Agnes sighed. She sat back in her bed as she listened to music that came from her clock-radio on her night stand. She was engrossed in another book that her parents had always banned her from reading. This one consisted of a boy named Percy who was apparently the sun of a Greek god. Agnes had arched her eyebrow as she read page after page before she started to grumble to herself. Three kids running around with magic powers trying to fight for forces of evil? What, was this book just Harry Potter in ancient Greek?

She mumbled these connections to herself as she continued to read. The book was interesting but she could have sworn it followed a storyline identical to that of Harry Potter. But there really was not anyone around for her to argue the point. Gina was out, though she should be returning soon, Jasmine was busy at family function tonight so calling her was out of the question, and until either of them were done with their things, Agnes had to entertain herself.

But Gina would be so happy. Agnes patted a box of Twinkies that she had bought that sat next to her on the bed. Gina would love a sweet treat like this. The gargoyle had such a sweet tooth.

Until then Agnes sampled one on her own. It really was good, but her mind just drifted away as she continued to read.

Munch-Munch

Read.

Munch-Munch

Read.

Munch-Munch

Agnes sighed as she ended another chapter but turned to page to keep going. She had not looked down since she started reading the book and that was a good thing. If she did she would have noticed that there were nearly fifteen crumpled up Twinkie wrappers all around her and the bed. The shiny cellophane gleamed in the light of the room, but none of them drew her attention.

Instead she continued to read about the Titan Cronos and made correlations between him and Voldemort.

Absent-mindedly she picked up another Twinkie, unwrapped it, and…

Munch-Munch…

Flying laps around the Mansion was like jogging laps around a track. Droll as heck, but Gina needed her exercise much like any other teen might need their cell phone. She flew as far and as hard as she could, relishing the state of her healed wing, until she was too tired to fly. At which point, Gina looped back toward the roof. It was far too much work to go all the way down to ground level, go inside, then run up to the girls' dormitories. Much simpler to land on the roof.

Once her feet were firmly planted on the ground, Gina jogged towardthe stairwell and hopped down the stairs into the main building. Only partially paying attention, the gargoyle found her way back to her dorm room. There was a momentary fuss the key, the door clicked open, and Gina went in.

Her roommate was reclined in repose on her bed, nose buried in a book.

"Hey Aggs, where's the fire?" Gina greeted absently, bumping the door to their dorm shut with her rear-end. Gina meandered over to her wardrobe, fished out a change of clothes. With fresh clothes in-hand, she looked over at her sister...

And spied the remnants of a Hostess Twinkies massacre spread out around her. All those poor mangled wrappers that once sheathed those innocent Twinkies, expanding around Agnes as if the freaking box had exploded.

"You, uh, hungry, Agnes?" Gina inquired hesitantly, moving closer to survey the wreckage. Was everything okay with her and Jasmine? Was she depressed? Gina couldn't think of any other reasons that somebody would unrest such an incredible amount of Twinkies...

Agnes quietly continued to read as she found herself munching on another Twinkie, the wrapper discarded…well…somewhere. At the moment was too busy reading to pay any attention to where “one” discarded wrapper went. Instead she read on…even when she heard the sound of the door being opened up. She knew that had to be Gina but so she didn’t bother to suddenly jump up to see what was going on. Instead, her sister could wait until she was done reading this chapter…

>> "Hey Aggs, where's the fire?"[/i]

“Hiiiii,” Agnes absently replied as she found herself growing more and more engrossed in her book.

She took another bite of the Twinkie in her hand and sighed as she heard Gina fluttering about the room, messing around near her wardrobe. But as she heard those sounds, suddenly it stopped and a silence fell over the room. She knew that her sister was not one to suddenly grow silent for no reason so gently Agnes tilted her book to the side and blinked when she saw that Gina was staring at her with a look of complete and utter surprise on her face.

She looked almost comical to the point that Agnes wanted to laugh, but she didn’t That would be rude. There was still Twinkie in her mouth.

Once she was done chewing she arched a brow as she looked directly at her…

>> "You, uh, hungry, Agnes?"[/color]

“Huh?” Agnes replied as she sat up and set her book down on the side of the bed. It was only then that she heard the sound of several cellophane wrappers crinkling in protest. Looking down in surprise, she eyed the wrappers that were practically forming a short blanket over her legs and started to brush them off. “What…the hell…?” she asked herself.

