Nate could sense the light pressure of Victoria touching the shadowy appendage, followed quickly by her reaction of amazement. It would be a lie to think Nate did not take some joy in how impressed she seemed to be with his mutation. Nate spent most of his life keeping his abilities under wraps, so he never missed an opportunity as of late to show off a little.

The shadow receded and Nate approached Victoria, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean to upset you, but being a mutant is nothing to be ashamed of. When you meet some of your peers, I'm sure you'll realize it's something to be proud of."

The library was impressive, but it had the unfortunate honor of being eclipsed by a moment of revelation. It was probably best to move on, so Nate spoke in summary. "So yes, any time you need or want a book, look through the library. It's very extensive and the librarian is very kind and helpful." Might as well mention Kealey before they took their leave. "Shall we move on?"

Walking through the halls in the direction of the classrooms, Nate realized a question he probably could have asked in the library while he was busy being proud of himself. "So Victoria... besides your problems with the sun, is there any other aspect to your special traits?" He figured he would go easy on the word mutation, since the girl was having a tough transition already.

Even when the shadow went back to where it came from, Victoria’s eyes remained just a little bit more open with amazement. Her big red eyes looked up at her teacher when he touched her shoulder. She didn’t feel as nervous about the whole mutant thing now. His words were calming as well as comforting. Part of her was still feeling hesitant while a growing portion was anxious to see others in the school now.

Nodding to acknowledge his description of the library she handed the book back to him. She didn’t think she needed to learn how to do self help home repair. She was interested in seeing more of her new home however.

While they walked down the hall more he asked about her specialness. He already knew about her reaction with the sun which was surprising. Was he able to read minds too? Maybe James had called them earlier or her parents. She let it go as someone had contacted the school on her behalf and looked up at Mister Holloway. She wasn’t sure if anyone had mentioned her need for blood and she certainly wasn’t comfortable saying anything about it. So, she decided to tell him something else instead. “Umm…I don’t break.” Thinking for a second she wasn’t sure that was very descriptive so she continued. She placed her free hand on her head. “I got hit in the head with a pole once and the pole bent, but it still hurt. I had to rub my head for awhile.” Her hand already doing the motion as she mentioned it.

Nate was not sure what he was expecting when Victoria shared her mutation; after months of working at the Mansion, the "never judge a book by its cover" lesson was one he kept on hand. There were larger kids with very passive mutations and there were little pipsqueak kids with enough power to blow holes buildings.

There was still something about a little girl like Victoria being invulnerable to damage that amused the teacher. The idea of a twelve year-old who could take a heavyweight champions punch reaffirmed Nate's amazement in mutation. "Well, that's certainly mighty impressive!"

The two entered the main hallway of the classroom wing. "This is where a bunch of your classes will probably be taking place. Some of the classes are pretty normal." Nate pushed open the door behind him and a standard desks and chalkboard classroom was revealed. "And then there is my classroom." He stepped to the next door over and opened his door, welcoming Victoria to a room still containing desks, but with walls surrounded by art projects, and some student mosaics on the ground with grout drying up.

"Of course, there are also some more... specialized rooms for training that involves mutations or self-defense." Was she even told that those classes would be an option? Either way, he pretty much ran through the three main types of classrooms, so he was going to give her some time to look around his classroom if she was interested.

To hear him say she could do something ‘mighty impressive’ made her feel good. Even though it didn’t take any effort on her part it was still nice to hear. The more time she was spending with her new teacher and the more she listened to him the more it helped her relax and feel more comfortable. She still had tons of anxiety from the big move as well as wondering what the other people were going to be like. But for now she was doing rather well while getting a tour.

Reaching one of the class rooms Mister Holloway opened the door to what looked like a normal class room. She had seen pictures of such places on her dad’s computer when she asked what a school looked like. “I’ve never been in a class room. My parents were teaching me things at home.”

Before she continued her teacher guided her to his class room. Stepping in she immediately smiled big. His room was so full of color. Pictures, sculptures and drawings were everywhere. Victoria walked over to one of the walls that had various creations students had made. “It’s all so beautiful!” She gently traced her fingers over a collage. “My parents didn’t really teach me any of this stuff. I learned things like math, reading, writing and I learned music from my mom.” The girl turned looking back at her teacher with an excited expression. “My mom is amazing! She taught me all kinds of things about music! We used to sing together too!” Victoria thought of her mother and the wonderful times they had singing.

Her moment in the past came back to the present after a brief moment. “Why do the students need to learn self-defense? Do people fight a lot here?”

Victoria reminisced excitedly to her new teacher, sharing her homeschooled background, her experience with lessons, and her obvious love for her mother. There was something about a student's positive relationship with his or her parents that warmed Nate's heart. It was a sad truth that plenty of terrible parents were ready to discard their children or worse when an X Gene reared its gene-altering presence, so it was all the more special when a parent showed unconditional love to their child regardless.

"I'm glad your mother and father were so supportive of you, Victoria. That's really nice to see." The topic also hit home for Nate personally after an orphan childhood and a street rat adolescence. He knew how poor a path life could take without a guiding force, so it was comforting to see that hope was not always lost.

