Verdigris fingered the paper in her pocket. She had folded and unfolded it so many times that the crease along the middle was slightly fluffy with broken fibres. She pulled it out and opened it, scanning it as she walked. Yes, all the sections were filled in, boxes ticked, dates marked. That is the way it should have been, seeing as she had filled it out mere days before and double- triple- checked her answers every day leading up to this. This was the crunch, the day she returned to the Mansion to see if they would have her.

It was not so long ago she had been here to attend a wedding, the wedding of two people she had never met. Once again the groom's kindness made her flush, for him to invite someone he had never met, just because he saw them sleeping behind a dumpster was a big risk, a leap of faith on his part in trusting she would a polite guest. She had done her very best to scrub up for the event and worn her best clothes. Then the groom's kindness had spilled over and he had organised for her to get a job as well. Truely, truely he was a good man, and her faith in the mutant species was renewed.

She stared at the gates. They were closed. They had been opening freely for the guests to the wedding, but now they were shut snugly. She shrugged her arms under her jumper, perhaps she should have worn more than a tank-top and the jumper, worn thin with age. She pressed the button on the intercom that was staring at her.

"Hello? My name is Verdigris Willow, I have some paperwork, I would like to come in and talk to someone."

Because swapping details in the brisk autumn wind after sunset was never a bright idea.

Yaaaaaaawn.

Shin leaned back in his chair again. Leaning. And swaying. Leaning. And swaying. It was a good thing he had his own office. If Sam had seen him stretching his chair's back like this, he'd have worried Shin was slacking off again.

But no. Shin wasn't slacking off. This... was all part, yawn yawn of the training. He stifled another yawn with his hand, and shook himself.

Man.

He really hadn't gotten much sleep last night, had he?

On the desk in front of him, a tiny cube spun. It was red, blue, yellow, and green, formed of half-inch triangles. A real Rubik's cube, it was. The cube was the result of his training the night prior. He'd practiced making individual cubes of triangles, with different colors on each side.

It was difficult.

Getting the colors straight in his head had been the hardest part. Controlling the small shards was coming easier. How they stuck together in the Rubik's cube operation, he didn't know yet. It still wasn't a perfect product. He still had a long way to go before he'd show it off. Still, the mental concepts were good footwork. It was good practice for color control and size.

He leaned back again in his desk chair, tempting fate. One final streeeeeetch........

>>"Hello? My name is Verdigris Willow, I have some paperwork, I would like to come in and talk to someone."

A voice cut in on the intercom. Shin fell backwards, out of his chair. As the metal legs rattled, the shard Rubik's cube dispersed into nothing. A crunch.

Shin rubbed the back of his head. "Be right there..." He responded gruffly as he reached up for the intercom response.

Six minutes later, he was still rubbing. He had a real good bruise growing now... thank you, Verdigris Willow. Thank you, for the bump.

Shin approached the front gates with a weak wave.

"Hello. Hold on a second." He reached forward to enter in the code on the gate controls. Beep bop, boooo. A click. The gates swung open. Shin gestured for her to come in. "Follow me," He held his head, and squinted one eye. "Let's get into the mansion... I think the kitchen has ice."

As soon as she was ready, Shin led the way to the front doors.

~~ “Be right there.”

The voice sounded a little upset about being disturbed, or perhaps it had just had too much to drink or smoke recently. A twinge of fear at the thought that flitted unbidden into her mind- perhaps they had a dragon-mutant guarding the gates. Somehow being charred to a crisp when she finally had a friend and a job after three years of nothing seemed a bit of a shame. Wriggling her fingers to keep circulation happening (nothing quite like the stiffness of chilled body parts to kill a good mood.) she inspected the gates. They looked sturdy enough, but would they really keep out someone who was determined. Especially if said determined someone had wings? It seemed unlikely, and she idly wondered why there wasn’t a giant dome surrounding the whole area. Besides the fact it would be insanely expensive, of course.

~~ “Hello. Hold on a second.”