Agnes looked left and right but no, she was not imagining things, those were definitely all wrappers from Twinkies but…no…there was no way she could have eaten ALL of those…right? Mutely she picked up the box and saw that it was at least half-empty. This was a little jarring for her because she knew that when she walked into her room the box had been unopened. And she had only plucked out one to eat…right? She then turned to look at her fingers and saw that there was quite a bit of yellow sponge cake covering her fingers. But…she didn’t remember eating that much…

“I…I only had one…” she whispered in surprise as she looked up to Gina. “I swear I only remember picking up one…”

>> “Huh? What…the hell…?”

Apparently this wasn't intentional, then. Agnes looked freaked-out, and Gina was definitely concerned. That was a lot of Twinkies to tear through and not even notice.

>> “I…I only had one… I swear I only remember picking up one…”

Gina inclined her head. She only remembered eating one? Then how did the other ten-or-so wrappers get there. Gina rubbed her arm absently, looking for some sort of rational explanation for this.

"Maybe... you... fell asleep?" Gina suggested, "Or went into a trance? I once fell asleep while writing an essay, and when I woke up, there were squiggles all over the page... like I tried to write on auto-pilot or something." Which was true. Gina had done that before.

Gina nodded, quite content with her answer. Now, for the pieces to the puzzle, "What book are you reading? Is it a boring book?"

Because, if it were boring, then the mystery was solved-- Agnes fell asleep reading, and ate a load of Twinkies in her sleep. Gina leaned over to get a better look at the book as Agnes replied.

Agnes didn’t mean to freak out but for some reason she really was. Did she really eat all those Twinkies? She looked around the bed and those wrappers just seemed to be laughing at her, as if they knew something that she didn’t know. That’s what irritated her the most. She hated the idea of having lost time. Maybe the book really was just that interesting, but seriously? Enough to make her forget that she ate over 15 pastries? She sighed as she stood up and just stared at all the wrappers.

>> "Maybe... you... fell asleep? Or went into a trance? I once fell asleep while writing an essay, and when I woke up, there were squiggles all over the page... like I tried to write on auto-pilot or something.”[/i]

Agnes shook her head. She didn’t fall asleep though. She remembered being awake, she remembered reading every word, but she couldn’t remember eating more than just one Twinkie. Was some mutant teenager messing with her? Was she seriously having a mental breakdown. She sighed as she listened to her winged sister attempt to calm her down and find and explanation.

>> "What book are you reading? Is it a boring book?"

The cover the book showed a kid in a orange shirt, standing in a body of water and holding up a bronze sword. It was called The Lightning Thief and it was only of those teen book best sellers about children who were the sons and daughters of Greek gods. Agnes was only reading it because she had finally finished the Harry Potter series and a classmate of her’s had suggested this book series as well.

But Agnes gnawed on her lip as she shook her head to Gina’s question.

“No, it’s pretty good. A little too close to the Harry Potter type books, but it’s good nonetheless,” she said with small grin.

She sighed as she started to calm down and began to clean up the Twinkie wrappers. She collected them all in her hand and began to crumble them up together before she headed over to deposit them into a trashcan. She needed to keep calm…

“Maybe…Maybe I really was that hungry,” she said with a sigh. She then glanced to Gina and offered her a small smile. Shaking her head she tossed the book onto the bed. “That…is seriously the last time I bring you Twinkies…” she said in mock-blaming of her little sister…

>> “No, it’s pretty good. A little too close to the Harry Potter type books, but it’s good nonetheless.”

The Lightning Thief? Yeah, not a book that could be classified as boring. There went Gina’s theory. Well, darn. Agnes began to pick up the wrappers, and Gina just stood there speculating.

>> “Maybe…Maybe I really was that hungry. That…is seriously the last time I bring you Twinkies…”

“Yeah, really, really hungry,” Gina laughed shortly. And, when Agnes threatened to no longer buy her Twinkies, Gina feigned offense, “Augh, you’re going to hold out on me?! No fair!”

Keeping with the charade, Gina walked briskly into the bathroom and closed the door only partially, so that they could talk if Agnes had anything more to say. It wasn’t that Gina was shy about her body, it was just that changing in and out of clothes was an awkward feat when it came to all of the accommodations that she made for her mutation. It was quite the spectacle to behold, and Gina hated making a spectacle of herself. With well-practiced efficiency, she peeled off her exercising clothes and shimmied into a pair of pajama-shorts, and a camisole. She wasn’t going anywhere for the evening, so this lounging attire was fine.

