It was a shame he never had gotten to go on a cross-country trip with his parents, and now he was doing it alone. Living by himself, feeling excluded from the wet city was getting old. He needed a new beginning. He had heard vaguely of sanctuary for those who didn’t fit in too well with the crowd. It was day six, of flying. His wings were growing increasingly stronger over the trip, his stops now became scarcer, but then again he was growing wearier as the days passed. It was a mind changing experience, seeing all the landscapes. He had flown over the snow capped mountains, plains, forests, deserts, cities, and even had stopped in some isolated, quirky little communities and towns to rest over night. It would have been cooler to spread wings at night, but there was too much to see before he reached his destination, the Big Apple. The sun began to cast a peach and rose colored shadow against the clouds and smog of the city horizon. The sun sank like a shining copper penny beneath the concrete and nearby bay. He had estimated he’d be in New York by tonight, and he was close, really close. Somewhere in the tangled mass of streets, alleys, and sky scrapers might be his new family and home. He decided not to use the maps that looked like it had a plate of spaghetti thrown at it. He would find it himself or ask around. Surely a mutant home wouldn’t be hard to find. He crossed his fingers that his hopes wouldn’t be let down. He made the membrane folds of his wings taught, and he began to descend from the sky cruising along looking for a rather idle street. He passed over Times Square. He had seen nothing like it. The flashing lights and tall colorful buildings took the spotlight of tourist attention. He quickly maneuvered away from the area. Soon he came to a sleepy boulevard, and smoothly landed, jogging to a stop. He took a quick look around, tail undulating behind him as he walked. He pushed open a door to an old fashioned deli. Of course the customers and people behind the counter looked up. That was to be expected as he managed to squeeze his wings through the door, the bell buzzing until he wriggled past the welcome matt. Luckily, no one jumped or panicked. He guessed perhaps with the X-men mansion around, things like this might be somewhat ordinary to the locals. Skyler gave a nervous chuckle, waving his clawed fingers at a few faces. He walked up the counters and leaned forward indicating he wanted to know something.
“Y-yes sir? You need something fly-boy?” asked the man, voice thick with the city’s accent.
“Yeah actually Mr. Meaty, you know anything about the X-mansion? You know where the not-so human peeps chill? I’ve been flying Kimosabe, and I’m tired. Was hoping you might know,” he explained.
“Ah, it’s in the north side of town--”
“Well, could you be more specific than that?”
“I wasn’t finished…it’s parallel to 14th Street. Follow to main drag 25 until you get to the Bellerose. It’s in that area, shouldn’t be hard to miss. I heard it’s a huge private property mansion,” answered the butcher, offering a hard smile.
“Thanks bub, owe yah one,” he replied mocking his NY accent.

He took to the skies again by now the airy canvas was painted indigo, and he wanted to find the X-mansion before it was late. He flew directly over the highway, and then circled around looking for 14th Street in hopes of finding it. At last his eyes set on the property. His jaw dropped at the sight of the size of the place and the pool and basketball courts. This was ten times better than that cramped little orphanage. Although he new he would need to gain privileged to live there. It was a responsibility. He spotted the iron gates, but those were for land-lubbers. He glided above the front lawn just getting a taste for what might be his. Then the security system figured he was an Unidentified Flying Object. Small laser canons unfolded from the innocent looking statues and bird baths, and fired red sparks. One had hit him directly in the side, and he let out a startled screech sending him off balance. He teetered and burst into a bedroom window. The glass shattered under his weight sending shards flying as he made a crash landing onto the floor. Skyler tumbled and rolled coming abruptly to a stop when he made contact with a desk, knocking that over as well. He laid there for a moment, cursing under his breath before he slowly got up. He quickly looked himself over, luckily there were no cuts, the glass hadn’t penetrated his skin. He looked around and cringed feeling his stomach churn with guilt at the damage done to the room.
“Honey, I’m home…” he said aloud, feeling antsy for his next brilliant move. He looked franticly around, he picked up the desk back on its legs and put the lamp back…it still looked like a tornado hit. He looked out the hole in the wall, trying to decide whether he should do a hit and run. Although those types of games tended come back and bite you in the butt. This was going to be one terrible first impression. He folded his wings, listening to what might be out in the hallway. He wondered if anyone had heard the clatter. He grabbed his hair with his clawed fingers, knees locked with the feeling of certain doom.

