Jacob listened to the introductions given, and noted that Sophia, gracefully stayed silent this time. Probably for the better, no need for her to get off on the wrong foot by challenging Jacob or anyone else in front of her employer. It just made sense to keep the lips sealed and ensure that restraint stayed in place. That said, he paid close attention as Sam described who he needed to find in order to conduct his little experiment. It was a rather important one, after all, and he needed someone who knew a lot about this kind of stuff to do this safely.

Arnie… alright, he did his best to remember the description as well, and stood up straight, gathering the spiders and giving the man a bare hint of a smile and a respectful nod. “Thank you very much Sir. I will speak to you on the other topics I would like to discuss with you at a later point in time.” He turned, preparing to leave, both spiders in his right arm tucked close to his body. “It was nice meeting you all, and I’ll see you later, Mariusz.” With that, he moved out of the room, entered the hall, and followed the directions given to him by Sam.

(((EXIT JACOB)))

"No, I am not a trouble maker," Mariusz replied, feeling slightly pleased that he was already better liked than some of the people here at the school. He hadn't been living here for very long, so he considered he must have been making a good impression to be getting comments like that one made about him. "I have Bachelor's Degrees from Charles University in Prague in both Protestant Theology and Early Modern European History which covers the time period from the Renaissance to, roughly speaking, 1800. I'm also enrolled in the online M.A. Diplomacy program at Norwich University. I can teach courses in Christian Theology and European History as well as courses in Flying for mutants with flight capabilities and an Archery Club for anyone interested in that as an after school activity."

As he was finishing speaking he noticed that Jacob, having received his answer regarding the project that he was pursuing had left the office. "My room is the one in the middle hallway at the very end on the right as you are looking down the hallway," he said in answer to the question concerning which room was his. With nothing else to say at the moment he stood quietly in his spot and waited for Sam to pull the spare key and provide more information.

What pleased more than seeing Jacob exiting out of the room was instead the mere fact that the man behind the desk had commented about his horrible insects in the jar. Experiment or not, it was not something to be openly carrying around as though it were a handbag or clutch purse; rather it was more akin to carrying nuclear waste, or maybe some sort of bomb, best left to a proper suit and gloves, and with no one close by. In any case, he was gone, those disgusting creatures were gone, and the room was more or less civil once again, with what appeared to be a noticeable decline in brute testosterone. It was as though Sophia could breathe once the intelligence in the room had risen.

Still what existed between Sophia and a private conversation with someone important in the mansion was a man with feathers and an accent. Granted Sophia could be patient, she wasn't perfect, every human had a limit, and while Sophia's wasn't necessarily close, she wasn't about to wait forever for an appointment she made ahead of time, only to be trumped by those without one. But when Mariusz began listing his own credentials regarding what he had studied, Sophia became increasingly worried. Theology wasn't a degree, it was a hobby, and it certainly wasn't any science or practical form of study that had definitive answers, much less agreed upon ones. The study of religion was about as useful as figuring out how many gummie bears a person could eat before throwing up.

"Hehe," a slight snort and giggle from Sophia when she heard the man with the feathers mentioning his study of Theology. The fact he paid money to get such a degree was the even sillier part, though as much as she found the study humorous, she tried her best to hid her amusement with her right hand so that while it might have been noticeable, it didn't appear intentional. Granted it wasn't that Sophia purposefully giggled, just the thought made her perk up a bit and show a bit more life in the otherwise stark face from before.

Sam nodded his head to Colt as he exited the room, he had more questions for Sam something Sam looked forward to because he had a few questions of his own as well mainly revolving around the idea of, ‘what experiments are you performing with said spiders?’ Sam held his tongue however figuring he could always ask Arnie or Doc who ever was more suited to help him. Once Colt was gone Sam turned to Mariusz and smiled, ”Like I said before, I’m pulling triple duty.” Sam shrugged, ”We can use all the help we can get and I think we have an opening in the history department and I’m sure we can add theology to the elective course list if that is alright with you. Tricity loves it when we can get people who can teach more than one subject.”