Outfit changed, Gina gathered up her dirty clothes, strode back into their room, and deposited the dirty laundry into the hamper unceremoniously. Gina then flopped onto her bed, stretched in a slightly catlike fashion, and then went slack once again, draped lethargically on her bed and wearing a faint smile.

“So… can I have a Twinkie?” she requested politely, fluttering her eyelashes in a theatric plea. Seeing all the poor cellophane husks had made Gina want to join in the fun, so now she was kind of craving a Twinkie, too…

>> “Yeah, really, really hungry…Augh, you’re going to hold out on me?! No fair!”

“Yup! I’ll eat the whooooooole box without you,” she said with a grin. “That’ll show you.”

Agnes smirked as she stood back and watched as Gina “stormed” off into the bathroom to change out of her workout clothes. She knew that her sister was not really mad at her, so she didn’t chase after her and apologize. Instead she only giggled as she finished cleaning off all the wrappers from her bed, as well as stray crumbs that lingered on her blankets. Once all of it was cleared away, she sighed as she once again reclaimed her spot on the bed.

As she sat back, she sighed as she fiddled with the book. She was beginning to second guess picking it up again now that Gina was back. But on top of that, part of her was still a little freaked out. Maybe it was the book that made her eat so many Twinkies? Did she just get too into the story that she really didn’t notice her putting each one of those spongy, cream-filled treats into her mouth and chewing on one after another until she had gone through fifteen?

But could she really blame the book? To be honest she should have known better but Agnes wanted to stop thinking about it. So, she tossed the book aside and sighed, absentmindedly, as she reached over and plucked out another Twinkie, unwrapped it and began to munch on it as she became lost in her own thoughts.

Really? What could have made her eat so mu--

She paused as she looked down. Was she REALLY just eating another one?

Just then, Gina returned into the room and deposited her clothes into the hamper before she made her way back to her bed. Agnes smirked as she watched her settle in.

>> “So… can I have a Twinkie?”[/color]

“Please, don’t let me eat another one. ” Agnes said thankfully as she took another bite of the latest one she plucked out of the box. Setting the carton next to Gina on the bed, Agnes sighed as she wandered back over to her own bed and stretched out on it. “How’d you’re workout go? The wing feeling better?” she asked honestly with concern.

>> “Please, don’t let me eat another one.”

Agnes passed Gina the box, and Gina pulled it over casually. All she could think was, Lord, lead me not into temptation—I can find it myself. She fished out a small package of Twinkies, and closed the carton that they came in, fairly certain that, given the opportunity, she’d consume far more than necessary. Gina set the carton aside, behind her, where Agnes would literally have to reach over Gina to get at it. Don’t let her eat another one? Gina could do that…

“Thanks,” Gina hummed contentedly, peeling the wrapper off of the Hostess treat, before taking a bite of it. Why did junk food have to taste so good?

>> “How’d you’re workout go? The wing feeling better?”

"The workout was good," Gina assured her sister, propping herself up on her arm casually. Physically, it had done its job-- she'd flown laps around the building. Sure, she'd been hyper-aware and paranoid as Hell the whole time, but the physical exercise had felt good. And that's what Agnes had asked about. It was a pity that Gina was scared to take to the skies, and she wasn't even venturing beyond the perimeter of the park that surrounded Xavier's, "And the wing felt fine, too-- the scab's finally healed, so, everything's in working order."

The DocProf had healed Gina's shoulder to the point that there was no more than a warbling scar, a feat which had not only taken the hospital, but a second visit a few days later. The wing had been left to heal on its own.

Agnes relaxed in her bed as she sighed and began to munch on the last Twinkie that she had taken from the box. Stretched out on her bed, she propped herself up as she looked over at Gina. That whole incident where she got shot really freaked her out to the point that one day, once Gina returned home, Agnes tried to ban her from ever leaving the room. That only lasted about an hour before Agnes finally had to concede and let Gina out. She realized she was being unreasonable.

But that did not mean she did not worry about her precious little sis. She did care about her a great deal and even though she knew that Gina knew that, she hoped she would never forget it.

Though it still made her nervous that Gina went out flying, she didn’t want to see Gina’s suddenly begin to live her life indoors. That was simply not who she was. She loved her too much to allow that to happen. So, though she feared for her, Agnes encouraged Gina to fly whenever she could.