Upside-down Asian in the center of a blue mat; the world turned. His eyes were closed, fingers curled in deep meditation. The reflection flipped in the little green triangle hovering in the air like an arrowhead pointed down. He inhaled again; the triangle’s edges spread out like hot plastic into a mold. Bigger, better. Another triangle blinked into being underneath it, pointed up. They danced for a second, like celestial bodies caught in each other’s gravitational pull.

Rotating, turning, the reflected form lost focus. The twin triangles swam together like hairs caught in a drain. They merged into one big clump; square.

The Asian’s head tilted; beads of sweat trailed down the side of his brow. Now the tough part came. An image of a vivid blue-green grid lit up the back of his mind. Faint lines traced the blank sky of the grid, shifting into bold scribbles as he rushed to impose order. No, no… that wasn’t the way. A wave of water washed over the chalky white lines and wiped them away. Once again, he was left with a clean chunk of pavement mind. This time, blue dots winked onto the slate-gray surface of the mind. Slowly, slowly… lines stretched like rubber bands and outlined the grid. He tugged another band over a push-pin of light, pulled it, shaped it. The edges of the band wrapped to form a vague constellation. And now it was a game of Cat’s Cradle, tugging individual strings into triangle shapes.

Balancing. Folding.

Stars fell into place. With a final twist, he was finished.

Hands twisted into vices like eagle claws, he opened his eyes to the cube.

“There…” A breathless murmur escaped his lips. “Cube made up of more cubes. Those cubes made up of triangles. Most complex thing, ever.” The corners of his mouth turned up into a weak smile. Silver triangles seemed to dance in his eyes with possibilities. Lost in reverie.

A brutal beeping shook him out of it. “What?” The cube warped into a clumsy green rhombus as he jerked his shirt collar to his mouth and spoke to the communicator pinned there.

“Disturbance on ground level. Defense systems detected a UFO, fired on it. The thing crashed through a wall on the second floor two minutes ago. Security cameras place the room on the second floor, front of the building, room 205. You’re the closest to the scene. Time for a little Mansion Greeting, don’t you think?”

“Wait, UFO? Are you serious?!”

“Unidentified Flying Object, yeah. But before you get all fired up and paranormal investigator on me, no. It wasn’t Little Green Men. Sorry to bust your bubble, Shin.”

Shin’s grip on his coat tightened as he tugged it on. He bowed his head to respond bitterly. “Thanks, Johnny.” Didn’t even leave him room for imagination. It wasn’t like he’d been picturing first contact, flowers for aliens, or anything. Nope. Ah, well. “I’ll be on the scene in 2. Shin, out.” The communication cut short. Shin’s collar popped. He walked out the Danger Room doors.

~*~

“Um, yo!” Three quick knocks on the door to room 205. No door-busting here, girlies. He stood impatiently, eyes sweeping the hallway for any signs of escape attempts, burnt wall, or little green men. Foot-tapping jiggled the tail of his coat. Waiting was always the hard part when it came to first contact. Cross-referencing sources, checking your data… bugs. He knocked again, with urgency this time. “Anyone in this room? Mansion security, here to… er, greet you. Open the door, or I’ll—” His hand jerked the handle and it turned; the door swung open, revealing a gargoyle. “Um… guess I’ll just run or something? Got a name there, gray fella? State your business while you’re at it…”

