“So this is it, huh?”

>Big golden doors in the middle of the block. Kinda hard to miss that.<

“Impressive.”

The twins stared up at the entrance of the building; the Sanctuary they’d been told it was called. Indeed it was impressive, and although the girls weren’t easily intimidated, even they felt a bit timid as they made their way inside. Whereas the sounds of their shoes echoing against the vaulted walls would make a normal person nervous, it served to calm the girls. By the time the reached the desk in the center of the massive room, they were their usual confident selves again. The lady at the desk looked up as they approached.

“Hello. Can I help you?”

The twins gave her an in-sync once over before answering, a bit bluntly, “We were told you take in homeless mutants.” Amp watched her closely, to catch her response. The lady didn’t look like a mutant to her, although she knew appearances were deceiving. Vibe, on the other hand, turned to take in the area around them.

Calley was on the prowl. Which is to say, he was wondering how a little white and black cat went about stealing food from that scrumptious delicious heavenly tempting wonderful cafeteria down the hallway. His stomach was having fits just thinking about it, never mind smelling that slight waft of Philly cheese steak that was drifting innocuously down the hall...

It wasn't even that he was hungry. He'd snuck out earlier and caught himself a nice winged rat. Juicy. But not smothered in cheese sauce.

Currently, he was pacing, trying to think up a plan more complicated than "Grab and Run". It was hard, with that smell tickling its way up his nose and around his brain...

He padded into the Reception Area again in time to hear The Schpeale. He'd heard it a few times since he'd followed his wonderful Isabel here. Those two unfortunate ladies had just pressed both of Receptionator Lisa's buttons: "mutants" and "take in". Heeeeere it came... it wasn't that Lisa was bad at her job. From what he'd seen, she was fantastic. But she did tend to reuse speeches.

A welcoming smile came to her lips. The scary part was, no matter how often she did it, she was always sincere. Content receptionists were a breed that Calley didn't understand.

"All people are welcome at the Sanctuary." She said with that wonderful smile. He barely suppressed a small-scale shudder: how could she say that so often and not make it sound corny? The woman was unnatural. She reached into desk drawer number three--he couldn't see that from where he was, but he'd seen it often enough--and magically produced two New Mutant Resident forms on crisp white paper. Calley entertained visions of her ironing them in her spare time. The forms were delicately put before the new girls in a 'take a look, but don't feel obligated' manner. She'd really had too much practice at this. "If you would like to stay here, all you would need to do is fill out these forms. We do not require ID, we do not charge any fees, and you are free to come and go as you please." Manicured fingertips carefully turned to page two on one of the applications, and tapped a little box towards the bottom. "We do ask that you describe your power honestly; we aren't trying to intrude upon your privacy--we just wish to accommodate the diversity of our mutant residents better. If you have any special needs associated with your powers, please list them here. All of your information will be kept strictly confidential, of course. The Sanctuary strives to be a safe and welcoming place for all mutants." She gave that sincere smile again. "Of course, you don't need to decide now--our doors are always open. Would you like a tour?" It was a decent little speech. She'd had time to practice. Calley would have rolled his eyes, but it wasn't a very normal-cat-like thing to do. Instead, he waltzed his little furry self over to the newcomers and twined himself between them. His own new resident form went like this: Do you like cats?

He really hoped they'd say they were hungry. It was so much easier to steal food from plates than from behind sneeze-guards.

Vibe shot a brief glance at the receptionist. >Look! It's Office Barbie! Complete with ugly suit and corny speech.<

Amp snickered, but let the lady continue without comment. She picked up one of the forms and read it when she was done. Nothing unusual, though she was a bit surprised. This place was known to take in mutants, yet there were no anti-mutant creeps picketing the front door.

>Tight security,< Vibe remarked, having already picked out several cameras. Amp nodded; when she placed her hand on the desk, she could feel the vibration the under-the-desk alarm was giving off.

"All of your information will be kept strictly confidential, of course." Not that either twin cared about that. In fact, the whole 'laying low' or 'keep a low profile' thing? Forget it.

"The Sanctuary strives to be a safe and welcoming place for all mutants. Of course, you don't need to decide now--our doors are always open."

>Of course they are. We're all so happy here after all!< Vibe rolled her eyes and bent to fill out the forms. Amp snickered again and elbowed her sister's side.

"Would you like a tour?"