She hoped one day that Gina would feel comfortable enough to fly further away than simply circling around the mansion.

>> "The workout was good…And the wing felt fine, too-- the scab's finally healed, so, everything's in working order."

Agnes nodded with a smile as she consumed the last bit of her Twinkie.

“Thafffs goff toff hearff!” she said with a grin, soft and spongey pastry partially chewed in her mouth. She quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment. She finished chewing the last of it and swallowed. “Sorry,” she finally said with a laugh.

She sighed and then her stomach rumbled. Why did she feel so hungry? She eyed the space where that box of Twinkies she had given Gina were head. Another one sounded…REALLY good right now. Casually she stood up as she gently maneuvered over to Gina.

“You know, I think that I’ll have just one more,” she said beaming. “Then I’ll call it a night, I swear…”

>> “Thafffs goff toff hearff!”

Gina shrieked with laughter, burrowing her face against her bed as Agnes absentmindedly forgot that she had food in her mouth, "Oh geez, Agnes!"

Say it, don't spray it, Aggs. Agnes swallowed down her mouthful of Twinkies, for when she spoke again, she was speaking coherently.

>> “Sorry.”

Good God, Agnes was certainly bizarre tonight. There was a mumbled, "It's cool," from Gina, but she kept her face firmly pressed against the bed. That is, until she heard a little growl and the shifting of weight as Agnes got up off of her bed. Gina looked up, arching an eyebrow.

>> “You know, I think that I’ll have just one more. Then I’ll call it a night, I swear…”

"Agnes, you told me not let you have any more," Gina said warningly. Agnes had already torn through more than ten Twinkies. She really didn't need any more. It was unhealthy. And, joking aside, Gina was concerned because of her sister's intake of Twinkies.

Gina didn't curl her tail around the box, though she was sorely tempted to-- she hoped that her gentle reminder would be enough, or perhaps her unyielding gaze. But if neither of those worked, and Agnes just went on trying to eat yet another Twinkie, Gina wouldn't stop her. She would talk to Miss Taylor in the morning, though.

Agnes eyed the box of Twinkies that sat behind Gina. As much as she knew she should not have any more of them, for some reason the taste that was left over in her mouth from the last one she had was simply so tantalizing and sweet and she was having a hard time controlling herself. She didn’t know if it was the sugar rush that was overtaking her brain from all the Twinkies or whatever, but for some reason the idea of a Twinkie was REALLY good right now. Odd, considering that she had eaten…what…sixteen or so of them now.

But still…her mouth salivated at the thought…

She really…really wanted one now. She licked her lips lightly as she skittered from side to side, looking at the box that Gina had behind her.

>> ] "Agnes, you told me not let you have any more,"

She pouted. She really did say that didn’t she?

She sighed as she huffed back onto her bed. Why did she have to go and make Gina promise something like that? That was just too silly and too much of a waste of her time. She is an adult, she should be able to have self-control in order to keep herself from something she knew was obviously bad. She should not have to employ her little sister in order to aide her! That was just silly. They were grown, young women…

With a breath of relief she nodded as she stood up again and moved next to Gina.

“Thank you, my sister. Thank you for being strong for me,” she beamed innocently. Then…she casually cleared her throat. “We should celebrate this symbol of our convictions over a Twinkie…”

Subtle Agnes…reeeeeeal subtle…

Agnes withdrew to her bed, and for a second, Gina believed that she had won. That had been far easier than she thought it was going to be. Silly, silly Gina-- the battle was not yet won. Agnes got up once more, side-stepped antsily, staring at the Twinkie box, and Gina found her resolve slowly crumbling beneath the weight of discomfort.

>> "Thank you, my sister. Thank you for being strong for me. We should celebrate this symbol of our convictions over a Twinkie."

Gina wasn't going down without a fight. Her facial expression became that of a sweet, little gargoyle who meant business, and her tone adopted something very closely related to disbelief.

"Really, Agnes?" Gina breathed, "Really?"

She hated to say no, but it was something that had to be done, "Agnes, you already had easily fifteen or more Twinkies. I don't think you should have anymore tonight."

Gina didn't say no outright. Just that she didn't want Agnes to have any more. Her disbelief melted into a tone that was generally only used by young parents when they were vetoing some harebrained scheme that their five-year-old child had hatched up.

