(continued from Snap)

Clyde had been walking for some time when he reached his destination. It might have calmed him down a little, but he was still pretty upset about what happened at home, and now a bit exhausted, too.

He stared at the building through the bars of the gate. It was big that was for sure. And probably very elaborate. It must have been an understatement when Regan said it was nice.

But something seemed off. It looked rather dark, both inside and out, despite the fact that it probably wasn't quite midnight. Additionally, he couldn't see any people moving around. Since the Mansion housed a lot of people, he'd expected it to be a lot livelier at that hour. Was this even the right place? He looked at the slip of paper he was holding. Weird, this was the address he'd found. Was it wrong?

Hesitant, Clyde stood on tiptoe, reached up and pressed the buzzer next to the gate. He apprehensively waited for a response. What if no one answered? Then where would he go?

It was rather late, but that didn't mean no one was up. One man in particular, Dave as he was known, was halfway through the night shift when someone appeared at the gate. Normally he would have used the intercom to question whoever this fellow was, considering the time, but from the looks of things this... eh... this was a special case. This was no grown man or woman strolling about in the dark; It was a kid. A young kid too, from the image he was seeing on his monitor. Quickly, he used his intercom to let the kid know he could come in, slapped the button that would open the gate, and went about making the grounds safe while the kid was out wandering around on them.

Inside and downstairs, one sleep addled gorgon was slumping toward the kitchen in no particular hurry. She'd had another nightmare which had woken her up and left her unable to drift back to sleep, and that meant it was midnight snack time.

Her snakes were fortunately still wrapped up in the arms of slumber, which was both a relief and very annoying at the same time. Why did they get to sleep like that, huh? Why not her?

Just as Clyde was getting worried, he heard someone speak to him over the intercom, telling him he could enter. With that, the gates opened. Clyde tentatively looked around, then walked right in. He could see the patrolman following some distance behind him. Seeing as he kept on pointing his flashlight towards the edges of the grounds, he appeared to be more concerned about there being someone coming onto the grounds. What was going on? Were they worried about the riots? He guessed that made sense.

The age shifter shivered a bit as he walked closer to the towering building before him. His pace quickened; he needed to get inside, where it was warm.

He stopped at a large pair of doors. This mansion was a lot to take in, for sure. Then again, everything that was going on was all overwhelming. He'd heard a few stories about this place, but it wasn't as if he'd had his own experiences. There was no knowing what to expect. He was just some guy who'd walked over there on a whim, no phone call for notice nor anything of the sort. Oh lord, what the heck was he doing?

Slowly, he raised his hand to the door. With it, he rapped three times.

Knock
    Knock 
         Knock


Andrea paused, halfway through the entry room, and turned sleepy eyes toward the front doors. Who was knocking at this time of night? The Greek glanced around, even turned and look the way she had just come, before resuming staring at the door. 

Was she allowed to let people in at night?

... No, wait. What a silly question. What if someone had gotten locked out or something? 

What if it was someone wanting to do the school harm?

"... Poppycock." She muttered, shooing away the dark question from her mind. Whoever it was, they had to have made it past the gate first, and what kind of villain would knock before doing evil deeds? 

Still, she crept slowly toward the door, and hesitated briefly before gripping the handle. At first nothing greeted her shielded gaze, but a second later it dropped and she noticed... a child? "Oh dear! Do come in, please. It's terribly dark out there!"

What was a little boy doing wander around outside by himself at such an hour? Andrea couldn't fathom an answer. All she noticed was his small stature and the dreadful expression on his face, before she dropped herself down to his level. "Are you alright? What on earth were you doing out there in the dark?"

She couldn't recall having ever seen him around before, but... well, that wasn't a surprise. She spent most of her time either at work, cooped up in her room, or with her face shoved in a book. One child could easily pas by her without her noticing at all.

The door creaked, and Clyde took a few steps backwards. His eyes grew wide with a tinge of shock as he looked up at the woman in the entryway. Her skin tone appeared off; it looked greenish. At first, he thought it might have been the poor lighting, but as soon as she brought herself down to his level, he could see something very strange about her hair. It... had snakes. That wasn't normal; she was without a doubt another mutant.