The question for self-defense was a fair one, and Victoria seemed more curious than worried, so things were going well. "It's not really about fighting. It's about being able to take care of yourself. Not everyone realizes that mutants can be as friendly as anyone else," which was a tragic lesson the Mansion had to teach, "and we want our students to know how to stay safe. Some students even go on to take what they learn and put their talents to use for the sake of mutants and humans. But that's for another time." It was far too early to talk about the X-Men with a young girl who was still coming to terms with her mutant identity.

Nate held the door open for Victoria to return to the hallway. "We've looked at a lot of the school-side of things, but you're living here too. Why don't we go check the lounge area for residents?"

Walking around Mister Holloway’s room more while listening to him she nodded at his compliment to her parents. They really did love their daughter and did everything they could for her. That was the reason for her coming here.

By the time she rounded the room and made her way back to her new teacher he had started explaining about the self-defense classes. “But if I don’t get hurt then do I still have to take those kinds of classes?” She was genuinely curious after all she could withstand being hit by a metal pole. What could someone’s fist do?

Another portion of his statement then brought up another question. “What do you mean not everyone realizes mutants can be friendly? Do other people try to hurt mutants?” Thoughts of people hurting any of her potential friends didn’t sound very good to her. His comment about students using their talents to help sounded like a good thing. She was glad to know there were some who helped people no matter if they were mutant or human.

With the classroom door opened the girl took the gesture and stepped back out into the hallway. “Oh yes please! I’d like that very much!”

Walking through the halls, Nate placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. He was never going to be the teacher who hid the truth of the world from his students; not when the truth was very important. "Some people hurt people who are different because they're scared of what they don't know. But we do everything here to keep that from happening for bright young mutants like you." At the rate he was going, Nate was never going to have his own kid, so protecting his students could become the closest he could ever get to being fatherly. "And no, you aren't forced to take those classes. It's up to you." The school was not in the business of forcing students to become soldiers.

The end of the hallway was in sight, leading to the open lounge area and the little kitchenette attached. Surprisingly, Nate could see the glow of a television coming from the lounge. The television and other electronics powered down after the room was empty for a certain period, which meant one thing; "I guess one of the students is still awake."

Curious about which student it would end up being, Nate led Victoria into the common room.

Chase would be so busted if Gemma caught him out this late. It wasn't that he intended on being up this late. He woke up and had to go to bathroom. And after that, he was thirsty. But, rather than get a drink out of his bathroom, he opted to go to the kitchenette. And then... well, then he saw the t.v., and no one was watching it. People were always watching the t.v., but not now. It was too late. It was after curfew, and the television was available.

Chase glanced around quietly, and seeing no one, shuffled around the end of the couch and towards the television. He turned it on, and immediately turned the volume down low. The child flipped through the channels until he wound-up on a cartoon that was far older than him, and once he'd settled on the station, he folded himself into the couch, knees gathered to his chest and eyes wide. It was too late to bother with donning a disguise. Besides which, no one would be up at this hour. Except the nocturnal students, but even then, they wouldn't waste their time on-campus

When Chase heard the footsteps, rather than see who it was that was approaching, the child set his water on the table and slid forward off of the couch, attempting to pull a disappearing act under the coffee table. He didn't want people to see him undisguised. He still held the remote in his grasp, but as a precaution, he shifted, donning the Caucasian skin tone, blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, as per the usual.

The young boy trying and failing to vanish under a table was Chase, the adopted son of Gemma and Jorge, (Nate's super-best-aqua-cop-monster-fighting-buddy,) and a young student at the Mansion. As a student, the boy had taken his art class with Nate, so he knew exactly which grade level and age he happened to be.

It made the old-school cartoons on the screen more entertaining. If he was up past his bedtime, at least he had good taste.

Clearly Chase realized they were there; it was unlikely that his normal television watching position was to crouch under a coffee table. Another adult might have overlooked him, but not an adult who made a living for so long scanning for details.

Nate cleared his throat. "Well Victoria, it seems we've found one of your younger classmates. Who I'm assuming couldn't get to sleep?" Otherwise, he did not peg Chase as the latenighter.

"Chase, this is Victoria, one of our new students!"

Bright young mutants like yourself. She thought to herself. If anyone knew the truth they would probably try to hurt her. Back in her birth country they didn’t take to kindly to her ancestral blood drinkers. Why would it be different now? “I hope you’re right Mister Holloway.” Her voice was soft and just a bit louder than a whisper.

Victoria snapped her mind back to focus on what Mister Holloway was saying as they entered the lounge area. Victoria immediately noticed the television. It wasn’t a show she had ever seen, but she didn’t focus on it too much as her teacher called out someone else. Curiously the girl moved to where she could get a look at this Chase person. “Hi.”

Chase, partially crumpled under the table, felt a short-lived thrill of victory as an adult-voice addressed someone else, but he quickly lost that feeling when the familiar voice announced that they'd found him. Of course they meant Chase-- Chase was younger than seemingly everyone. It was Mr. Holloway, the art teacher, who'd found him.