Gina watched her sister closely, her tail now protectively yet lightly constricting around the Twinkie box, for there wasn't a doubt in the fifteen-year-old's mind that Agnes might make a grab for it. It was like dangling a juicy, red steak before the nose of a starving dog. Except, it was Agnes, and a box of Twinkies. Yeah, they were definitely paying a visit to Miss Taylor in the morning.

The tone was pleasant, the words were nice, and Agnes was all ready tasting that next Twinkie on her tongue. After all, there was no way that Gina could deny her charms, no matter how blatantly obvious the suggestion was. Gina wouldn’t mind sharing in one of them with her as a victory treat. There were times when Gina had a bigger sweet tooth than her! No…there was absolutely no way that that was going to fail…

>> "Really, Agnes? Really?"[/i]

Mission. Failed.

>> "Agnes, you already had easily fifteen or more Twinkies. I don't think you should have anymore tonight."

Agnes narrowed her eyes as she watched her sister closely. It seemed that the young gargoyle was going to be hellbent on denying those tasty, spongey, cakey, goodnessy treats from her. Well, she did ask her too, but still! The nerve of actually following through with it! Who does that? But she knew she was going to have to tactful. She was going to have to be sneaky. She was going to have to be…

Gruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmble…[/b]

Agnes went wide-eyed as she held her stomach. That was not the sound of an upset stomach, but the sound of a stomach that desperately wanted food, that had been starving and needed to be filled or she would not live. It was also an embarrassing sound and made the runaway circle her hands against her stomach.

She turned, eyed Gina closely. She…wanted…a…Twinkie…

Agnes thinned her eyes at Gina, at which Gina merely arched her eyebrows, before thinning her eyes back with a similar amount of scrutiny. What the heck was going on with her? Gina stared, her frown growing as the stare-down commenced. Gina was good at stare-downs. The part of her tail that wasn't clasped over the box spasmed lightly, as if she were a cat getting ready for a face-off.

And then, Agnes's stomach let out a really loud snarl, which broke the attention of both girls.

Freaking. Incredible.

Agnes had just inhaled that many Twinkies, and she was still hungry?! Either that, or the Twinkies were about to turn on her and start a revolution. Agnes grasped her stomach to silence it, and fixed Gina with a look that could only be sufficiently described in two words.

Crazy eyes.

Oh, sh*t.

Gina didn't care who you were, when your sister and best friend gave you a look that seemed to scream hunger bordering on psychosis, you bent to their will, no matter how much it pained you to do so.

"Geezus, Aggs," Gina mumbled, forfeiting the Twinkies with emphasis. She picked up the box with the hand that wasn't propping her up, brought it around her, and dropped it into Agnes's possession, "You're freaking me out."

Gina laid down in resignation, watching her sister carefully. She had what she wanted, so hopefully... hopefully, no more crazy eyes...

Agnes eyed Gina…and eyed the Twinkies. She didn’t know why they were so important right now. All she knew was that she needed to have them. And she was going to have them at any cost necessary. For some reason they were the end all, be all of her life; the answer to all of life’s problems, the only thing that mattered to her. If it were possible to worship them, Agnes probably would do so. But she managed to maintain enough control and keep her mania focused entirely in her eyes.

Manic, crazy eyes…that she managed to drift towards Gina.

Gina was a smart and perceptive girl. She saw the darkness in her eyes, the craziness that she was trying to maintain, and most of all she knew not to mess with it.

>> "Geezus, Aggs…You're freaking me out."[/color]

The box of Twinkies was dropped in front of her. Success!! But…at what cost? She looked up to see that Gina had not flopped back into her own bed and was staring at her with a mixture of concern and irritation. For that second Agnes felt bad. Like, truly bad. She did not set out to irritate her sister that much but for whatever reason Gina seemed to be both angry and disappointed in her.

Agnes frowned and looked down at the box of Twinkies. It was just a box of Twinkies! What was there to get so angry about?

But as she thought it, she paused and had to grumble to herself. She plucked out one, only one Twinkie and tossed the rest of the box in the trashcan near Gina’s side of the bed.

Standing, she figured it was probably best she didn’t incur her sister’s wrath and mutely made her way back to her own bed and lay down, her back towards Gina. Quietly she unwrapped the last Twinkie and took a bite. It was soooooo good and there was absolutely no way she was going to stop eating it, but that did not mean she didn’t feel bad…