"Uh, no. We're fine on our own, thank you." They wouldn't have been able to handle a tour with this lady. It was safer for her if they just did their own thing. Under powers they sarcastically put "Sound; you figure it out."

>Hey, check it out. Fuzzball at six o'clock.<

Amp looked down to find a cat rubbing up against Vibe's legs. She smiled. "Well, I see you accept pets. Good to know."

Vibe snorted, and carefully stepped away from it. She wasn't too fond of cats since they were known to eat bats. Amp, on the other hand bent down to scratch its ears. "Hey there, pal. Are you supposed to be the tour guide 'round here?"

>Lovely. Just don't feed him. He may decide to move in with us.<

"So? Just keep Echo out of the room. He doesn't come inside much anyway."

>Whatever.< Vibe handed her form to the receptionist, who looked a bit confused at the one-sided conversation, then headed off toward one of the hallways.

Amp rolled her eyes, and gave the cat another scritch behind the ears. "See ya 'round Checkers. Maybe next time I'll have a tidbit for you." She winked, then straightened and followed her sister.

"Well, I see you accept pets. Good to know."

The Receptionator smiled ambiguously. "Yes, we do. We prefer you keep them supervised, however." Calley gave the woman his bestest cute-cat eyes ever, meowing sweetly. Generally she seemed content to ignore him, but every once and awhile she'd go and say something that made him suspect she wasn't exactly a Cat Fancy subscriber.

Neither was Thing Number Two there. Calley huffed, and knocked his hand up against the Good Twin's hand as she scratched his ears. Thing Number Two was actually stepping away from him. One cat lover and one mean person, hmm? All in all, that officially made the twins not half bad.

A little crazy-seeming, though, what with only the Good Twin talking. And talking like her decidedly subpar sister was speaking back. Huh. Calley wrote it off as a mutant thing--there was still a lot he had to learn about these people, after actively avoiding them since... well, since forever. He hadn't exactly been a mutant lover, and figuring out that he was a mutant himself hadn't helped him develop warm fuzzy feelings.

He'd learned exactly seven ways to eat a bat, though. Speaking of which: these two had that most delicate trace of winged mouse lingering in the air around them. It was good they could keep pets, was it? Echo, they said? Well. Well, well, well. He'd like to see where their room was. Just for future reference, mind you, not because of any budding nefarious schemes.

"See ya 'round Checkers. Maybe next time I'll have a tidbit for you."

The Good Twin had called him a tour guide. Calley could play to that. He ran after them, and bumped into his favorestest red head's leg. Not stopping, he veered over to the wall and sat down next to the hidden door to the downstairs. He merrowed sagely.

"Oh-!" Lisa started. "Sorry, girls, I forgot to tell you: our mutant-specific housing is downstairs. It helps to throw off any anti-mutant protesters who make it past security. You can choose any of the empty rooms. We have singles or doubles." She smiled knowingly. "Of course, you could stay on the main floor with the humans, if you wanted... The door is hidden in that wall there; even if you're not going down, could you open the door for the cat? He seems to want to go down. And please, shut the door behind him." Again with the sincere smile. Love you too, Lisa. Hugs and hairballs.

Vibe paused as the receptionist mentioned the hidden housing. Amp would have kept on going, but she since Vibe was in the lead, she saw her turn around to listen. Vibe repeated the speech, and Amp nodded acknowledgement.

"We'll let you know," she replied noncommittedly. Then she noticed the cat sitting by the 'hidden door'. "So I'm guessing either you're owner lives down there too, or the food's down there." She chuckled and opened the door. "Either one should be interesting. Lead the way, Checkers."

>Great. Now we're following the mouse-catcher. I'm thrilled.<

"Oh, shut up Vibe. At least he's friendly." She stuck her tongue out at her sister, then headed down the stairs. Vibe rolled her eyes and followed. Cat or no, she was still keen to explore the place.

Calley padded smartly down the stairs ahead of the twins, his tail at full mast. The Good Twin had just told her distinctly less lovely sister to shut up, all on his li'l behalf. He tried to keep the smugness out of his walk.

Naw, that was a blatant lie. He wasn't trying at all. What was a cat if it wasn't smug?

He wasn't quite sure where his Isabel was--she hadn't been in her room when he got back from helping with the city's flying vermin--so he decided to keep up his tour guide role. Why? 'Cause it was amusing. Also, because he seemed to be getting on Thing Number Two's nerves, and that was even better.