Sam reached into the drawer and picked up one of the master keys that covered that wing of the mansion and tossed it towards Mariusz, ”That key should cover it and if you are serious about a position here bring your resume to me and I think I can call Tricity and get you an office before the weeks out. If that is alright with you.” Sam shrugged and smiled, ”Oh and as far as flying if your up for it I can have you teaching classes by the end of the day.” Sam said seriously it wasn’t like there was a line of people trying to teach a flying class that could actually fly and it wasn’t like you could go to school for that.

”Swing back here in an hour or so with that key and your resume and we can have an interview or something like it? Also I think I already have a student lined up for you, Irish runt with wings and a tail big mouth. If you can keep him in a class and keep him focused I’m pretty sure you can teach anyone.” Sam smirked then nodded his head before kindly saying, ”Now if you’ll excuse us Mariusz, Sophia has an appointment.”

Shifting his focus away from the feathered mutant to Sophia in her business attire and glasses Sam waited for a second then asked, ”Now what can I help you with?”

"That sounds perfectly amenable to me," Mariusz replied, not deigning to offer any sort of response to Sophia's outburst. There would always be some who chose to mock the study of religion for reasons that were their own and everyone was free to have their own opinion. If Sophia was unable to contain her rudeness that was no concern of the avian mutant's until it became so overt as to be impossible to ignore and one small outburst certainly didn't constitute that.

The Czech mutant, with his enhanced vision, caught the tossed key neatly in his hand. "Děkuji," he said, "I will be happy to bring a resume later this afternoon and an office by the end of the week will be perfectly acceptable. With the flying class I am happy to begin teaching whenever it would be most convenient," he continued, really not being a very difficult person to please most of the time.

"Ano, I will return in an hour with the key and a resume," Mariusz said in response to the interview while choosing to remain silent regarding the reference to the Irish mutant that Sam had mentioned. There was no need to prejudice him for, or against, any students yet as that might have an affect on the way those students were treated, even on a subconscious level. He bowed slightly at the waist and retreated from the office back in the direction of his room in search of a change of clothes and a shower.

[Exit Talon]

And then it was finally her turn. Granted Sophia was the one who made the appointment, it was only about time that she get her shot at actually to do it. Once Mariusz had finally departed the room, it was now time for Sophia and the man with the eye patch, which could only go well considering others weren't looking to help and she could actually offer something. Rising from her seat, she moved forward from the desk and opted to travel closer so that the two could do more formalized introductions. Reaching her hand over the desk in a rather dignified manner, and reached out to shake the hand of Mr. Sam was it?

"Good day to you sir. Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Sophia Stratford, PhD in Astrophysics and Astronomy, with a minor in aerospace engineering. My work and theories are published in a number of science journals, though I will of course understand if you've never heard of me before," trying her best to sound super smart, granted the minor in aerospace was something tacked on, but relevant for her desires, and the Astronomy wasn't exactly a PhD level course, basically it was freshman stuff that you could take, but Sophia had taken it dozens of time so she knew everything about it. But still, one couldn't say that Sophia didn't sound overly confident about herself and what was happening. After all, she was focused solely on getting to space, so she knew practically everything there was to flying in it and the general physics once there. Though her fields were more theoretical than practical, her wealth of knowledge was much like her confidence and perhaps her ego, undeniable.

"I've come to seek refuge and shelter in your fine establishment. For I too… am a mutant… persecuted in to leaving academia because of my powers," and from show boating, she was now trying her best garner sympathy, though she was not exactly subtle about it. Sophia was many things, pretty, very smart, very confident and the ego on her could be massive when considered, but a good actress she was not. Perhaps part of it sounded disingenuous, but granted it was mostly the truth: she had been chased from her colleges because of her status, and that left a problem in housing. But for now, she was going to make her case as best as possible, after all, this certainly felt like a sudden job interview.

