It felt so nice to be out in the city. Twyla had been back in New York almost a week but she’d been keeping to herself at the Mansion, spending a lot of time in her room and avoiding the awkward questions of ‘why are you back?’ and ‘where were you?’ that came along with returning to the school. She spent a lot of time in cities while she’d been traveling but there was something special about New York City. Sure, Los Angeles had been nice and she’d enjoyed the sun in California but there was something about the dark streets of the Big Apple that said something special to Twyla Ashby. They asked her to prove herself, told her she wasn’t getting anything free, and gave her the chance to test her abilities.

Or she was blowing the feelings of coming home way out of proportion. She had been reading a lot of Romantic Era poets lately…that probably had something to do with how grandiose she was feeling the city to be that afternoon. Brown eyes looked up at the tall edges of the buildings towering over Central Park. So maybe Manhattan wasn’t really the part of the city that wanted to test Twyla, but it was the most familiar area. The blonde had gone for a run earlier that morning and had found that even after the exercise she was restless. It was a Saturday so the school had been especially quiet. Twyla had tried to stay in her room a little while longer but the feeling drove her to the nearest subway entrance.

It really was nice to be out and about. Her hometown had less than 1,000 people and she’d been staying at home since last October so it had felt odd at first, being in the crowd on the subway train. Soon the blonde found that she enjoyed the anonymity. At home everyone knew her business—which is why she had to leave in the first place. New York City didn’t care who she was or what her genes said about her, at least not in its day-to-day. If she caused trouble it would give a crap but until then she was just a faceless passerby. It felt like freedom to Twyla.

Her stomach gurgled; maybe it was time for some lunch. Twyla adjusted her green leather jacket and headed for the nearest park exit. The boxes that her parents had shipped out hadn’t arrived yet so the young woman was low on clothes. A sister school tee shirt had been shoved into her mailbox by someone and when Twyla found it that morning she decided to wear it. A free tee shirt was a free tee shirt, even if the school logo was being advertised on her chest. The rest of her outfit was pretty typical of her sense of style.

I want a coffee and a sandwich… She thought to herself, gazing at the ‘walk’ sign and willing it to turn into the little running man. For a Saturday there weren’t a lot of people in the queue for the crosswalk. Maybe it’s the weather? The day was overcast and the clouds kept threatening to mist on any pedestrians planning on enjoying their weekend. Twyla blew her bangs out of her face and impatiently glanced at the sign again…

Darcy stomped down the street, her shoulders hunched over, her arms crossed around her like she was hugging herself. She was distraught and angry, definitely angry. She had looked up to her brother and now he'd gone and blamed her. Blamed her for the early death of her dad. She hadn't even known he had died. Her curly locks slid in front of her face, masking her frustrated tears from the world, though being New York, most of the people wouldn't even blink. She missed Ireland. In Dublin, there was a sense of community, a sense of family. Now she didn't even feel like that with her real family.

Darcy turned a corner, she didn't really know where she was headed, she thought about going back to the mansion and hiding out in her room, but she found being out in the sun more relaxing, and she didn't really want another reminder that she wasn't normal, that what she is, affects everyone she loves. She was hideous, a beast..a..

She looked up at the sound of squealing breaks and a sound of a horn. In a split second she managed to catch a glimpse of a red man, the registration plate of a car. She had stepped out onto the road without checking and now she was going to pay the price. Glued to the spot, she scrunched up her eyes and waited for the impact.

((solo thread about arguement with her brother is still to come, I'll tag it on here when I've done it))

If Twyla hadn’t been staring at the sign so intently she might not have noticed the girl before it was too late. Brown eyes glanced down to see a girl about her age angrily stepping off the curb and then to the right to see the lights of a car. Now, walking signal rules were flexible in pedestrian heavy places like New York City. If the flood of people was large enough traffic stopped to accommodate them. Every city was different with its unwritten signal rules. Twyla used to have a good handle on NYC but was rusty for obvious reasons; despite this she knew in that momentary glance that the other girl had made a mistake.

“Hey! Watch--” The blonde didn’t finish her sentence before she was in action.

Common sense told her that this was stupid. Bravery and stupidity were closely related, right? The smart response to such a thing would be to do some yelling, wave your arms around, and look properly disgusted and terrified when the girl got ran over by the car. Lately Twyla had been reevaluating her life choices—what she did after her half-hearted call of warning would be added to the List of Things to Think About.

