so sorry, I’ll just..er.”

Yup, it was really her.

Maya turned around at the sound of Twyla tripping and falling, and sighed. She walked over to them, and looked down on the empty spot on the floor that was her high school crush.

"Well, that makes two of us, I guess." she smirked, before leaning down and pulling her up by the hand. She was good at that. She spent a lot of time around a kid who spent a lot of time invisible. "Hi, Twyla."

Turning to look at Emerald, she continued as if nothing had happened.

"Your pups just raided the cookie jar. Need some help cleaning up?"