Skyler felt his stomach lurch again, he could hear foot steps coming towards his end of the hall. His muscles sputtered into action he kicked the glass into a pile with his foot. His animalistic emerald eyes flicked about the room. He needed something to cover mess. His eyes trailed the purple and pink stripped bed spread. The quilt might work, no…His face lit up with an idea of a ruse. He leapt right grabbed a bean bag chair and threw it on top of the pile of shattered glass. Now there was three knocks at his door. This was when his improve skills came to use. His head turned left, ears perking as the door was swung open, wings snapping open in a green display of membrane and patterns of veins. There was an Asian with black hair that curtained his face. He scooted to the desk before answering, moving a vase with a flower to the corner of the desk pretending to be arranging things.
“Oh…heh. Didn’t see you coming…A n-name? Well who doesn’t? I’m Mr. Clean…you know the dude on the baking soda box… I’m just uhh…” he glanced around, avoiding eye contact, voice holding a nervous quiver, wings. “House cleaning!” he nearly blurted. “I came here to do you know, room service,” he waited for the opposite male’s obsidian eyes to land on the blown out window. “That Windex stuff works really well yah know,” he said leaning his elbow on the invisible surface. He winced as something crackled under his hocked feet. Finally he looked at the shard bender’s face, shoulders falling but then his gaze fell guiltily to the floor. He couldn’t keep this up. “Well, I’m Skyler…and I just kind of dropped by. You see…I finally found this place and-and I saw these awesome basket ball courts and a pool…and I was like whoa that’s sweet, I totally want to li— so I went to check it out—nice lawn by the way the neighbors must be jealous—and so then there was like this laser thing and it blasted me, and I like crash landed here…so yeah…” he said nodding his head in support to his rather scattered story. “Really sorry about the window…I know you and your folks might get a little…angry with me…I came here looking for a fa-” he paused, that word was a little sensitive, maybe too strong. “For a ho- a place to stay. Been roughing it out lately,” he chuckled running his clawed fingers through his hair and around his horns, folding his wings. “Funny, I break into your mansion then ask if I can stick around,” he said with a half grin. This whole thing probably seemed absurd. Despite the fiasco, he was relieved to have finally spilled it. The UFO had made contact.

“You seem to lack the… telltale baldness Mr. Clean is so famous for…” Shin trailed. He eyed the spread wings suspiciously as the gargoyle tried to find a cover story. He took a step into the room, and broken glass crunched underfoot. A glint of a shard flashed under the edge of a beanbag chair. A scrape from motion was visible on the desk’s sides, and curtains fluttered in the open window as the boy tried pantomiming cleaning solution. Shin’s eyes pierced the gargoyle’s back like a spear. Obviously, something wasn’t right here. Try as the boy might, he couldn’t hide the truth.

It seemed he finally realized as much. The boy’s face fell as he turned to look at Shin. “Well, I’m Skyler…and I just kind of dropped by. You see…I finally found this place and-and I saw these awesome basket ball courts and a pool…and I was like whoa that’s sweet, I totally want to li— so I went to check it out—nice lawn by the way the neighbors must be jealous—and so then there was like this laser thing and it blasted me, and I like crash landed here…so yeah…”

Shin’s hand gripped the comm. on his shirt, pushing it up to his lips. The communicator clicked on. “Shin to Johnny… I’ve found the source of the disturbance. Looks like we’ll have a new mansion maid for a while. See if you can get it cleared with the headmistresses…” His eyes never left Skyler’s face as he spoke into the comm. He let go of the collar, smirk spreading across his face. The last time someone had broken mansion property, they’d been put to work for the repair job. And now… Shin laughed. “Looks like I just saved your life. While you’re working here repairing the window, I guess you’ll need a room to sleep in. Maybe I can talk Bud into moving out of this one for the duration… yeah, he never did like the cold. But, yeah…” He extended a hand to Skyler, stowing the grin for a look of compassion. “Welcome to Xavier manor. My name’s Shin. I’ll be your chaperone. Nice entrance, by the way.”

The UFO may have made contact, but getting out of the mansion’s tractor beam… might be a little tougher than he’d first assumed.

“Touché. Oh then you must have not known that he got a hair transplant and a tan. See? I even have the guns,” he said lifting his arm and kissing his bicep in a musing manner. He gulped seeing him lift the communicator from his shirt. He felt like a criminal the way that the male eyed him with eyes like pins and needles. He sheepishly grinned, waiting not sure what to do with his hands.

“Thanks dude. Owe you one. No worries, it’s only fair. Break it you build it,” he said with a shrug. He wasn’t the disagreeable kind. He wasn’t raised to whine and complain. “Poor Bud, hope he likes fresh air. Nah, I’ve been here for like two minutes…” he said blown away by the invitation, jaw dropping. This was well worth the long flight. His doubt of acceptance was brushed away, and a feeling of relief overcame him. The gargoyle let out a pleasant sigh. He hadn’t been expecting to sleep here tonight. But hey—he didn’t mind. “I’d sleep out in the barn I you wanted me too…besides furniture and I don’t mix well, neither does the bed spread,” he said taking out his clawed hand but then deftly pulled it away and plopped the end of his tail in Shin’s hand, he shook his easily maneuverable tail. “Good to meetcha Knee- I mean Shin. Wow not bad, not bad. I’ve already got a chaperone. Sweet, think I could get used to this,” he said sliding his appendage away, then swaying contently. “Oh shucks, been working on it actually. I quite think I opened with a ‘bang’, don’t you think Shin?” he said striding towards the door patting his new friend’s shoulder.

