Amelia dialed.

She'd made peace with Gawain. He'd earned himself a pardon with his story. Lucky dog. But in all the talking and hugging, they hadn't made any further plans. This mistake, Amelia wished to amend.

The phone rang. Gawain's cellphone. Amelia waited for the voice on the other end. She was quite surprised by what she heard.

"Hello?" A female voice said. It sounded like Maya, Gawain's 'twin'.

Amelia only let the call fall into silence for a second. Why was Gawain's sister answering HIS cellphone that she'd given HER the number for? It didn't make sense. Unless, of course...

"Hey," Amelia replied with a friendly tone. "It's me. Ami. Is Gawain around?"

>>Hey. It's me. Ami. Is Gawain around?""

She picked the phone up by reflex before she realized it. Or maybe it was her unconscious telling her to deal with stuff she did not want to deal with. Anyway, there was no graceful way out of this anymore.

"Oh. Hey Ami." she quietly facepalmed "Nah, Gawain's out as usual. Left his cell as usual. Gotta ducktape the thing on him huh."

Yeeeeah. Right.

"You wanna leave a message for him?"

"Nah," Ami smiled. "Don't want to make you his constant message-taker. I can always call him again some other time. By the way." That brought her to her next point. "I think we got off on the wrong foot the other day. Do you want to meet up today and hang out? I dunno. Do stupid girl stuff? I mean, if I'm going to be dating your brother, I might as well get to know you."

Fair enough, right? She didn't want Maya (if that was her real name) to be all put off whenever they talked. It would be good to make peace with the girl. If she was a girl. And maybe dish about Gawain. Or test her to see if she was actually a girl, and not Gawain.

Evidence kept pointing to the crazy, see? And when all possible options are eliminated, what's left is the impossible. All the possibilities hadn't been eliminated yet. She was workin' on it.

Hopefully, Maya would bite the bait.

>>"Nah. Don't want to make you his constant message-taker. I can always call him again some other time. By the way. I think we got off on the wrong foot the other day. Do you want to meet up today and hang out? I dunno. Do stupid girl stuff? I mean, if I'm going to be dating your brother, I might as well get to know you."

Well, damn.

"Ummm...." Maya considered the offer for a long, long, loooong moment. On the one hand, she would get to hang out with Ami and find out more about her. On the other hand... well, damn.
It did present a temptation though. Just like playing with fire. And there was no graceful way of refusing it.

"... suuuure, I guess." she sighed "Why not. Where do you wanna meet?"

I'm doomed.

"I'll get my brother to drive," Amelia said casually. "Pick you up outside the mansion front gates?"

She waited for a response.

"Cool. See you soon."

Now, all she had to do was blackmail Aurum into driving her places for the day. Luckily, she knew he was living with a woman and hadn't told his parents about the exciting new development.

Man. Manipulating brothers was child's play.

About 40 minutes later, they were at the front gates in the family van.

Maya was standing at the Mansion gates, leaning against the fence when the van stopped outside. Uh-oh. It was obvious Ami was not driving the van. Which could only mean one thing...

... let's hope the brother is not bright enough to see the similarities. Even though Maya was safe from older brothers, the Gawain side still couldn't help but be a bit freaked out. Older brothers. Urgh.

"Hey" she grined cheerfully at Ami as she got into the van. She grinned at the borther too. "Hey. I'm Maya."

"Aurum," He nodded to Ami's friend. Then, he looked to Ami.

"Mall." She said.

Mall, Aurum understood. Amelia turned to Maya in the back seat as started to talk as Aurum pulled the van away from the mansion and onto the main roads.

"This should be fun," she smiled. "Hope you brought some pocket money. I'm thinking about shopping for some clothes."

>>"Mall. This should be fun. Hope you brought some pocket money. I'm thinking about shopping for some clothes."

When did I turn into my girlfriend's girl friend? Urgh...

"Sure" she smirked "I need some new clothes anyway."