Once it was just the two of them Sophia extended her hand, which Sam took and shook, it was a formal meeting and all despite Sam’s informal attire. Right off the bat Sam assumed she was intelligent and from the way she dressed it was too impress what didn’t impress Sam however was not impressed with the snort or throat clear that wasn’t really a throat clear when Mariusz mentioned what he studied. Sam gave her the benefit of the doubt at first but once she started to talk again Sam had a little more respect for the feathered mutant and a tad less for the woman before him. Then again this was just the start of the meeting.

”Sam Johnson.” Sam repeated his name again and then took a seat once the formal introductions were complete. Sophia then proceeded to talk about her schooling and what she was qualified in. Sam let out a low whistle and added, ”Impressive.” because it was just that impressive. Sam had read a dozen books or so about Astronomy but never took it further than that. He didn’t have as much time as he’d like to explore all the fields of knowledge that he’d like but that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to try every now and then.

Once she was done talking Sam nodded his head slightly, while he never read her science journal entries he doubted they were as dramatic as she was a second ago it wasn’t like she was the first mutant to ever be kicked out anywhere. Sam smirked slightly, ”It happens.” was all he said before pulling out a piece of paper, ”Alright other than your academic qualifications I take it you have other hobbies as well?” Sam asked curiously pulling out a pen with a click top.

Clicking it once he started jotting down some information about the woman on his new resident sheet before him. ”Any allergies, or fears that would require a special room?” Sam asked before adding, ”Oh sorry what is your mutation? I doubt you have a tail and it doesn’t look like you have feathers.” Sam asked curiously hoping she’d answer with much less to no dramatic acting like she did earlier.

"Hobbies…?" lifted a finger to her finger to her lips, staring upward to the ceiling in an effort to decide which hobbies to list, but granted, this was the strangest interview she'd ever gotten before now. It was a lot to consider, what did Sophia enjoy doing beyond studying. But more or less, what was it of anyone else's concerns? Surely it had no bearing on residency, so what purpose did it serve? Better of course to answer it, thinking that this person might have very well owned the keys to Sophia's future in the mansion, so best to just answer relatively honestly, no need to go in to greater details, "I assure you that any hobbies of mine wouldn't be destructive or distracting to the mansion itself or any of its current residences. I enjoy reading, studying, occasionally listening to music, shopping, but what girl doesn't, and practicing with my powers."

"Of which are exemplary, "having believed herself superior in many respects when it came to things like this. She reached for her purse and pulled out a ball of glass and rested it on the desk temporarily. But then stared at it for a moment, causing the glass to warp and shift around subtly. Soon the small ball of glass was a square, then it morphed in to a cone, and then started trying to change in to new shape that seemed complex, all while still keeping the characteristics of glass, "I can control glass: I can shape it, bend it, make it harder, and even make it make it float in the air. I've been developing my powers since I was a teen and have a great deal of control over it."

"And if it comes to room selection, I do require a fair amount of space, I have quite a few needs for it. Something that faces North or West preferably, when the sunlight hits me in the morning hours, I have been known to break quite a few windows. And my mutation can take up a lot of room sometimes when I practice with it, so I generally do so in private, but that can easily be solved with a larger closet perhaps," if there were possible to use this chance to get a bigger room, then why not. Granted Sophia had a great deal of clothes and if possible, she'd gladly take the biggest closet and room possible, since it only made sense. And if she could avoid the sun in the early morning, all the better, since it meant studying until late and waking up on her own time, and not that of the sun's. Though even as Sophia was listing these so called requirements of her new room, part of her felt a bit timid about saying such. To deprive another person of the room they might otherwise need was wrong, but then again, Sophia was definitely worth it.

‘A glass manipulator? Could come in handy if some windows break.’ Thought Sam as he watched her demonstrate what she was capable of. Broken glass was common in the mansion. Windows, plates, mirrors all in time fall victim to the wear and tear that the students and other residents present. It isn’t that they intentionally break them, just accidents happen more often at the mansion than other places due to the uncontrollable nature of some of the mutations that belong to residents living in the mansion.