The blonde was in front of the queue so she simply dove out into the crosswalk. Twyla barely reached the girl before the car was in the place she’d been on the street. The forward momentum of the blonde’s sprint propelled them both out of harm’s way. They hit the pavement hard, half on the sidewalk and half on the street. The car squealed to a stop. The light of the walk signal changed to the running man. Twyla looked down at the girl she’d basically just tackled.

You know it’s odd, usually I’m the one that needs…er, saving. The thought surprised the blonde. What a novel idea, not being the one in trouble. Not, of course, that she hadn’t just done something as stupid as her usual antics (that resulted in making her a damsel) but that she’d been stupid in response to something. Twyla flicked her bangs from her eyes and tried to roll off the brunette as carefully as possible. The man from the car was yelling at them but she paid no attention. He wasn’t important, just background noise.

“Are you okay?” Her voice was calmer than she felt as her nursing instincts took over.

Darcy felt the impact she excpected, but it was not from the oncoming vehicle. Someone crashed on her side and launched them both to the opposite pavement. Darcy felt like all the air had just been knocked out of her as she hit the concrete floor. She fell awkwardly and a pain knifed its way up her right arm. She gasped in a mixture of relief, shock and pain.

She could hear someone yelling in the background, and a small huddle of people had appeared surrounding her and her savoiur with words of worry and some with curiosity.

She looked up at the face of the person who had saved her. A woman, around her age with blonde hair looked back at her with deep concern. She smiled and winced as she sat up. "I'm...I'm fine she said breathlessly, partly to the woman and partly to the group of people gawking at them both.

As she stood up shakely, the onlooker's started to disperse, "thanks," she said honestly, "I can't believe I just did that....err thanks she was still a bit dazed, but mostly ok, just a few bruises.

Twyla noted that the crowd around them seemed to disperse a bit after it was apparent that the show was over. It made sense to the blonde—in a city like New York everyone was always heading somewhere. They lived a go-go-go lifestyle that needn’t be disrupted with witnessing accidents. Besides, no one wanted to be caught outside in the threatening weather—what if their curiosity about the girl who almost got hit by a car caused them to get rained on? No, that certainly wouldn’t do.

The young woman appreciated the lessened noise. She could hear the other girl when she sat up and assured her that she was ‘fine’. Brown eyes narrowed in concern, she probably shouldn’t have let her sit up so quickly. Oh well, there was nothing to be done about it now. Any damage the girl would receive from getting tackled by Twyla had already come to pass…hopefully.

Then the girl stood up. Twyla scrambled to her feet, arms out to brace the girl if she fell. Again she was assured that the other girl was okay. The blonde gave her the warmest smile she could manage. The adrenaline rushing out of her left the quirk of her lips rather weak like bad tea. She was internally freaking out. “Of course—couldn’t just let you…” Brown eyes trailed to the car that was parked near them. She cleared her throat to wave the threat of being run over out of their conversation.

“It was just an accident—I’m glad that you seem okay.” Twyla looked again to the irate driver of the car that had almost being the tool of injury. “What do you want to do about him?” The twenty year old was not used to playing this end of the hero game and she was left unsure what the next logical step would be. Did they call the police or let things slide? The girl hadn’t gotten really hurt—did that change anything, especially considering the fact that she’d basically walked in front of the car in the first place.

Twyla bit her lip and ran her fingers through the blonde hair that had gotten tangled with her little stunt. She looked up at the sky and noted that at any minute they were going to get drenched in a spring rain. Sometimes you could just tell when it was going to rain. Her stomach gurgled and Twyla wished again for that sandwich and coffee. Hopefully she’d manage to get inside before she got too wet. Once again she adjusted her open jacket, revealing a flash of the school logo underneath.

Darcy smiled apologetically to her saviour. She felt really guilty as she brushed herself down. The girl asked her what to do about the driver who was scowling at them from his car but hadn't come over. "oh, it was my fault really, although he probably deserves it... she hadn't got used to how rude people were in New York. She waved her hand to show the driver that she was fine and that he could go. The guy pulled his hat down and pulled off without further notice.

Darcy rolled her eyes at the girl before taking a surprised gasp. The girl had a t-shirt on with the mansion logo. "Hey, you're a mutant!" she said loudly, regretting it immeidiatley as a few people turned to look and a sharp pain shot up her side. she lowered her voice. " I mean, so am I, I just moved in..