“So I guess I should start with the dust pan and the broom, huh?” he asked indicating he wanted to know what he should do next. As they walked, Skyler felt a question wriggle its way to his mind. “So—what’s your power?” he asked slinking down onto all fours as the pace was slow.

"Er…" Shin shook hands with the five foot tail. It was heavy in his hand, a little wobbly, but controlled. The gargoyle had seemed too willing to go with the flow, though. No whining or disagreements from him. It seemed Shin had judged the lackadaisical character right. He was friendly as a Scottish terrier, and already willing to help with the clean up. Shin shifted his attention to the mess of a room.

"Actually… I think getting you set up to be on campus should come first. We need to leave a note for the room's occupant to let them know what's going on, and give them a chance to grab their stuff. If we clean up now, we might unknowingly throw away something they value. So…"

“…I guess I should start with the dust pan and the broom, huh?” Skyler's question cut Shin's own statement short. A question wriggled its way out from his tan lips. "… What's your power?" The gargoyle plopped down on the floor. Shin raised an eyebrow. For some reason, questions of mutation always seemed so garish to the Asian boy.

"It's hard to explain…" Actually, showing was easier. He pointed to a few of the broken shards of glass. "See those? Now watch this." His other hand rose up and shook the sleeve. His eyes snapped shut as he concentrated, fingers wiggling like a puppet master working the marionette. Four 3 inch tan triangles blinked into existence. He turned them in the air, let the main three form sides. The bottom two flipped and slid into place, making the bottom of a pyramid shape. He spun the pyramid around Skyler carefully, watching to make sure everything didn't stray. Finally, his hand snapped shut. The triangles broke the shape, flying back to him in a swirl of tannish-pink. He let out a tempered breath. His concentration went slack. "And that… is my power." His lips drew into a smile. "Now, let's get you set up with all that paperwork… you wanted to become a student, right? Or were you just sightseeing when you crashed… I kinda forgot to ask."

Skyler subconsciously felt his eyes flicker back to the beanbag with glass strewn about and then at the curtains that flapped inward slightly from the cool night breeze. He bit his lip with the slight nauseating feeling of fault. “I’ll be more careful next time. Hope whoever lives here won’t hold a grudge,” he said voice taking a small downfall in volume, ears seemingly weighted by his misfortune to someone else.

His gaze met Shin’s milky white face, attention turned on high as he began to reveal his power. It was his first day here—surrounded by other people like him, doors to many rooms, and activities that went on at the Xavier sister mansion. It was to be expected he might be somewhat curious, or worked about his surroundings. He was a pioneer to this new world. There seemed to be a atmosphere empty of hostility or fear of being unique. It was truly a privilege to be here. It was no wonder why he nearly dropped out of high school, Freshman year. He was constantly being picked on after he developed his mutation. His idiot best friend, Mike, couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it. Skyler was stupid enough to tell him, he wanted somebody close to know other than his stranger dad. It was comforting, to not hide something alone—that is until you were the laughing stock during lunch. The gargoyle-boy could recollect what it was like to be on the bottom of the food chain like it was yesterday. For a moment he locked eye contact with Shin, trying to pick up a trace, a hint, of history in the ebony ovals before him. Perhaps there might be an underlying connection between them. Already he knew, they were going to be good companions. Really, it had been a long while since he talked to somebody he would see the next day. To him life was had isolated him from the strength of the pack, naturally he needed one to survive. He was not a lone wolf, and life alone had been agonizing. Eureka! He had little doubt this was to be his new home.

Skyler shook his head, his thoughts had meandered somewhere in just a few moments. There was so much on his mind right now. The younger boy watched in awe as the triangular pieces of glass formed, and was put together like a pyramid puzzle. He grinned at the demonstration. His head turned to follow the movement of shards, and eyebrows lifted in surprise as they pulsated into a bright pink hue, the florescent light of the room reflecting a soft glow from the fragments. “Bravo, that was awesome! That was so cool,” he chuckled, thrilled like a kid during the holiday season. He straightened up tail lashing in a whimsical manner. “If I do get in trouble for the window, I could just blame you. Man, it’s like having an older brother again,” he laughed. “Kidding…”

As he followed Shin through the hall, he straightened his face, time for business now people. Again, still, he was presented another opportunity and a big one. The only answer was yes. “Well sign me up. Studentarize me cap’. I can’t believe it… you have no idea how much this means to me. Ugh, I wish I had come here a year ago,” he replied. “So how long have you been here?”

