Claire entered the living room, and went over to run her fingers over the piano. Wow... grand and everything. Her family was well-off but this place was over the top!

She had lessons at one point (who hadn't?) so she took a seat at the keys, trying to remember something to play. She began to plink away for a bit. So much for being quiet and not drawing attention to one's self. A smile began to grow though. Pity she wasn't better, but her time had gone into dance and school. Not necessarily in that order.

There was a TV and bluray player, so she went over to check those out. Lots of movies, but nothing sounded particularly interesting. Not with a spooky old mansion to explore! Claire was as curious as any two cats. What all might she find in this place?

Generally Tyson wasn't one to hang out around the mansion, to much noise and smells, however after recent events it was really not any better then his room being high in the rumor mill. That and the students were giving him a wide berth whenever he left it, so currently he could enjoy some peace and quiet in the living room. He wasn't watching tv or anything, just lying by the couch caught up in his thoughts. He had learned that lying down on anything quickly lead to his claws doing a number on the material, so rather then ruin the couch, he choose the floor. Partially hidden like this, it may look like he was some sort of big dog, though he was wearing a pair of shorts.

He was still coming to terms with the bad news, he was stuck like this. He was trying to cope, but was prone to bouts of anger and depression. Right now he was stewing in a nice pot of melancholy over the ordeal. He had received advise here and there, but in the end he was still a giant wolf-man, and that wasn't exactly easy to accept regardless of the amount of support there was available.

He barely noticed the new girl walk in, the only indication that he saw her was his eyes momentarily falling on her. If he had been paying more attention he would have identified her as a new scent in the institute, but currently he was trying not to pay attention to the scents. The living room was already littered with them as a high traffic area, dealing with them was bad enough without trying to make sense of each one individually.

Meh. A movie wasn't what she wanted. Claire wanted excitement! She wanted adventure! She wanted the unknown! She turned from the bluray, took a step and almost walked on the dog.
"Whoa! Sorry bud...dey?" she said, as she realized the shape was more human than dog, and then she saw the shorts.  This definitely didn't appear to be a dog. Shorts, no top, that implied a guy. Little hard to tell.

"Ah, hi. I'm, ah, Claire?" she peeped, frozen in place and not quite sure what else to say. How do you apologize for almost stepping on, well, the Wolfman? Well, she'd definitely found the unknown. Or maybe it had found her?
"I'm, ah, sorry. I didn't see you laying there."

Claire wasn't big on perfume, so the only heavy scent was her 'powder dry' deodorant. She tried not to stare, and fiddled with a long strand of red hair. She was wearing a purple long-sleeve sweater-shirt with puffy cuffs, jeans and short black boots. Cute, but casual.

The shock on Claire's face surprisingly was not common. Most people here seem totally desensitized to strange appearances, to where her reaction was actually the opposite of what he had come to expect. His ears perked up in reaction to both nearly being stepped on and the surprise in her voice. This reaction told him she was not a mansion resident, or at least she were exceedingly new if his appearance came as a shock to him. There were far weirder things in the mansion then him. He rose to all fours before rising to his feet, growling a little by reaction. He tended to be territorial around strangers wither he liked it or not, but was working on tempering his reactions. He sniffed a little, getting a read on Claire's scent. He was thankful she wasn't wearing the heavy perfume some of the other girls made, his nose was so sensitive that he could sometimes taste the smells, and with perfume that could be sickening. On Claire he could smell the powder deodorant, which covered up some of the body scent she gave off, but only a bit. He could smell remnants of chemicals, older scents that had faded somewhat with washes, and a stronger scent of dry fibers and paper, indicating she handled it a lot, though that wasn't exactly uncommon given the institute was a school.

Standing up full sized may have been intimidating, especially given the claws and teeth. It wasn't something Tyson could really control, he was a walking furball, covered in fur and defined muscle, and his face didn't give the same expressions as a humans given it's shape, so even though he was just standing up, it could have been easily mistaken for something else. And when he spoke, it sounded more like growls with as he tried shaping his inhuman mouth around the words. He was working on relearning how to talk with this mouth, but the process was slow, and he tended to slur them whenever he tried. "Hrrrrrrr you'rrrrrrre neeeew?" he growled out, looking over her. His expression probably came off as angry, more due to the different way his mouth reacted to talking and his general animalistic appearance. He wasn't angry at her though, just his situation.