And at least they would lose the bir brother. Big brothers did not go shopping with little sisters and their bff's. Or at least she really hoped not.

Once at the mall, they did dump the big brother. Oh joy. Thing were looking better now.

"So... what are whe shopping for?"

"Clothes," Ami said, as that covered everything. She turned to the van behind them and waggled a cellphone in her hands, shouting "By the way! Thanks for the phone, bro."

"Hey! Give that back!"

"I'll call you when it's time to come pick us up. I release you from your duties." She said. And then, snickering, she stuffed the cellphone into the pocket of her hoodie and vanished with Maya into the mall where vans could not follow.

Aurum pulled away, phoneless, rollin' his eyes.

"By the way," Amelia turned casually to Maya. "I've been meaning to ask. Do you have a boyfriend?" Point blank, she asked away.

>>"By the way. I've been meaning to ask. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Maya blinked. And blinked again.

"No, umm... nah, not really."

Damn.
Might just leave it at that. This was dangerous territory. For a gender shifter.

"So... I hear my brother visited you after all. Didya kick his ass?"

Small talk. Works every time.

>>"No, umm... nah, not really."

Excellent! There would be no reason, then, for her not to try and set the girl up, situation pending. If an opportunity arose.

Maya was all-too-quick to change the topic away from that, too. For the moment, Amelia let her.

"Actually, no." She replied. "Somehow, he escaped my wrath. Not sure how. He didn't knock." She chuckled.

Oh wait. Yeah. She had slapped him, hadn't she? That had just slipped her mind.

>>"Actually, no. Somehow, he escaped my wrath. Not sure how. He didn't knock."

"He usually doesn't" Maya smirked as they walked "He gets away with stuff like that. Boys, huh."

It was actually true. Somehow, for some reason, Gawain could always get away with things. Maybe because he hung out with girls most of the time.

"So, we're looking for clothes" she decided, looking around at all the shops "All right. Anything specific?"

>>"He gets away with stuff like that. Boys, huh."

"Boys," Amelia confirmed with a mild nod.

She looked to the clothing shops as Maya drew their attention back to the task at hand. "Hm." She held her chin thoughtfully. What did they want to buy...? Well, it was getting close to Winter time, it being September and all, so bathing suits were a bit odd to want to purchase. She was set on most things, didn't need to buy anything girly. Shirts and pants were usually a good bet. She wasn't really a dress girl.

"Never can go wrong with a good new t-shirt," she commented. "Oh look, there's a shop there." A finger rose to point towards a Warm Subject shop with a cardboard cutout of one of the actors from a popular teenage romance movie about werewolves and vampires. Some goth girls with facial piercings were coming out of the shop. "Kidding." She alleviated any of Maya's immediate concerns with a smirk. "I think there's a Macy's around here, somewhere."

She looked around. It didn't take long for them to spot it at the end of the hallway. From there, it was only a short walk away.

Amelia looked thoughtfully at a pile of hip t-shirts with brand names from food and retro references embellished on them. She glanced towards Maya, holding a Green Torchlight shirt up.

"This'd look good on you," she noted with a smile.

"Never can go wrong with a good new t-shirt. Oh look, there's a shop there."

Maya looked. And frowned.

"Yeah, I'm dying to have my blood sucked by skinny emo guys" she noted. Thank God Ami was kidding. It would have been the first negative trait she had, if she had been into that stuff.

Macy's, now that was much more managable.

>>"This'd look good on you,"

Maya arched an eyebrow at the Green Torchlight. She just had to make that reference didn't she.

"Yeah, well, I'm a superhero on my own" she smirked, tilting her head "I've always wondered though how people come up with those names..."

"Oh?" Amelia tilted her head curiously. "You're a superhero, too?"

Just like Gawain, huh? Funny.

"What's Gawain's superhero nickname, anyways?" She asked casually, picking up a blue an red shirt with a big S on the chest. She looked it over as they talked.