Recent Posts

"No place quite like home." Twyla smiled at Gawain and rolled her eyes as images flooded her mind of what it would be like if someone like the teenaged boy came back home with her. 'Hi mom, by the way, this is my girlfriend--tomorrow she'll be my boyfriend. Is this cool with you if she stays here?' I think mom would crap herself. Twyla decided as she pictures her mother's round face becoming the tell-tale purple color that meant she was upset. A good plan to keep in mind... Not that they were anywhere near meeting parents or anything, it was just a funny thing to imagine.

"I think they'd be able to smell it on you before they even looked at you." Nate grinned at Henri and Twyla nodded her head in agreement. "And then, when they couldn't find a Kelinsmith nose or Skrede ears they'd mark you as Not-of-This-Place and treat you like an important guest until they got what information they needed for their rumors. Little old church ladies are vicious and Trempealeau county is full of them." The man screwed his face up in a serious mask. "They'd eat you alive if you said the wrong thing."

"He speaks the truth." Twyla nodded solemnly.

"On that note." A creaking sound erupted from the floor as Nate pushed his stool out so he could stand up. Grabbing the jar of pickles, he closed them and carried them to the fridge. "There's no place like hotel. Twyla I still need to get unpacked and everything after my flight." He turned back to the group. "It was nice meeting both of you." He walked over to the brunette and patted her on the shoulder before walking over to the boy, holding his hand out for a shake.

"Um, I guess I'm gonna go with Nate back to the hotel then, guys." Twyla stood up as well and deposited her apple core in the garbage.

The other girl, Susan, made the comment about not heading towards the door--but it was too late, Twyla had reached it. She was probably very right but it was the only obvious way out and Twyla hadn't really thought, just sort of walked across the room on auto-pilot as her mind tried to sort itself out and come back into the moment. Just don't think about it. Focus on what you're doing, not what you've done. It's not about who you are, just what you're doing. The girl was about to try the handle when she was pulled away from the door by the wolf girl wordlessly. She half stumbled but managed to stay on her feet near Gawain, who she did not look at. She was afraid of the look she'd find on his face.

Twyla watched with morbid fascination as Emerald's arm morphed into something gigantic, shoved through the door like so much rice paper, and returned to its normal state. "I'm glad you feel better." Her tone was dull--more auto-pilot. "No worries, your method is much...more exciting." When her arm expanded, the wolf girl's shirt ripped further, revealing deep scars all along her arms and shoulders. Twyla had no idea what they were from and she winced on the inside when she tried to imagine what someone had to do to gain so many marks. Poor Emmy...The urge to hug was there, only it was overshadowed by the urge to survive. They needed to get out of the house first, before she could process anything or offer any kind of comfort to anyone. Plenty of time for hugging later.

"They are wrong about you guys, and they are annoying, so just ignore them, all right?”Emerald said. No comment. Twyla kept her eyes from everyone else's and said nothing.

The wolf girl's next comments made the blond look at her. No way, no how was Emerald going to think something as terrible as that. "If they weren't right about us, they were wrong about you too, Em. That's mega bull spit and I know part of you has to know that." There was some emotion in her tone but Twyla's main focus was to get her words out without showing anyone she was shaking. Her friend walked out into the hall and then everything happened so fast.

A giant hand. Some thrashing.

Before Twyla knew it three of (based on the voices) them were in a cage or dungeon of some kind. She squeaked when she landed and then slowly sat up. Emerald was obviously worse for wear, she cried out in pain after she sat down and her tone sounded much more worried than the girl had ever heard it--not much worry, but enough to remind Twyla to be worried. She smoothed back her hair as she got a better look at their cage, and it was a cage. It smelled bad but at least there was light although there wasn't any obvious ways out. Oh, and they were missing one of their party. Gawain's question echoed her own thoughts. Where did Susan go?

"I thought I had a compact..." The girl trailed off as she patted down her pockets. "It's in my bag...which is upstairs. Of course." Twyla sighed and tipped her head back, banging it on the bars so that her sigh became a groan.

"The world is your oyster." Twyla held her hands out in a large gesture with a smile on her face. She didn't like the idea that Henri's plans were being derailed by her genetics. "That's kinda a funny saying, isn't it? What if someone is allergic to seafood? I wouldn't want an oyster if it was going to make me break out in hives or something." Random tangent but the girl was trying not to think about the other girl's worries. No, there was no way she wasn't doing what she wanted to do because it just so happened that she could camouflage herself. Nope.

"You'll do whatever you want to do with your life because it's what you want to do with it." A brighter smile and a pat for Henri's hand. Those things were much too big to worry about at the moment. Much, much too big. Definitely things to be worried about...eventually. There was a time and place for everything...eventually.