First stop: the pool. He looked in on it, gave a disdainful flick of his tail, and went on. Second stop: the cafeteria. The mutants had their own. If anything, the food smelled better than the main floor cafeteria's, but stealing from a cafeteria surrounded by humans had sounded easier than stealing from one surronded by potentially violent and potentially looking-for-a-small-furry-target mutants. Humans he could outrun. Mutants... he made a habit of not pushing his luck unless he was actually hungry or particularly bored.

He turned big blue begging kitty eyes on the Good Twin, and sat down in the doorway of the cafeteria. Did he smell ham and cheese sandwiches? He was pretty sure he did. Was the Good Twin about to be upgraded to the Wonderful Love of His Life? That depended on two things: if she was hungry, and if she liked slipping table scraps to her best friend Checkers. Of course he'd still follow them if they didn't go in--Vibey darling seemed to be giving him the evil twin eye, and that was just too much fun to pass up--but he'd be less inclined to eat their pet bat just for kicks if one of them was the Wonderful Love of His Life.

"Meow!"

The twins glanced around as they followed their four-legged guide. He seemed to be on a mission, so Amp simply kept up out of curiosity. Animals tended to have routines, and she figured, if nothing else, following him would lead them to the other residents, and maybe a bit of mischeif. Vibe just followed her sister, not really caring where they were going.

Both twins were a bit surprised, and delighted, when the cat paused at the pool first.

"I thought cats didn't like water," Amp remarked. Bending over she stuck her hand in the water.

>Really? Great. I'll make sure to keep a spray bottle handy.<

"You know, you'd better hope he's not a telepathic mutant. 'Cause I'm just gonna laugh if he starts shredding your clothes." She shook her hand dry, and followed the feline down the hall. Amp chuckled at their next stop. "Told you he was hungry."

>Aren't they always?<

The pair split up to take a look around. Several of the others in the room paused to look at them. They responded by glaring back for a few seconds, their green eyes almost glowing, before going about their business. Vibe picked up a pack of granola bars. Despite not being fond of the cat, she was glad he's led them to the cafeteria. Being diabetic, it was always good to know where the food was kept.

>Can we move on now?< She tossed a bar to her sister, then moved back toward the door. >And don't feed him,< she added.

Amp mocked her wordlessly. When Vibe was out of sight, she snicked a piece of chicken meat out of the line, and set it in front of the cat. She made a 'shh!' motion and winked at him, then quickly put a blank face on and hurried after her sister.

"Wait up Grumpy!"

Calley had a small scale heart attack when the Good Twin mentioned him being a mutant. His moves since he met the twins replayed in his head: he'd done nothing a normal cat wouldn't plausibly do, right? Right? Hyperventilation was not his friend. Neither was getting outed as a mutant. Especially since he'd sat in on that rather serious meeting of rather diabolical folks a few nights ago, and especially since he'd slept curled up on Isabel's bed last night. Yeah... he really wasn't sure how to break it to these people that he was a mutant, and still be alive to look back on all this and laugh.

On the bright side: there was a heavenly piece of chicken laid out before him. He made it disappear. No evidence, no problem with sisters. Upgrade complete: this lady was now the Wonderful Love of His Life. Not that he was easily bought, or anything.

He trailed after them, quite merrily. He even made sure to rub up against Grumpy's legs. Hehe. He liked that name. Thus is was spoken, thus she was dubbed: Grumpy.

He quickly maneuvered to the Wonderful Love of His Life's side. Grumpy seemed to be headed to the dormitories. Gorgeous. He'd like to know where they picked out to live. Regrettably, their pet bat (should it show its scrumptious face) was now off the dining menu. He might still gently play with it... but only if the twins weren't around, and only if he was bored to villainy. Still, it would be good to know where they were, what with one of them being the Wonderful Love of His Life and the other being a Grumpy Potential Cat Toy.

A bit of poking around uncovered a gym, and what looked like a rec room. The former both twins ignored, while the latter they explored from front to back.

>Nice equipment, but the movie choice could use some work.< Amp merely grunted, busy going through the music selection.

Once finished, they continued on, eventually stumbling upon the living quarters.

>Not sure I like this underground living,< Vibe remarked, looking about the rather plain rooms. Most of them were doubles, and they were all alike.

"Just needs a bit of a makeover. Bit of paint, better lights. It's still better than our place." She took a peek in the bathroom. "Nothing a few shopping sprees won't cure."

>Should we actually pay this time?< Vibe added with a soundless laugh.

