(continued from)

When Leon had been told about the Mansion he didn't believe it was as big as they said, but looking at it now he has been made into a believer. As they stood at the foot of the gates he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, this would be the moment that made or broke the day. He would finally be able to know if his parents actually cared to ring ahead and make sure he would be fine. 

But before all of that he had to press the nice little buzzer. As he pressed the buzzer he looked into what he could only assume was the camera, after all what buzzer would be complete without a way to look at the person who has buzzed you, "Um, hi. Yeah not really sure how this all works but we are here for a room? there's another guy here as well, and he's also here for a room." He said putting on his best professional voice and face. One of the pro's of going to a high class school like Eton was the fact that you had to have a good professional face, but under the circumstances of the day he wasn't sure if he looked professional or a nervous wreck. 

Well that went well...I think. He thought as he looked plainly ahead, he hated this time in any situation. The awkward silence that came after any form of offer, or question. As he stood waiting he started to look around just to check that no-one was coming up behind them, and to check that James and Serena had not walked off leaving him to deal with this alone. Not that he would mind doing the whole meet and greet alone, He was like that he loved having freedom and independence, which was one of the reasons that he went to boarding school.

This was different though, there was no independence in this situation, there was just the fact that he had to stand here, waiting for someone to greet him and James into there new home. So there he was waiting for a reply from the buzzer.

Serena smiled as Leon walked up to the buzzer, he seemed eager. Serena was surprised when they picked up pace and beat her to the buzzer. She walked up behind him as he pressed the buzzer and announced himself.

She wasn't really all that surprised at the level of professionalism he conveyed in his voice. After all, he had come from Eaton. Which was considered to be rather high class. She herself, had been born in London. It was sad, even though Serena still retained her accent strongly, she could barely remember the place by this point.

She peered over Leon's shoulder and pressed the speech button on the intercom again, looking into the camera. "Serena Anne Rivers. I have two mutants with me who have come here to join the school, can you open the gate please." She quickly smiled.

The person on the intercom responded quickly and got them into the grounds. Serena got the feeling that the person controlling the gate was glad that a student was with Leon and James, it made things much easier as they didn't need to be carefully inspected. After all, the city was in chaos.

She smiled to the two of them "Right, we should get inside and see if we can find a member of staff. It's not too late so it should be relatively easy, I think I remember where Gemma's office is, I'll see if we can find her." Serena smiled reassuringly to the two of them.

When they reached the gates it began to dawn on James just how big the mansion grounds were, this added to his growing nervousness at the prospect of living somewhere new. James waved sheepishly at the camera as Leon declared their presence and that they needed a room in a surprisingly professional manner.

The butterflies in James's stomach started to go haywire as Serena had them passed through but her reassuring smile calmed them down a little. "Right" he replied to Serena a little nervously "Urm, lead the way I suppose"

Looking around at the size of the place really blew the initial mental image of the mansion out of his head. It wasn't just the grounds but the size of the mansion itself. In his minds eye is had appeared as being only slightly larger than the usual big house, however it looked as if it had considerably more floors that he had even considered. "Wow...this place is...Big" he commented dumbly to nobody in particular.

Well, living here would be crazy...i wonder how big the rooms are. James had quite a lot of stuff and had been worrying that he wouldn't be able to fit it all in, now he wasn't worried in the slightest.

School year at Xavier's was nothing like school year at any other school Gemma had ever worked in. At the same time when normal schools were wrapping up the semester and students were planning their summer vacations, the Mansion experienced an influx of new kids, for no apparent reason whatsoever. This year, with the recent riots and mutant unrest in the city, the numbers were even higher, for a lot of people sought shelter at one of the last mutant havens in New York.

"I'll be right there" Gemma answered when the person on gate duty called her in her office. Serena had brought in new students. Gemma was glad she had found her place in the Mansion and felt comfortable enough to recommend it to other people. She had not opened up to her as a counselor, but this was a small step in the right direction.

Gemma met the group of kids in the lobby and greeted them with a smile. The two guys trailing behind Serena seemed impressed with the Mansion.

"Hi Serena, I hear you brought some friends." she smiled at the girl then turned to the newcomers "Welcome to Xavier's. My name is Gemma Taylor, and I am the schools guidance counselor. Among other things. Nice to meet you both."

The inside of the building was as impressive as the outside, as impressive as it was it still made Leon feel slightly home sick, well home wasn't the right word for it. It more reminded him of his dorm building at Eton than his actual home. He was instantly drawn away from admiring when a woman started to talk to them.

After she had finished her introduction it felt right to Leon to do the same. "Hi i'm Leon the one from the buzzer. And I must say pretty nice place you have here." He said with a smile. But as ever there was a second thought behind the primary. A guidance counselor so I guess not ever one here is...stable. He thought to himself, it was understandable that some people did not take mutants well or being one well. Especially if the mutation was visible and limiting. But Leon did not think that he would need to see her much, he knew what he was going to do and the path he would take. And he didn't mind his mutation. 