Nate was sitting back on his stool and looked like he was half brooding. He kept glancing at each of the kids at the table, seeming to study each of them periodically as his brown eyes traveled around. The fingers on his left hand drummed slightly on the counter but he didn't say anything. His eyes were neutral and his mouth was a straight line--revealing nothing. Even Twyla wasn't sure what he was thinking, they didn't talk about her mutation much or what it meant for her. It was amazing how good they'd gotten in their short phone conversations at picking distracting or safe topics.

It seemed like Henri was embarrassed about what she'd said and wanted to change the subject. Twyla shot another smile her way, this time a comforting one, and then tried to oblige her. She thought of that night in the park. "Maybe Central Park isn't ready yet...I guess I didn't think of what I was going to show Nate now that he's actually here--I was more concerned with him getting here." Her mind wandered off, trying to plan the rest of the week.

"I just want to see more of the city." Nate finally replied quietly. "This is the farthest away from home I've ever been and I want to see as much stuff as possible." His straight-line mouth morphed into a half circle smile.

Getting out was pushed from Twyla's mind when the house began to shake. She noted that Emerald was freaked out a split second before Gawain and the wolf girl backed up into the desk. Everything in the house seemed to be shaking and the girl watched in numb confusion as a painting on the wall danced wildly on its nail. There was something hypnotic about the movement and Twyla was still staring when she was grabbed by the hand and pulled back towards the desk. She almost screamed but then realized that it was Gawain who'd pulled her closer to him and a sense of hesitant comfort filled her from his warmth. She'd be okay as long as she wasn't alone. They'd be okay. Everything would be okay--

“Aww, little puppy..."

Twyla had forgotten about the mutants in the commotion caused by the house shaking. Of course they weren't going to be okay, what was she thinking?

What the creepy voice was saying didn't make very much sense. Is she talking about Emerald's ex boyfriend that Ruby was talking about? She thought back to that morning in the living room. She couldn't remember all of what the little fox girl had said but she was sure that the two were connected. Bringing up bad boyfriends=not cool. It was obvious that Emerald was really upset and that flared a bright jet of anger inside of the blond. Her face screwed up into something emulating the wolf girl's look from before the voice began and she pulled away from the boy for a moment (but still held his hand) to get closer to her friend. Her free hand wrapped itself around the taller girl's shoulders in a modified hug and she fiercely whispered into her ear: "You're not the one in jail. You're stronger than this, Em, and I can name plenty of people that love you, myself included." The hug was quick and Twyla was back against Gawain's side in time for Emerald to call the owner of the creepy voice a b*tch.

The anger was not as fleeting as her comfort. It flared up higher when the laughter echoed again in the room. Any fear that she'd had was replaced by the urge to scream and punch someone in the face. It was a strange sensation and very unfamiliar to Twyla. Maybe it was the urge to protect swelling up inside of her.

“Now let’s see What are you, my dear boy, or should I say “dear girl?”..."

"Don't you dare..." Twyla mumbled angrily at the same time the the boy holding her stopped mid-sentence as images of Maya and Gawain materialized in the room, similar to the ones Emerald had face. It was his mom. They were using his mom against him. Twyla pulled her eyes away from the images to glue them on the boy that closed his eyes and told the voices to shut up. There was nothing to say to that, but the girl managed to pull herself closer to Gawain to try and convey all the empathetic, angry, and comforting things she was thinking and feeling through her touch.

When they said something about 'love' he opened his eyes and Twyla turned again to the images they were creating. He loved her...since that first day? She totally missed all the other words that went along with the next images as her mind got stuck on that one track. Something warm filled her stomach but it wasn't anger this time and she looked up, to see the blush spread across Gawain's cheeks. Her eyes were faraway, trying to make sense of her overloaded brain.

The plan was to say something--anything to make up for all the terrible things that the voice just said but then the game changed...

“Now, we focus on the coward of the group..." She didn't even need to hear the rest of the sentence before she knew who the voice was talking about. Her attention became fixed on the voice and the images and she felt cold all over, despite being pulled closer to Gawain. She wormed her face away from his chest so she could watch herself run from everything.

The only reason Emerald and Gawain had to go through their own versions of emotional torture was because of her. They wouldn't have been in the house at all if she wasn't so stupid. This was all her fault. Oh my god...that's so...I'm so...This is all my fault...

She went stiff and pulled away from the boy when she saw the ghost of the monster from the park. Her eyes were as big as dinner plates when all of the things she'd been thinking were thrown back at her and affirmed with real examples of her stupidity and cowardice. All the things she'd been thinking, all the nightmares, everything she didn't tell anyone about were there in the study--plain for everyone else to see. Now Gawain, Emerald and the other girl could see and would know that Twyla Ashby really was a pathetic coward.

I'm so pathetic. It was a confirmation and now the girl felt empty and totally detached.

The other girl's name was Susan and Twyla only half heard everything being said to her. She was focusing on making herself disappear and she was half succeeding, her legs and almost her entire torso were the colors of the study. Pathetic. Worthless. This is all my fault. Twyla barely noticed the burning smell and she jumped when Gawain yelled. The girl felt disoriented but she managed to turn back to the group after taking in the glowing door. Anger flared up again--she'd gotten Em and Gawain into this mess but she wasn't going to let anything else happen to them--or the stranger Susan either for that matter. Twyla was pathetic but she didn't have to act like she was.