She gave her fingers one last wriggle as she waited for the keypad to decide if she was worth admitting. She passed. She followed the man with a curious crinkle of her nose. On a day like this coffee or hot chocolate, or pretty much anything warm seemed better than ice, but she was inside now, and if- as well as ice- the kitchen had a table, she could get this man to have a look over her paperwork. Surely with as many issues that the general population had with mutants there were lots of potential residents who couldn’t put details in certain areas.

Following the man quietly she looked around as they made their way up the steps to the doors, she had been here once before, and the lighting had been much better in late afternoon, rather than early evening, but she had been distracted by fits of nerves about attending a wedding where she didn’t know anyone. The grounds were huge, from what she could see and she touched her pocket, double checking that her paperwork hadn’t run away from her.

She pondered why he would want ice right after meeting her, and after careful contemplation of everything he had said and done from the moment he stepped out of the doors and made his way towards her, she still wasn't sure why. The man touched the back of his head tenderly and she decided it was for himself. He had, after all, been rubbing his head when he said it as well. He must have hit it on something.

“Are you alright?”

Surely whatever had happened to him wasn’t her fault…

Surely.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I just bumped my head. Those things they say about 'not leaning back in chairs'?" He looked back at her seriously, with a serious squint. "Totally listen to them. Ah. Here we are."

As he'd lectured, they'd passed through the main hall, under the chandelier, and over the rug, all the way to the kitchens.

Two students sat at the table, talking. One had blue eyes, blue hair, and a nose ring. The other was a page out of Twilight... the short science fiction story by John W. Campbell, of the hitchhiker from the future... the end of humanity, rather than the vampire story... By which the narrator meant 'hopelessly' dressed for a teenage girl, and wearing a lot of metal. They glanced up at Verdy and Shin as the pair entered, but said not a word.

Shin stalked the ice.

A moment later, he dutifully returned to Verdy's side, ice cubes wrapped in a red dish towel pressed to the back of his head.

"... It's a bit too crowded here. Let's get to my office."

Shin once again led the way.

------------------------

Shin's office was fairly average, so far as offices went. It had a computer, a desk, its own share of chairs and paperwork (both in disarray). Shin bent to right his desk chair, and sat. He gestured towards one of the two comfortable (and already-righted) chairs in front of his desk with a polite smile.

"Please, have a seat. Tell me about yourself. First off, names. Hi, my name's Shin." Somehow, as he offered the outstretched ice-laden hand, Shin felt he was doing something in the incorrect order...

Ah, yes. The ice. He set that down. That was for him. The head trauma had made him forget.