”I think we can accommodate that.” Sam said nodding his head too her individual requests about her room. Away from the sun was easy enough, bigger closets however were a rare find due to so many wanting to ‘practice’ their abilities in them. It wasn’t the first time he heard a request similar to this but Sam figured it was just as well he’d play along. Even if she was trying to manipulate him, something Sam wasn’t a fan of.

After jotting down some more information about her mutation and special requests and hobbies Sam looked up to her and smiled, ”I think you’ll find the rooms to your satisfaction, if you have any complaints or any more requests either myself or some of my colleges would be more than willing to help you out.”

Reaching into the desk drawer where he had pulled a similar key moments ago Sam removed one looked at the room number and nodded his head. ”Decent sized closet and on the side of the building that you wanted. This should do. Hope you don’t mind the co-ed section of the living quarters. We usually go with age on this one along with requests the rooms in the co-ed hallways are usually bigger. Hope that is alright.” Sam said tossing a key towards her.

”If you want I can show you to your room, quite easy to get lost if your not sure where you are going.” Sam said figuring she still needed somewhat of a guide.

So it was much easier than expected to get what she wanted. Granted this was wiser to ask for smaller stuff than bigger stuff, but then again, if Sophia knew it would be this easy, then who would know what else she could ask for. Though for her, a white board was enough to jot ideas down on to, and it wasn't as the school had a working telescope that was ready for use, atleast that they wouldn't profess to owning immediately. But if it was thing she wanted, it was a tour. Though she wasn't to be thrown anything, she fumbled at first with the keys, trying to latch on with her delicate hands as they tossed and turned, only catching on to these particular dorm keys once they fell on to her lap. It was a surely odd way to welcome a person.

"Yes, I would most definitely like a tour," granted, she hadn't decided if she was going to stay or not, but it seemed an easy win, so why not take it where she could get it. Assuming these co-ed rooms included private bathrooms perhaps, it would only sweeten the deal, but she imagined such a thing was only a hallmark of truly expensive mansions. This one was likely not to include it, though Sophia could always get lucky.

But this was a big mansion, who knew what it properly held inside of it, and if anything could be done to make her stay even more comfortable than it already was. But that was for him to show her. For the time being, Sophia wouldn't press her lucky any further, this didn't seem like the sort of individual you pushed too far. She may have done so with the room request, but that was yet to be seen as she lifted herself out of her chair and waited for Sam to point the way for her through the school. A firsthand account would surely make it easier to navigate this school, but there was another thought on her mind, "You mentioned you were short on staff, as I will be staying here, is there anything you'd expect or need me to do?"

Nodding his head Sam got up from behind his desk and picked up the paper he had been writing on, ”Alright then, one tour it is.” Picking up a clipboard as well Sam walked over to Sophia and handed her the new residency paperwork on a clipboard and a pen. ”If you could fill out the rest of this and get it to me by the end of the week that would be great, just fill out the contact information and anything else I might have forgotten and I’ll have Drew file it later.” She’d most likely meet Drew at a later time unless they ran into Sam’s assistant on the tour.

Waving her forward to follow him Sam headed towards his door before exiting his office ”Only thing I expect and need our new residents to do is to try to cause as little trouble as trouble, that includes not laughing at others fields of study.” Sam said looking over his shoulder and giving her a smirk, ”Keep in mind not all of our residents are as nice as Mariusz.” if he was one of the other feathered kids she might have gotten an ear full of not so nice language.

Once in the hallway Sam lifted his hands and gave a grand gesture, ”This is the staff hallway, anyone that works here has an office some even share like myself.” Sam said pointing to the nametags next to his Streak, Gawain/Maya and Drew. Waving her forward again Sam head towards the main entrance and turned left instead of right towards the main door. ”This is the main hallway, stairs take you upstairs and down, there isn’t much on the basement floor other than the Danger room and a few other rooms that have limited access.” Sam turned to look at her, ”Danger room isn’t as dangerous as it sounds.” lied Sam as he waved her to follow him once again.