"I was thirsty," Chase murmured meekly. His glass of water still sat atop the coffee table, barely touched and abandoned in a hasty flight. Mr. Holloway introduced Chase to a girl named "Victoria", of whom the boy could only see her feet.

The girl repositioned herself so that she could see him more clearly, and Chases' eyes flickered curiously. She gave him a brief greeting, which earned an almost-as-brief response.

"Hi," Chase replied, "Nice to meet you."

It just had to be a girl, didn't it? Why couldn't there be more little boys? Chase needed boys to play with, and there were already too many girls.

"I'm nine years old," Chase informed the girl, wriggling out from under the table to get a sip of water. Unlike some mutants, Chase didn't use powers to determine who was superior to who in relationships-- he was a child, and used the age-old methods of age-first, height-second in determining superiors. She was already taller than him, but maybe he was older?

Looking at the boy under the table Victoria couldn’t help but ask. “Did you drop something?” She was willing to help him find whatever it might’ve been because she couldn’t think of another reason why he was under the table if he was thirsty.

Her red eyes watched the boy crawl out from under the table and so she straightened herself up right. “It’s nice to meet you too.” Chase decided to point out his age to the girl. She wasn’t sure why but she replied back to him. “I’m twelve. I just got here.”

Nate watched as the two young children introduced themselves, finding it almost entertaining how awkward the moment would be if the conversation was between two teenagers. There was something about kids before they hit puberty that allotted them a total immunity to awkwardness, or at the very least, an inability to detect it.

Seeing a possible opportunity to remind Victoria of how varied mutants truly were, Nate, (after tousling Chase's hair,) reminded the young girl, "Chase is like us, Victoria. He's another mutant."

Nate slipped the watch he was wearing off his wrist, aware that the nature of Chase's mutation required a piece connected to Nate that could work as a template. "Chase, would you like to show Victoria just what mutants can do?" It would certainly be a stark contrast with Nate's shadowmancing.

Chase shifted his attention to Victoria as he got to his feet, shaking his head as he replied, "No, I was hiding. I'm not supposed to be up this late."

He was also undisguised, when he'd slipped under the table, so hiding was yet another precautionary move. Victoria stated that she was twelve years old, and the child sighed. She was taller, and she was older. Darn it.

Mr. Holloway ruffled Chase's hair and informed Victoria once again that Chase was a mutant just like them. Chase shifted his weight, sliding his hands into his pockets, leaning aside with a faint grin as if to dodge the touch. Not in a rude way, but in a fidgetty "just try and touch my head" little boy way. Mr. Holloway managed to tousle his hair, and Chase stood still again, looking at Victoria. Of course Chase was a mutant-- everyone here was, right? Except Gemma, but she was the mommy. The mommy had to be different.

Mr. Holloway slid the watch off and offered it to the child, and Chase shifted the gaze towards his teacher.

>> "Chase, would you like to show Victoria just what mutants can do?"

Chase hesitantly took the watch from his teacher's grasp, turning it over in his hand. Was that a real "Would you like to?" or was it the teacher's rendition of "Would you like to?" which actually meant that you had no choice? Chase slipped the watch onto his own wrist, and allowed his tendrils to relax.

He was so tired, that the change was instantaneous. He sprouted a good foot, his hair grew and turned brown, his face aged to a young adult structure. Now standing in Chase's place was a duplicate of Mr. Holloway.

Name, Stephen Walker Graves, the residue corrected Chase's thought. The doppelganger wrinkled its nose, looking down at its new form. It looked like Mr. Holloway. Are you sure? Chase asked himself. To which his mind responded, Age, twenty eight, born on April 19, 1984.

"I look like other people," Mr. Holloway's doppelganger informed Victoria, lest she didn't find that out herself. Chase looked at the real Mr.Holloway, and he offered a precautionary, "I can't stay myself in my head for very long when I'm tired."

Victoria wasn’t expecting the response she got for Chase. When he told her he wasn’t supposed to be at that time she felt embarrassed. “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say to that.

Thankfully that topic was pushed away when Mister Holloway played with Chase’s hair. Victoria smiled slightly. Their interaction was kind of cute. She could see they knew each other pretty well.

She briefly looked up at her teacher when he gave a sort of suggestion to the boy. He wanted Chase to show his mutation. Victoria got a bit nervous as she wasn’t sure what to expect. Was he going to burst into flames, or disappear maybe? The possibilities were too many to think of so she just watched and waited.

Before she knew it she was looking at Mister Hollow…wait…wasn’t she standing next to him? Yup! He’s right there! Her face contorted with bewilderment until it was explained to her by the former little boy. Once she realized what he said her red eyes widened with amazement. She was starting to get the idea that she was in for many more surprises in this wonderful place.

“That’s amazing! So you have to have something of theirs first?” She pointed to the watch. She wasn’t sure how it worked but maybe it was a possibility. Chase’s demonstration was so impressive she wanted to show him her ability. “Mister Holloway can I show mine?”