He recoiled a bit, not due to her appearance, but because she was asking him questions he didn't really want to answer. He stammered out a reply, “I-I'm not injahed. I... I heard about this place, that it was fo mutants, so I walked-d heah.” God, he was sounding like such an idiot. The whole time, he was shaking. He fought to keep it minimal, but it was still there. Maybe he was cold or exhausted. Or, perhaps, as much as he hated to think, he was nervous.

Her heartstrings were sufficiently tugged. The twenty three year old nodded and replied with a smile, before lifting her gaze and squinting over his shoulder. She couldn't see much with her glasses on, but a dim light was bouncing around in the distance. She knew it was mostly likely the patrol, just checking things out... but that knowledge didn't stop her from dreaming up dangers that could be lurking in the shadows.

Standing, she stepped out of the way and motioned for the boy to come in. "You heard correctly." The poor thing sounded nervous, is not frightened. The Greek was forced to ignore her base instinct to scoop him up in a bear hug. Most tended not to react positively to such things. "How about we chat over milk and cookies, hmm? You must be freezing, would you like a blanket?"

IT was easy to forget that just because she was always cold, it didn't mean others were as well. Still, it had to be more than a little chilly on the walk over from wherever he had come from. She motioned in the direction she had been headed before he had captured her attention, and took a few slow steps toward the kitchen.

Hearing that this was indeed the right place in words, even though all signs pointed to it, brought a small amount of relief to Clyde. Still hesitant, he stepped inside. The wave of warm air was actually pretty inviting, though that probably was because he'd been outside in the cold for the past few hours. He wasn't quite sure what to think of this place. Sure, the woman in front of him seemed nice enough, but the high level of security was a little disconcerting. Were they that worried about mutant haters?

“Okay...” his voice trailed off in response to her offer. Milk and cookies weren't really his thing; they were far too childish, but he was hungry. Come to think of it, he'd barely touched his dinner, so that probably explained it. “I'm not cold, though.” His gaze wandered back outside to see that the patrolman was still securing the area. “Is something going on heah?” It had him wondering, because this was supposedly a welcoming place, and this person was being welcoming.

Glancing at him briefly, and then back toward the door, Andrea sighed. "Precaution, mostly. There are a number of children and teenagers who reside here, after all. With all the trouble that has been circulating lately, it is best to be prepared, even if nothing should happen. That, however, is something to discuss another time, no?"

She smiled, trying to calm him as best she could, and offered a gloved hand to him. "I am Andrea, what is your name?" She headed toward the kitchen, having heard no complaint about cookies and milk.

"And, if I may ask, what brings you here so late?" It was still a little mind boggling that he had walked to the school. When she had been his age... or at least looked his age, she hadn't so much as been able to step foot outside in her backyard after dark.

Trouble? Oh yeah, the riots! It made a lot of sense, this being a school filled with mutants. Doh, why didn't he think of it earlier?

Gingerly, he reached out and shook the hand the woman, who called herself Andrea, offered him. “Clyde,” he answered. As he took his hand away, it hit him how peculiar it was for someone dressed the way she was to be wearing gloves. He wasn't going to question it, though.

Clyde followed Andrea towards what he assumed would be the kitchen, glancing around the Mansion's interior. Needless to say, it was pretty impressive. But the awe didn't last long. He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard Andrea's question. Clyde couldn't think of anything better to do than look down at the ground and mutter, “I... don't want to talk about it.”

She paused at the doorway to the kitchen, one hand in the process of pushing the door open, and glanced back at him. Instead of meeting his statement with more questions, she simply smiled and nodded. "That is alright, Clyde. There is no need for you to speak of anything uncomfortable. You are here now, and all that matters is that you are safe, and soon you will be full as well."

She knew exactly where he was coming from, in some ways. A vast majority of her life had consisted of not speaking about anything, either because it brought her great discomfort, or because it would have a negative effect on others.

The Greek held the door open for the boy once she entered the kitchen, before heading over to raid the cupboards. "Are you tired? After we eat, I could show you to one of the guest rooms, if you would like. Then, tomorrow, you could sit down and chat with one of the faculty members. They know much, much more than I."

She turned back to shoot a questioning glance at him from behind her glasses, cookie jar in hand, and then headed toward the fridge to collect the milk.