The door out of the study was the obvious way out and Twyla made a beeline for it, covering her mouth with her shirt to reduce her smoke inhalation. When she started to turn the knob she turned back and said in a loud but raspy (due more to emotion than anything) voice: "I think it's unlocked--" But I could be wrong...

Dream-walking was indeed a kicka$$ power, no doubt about it. The possibilities of things that could be done in someone's dreams were endless. It seemed like it would be fun to be able to do whatever you wanted without any real world repercussions--falling asleep at random moments aside. She watched with interest as yet another door appeared to, she assumed, transport her back to the dream loft and whatever waited for her there. "Thanks." The girl replied with a smile after the door finished appearing.

"Of course I'd remember Cthulhu..." The blond muttered under her breath to the question that was probably rhetorical anyway. It was a knee-jerk response and she hoped Brain wouldn't take it personal. It was fascinating, if a little creepy how the man simply created a snow globe and included a tiny version of the clay monster--it all came back to how cool his power was. Elation filled the girl when she realized that the rest of this night, at least, was going to be scary clay-thing free. A blush tinged her cheeks when he said that she and some of her friends defeated Cthulhu.

"It wasn't me, I didn't do anything but make things worse for everyone--the other kids and a few adults were the real reason Central park is now Cthulhu free." She smiled, but a pit was forming in her stomach. Twyla didn't want to talk about it--it made her feel all sad and pathetic on the inside--so she jumped ahead. "So I guess I'll see you, maybe, if you ever decide to check 'this' place out, okay? Um, thank you for...helping me in my nightmare, this was a nice change of pace." The girl avoided thinking about the bile in her stomach or anything but holding her hand out for a good-bye shake.

Twyla Ashby was tired. Very, very tired. It was the kind of tired that wasn't from lack of sleep but from sheer mental exhaustion. Sleep had been coming easier for some reason. Maybe because she'd been pushing herself extra hard in class lately and had even managed to bring her grades up to levels higher than they'd ever been back in Wisconsin. The only negative side effect--she was really tired. it was the middle of the school day and she was ready to be done.

It didn't help that the library was unusually calming during her free period. The soft noises and the dim-ish lights were making it the perfect place for a good nap. And a highly misplaced nap it was, seeing as she really needed to get the chapter she was reading done before class later that day. They were having a quiz or something and she was on an 'A' streak that she wanted to keep moving.

It was very hard to read about dead kings when your eyes refused to keep themselves on the page. I want a nap..." Her brown eyes focused on the window and she watched the rain (one of the lulling noises) trail down the pane in little rivers. I like that noise...maybe I should get up and walk around...that might help. So Twyla, on her own advice slowly stood up and like a zombie risen from the grave she began to slowly stumble around the aisles of the library, searching for brains or whatever it was that zombie girls searched for.

Walking about, it seemed, didn't accomplish much. A nap was coming on whether she wanted it to or not or whether she was sitting or standing and the girl fought her drooping eyelids, unaware of the direction she was walking. "Ow." The blond hit her hip on the sharp edge of a table but continued to half-sleepwalk around the large room.

Nate cocked his head to the side and half stared down half stared at Gawain, who was blushing and moving the subject along. Twyla didn't really notice the blush, she was too busy twisting the stem off of her apple and staring at her hands. Soon they were covered in sticky apple juices and the girl resisted the urge to wipe them on her jeans--she'd just washed them the night before, it didn't make sense to dirty them up. Examining the apple helped keep her mind focused on other things than the lump that was threatening to crawl up her throat. Nate's eyes slowly made their way back to his long-pausing sister and a look of understanding filled his features. Twyla noticed this, but that was because she heard him clear his throat.

Before he could make a sound the blond was up and looking with a big smile on her face. "I'm sure after my class graduates all will again be well with the world...and the team." A small giggle. "Maybe when I'm older I'll coach or something, dance isn't something I absolutely need right now, you know?" The girl waved her hand as if to push the topic under the proverbial rug. The gesture said she was over it.

"So since I didn't get a good answer earlier, what do you guys do for fun around here in the big, bad city?" The concerned look was gone, replaced by hesitant calm that was still half distracted by the blond sitting next to him, as Nate spoke and looked at Henri and Gawain in turn. "I know how hicks have fun, but I'm curious as to what you yahoos do." Insult to both parties, check. Way to go Nathan Ashby.

Sticky hands were starting to drive Twyla nuts so she hoped off her stool and traipsed over to the sink, turning it on and pumping some soap into her palm. Nate wasn't talking to her at the moment, he was still trying to get a feel of her friends. The girl stopped her slow washing when it hit her that there were quite a few very embarrassing stories that he could share in relation to 'having fun' back home. On the inside she winced, waiting for the inevitable blow to her ego.