Erika took a deep breath as her mother let go of her hand and opened her door. Taking deep breaths her chest rose and fell hidden behind a burnt orange tank top that squeezed her frail form. The door closed and she could hear the sounds of her mother waltzing around the front of the car to open her daughter's door. Trying to prove her independence, Erika searched the car door for the handle before her mom could so that she could exit the car unassisted. She could feel the texture of the fabric that was built into the door's arm rest, it led to a lever which she pushed, lowering the windows just in time to hear the click of the door, opening by her mother's hand.

"Don't worry Hon, I've got it."

With a large sigh Erika swung her slender legs out of the car exposing a pair of light tan cargo pants with pockets at the knees and in all the usual places. Finding her footing on the gravel driveway Erika's left hand dropped to the floor, grabbing a backpack which contained everything that hadn't been sent in advance, it was the stuff that she cared about more than anything else. Of course, there wasn't much that she could have learned to value, but it was all that she thought she'd need when she got there. Among those objects there was a well maintained headset and music player with some of her most recent favorites that her mother had gotten her for her birthdays.

Running her arms through the straps of the backpack blind girl found the bag a comfortable position on her shoulders. She shifted slightly and pushed herself out of the car and up to her feet where her mother took her hand. The pair began to walk as Erika watched the door, her focus on that was quite obvious; it seemed as though everyone was having their thoughts about this place and what it meant.

With a click the doors opened and in walked the newest student, accompanied by her mother. There, in the halls of this massive boarding school walked dozens of busy students; talking, joking around, enjoying all that this place had to offer them. Of course it wasn't the fear of not fitting in here that had Erika taking shorter steps, it was that she had nothing apart from this place now. This home was not where her heart was, it was just a place to put her head on a pillow where she could be surrounded by the others who didn't quite fit into the "perfect" family portrait.

"I was told that you'd be greeted by some sort of student adviser." Her mother's tone was somewhat expectant, as if it were meaning to say I expected someone would be waiting to take you. Although she understood what her mother probably meant it was still somewhat disheartening that her mother had to bring up any procedure. What was knowing anything going to bring them? They'd just be closer to being separated; it was pain, fear, a thought that Erika despised to it's very core. "I left the e-mail in the car, I'll go grab it and I'll be right back." Her mother quickly scuttled off as Erika rolled her backpack off and began to feel around for her headset, which laid off to the side of the bag pressed against the outside by her multipatterned hoodie which she kept just in case of rain.

Unraveling the chord which held onto her music player Erika flipped the power, waited five seconds, and pressed play. Assuming that her mother had already exited, she knew that she could avoid the dreaded goodbye, but that meant there would be no goodbye, no closure, but it also meant there'd be no scene for either of them to remember as their final goodbye, just an average moment as they usually were. Placing the headphones over her ears Erika decided to go all or nothing, take a risk and hopefully play it off into a mobile conversation. She had a single chance and just enough time to get out of view and so into the crowd she walked, trying to escape the life that she dreaded being pushed from.

Life in the Mansion never stopped. Come riots, school year, summer break, hail, fire or brimstone, people were scurrying along the hallways, going about their weird mutant business.
Maya loved the Mansion for that.

Angua, the giant Irish wolfhound bounding happily along, Maya walked towards the main lobby. There was a new student coming in today and since Miss T had to skip out at the last moment she sent Mirror, the official Mansion greeter, to... well, greet them. Turning the corner on the hallway Maya spotted the girl with the headphones and headed towards her. Angua spotted her too and bounded forward with the enthusiasm of a puppy, but Maya whistled and called her back. You never knew if the new kid was a cat mutant or something. Better safe than sorry.

"Hi" Maya smiled as she walked up to the girl "You must be... Erika, right?"

Erika slid into the flow of students and just like predicted a student bumped her shoulder. As the students eyes clicked on momentarily she could see a fair amount of people and what they were doing, nothing specific however. Knowing that she "needed" to apologize Erika reached out for the student, who had almost left the area, fine with her "accidentally" bumping into them. People were nice here, lesson one.

Once she was certain that the student was watching her she let go and removed the headphones.

"Erika, right?"

Erika jumped towards the student latching onto their arm. Suddenly she could see and the student was staring down at her face, of course it was nice to see someone's attention on her, but it was more than likely the student asking Why is she holding onto me? Which was less than sweet. The student was quite tall, and towered over the scrawny blonde. Looking out, beyond the periphery of the student Erika pretended that she knew who she was going to be talking to, the girl's voice was roughly in that direction. "That's me, but you caught me at a HORRIBLE time. You see me and this tall drink of water are going for a walk." As she said this she reached up to pat the giant on their chest, but when she began to pat, there was something more.

"Oh... You're tall." Erika stopped and let go of the female student's arm and took two steps forward and turned around so her face was to the tall girl. Picturing the student's vision Erika quickly saw herself and another girl standing behind her, obviously the voice, she was the only one standing still, her eyes on this situation. Taking a step back Erika bumped into whom she could only assume was the greeter and watched the tall girl as she walked away not worrying to pursue this any further.


Turning towards the student adviser Erika's face was reddened by the whole situation. "I guess I came here for a good reason." She laughed, trying to ease her tension; making an idiot of herself so soon into her stay could quite possibly be a nail in the coffin that she didn't need. "You're my adviser?"

Maya arched an eyebrow as the girl called Erika seemed to be holding on to another student, and the letting go just in time to bump into her. Uh.

>>"That's me, but you caught me at a HORRIBLE time. You see me and this tall drink of water are going for a walk... Oh... You're tall... I guess I came here for a good reason. You're my adviser?"

"Ah, um... no, not really." Maya said, trying to look Erika in the face and realizing that... that was problematic. "My name is Maya, I'm one of the Mansion greeters. I'm here to help you settle in. I'll introduce you to Miss Taylor later, she's the guidance counselor."

This girl definitely needed some... guiding.

"Um... anyway, nice to meet you, welcome to the Mansion. Do you... need help?"