”The kitchen is fully stocked and open to all residents and students, you have a special diet or food allergies just make a note and we will try to accommodate it if need be. Also keep in mind you leave anything in the fridge it might not be there when you get back, so anything you want to yourself keep it in your own fridge alright?” Sam said passing the kitchen and dining room before he added, ”I have been known to raid the fridge every now and then so sorry in advance if I eat anything of yours.” Sam finished his words with a smirk turning towards Sophia.

”Oh and we don’t require anyone to do anything here unless they want to.” Sam said before turning back around, ”Though I’m sure if you want some work I can find something for you. You ever teach before?” Sam asked before the hallway opened up into the classroom hallway.

If you could call it a field of study, it was more or less a hobby by all natural sense of the word. Religion was not a field of study, granted you could go to school for it, but you could go to school for Radio Control Car driving, spend years learning everything you can about rare and obscure presidential furniture, and some people even held wedding using the Klingon language, but none of that was universally recognized. A noble as a pursuit as something was, Sophia didn't need to respect something that was still a silly belief, and she wasn't particularly interested in sharing or encouraging such behavior, but, she'd let that one go. Despite wanting to retort that it was an idiotic notion to believe and devote life to an invisible person and a book politically written during the first century… Sophia held her tongue, "You needn't worry about me, I play nicely with others…"

"I've had grad students in the past, a few of them were of use, but frankly any time I taught classes it was to students well versed in the material I was teaching usually. I admit though, I handed out more Fs than As. But I imagine people with physics degrees are hard to come by, probably not a lot of them out there. Besides, people should earn their keep, whether they're a mutant or not," which was true for Sophia, her attention drifting at the kitchen fridge, as though assume she'd keep her yogurt in her own fridge, assuming she got one. Probably wasn't big enough to hold a human head it, but a pack of yogurt, probably not an issue.

"And if the Danger Room isn't quite so dangerous as it sounds, seems like an odd name for such a room. Is there some particular purpose you'd like to make me aware of? I've got hints of something called X people on the streets, one person even confused me for them. Care to enlighten me on that?" though why should he? This was a new person, who knew what devious or even scandalous thoughts existed in the mind of Sophia. For all he knew, she was a secret covert agent for some shadowy syndicate. Though at the same time, he mentioned the room, either as a ruse to dissuade her from visiting below. But more likely as an invitation to learn more; why mention something you didn't want other people to be aware of, that seemed pointless. Not to mention, it was more or less purposeful, after all, why not ignore it than, or simply say that the basement is off limits, structural issues or something or other.

”The Danger Room got the name ‘Danger’ because of some students that snuck in there and turned it on and were basically put in ‘Danger’.” Sam said shrugging trying to explain the name as best he could with the information he had heard around the mansion. He honestly had no idea how it got its name other than the fact that if you aren’t prepared for it the room could really be dangerous. ”The Danger Room is a controlled environment where students and residents who have ‘dangerous’ powers can practice their abilities without the fear of hurting anyone.” Sam said as he added, ”I’ll have someone or myself show you at a later time so you can see for yourself. Too hard to explain, you’ll think I’m crazy if I describe it, just promise me you won’t try checking it out on your own.” Sam said dismissing the rest of the topic of the danger room. The only reason he mentioned it was so she wouldn’t wander around hoping to find a room she knew nothing about other than the name. Curiosity did have a tendency to get the cat into trouble around here.

Passing the social room gave a brief description of the room before waving her over to the dining room, ”And for X-Men, you don’t need to worry too much about them. I told you before I’m pulling triple duty. I’m one of the team leaders.” Sam said figuring she would have found out sooner or later due to all the gossip around the mansion, ”X-men don’t really have an affiliation with the school other than a few of us live here and store some of our transportation here.” he purposely didn’t tell her about the war room cerebra or the Jet in the hanger down stairs that stuff wasn’t normally common knowledge.