When Tyson stood up, Claire couldn't help but take a step back. Beyond the obvious of being more than a little intimidated by someone over a foot and a half taller than she, there was the basic fact that it made it easier to look at his face without tilting her head quite so far back.

Sometimes, the beginning of friendship however, no matter how rocky, is finding common ground. In Claire's case, she was used to cutting through the thick Scottish accent of her cousins. There was certain, if slight, similarity to how Wolf's words came out.
"yes" she squeaked, wrapping her arms tight around herself. "I, ah, I got here the other day. But, I guess I've been, well, you know, um, kinda being, a, err, hermit of sorts. I, uh, I hadn't really come out of my, you know, room, before now." One of her hands unwound from where it had been tightly held against her chest so that it was free enough to grab a lock of hair and twirl it. It was a nervous habit, and one that had been getting a workout ever since she'd discovered her new ability. 

She fought down the urge to go running back to that room now, and hide until graduation. That wouldn't be any more fair to him, than some of her former friends had been to her. Nothing like a little mutation to find out who your friends really are. With that thought in mind, she hesitantly put out her hand to make introductions.

"I'm, um, Claire. Claire Lockerby. Pleased to meet you sir." A bit stiff and formal perhaps, but it was a start. She looked to be mid-teens and didn't have a clue how old this other person was. She'd heard a rumor that some mutants didn't really age, but didn't know if there was any truth to it. Erroring on the side of him being older seemed the safest bet.

Tyson could see that he was making the girl nervous, and he was getting a subtle change in her scent. He could only assume it was that 'fear' scent that Danica had theorized he would be able to detect. That answered that question. She quickly blurted out that she had gotten to the institute recently, confirming his initial thoughts. Nothing like a giant monster to make you feel at home right? He sighed, figuring he probably wasn't helping her feel anymore at home, and took as seat by the couch, leaning against the side so he was no longer towering over her.

"I'm, um, Claire. Claire Lockerby. Pleased to meet you sir."

"Hrrrrr Tyson," he said, growling it out. He noted the 'sir' and guess she thought he was a teacher or something. Far from it, he was just some messed up guy trying to cope with his life being cut short by a despicable father figure who decided turning him into a monster was in his best interest. He was as far from someone in a position of respect as you could get. "Grrrr noott a teeacheeeerrrrrr," he said, hoping to let her know that he wasn't the person she needed to waste formality on.

Other then that he didn't really have much he could say to her. He wasn't really a student per-say, he was just here rehabilitating, trying to cope with the changes his mutation had bought. He's only recently learned that he was stuck like this, having believed he could be cured, so he wasn't the most talkative at the moment, even if it weren't so difficult.

Claire did seem to relax a bit after he sat back down. She then took a seat on the couch nearby.
"Have you been here long? Do you like it?" she asked, obviously curious, but keeping it mostly about the school. She glanced around the room, looking at the mix of expensive woodwork and furniture, with various electronics that kids would like.

"Pretty nice digs. I've been in some big houses but nothing like this" she said. "I had to transfer in from another school. We kinda found out I was a mutant by accident" she shared. She bit her lower lip, looking a little distant for a moment, before focusing again on her unusual fellow resident.

Tyson hadn't been at the mansion long, a few weeks. In all honesty right now he hated being here. He hated a lot of things, his reflection in the mirror, the lack of control over himself, his father, and so on. However, this was merely a result of his situation, he had thought the institute would cure him and he could return home. Having his hope pulled out from under him made him sour towards the institute at the moment. "Hrrrrrrr," was the only sound that came out in regards to that question, somewhat a snarl-growl that conveyed his discontent. He was obviously somewhat temperamental at the moment, though he made no move that may suggest he was acting that anger out.

He listened to her gush about the mansion for a little. He supposed it being a mansion made it more impressive then his home, but a gilded cage was still a cage. Yrue he wasn't confined to the mansion, but given some of the reactions he had gotten outside the institute, namely being attack, it still felt like he was somewhat limited in where he could go.