"Oh sorry where are my manners." He said shaking his head slightly, then he started to move forward holding out his hand to indicate a hand shake.

Serena froze as Gemma approached and then gave the woman a wide smile and then nodded to her. "Hi there, Gemma. And yes both of these two needed help finding the mansion. So I helped them." Serena gave the woman a very warm smile indeed.

As Leon warmly greeted Gemma and moved forwards to offer the woman his hand, Serena stuck out her arm slightly to stop him before her entered her field. "Hey Leon, wait a sec..." she smiled sweetly.

She turned to the two of them and smiled at Gemma, making sure she was out of Gemma's range. She then spoke up. "Gemma is special, powers don't work around her and I'm telling you this as I've seen it effect people in strange and sometimes unpleasant ways, including myself."

She gave all of them an innocent smile. She really was worried that they might have some adverse side effects. After all, her mutation didn't look like one which would have bad side effects in an adapted's field... Yet it did.

After James and Leon follow Serena into the building his impression didn't change. The place was just as nice indoors, much nicer than his mothers house in terms of...well everything really. In the Lobby they met up with a smiling woman who introduced herself as Gemma Taylor. Her friendly demeanor calmed down James' nerves a little, allowing him to relax visibly. He could feel his muscles release their awkward tension and the fluttering in his stomach die down.

James was about to introduce himself at the same time as Leon but was cut short by Serena's warning and her arm. Only just managing not to bump into Leons back as he stopped. James stepped to the right  so that he could talk properly and introduced himself. "And I'm James"

The idea that Gemma had some kind of mutation which made other mutants suffer ill effects was a new one to James. He had obviously considered lots of other mutations people could have but most of them had been rather simple, nothing strange like this one. He considered it for a moment, as far as he could tell his mutation didn't have any passive effects on him. Other than making him tired after using it that is...so why would it effect him at all? He could kind of understand Leon having a bad effect, after all he HAD just eaten cigarette ash and James was fairly sure normal people could NOT do that.

Deciding that it was probably better to find out if it did anything as soon as possible and deliberately, than find out unexpectedly James stepped around Serena and moved closer with his hand out, imitating Leon's offer for a handshake.

>>"Hi i'm Leon the one from the buzzer. And I must say pretty nice place you have here... Oh sorry where are my manners."

Gemma smiled but did not offer a hand - Serena acted faster than she had expected, and blocked the young man's way. Gemma was still not entirely sure what the girl's powers entailed, but they obviously did not benefit from being nullified.

>>"Gemma is special, powers don't work around her and I'm telling you this as I've seen it effect people in strange and sometimes unpleasant ways, including myself."

"I was just about to say that" she nodded with an appreciative smile to Serena. She was going to make a good mansion greeter if she stayed around.

"I am what they call an adapted human: I don't carry the X gene, but I have an aura that nullifies mutant powers. The effects depend on what those powers are. Because of this, and because of safety in the school, I have to ask every new students about their abilities. We'll get to that in a minute. For now, as I said, welcome to the Mansion, we are happy to have you both here. And thank you for the help, Serena. I'll take you to the office to check you in, and then we can take the tour."

An adapted? Leon had never heard of that and quite frankly didn't like the sound of that one bit. In his mind without his abilities he would feel vulnerable and slightly scared. But as ever he was slightly curious as to what would happen if his mutation was nullified, he did have some idea as to what would happen and it wasn't a pretty thought.

 He noticed that the woman that called herself Gemma, or maybe miss Taylor would be more suited for this situation, did not take his or James hand. So he pocketed his hand to avoid an awkward moment, he didn't blame her for it and didn't take it as rude. After all if she could nullify powers by being around people, not shaking their hand would seem more polite.

"Oh yeah Serena's been a massive help tonight, helped save me from some muggers and led me here."  He said with a small smile on his face, thinking on it he wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for her so he really did owe her allot. 

The fact that they would have to take note of James and his mutations did make him a bit apprehensive after all what happened if he wanted to leave? Then they would be left with a list of his abilities that maybe he wouldn't want them to have.

Serena smiled as everyone absorbed what she had just said. Adapted took some getting your head around. She didn't quite understand herself until she first stepped into Gemma's field the night after she had lost her older brother.

She gave a grin as Gemma thanked her and everyone seemed to be getting along. She really liked Gemma. She was a Councillor who helped mutants constantly everyday, Serena could only imagine the number of problems she had to deal with on a daily basis, yet she still managed to be perfectly friendly all the time.