"I suppose we could splurge," Amp replied, her expression a bit on the devilish side. Actually, part of her amusement was the fact that the cat had followed them, and seemed as intent on bothering Vibe, as Vibe was on ignoring him. "I think he likes you sis."

Vibe's expression remained flat.

Grumpy McGrumpitha's expression remained flat as Calley happily stalked her down the underground hallways.

It remained flat as he inconspicuously edged closer to her legs, until he was walking right behind her, matching her step-for-step (or as closely as a quadruped with a third of her stride length could).

It even remained flat as he cutely pawed at the case of a DVD she was looking at in the rec room.

But could it remain flat after a flying ninja stealth attack from the bed top? Calley had been sitting in a non-nefarious manner atop the bed nearest Grumpy, his ears not slightly back and his attention certainly not locked intently upon her. The question wouldn't leave him. Clearly, it was one of the universe's more pressing questions.

Calley leaped from the bed, aiming to perch on her shoulder or be swatted out of the air trying.

((ooc: Full Mutant--who0t!))

(OOC: Congrats Calley.

If Vibe could have yelled, she would have. As it was she whirled around when the cat landed on her back. If looks could kill, there would have been a tiny pile of ash where once stood a feline.

>Mangy little hairball! What’s with that cat?!<

Amp jumped in to detach him as gently as possible, trying her best to keep a straight face. He must have pulled some hair in the process, because Vibe grabbed her ponytail and grimaced when she pulled him off.

“Oh, chill out Vibe. He probably just wanted to play with your ponytail.” Amp held him protectively and rubbed his head. “Better be glad she’s not the one with the sonic blast powers,” she chuckled, talking to the cat. “Or you might be a kitty pancake right now.”

>I can still arrange that,< Vibe threatened. She glared at him and hissed through her teeth. Amp rolled her eyes.

“Brother. Echo lands in your hair, you just laugh. A cat plays with your hair and you have a coniption fit.”

>The bat is small and cute. That is not.< She walked, or rather stalked, out of the room. Amp followed and closed the door behind them. She set the cat back on the ground, and the pair headed back for the stairs.

"You do realize that the more you let him know you're irritated, the more he'll try to irritate you?"

The universe had its answer: Grumpy could not keep her expression flat during a flying stealth ninja attack. Good to know... good to know. He would file that one away for future reference. Also, he was beginning to get the impression that Grumpy couldn't talk, what with the fact that she... hadn't talked. At all. Not since he first set his baby blue eyes on her, and not after being struck in the back by a furry self-propelled projectile. This struck him as something else that was good to know, that he wasn't quite sure how he could use it.

He purred with great self-satisfaction in the Wonderful Love of His Life's arms, not feeling guilty in the least about the strands of hair dangling from his claws. He was happy enough that even the mention of sonic blast powers didn't worry him--that is, it didn't worry him that the Wonderful Love of His Life had them. And he was pretty sure that if Grumpy was going to hurt him with whatever her power was--or just hurt him, in general--she would have done it by now. If the worst she was going to do was hiss at him, he was golden. Cat toys that didn't fight back were truly, in his heart of hearts, his favorites. Especially when their sisters defended cute, innocent little Checkers. Playing with her ponytail, was he? Heehee--sure he was. Because, of course, he couldn't possibly be playing with her.

He was still rumbling loudly when the Wonderful Love of His Life set him back on the ground.

"You do realize that the more you let him know you're irritated, the more he'll try to irritate you?"

Heh. That was the plan, yes. Calley trailed them to the stairs, distinctly happy--for the first time since he'd followed Isabel through the gates--that he was a resident of the Sanctuary. Mutants, he was discovering, were fun.

The girls continued their explorations a bit more before headed back up to the main floor. Office Barbie was still sitting in her chair, tapping away at the computer like a good little secretary. They paused at the door, talking quietly.

>Well, I suppose this place isn't too bad. And the price is right. Whaddya think?<

"Meh. It's all right, I guess." Amp shrugged. "May as well try it out. Like she said, 'The doors are always open!'" The last part was spoken in a high-pitched voice, obviously mocking the receptionist's annoying cheeriness. Vibe snickered silently.

>She's gotta be on something. No one's that happy all the time.<

"Tell me about it. Well, let's hit it. Got some remodelling to do."

They left their wall perch and walked over. "We'll be back later. Gonna do a bit of shopping," Amp stated as the headed for the front door.