When Claire told him she found out she was a mutant by accident, he gave a bit of a huff. He hadn't really had a choice, his father had activated a 'latent x-gene' in him. He could have gone through his life as a normal person, but thanks to him he was now stuck as he was. "rrrrr diiiiidn't haaaaave arrr chooooice," he murmured, more to himself then to Claire, though loud enough for her to hear.

"I suppose none of us do, though I admit mine was well hidden." She sat pondering that for awhile in silence, when her stomach growled audibly. "Downside to being a hermit' she thought 'is missing out on meals...'

"Umm, do you happen to know where the kitchen is? The guy who signed me up said that it was open around the clock, and, well, I've sort been skipping meals." Claire's freckled face contorted into something between pouty and worried. Perhaps a mix of both. Now that she was thinking about food, her body wasn't going to be satisfied until she did something about it. Not that she was one to skip meals usually. Generally, she had to be careful not to gorge herself, though she'd found that she tended to be more hungry after using her power than she thought she ought to be. Hungry, and oftentimes tired. There was still so much she didn't know about this new side of herself. She hoped they would really be able to help her get a handle on it.

Tyson heard Claire's stomach noises without issue. It wasn't hard, even without his crazy hearing. He was a bit peckish himself, but tried to avoid the kitchen. He had issues with the raw meat, his instincts making it difficult to resist eating it. However with resent developments, he was beginning to question if there was any point in fighting it. He wasn't quite there yet, but his hopes and expectations of what he capable of controlling was slowly lowering. Still, it was usually better to keep himself feed so he didn't feel so inclined to other instincts, like hunting things.

He rose to his feet again and walked past Claire. He then pointed the direction to the kitchen, "Hrrrr thiss way," he said, ready to lead the way there. He didn't know much about Claire besides her name and smell, but he wasn't so far gone that he couldn't help someone out a little. He still wasn't up for much probing into his own state of being. For now he would just take her there, and maybe he could grab a left over burger from last nights dinner.

Claire stood and followed, heading the direction he pointed.
"Thank you"
She seemed to be fairly calm, although perhaps still a little nervous, having gotten past her initial surprise.

Since his mutation was very obvious, she figured maybe she would share about hers to make conversation.
"I'm hoping they can help me find some sort of, well, use for my ability here. I don't really know that much about it really. I've only been aware of it for a couple of weeks. Hmm, maybe its been three weeks? I'm not sure." Claire talked as she walked with her odd dinner companion. It was her nature; either shy and not saying anything, or talking constantly to cover up when she was feeling shy.

"I ah, I shape paper. I make something like an origami bird or dog or whatever, and then I grow that into a construct. So, like, a bird becomes real. Well, sorta real. It's still paper, and it wouldn't fool anyone that it isn't, but it is alive and moves and flys and everything. They don't last real long though."

{feel free to move them and have them walk into the kitchen or describe along the way. She follow and talk. A lot, lol.}

Tyson walked silently as Claire talked, something she was apparently very adept at. Not that he minded her doing all the talking right now. His impairments made it difficult for him to have any real conversation without slurring half the words, so he was content with just listening. Honestly he didn't know exactly when his powers had been thrust upon him. His father had experimented on him and activated a latent x-gene, then went and put him in some sort of control collar which jumbled his memories when it was active, making it hard to gauge how long he had been like this. All he knew at this point was he may have been normal for the rest of his life if he hadn't gotten involved with that man.

He listened to Claire describe her powers. Honestly it did sound cool, a lot better then what he was stuck with. And it sounded like she could easily go unnoticed if she choose to. Some people had all the luck. The sounds of other students echoed from somewhere down the hall as he lead the way to the kitchen, passing by a few busts and pictures that decorated the place and gave it that university feel. Honestly he hadn't examined any of them in detail, his situation wasn't one that made him feel much like admiring artwork.

Claire slowed a bit when something caught her eye here or there, but didn't actually pause long enough to hinder their progress. Her movements were very fluid as she glided along beside her large companion.

She finally fell silent for a minute or two, afraid that she was dominating the conversation. It was something she had done on occasion, especially when nervous, for whatever reason.

{moving to and continued in thread Late Dinner in the Kitchen area)