Serena's face went slightly red at Leon's compliment... She reckoned she should probably head to her dorm and get some Biology work done... Yes that seemed like a suitable escape from further red facedness.

She nodded and smiled at Gemma. "Yeah... So You two should probably be okay now with Gemma and I have uh... Work to do... Later!" Serena nodded to Gemma and then went straight to her room to get to some biology work.

James had never heard the term "Adapted" be used on the news before, butthen again he didn't really know anything specific about mutants either. Apart from the odd bit of info he had stumbled upon during his many hours surfing the web. Either way it wouldn't really make much of a difference to him if his mutation was being nullified.

James wasslightly shocked when Leon revealed that Serena had saved him from muggers. What was Serena's power? He thought she would have something seemingly harmless or...well something that matched her personality. But something that could take down a group of muggers? Damn. That's pretty crazy...Mental note, Don't annoy Serena.

James waved to Serena as she went to leave. "See you around, and thanks for showing us the way". He looked at his wrist, deciding whether he should take off his watch or not. He felt safe here and didn't see any reason why his arm would randomly turn into steel. Shrugging he decided to leave it on, besides he would probably end up walking into Gemma's field at some point while following her.

>>"Oh yeah Serena's been a massive help tonight, helped save me from some muggers and led me here."

"Did she now" Gemma arched an eyebrow as she looked at Serena. She was not on the X team, and Gemma was still not entirely sure how her mutation worked, but apparently she was brave enough to save another kid in need. Good for her. She made a mental note to talk to her later.

>>"Yeah... So You two should probably be okay now with Gemma and I have uh... Work to do... Later!"

"See you around Serena" Gemma waved and then turned back to the boys. "All right, shall we?"

She led them to the offices and unlocked the door.

"Some of the people in the school live here and study here as well. Others only come in for classes, or work in the building but don't go to school. We usually work out what is best for everyone who wishes to stay. We'll talk about that later, but you will have to understand that if you plan on visiting the premises we will need to know some basics about who you are."

Walking around her desk she turned and looked at them, offering them a seat on the chairs or the couch in her office.

"Tea, coffee, anything?"

At the mention of a drink Leon perked up slightly, it had been quite a while since his last drink his best guess at a time would have been the airport.  "Tea, if its not to much trouble." He said happy that he would be able to get a drink.  He was slightly worried that Serena had left but he still had James so he wasn't at a complete loss of people, although he would be able to see them around and about later.

When they where told that they would have to have a basic understanding of who they where he was at a loss, what did they mean by who he was? Did they mean his abilities? His personality or behavior? It was quite simply an overwhelming prospect for him to get his head around as he wasn't used to thinking in such wide terms. It did make him think about himself in more of an inquisitive way. Wondering about his traits and what defined him as him, eventually this very quick mental evaluation of himself ended and he thought best just to ask.

"That's fine, just ask away anything you need to know." He said with a smile wondering if they would have these talks about themselves in private, or weather they would learn more about each other as he would sit in on James, and James would hear his. More interesting would be the kinds of people they are and what answers they would give. James seemed alright but he was more than a bit curious if James was hiding something behind that metal of his.

He realized that this whole time he had been standing up, so he decided to take up her offer of a chair and sat down on the couch. Thinking that having comfort may be better as they could be here for a while.   

James sat down on the couch next to Leon, glad of somewhere to sit after having been wandering around for the past couple of hours. After sitting down he only just noticed how much his legs were aching and the mention of tea was a glorious one.

"A cup of tea would be great, Thanks". James hadn't had a cup of tea all day and it was just what he needed to help calm down his currently fragmented mental state. Answering all the questions Gemma had for him wasn't a problem. Admitting that his mother had just kicked him out in a mad rage of anti-mutant hatred, however, was going to be quite embarrassing. Let alone infuriating to talk about, but as usual James would deal with it and attempt to put a good face on it. The good thing about being at your lowest point is that it can only get better from there. He had told himself that continuously throughout a large portion of his life and had come to believe it.

Either way it would be good to find out more about Leon and to see if he would openly admit to his situation, rather than deny it like James had been doing himself early in the months of his estrangement with his mother.

Gemma smiled and walked over to the desk that held the tea kettle, boxes of filters, and a colorful array of mugs. While she busied herself with making tea, she glanced at the boys.

"Well, I already know your names" she said. She could tell both of them were still kind of confused by the Mansion, and not completely comfortable with talking about themselves just yet. "I told you that I'll need to know about your mutations, and we'll talk later about what you would like to do in the Mansion. But I realize that this all can be very overwhelming at once. And I apologize for the interrogation. We have had... well, since the riots, we want to keep the school safe, that's all."

The water was set up to boil, and she handed the box with the filters to the boys so they could choose a flavor.

"But, in return, I promise I'll also answer any question you two might have. We can start with that if you want."