A little relieved that Andrea wasn't going to force anything out of him, Clyde walked up to a table and dropped the backpack he'd been towing around next to a chair. He took a seat. “A little...” he muttered.

Well, actually, a lot. Just sitting down made him want to fall asleep then and there. He barely caught himself before he nodded off.

Wearily, he raised an eyebrow at Andrea. “They'd let me stay? I didn't even call oh anything befoh coming. They weren't expecting me,” he said, confused. “But I guess I do need a place to crash, so that sounds like it'd work for now.” Clyde didn't particularly want to try to sleep with so much that he needed to work out, but what she said made sense.

Once she had collected a glass for each of them, she set the snacks and drinks down on the table and sat with him. "It is a little surprising, no? I reacted a similar way when I first came here. It was hard to understand how some people can be so inviting, while others only want to push you away." The Greek nudged his glass toward him, spotting the signs of wariness even through the dark shade of her glasses. After procuring a cookie for herself, she pushed the jar towards him as well.

"That was... gosh.. three-- four years ago now?" Time really had a way of sneaking up on people. "Anyway, the day I showed up it was dark out, not as late as it is now, and it was raining I think. I must have looked a fright soaked to the bone and shivering, but I was welcomed in with open arms and shown a kindness I had never experienced before." Those were very fond memories, in fact. She held them very dear to her heart in order to remind herself that no matter how dark the world could be, there was still some light.

"It is strange, though... how quickly this place turned from being a school, into a home." She mused, temporarily lost in her own thoughts. She caught herself after a moment of staring off into space with a silly smile on her lips, and shifted her attention back to the boy across from her. Sloth chose that moment to yawn and peek his head out from her curtain of hair, flicking his tongue lazily at Clyde.

"I am sure that whatever you are looking for, you will find it here." Dunking her cookie into her milk, she let it soak for second and then popped it into her mouth.

The age shifter listened to Andrea's anecdote as attentively as possible. Her story of how she came there somewhat stunned him. It sounded strikingly similar to this, except it hadn't been raining for him. He took a couple of bites out of the cookie before speaking.

“Wow, um... I don't know what to say. I-I guess it's good to heah that they ah so welcoming,” he said. The thought of this place as a home... That seemed far off to him, but at least this was shelter.

Just as Clyde was about to take another bite, he found himself looking right at a white snake's face. Before Clyde realized it was Andrea's, what remained of the cookie dropped to the floor. Simply put, hair snakes were not something Clyde was used to seeing.

“Anyways, the school heah, I take it they teach through high school?” he tried to change the subject, hoping his startled reaction went unnoticed.

Smiling warmly, she listened to the boy and sipped her milk. After his last question, she nodded her chin slightly and reached for another cookie. " They do indeed."

She hadn't noticed Sloth moving, or any of the other snakes for that matter. But, as the conversation went on, each serpent awoke. Curiosity was a powerful thing, and when it came to Andrea's seven snakes, they were ripe with it. Almost child-like in a strange, creepy way.

To Andrea, the sensation of having them in her hair was a constant thing, and thus never surprised her anymore. Neither was she surprised at peoples reactions to them. Maybe that was why Clyde's initial shock went completely over her head.

The dropped cookie, though, didn't. Food was important, after all. Without waiting, she stooped to pick up the fallen treat, then stood and moved to get some napkins.

"You can talk with one of the teachers here tomorrow, if you would like. All of them are very nice, and informative. What grade are you in now?"

Clyde sighed in relief. Luckily, Andrea didn't appear to notice his embarrassing surprised reaction.

“Okay, I'll talk to them then.” He was exhausted, so waiting for the next day was probably the better idea. This was going to be an even bigger change than when he moved from Boston. There was so much to take in.

Clyde sighed when Andrea asked him about his grade level. He'd walked right into that trap when he asked about the school. There was no use telling a lie about it at this place; people would figure it out soon enough. He was going to have to explain his mutation to her.

“That's the thing... I'm almost finished with my juniah yeah.” He looked down at the floor. “I'm... nearly seventeen.”

This was all the fault of his dumb mutation. It was lousy, pathetic. And, despite how useless it was, he still had the mutant label. Why couldn't it have been something better?