"Only a few months," Shin replied as they turned a corner in the hall. Another mutant came up ahead of them. She had shoulder-length black hair, and wore Gothic-style make-up, casual blue jeans, and a black vest over a red shirt. A cross dangled from a chain around her neck. She shifted her body to the side, and did her best to balance the tower of pillows and folded sheets in her arms as the two boys brushed past.

"How about you?" He glanced back at Skyler. "How long has it been since you've been a mutant? And I'm curious. How much control do you have?" As he said it, a blur of yellow shot through the hall, weaving past them. The girl's tower of pillows teetered in the speedster's wake.

"No!" Her eyes snapped shut. A sudden pressure closed around them in the hallway, like a vacuum sucking away movement and sound. The pillow tower stabilized. It only took a moment. She shook her head, patted the stack's side and smiled at Shin. "Sorry, nearly lost it for a moment there. We really need to teach him to slow down..."

"I'll talk to him later. Take care."

"Bye," She waved at the two boys with a giggle, vanishing around the bend. Shin kept walking.

"As you can see, some mansion residents have more control than others..."

“Only a few months eh? We can be freshies together!...Except the fact that you’re a little old,” he mused to Shin. Skyler noticed the dangerously swaying pile of pillows and blankets, and smiled nervously at the girl under it all. It was quite a feat to watch. He winced a little for her, almost tempted to offer help, but it was important that he talked to the shard-manipulator.

“Oh umm…about three years. I got a lot more than just facial hair when I hit puberty,” he said cheesily, flicking his tail at himself for the blunt response. “Control…well it’s not like I go monster on anybody. It’s just silly things like forgetting to tuck in your tail when bend over, or not to slap people in the face with these things,” he said sticking his thumb out to what lay just below his shoulder blades. “And sometimes or don’t realize my own strength or size...but I’m defiantly not reckle—“ the last of the boy’s sentence got blown away as a yellow trail whizzed down the hall and turned, causing his braid to turn vertically into the hair, and ears to almost flap in the draft. Then soon after a strange sensation of stillness engulfed them for a few startling moments.

Skyler’s eye brows lifted then lay flat as the girl managed to save her stack of sheets and pillows. “Good save there,” he said grinning at the goth. “You guys need a hall monitor…or a hall cop,” he laughed.

The gargoyle turned to Shin and nodded. “Yeah, that or the person just has no manners,” he said.

Shin laughed. "Well, manners or not, he needs to learn to control his speedster tendencies. That's what this mansion is here for. Providing an environment where students can learn about the world, themselves, and others. It's a place for growth."

He came to a flight of steps after a few minutes of walking, and descended. "My office is down here a ways," Shin lied with a smirk. His office... it was still Sam and Streak's. They'd yet to give him his own little desk or computer. He led Skyler to an office at the end of the hall, and plopped down in a swivel chair, spinning to face him. He nudged open a desk drawer and pulled out some papers, then reached to a pen cup and pulled out a fancy blue pen. Its surface looked like water, rippled in waves. He pressed on the head and the tip popped out.

"Have a seat and tell me about yourself, Skyler. I think I've already got the gist of your mutation and how long it has been in effect. I'll just jot that down real quick." The tip of his tongue pricked out the corner of his mouth as Shin wrote. He dotted his 'i's, crossed his 't's, and was done. "Alright. Ready."

“Oooh enlightening, yet makes sense," commented the gargoyle. “You have your own office? You must be special, pretty nifty Shinbo,” he chuckled, a curled grin on his features. Getting along with Shin was rather easy. It was so different from being with someone from the public. He was here for a reason and everyone knew that, as they were too. It was a relaxed exchange of words, and was treated like he was a human.

Skyler sat down as instructed, smiling as the glass-manipulator spun around in his chair. The gargoyle copied spinning around three times before putting his clawed foot on the leg of the chair and came to an abrupt stop. “Trippy pen,” he said eyes looking over the knick knacks that were spread across the desk. He spied a hacky-sack and gently picked the stitched ball into his palm careful not to pierce the colorful pattern with his claws.

