“Kirby Hall was begun in 1571 for Sir Humphrey Stafford who was descended from the Earls of Stafford but Sir Humphrey died before the house was completed, it was later sold to Sir Christopher Hatton, a gifted and ambitious courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. The hall was originally …”

Kate watched as the houses passed and then disappeared, only to be replaced by trees. She knew that this was it. She was so close to home and it was an odd feeling. She had always envisioned coming home to be a happy occasion or an annoyed one. She had never thought it would be a sad one. She never thought that she would be coming home to bury her own mother.

She felt the car slow and stop so the driver could get out and open the gate. Kate’s mother had never bothered putting a wall and a fancy gate, Kirby Hall was in a small town and there really was no risk. The squeak of the old metal rang loudly in her ears as a horrible reminder. Dread began to fill her as the car started moving again. She was going to have to fight to keep herself together in front of the staff. This was imperative. She was the lady of the house and she had to stay strong for them.

After only minutes the house came into view. Kate could see the gray stone walls clearly over the snow covered ground. It was really quite beautiful to look at.

The car came to a stop once more and Kate waited with baited breath for the door to be opened.

((OCC the house was never finished in RL but for the purpose of Kate I am taking a few liberties with it. There is a door and windows and everythign. I swear.))

It had been a looong flight, as evidenced by the bags under Saph's eyes. He hadn't been able to sleep while moving ever since his power kicked in. Cars alone were enough to make him feel strange, being on a plane was just grueling. Everything moved so fast, and when they passed through a cloud it was like he was being groped all over. It wasn't a fun experience at all.

So, not having slept on the plane, as was customary for such long flights, Saph was cranky, tired, and definitely not attentive enough to listen to some lecture on the history of the building they were going to. He stared out the window opposite to the mansion as they pulled up, wondering if he could manage to get some shut eye. Nope... when ever another car drove past, he felt it, when ever a bug hit the windshield, he felt it. As they came to a stop, he glanced up as if being shaken from deep thought. They were here already? He didn't see anything...

Wrong side? He blinked, and turned lazily to the other side to glance over the others. "Hmm... S'abig house." It was pretty impressive. Smaller than the mansion, but lots of people lived there. This place was for one family. One. Family. Er... Well, one person, now.

That was a bummer.

"It's nice." That was all he could think of to say. He wanted to say something along the lines of, 'Got any beds in there?' But that would be a little insensitive, and while he was tired and cranky, he wasn't heartless. He knew that in times of loss, anything could get a person into a bad train of thought. He had to be careful, as did everyone.

The flight was long. Gawain's first flight ever. Because it was not really a cheerful trip, he tried his best to hide his excitement - he preferred to believe he succeeded. Still, he sat by the window, watching the clouds and the scenery below. It was truly fascinating.
He also spent a great part of the journey keeping Kate company. He knew better than to try to cheer her up; he just made sure she knew he was there for her, that she was not being left alone. Saphirus looked tired and grumpy, that was probably due to lack of sleep as well as his abilities that Gawain did not quite understand.

On the way to Kirby Hall, he went back and forth between checking Kate's expression, talking to her, and staring out the windows at the scenery. England. He was in England. Who the heck would have thought he'd make it this far.
Again, he had to keep the excitement in check. For someone called Gawain, it was pretty hard to do.

"Wow." he muttered, when they finally arrived. He really couldn't hold that back. It was not as big as the mansion, but it was... somebody's own mansion.
Kate's own.

"It's gonna be okay" he muttered, looking at her; she looked more and more nervous as they got closer. Reaching out, he squeezed her hand, before the door was opened.

>>Hmm... S'abig house. It's nice.

>>Wow. It's gonna be okay

Kate looked at Gawain’s hand and then his face. He was wrong, “No, it’s not. It will never be okay. Eventually I will learn to live with it, but it will never be okay.” Kate’s voice was so calm that it even scared her.

The door opened and there was Jensen waiting to help the young lady out of the car. She stepped out and was greeted with the sympathetic faces of what had become her family. Marie, Mrs. Davies and the rest of the staff were all there waiting in line to greet her and her companions. If she had been willing to cry it probably would have caused her to. They were all so kind of generous.

Kate looked at each of them as Gawain and Saph got out of the car behind her and her eyes fell on Marie. There was a large scar covering the entire right side of her body. Down her face and arms, the only place it wasn’t was her legs, and yet she smiled politely. What would they think of her after seeing what she had done to this woman when she was a child? After seeing the pain she had caused her.

“Everyone this is Saphirus and Gawain. They have joined Katherine on her journey home,” Jensen addressed his staff before introducing the important players to the guests, “Gawain, Saphirus, If you need anything during your stay please call on myself or these two ladies.” He inclined to the two in the front of the group, “Marie Smith, our head maid and Katherine’s Nurse Maid, and Mrs. Davies, the cook.”

Saph suddenly felt a pang of empathy for Kate. He knew what it was like to lose someone close to you. He still had nightmares about it.

Saph kept his mouth shut about it, though. He knew better than to try to make someone feel better when they were at that certain stage of grief in which they weren't meant to feel better. That, and he would probably end up just letting out a stream of babbled nonsense at this point in his sleeplessness.

The older mutant climbed out of the car, and looked about slowly. It was cold out. He wanted to get inside already. He paused as he saw the burnt girl, and quickly looked away so's not to stare. 1 + 1 meant that she most likely got those from a certain young fire starter. He was amazed that she still seemed to greet them kindly and sincerely.

"S'a pleasure t'meet you all." He looked about a little bit, and then to the house. The older mutant made a move for the trunk to grab his luggage. He knew that someone here would wanna grab it, but the zipper was funny, and he didn't want it popping open again and displaying his super-hero getup to everyone in sight.