Elizabeth lingered just inside the doorway, to be out of the Dunham’s way, and just stared back at them politely and with a pleasant smile. Yeah, it was a little odd that their boarding school allowed pets, but there was nothing normal about their boarding school from the get-go. She nodded at Mr. Dunham.

“That is a reason for it, yes,” she said, her necklace choosing that moment to peek its head out at them over Elizabeth’s shoulder. “But far more commonly it’s to make this place as much of a home as possible.” She reached down and scratched behind Zorro’s ears. The canine leaped into her leg and his tail started thumping the floor. “Many students who come here have unfortunate backgrounds - several have been kicked out of their homes or were living on the streets before we were made aware of them or they found their way to us. We try to provide every student here with as much attention as possible, but at the end of the day, mutants though we are, we’re still only human.”

Liz glanced down at Zorro and smiled still again. “And some kids just need the simple and unconditional love that only a pet can provide.”

Elizabeth waited patiently as the Dunham’s explored the room, entertaining herself by dancing through Zorro and the snake’s minds to see what else they picked up and practicing integrating their senses into her own. That meant she saw the onset of Atomic Parental Humiliation beginning to ionize Herbert from three different viewpoints.

“Well, I think it’s time to start on a tour of the mansion!” Liz said brightly, clapping her hands firmly together and striding further into the room. She fished a key out of her pocket and extended it toward Herbert. “Here’s your room key. We can leave all of your things here for now - this way we can show you and your parents where you’re going to be living for the next year!”] Liz said to Herbert.

She whirled around and started marching out of the room. “Onward to the classrooms!”

Taking the key from Liz Herbert looked at it and then reached down and attached it to a key clip. The offer to continue on was well received. His parents smirking at the obvious save shook their heads as Greg looked at his watch. “Well while that would be fun we got an 18 hour drive ahead of us. Bea has court in two days and I got to get back to my business as well.” 

Nodding Herbert's mother smiled as she moved over and gave her son a hug. “Dad's right. As much as I would love to take the full tour you knew we could only stay long enough to get you settled and all the t's crossed and i's dotted.”

Hugging his mother back he nodded a little deflated at the sentiments. “What about Murphy? Can you send him now that we know it'll be ok?”

Sharing a look his parents obviously were having a silent conversation. And shaking his head Greg spoke up as he ruffled his sons head. “Not just yet Kiddo. Right now you're in a new school and new situation. We will hold off on it for a semester or two. You don't know what your life is going to be like yet and until you get into the groove of things. You don't want to have Murphy here being ignored now do you?”

Herbert honestly had no argument for that. They were right on all counts. “Yeah you got a point.” 

It didn’t take Elizabeth more than two seconds to realize the Dunhams were not, in fact, following her off to a tour. The teacher paused in her trek and remained in the hallway, a polite distance from the door where she was readily available, yet hopefully not intrusive upon them. This part of greeting people was always odd, in her opinion. Some students came along, some brought family or family-like people to help them settle in. Some departed quickly, some practically had to be kicked out before curfews. Some wanted a museum tour of the estate, others just wanted to explore their rooms. Any number of things. But Liz was nothing if not adaptable.

She was also feeling a bit awkward because she could clearly overhear their conversation without even trying. She didn’t even need to use Zorro’s ears to pick it up. Liz felt for the kid - the emotional bond between kid and pet could be quite strong and to have it so suddenly severed? Liz dropped a hand on Zorro’s head and patted the fur there. Maybe Zorro would start needing a lot of walks in the near future, probably at times when there were no classes for Herbert to be in and Liz was just swamped with paperwork or training or something.

Liz felt she couldn’t really stay out in the hallway much longer before it got really weird so she stepped to the doorway and rapped it lightly with her knuckles. “I don’t mean to intrude,” she said politely. “Perhaps I can show you around the next time you’re in, or perhaps Herbert can,” she said to the Dunhams. “In the meantime, if you’d rather get Herbert settled in before you go, I can leave you all alone and just come back when you’re ready to leave.”