”The X-men, myself included are trying to show the world that mutants and humans can peacefully coexist now that means using our abilities to help people human and mutant a like.” Sam said nodding his head once then pointing to the next set of double doors, ”That there is the library, we have a lot of books… a lot.” Sam said opening one of the doors and waving his hand in a displaying motion. Sam waited a second before adding ”You said you had a PhD in Astronomy correct?” Sam asked rhetorically remembering full well that she does. ”How would you like a teaching position?” Sam asked hoping to fill the Astronomy position with this new resident.

“A double PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics,” she felt the need to correct, she didn’t want her specialties to be confused with just anything else. After all, Sophia was an exceptional brilliant woman, she want everyone to be fully aware of all the details of her life, even down to her associated knowledge in world of science. The way it came off from him though, it made it sound like he was aware of her degrees, he probably wasn’t aware she was an amateur pilot or the severity of her ability to control glass though. The fact was simply that perhaps he was measuring her for something.

“And a teaching position would be wonderful for me, though I wonder if any of your students would be able to fully understand the material. You can imagine explaining how a car engine works to a child is a lot like explaining things I know to even high school students. But I can dumb it down to an elementary level if you’d like,” but that was hardly Sophia interest right now either. Corrected, and of course accepted, now she was more interested in this other thing he spoke of.

“Care to tell me a bit more about these X-men of yours. As you can imagine, the world of science is a wonderful distraction, but even a pretty girl like me gets a little bored from time to time. And I too wish one day for a world where the two of us can get along peacefully,” a bit sarcastic in her approach, but even she wanted the world to all be on the same page because she wanted to just be a normal person as well. This problem with being ousted as a mutant in the scientific world made it so it was difficult to get the kind of jobs she would have normally wanted, but it also disregarded a lot of her work, because people thought she stole it from other member of the scientific community. Sophia wanted a world where her being a mutant didn’t exclude her from being the top, but peace between the species wasn’t a bad thing either.

Sam smirked when she corrected him about her areas of study but figured Astronomy was more than enough for now at least seeing as there wouldn’t be too many students if any in a class titled ‘Astrophysics’. There was one or two students that came to mind that would enjoy the subject but for the most part, the subject would have been greatly underappreciated. ”I think dumbing it down might be a good idea for now, at least until they start to grasp the concepts.” Sam turned to her and then shrugged, ”We could even have a placement test for the classes if you’d like.”

Sam nodded his head once again and now backing up from the library entrance and waved her to follow him once again to the stairs that would lead her up to the rooms. The girls rooms were directly over the library so there would be ample time to discuss the X-Men to her before they made it to the co-ed hallway. Walking up the stairs Sam had to turn his head a bit more so he could see her with his good eye, her comment about her being a ‘bored pretty girl’ threw him off for a second. It seemed she had a sense of humor somewhere. Pretty she might be but bored Sam doubted that one. She came off as a workaholic and a bookworm meaning if there was ever any down time for her it meant she’d be spending it in a book. Then again Sam could have been judging a book by its cover.

”Not much else to tell really,” Sam said shrugging rounding the corner of the stairwell into the girls hallway one that was very familiar to him due to his exploits when he first came to the mansion. ”We help out when and where we can. We also helped the Police department clean up the streets a bit as well. Honorary officers” Sam turning his head down the hallways, ”This is the girls hallway by the way, if you do take a teaching position we might ask you to help keep an eye out around here, I only have one to spare.” he paused then cleared his throat again jumping back on the X-Men subject as they walked down the hallway.

”We help with arrests and get called for anything from fires to helping the occasional mutant who lost control of his powers. We don’t have much paper work though… so that is a plus.” Sam said giving her the thumbs up. ”If you are interested in the team I’ll send one of our guys or gals your way so they can give you a better understanding the X-Men.” Sam said rounding another corner and entering the co-ed hallway where the rooms were spaced further apart due to the sizes of the rooms being bigger. ”And this is the co-ed hallway.”