When Shin declared he was ready to start, Skyler tossed him the hacky-sack. “Well wouldn’t you like to know, Sherlock,” he said tapping his chin in thought. “Okay so…My favorite flavor of ice-cream is chocolate, I like rock music annnnd I can lick my elbow,” he said half heartedly and demonstrated his unique skill. “Pretty cool huh?”

The gargoyle lashed his tail, a reluctant look on his face wondering if Shin was really asking for a background check. “I grew up in Seattle and when I was six there was a chemical spill in the house. My dad was a mad scientist, so that explains it…and then I went an orphanage, tried school, but all the while I was er….changing, didn’t make many friends after that started happening. So, then I ran—flew away here,” confessed the younger male, breezing through his life story. He really didn’t like looking back at his life, and gaping at how much time had been wasted and alone he was after the accident. He just wanted to focus on making things better in the present. “Glad I came the basketball courts and pool look awesome,” he said peeking over the Asian’s shoulder where the window was. “We done here?” he asked opening his hand for Shin to toss him the ball.

Shin's eyes widened at the odd list. He snapped up a hand to catch the hacky sack, and blinked. "Um, no elbow-licking required, preferably..." And there it was. He closed his eyes for a second and suppressed a sigh. He'd wanted something a bit more enlightening than that. Not a life history, but...

Ah, there it was. Much better. Shin folded his hands and listened. Mad scientists? School!? ... Seattle. Okay, the simplest of the story telling elements was obviously a lie. Nobody lived in Seattle. But he nodded through it all the same. It didn't sound too far from other students' stories. Shin made a few quick notes on the paperwork, then set down the pen. "I see. So you saw the pool and basketball courts, then? Maybe we could get in a pick-up game some time. I'm quite the HORSE aficionado myself. And you should of seen the pool party we had a while back. Lots of cute girls, good food. There was even volleyball. Altogether, pretty awesome campus, things considered. I've got a few questions left for you..."

The scene faded out as Shin and Skyler finished filling out the paperwork. It faded back in as a set of keys flew towards Skyler's hand. "And I think that covers registration. There's the key to the room you picked. We'll get a repair crew in as soon as we can to fix the windows. Other than that..." He folded the papers and slid them in an alphabetized file cabinet, then turned back to the gargoyle boy. "I'm sorry. That took a while. You've already seen the campus from a bird's eye view. Do you still want the tour?"

There were still classrooms and the library and the kitchen to show in-doors. Shin tossed the hacky sack back to Skyler.

Skyler caught Shin’s expression change when he mentioned his home town. It wasn’t completely impossible. “Plane tickets are a little expensive,” he said looking flatly at the older mutant. He gave his wings a quiver. “I flew here form Seattle, wasn’t easy but I made it,” he informed the other.

“Yeah we should. HORSE is fun, but I think a little bit of one on one is a little more interesting,” he said drumming his fingers along his jaw, looking challengingly at Shin. His face brightened when Shin mentioned the pool party, a grin parting his lips. “You guys threw a pool party?! Wish I coulda been there. I hope we have another one soon,” he said a little forlorn for having missed the event. It would have been a great way to meet mutants. “Chicks and chow, always a good combination. I don’t think anyone wants to date a dinosaur but, I bet you pick up quite few eh Shinbo?” he laughed.

The gargoyle caught set the keys in one hand and passed it on to his tail and looped it on through the key chain. He jingled the small pieces of metal as he stood, it was a good sound. “Thank you Mr. Shin. No, no it was well worth the small wait,” he said catching the hacky sack again with good timing and set the toy back down on the desk.

“As for the tour, I can do that on my own time. Helps me remember if I find it myself. But first I want to see my room and then wanna go out and toss the ball around? I’m going to check out my base!” he said excitedly striding out the door, waving a hand if Shin wished to follow. He went up a flight of stairs and counted down the room numbers until he got to his door. Twenty-five was inscribed in silver numbers on the wood. He flicked the keys into his fingers and into the knob and gave it a turn. It gave a satisfying click and he stepped in. “I have my own room!” he said walking in head on a swivel. There his own desk, book shelf, dresser and bed. He flopped face down on the mattress. “I’m home,” he said nuzzling the clean smelling pillow. It was heaven compared to the cramped orphanage. He had his little moment of victory and slid off the bed, and walked past Shin. “Remind me to tip you one of these days,” he said waiting in the hall for their next walk-about. “So where’s the exit to the courts?”