Verdigris was no stranger to dyed hair, her own green-tipped locks were a round-about by-product of her mutation. Not that her mutation made her hair any different, just that she had dyed it to change how she looked so she could disappear until she figured out her mutation. She had never expected to be gone for three years. She smiled at the pair, perhaps they too had picked the mansion as a safe-house. She watched as the young man rummaged and dug before wrapping the ice triumphantly in a tea-towel. He suggested his office and she nodded, with a glance again to the two students she fell in behind the man and followed quietly.

~~~

Verdigris slipped into the chair, paying careful attention not to swing on it. She ran her fingers over her pants, it kept them warm, and kept her occupied.

“My name is Verdigris, lots of people used to call me Verdy, but you don’t have to, whichever is easier, nice to meet you Shin.”

She glanced at the ice laden hand, did he want her to get rid of it? Ah, no, it would seem he had merely forgotten about it. She shook the cold, slightly wet hand with an awkward smile.

“I, uh, have been living in New York for three years now, I had heard rumours and mentions of a mansion for mutants, but never took any action. I could look after myself I guess was what I was thinking.”

She smiled a little as she remembered the slap-dash way she and Andrea had met.

“I met a girl, and got a fright from a mutant at a safehouse she tried to show me. I ran to the park and hid. I started feeling really guilty, so I promised myself the next obvious mutant I saw I would go out of my way to be friendly to. That’s how I met Andrea, maybe you know her, she’s kinda… green. She invited me to come here, and I said I would if I got the paperwork.”

She fumbled in her pocket and retrieved the folded and re-folded pages.

“I picked these up a while ago, there was a wedding here and the groom invited me. This is the first time I’ve been back here since then.”

She lay the paper oblong on the desk, tilting it so it was perfectly parallel to the edge, it just looked better like that.

A touch of red hit his cheeks as they both realized ice-laden hands were a-go. Awkward. He'd have to tell Miss Verdigris he was sorry some time in the future. For now, he settled for an apologetic smile. Then, he let go and let her tell her story.

It seemed she'd been living in New York for a while now, on her own. Absently, Shin wondered why it was always that way with mutants these days? They scrounged on the streets. They fended for themselves. He supposed that even after the Registration Act had been defeated, it was difficult for openly-mutant individuals to get work... some may just have been thrown out.

Ah, well. At least she was here now, and off the streets. They'd be able to help her if only she asked.

It seemed she'd been in touch with Andrea, too.

"I know her," Shin replied with a light nod.

Verdy held out the paperwork for Shin, all folded and bent up. Shin nodded understandingly. It was probably difficult to keep things tidy on the streets. Verdy set the papers down.

Shin picked them up, and looked them over.

"Looks good," He commented. He glanced up at her. "So, you've met Sebastian then? Nice guy... saved the bride twice, actually." It was good to see his gentlemanly nature extended beyond just Ghost. Shin skimmed the papers once again. His eyes stopped when they reached her mutation description. "You... shoot marbles?" He queried. "Neat. I make sharp point triangle shaped barriers with my mind." He wondered if either party needed a demonstration of the others' skill. Well, if she wanted one, she'd ask. Meanwhile, he set the papers down, and fumbled with the mouse and the computer, looking up open rooms. He needed a free adult one... "Hmm... let me see..."

She wiped nervous sweaty palms across her pants, the amount of times she had read and re-read the questions before carefully wording answers on a napkin to get them perfectly right before she wrote them on the actual form. It would be terrible if they still weren't satisfactory.

~~"Looks good,"

Relief flooded through her and a easy-going smile flittered across her face, if the paperwork was in order it was a big step in the right direction, huge even, and all the time she had spent seemed well worth it.

~~"So, you've met Sebastian then? Nice guy... saved the bride twice, actually."

She nodded, the horned man was by far one of the nicest people she had met since coming to New York City, most people- she had realised quickly- were far too busy to care about a lost teen, no matter how hungry she looked. Sebastian was different, even without knowing her he had invited her to his wedding so she could eat freely for an evening. The fact that he had saved his bride didn't surprise her at all, he seemed the type to help anyone he could.

~~"You... shoot marbles?"

Ah yes, the most tricky question to answer 'mutation description' she had opted for an example as she was yet to really find a description besides "wormhole hands" that even started to describe what she could do.

~~"Neat. I make sharp point triangle shaped barriers with my mind."

She raised her eyebrows, now that was something a little different, not that she had had much experience with those carrying the X-gene. Well, perhaps it was a bit of a tit-for-tat.

"Cool, and yeah, kinda. Marbles, paper clips, pens, keys, pretty much anything that is small enough to fit in your hand and shorter than wrist to elbow." She gave an awkward grin "And yeah, I haven't worked out how to make them come slowly yet, so they sorta come flinging out at high speeds..."

She fidgeted a little, as he fiddled with the computer in front of him, it seemed rude but, well, she couldn't resist an opportunity when one arose. "Can I see? Sorry, I mean, if that's rude." She hesitated for a moment "And Andrea said I could share a room with her when I ended up coming, if I came at all, if that helps."

She bit her lip to keep from blabbering more, when nervous she had a irritating habit of saying too much in too little time.

>>"Cool, and yeah, kinda. Marbles, paper clips, pens, keys, pretty much anything that is small enough to fit in your hand and shorter than wrist to elbow."

Marbles, paperclips, pens, AND keys... pretty much anything. Well, that was a pretty sharp-shooting power.

>>"And yeah, I haven't worked out how to make them come slowly yet, so they sorta come flinging out at high speeds..."

And dangerous, if she couldn't control the speeds. They'd have to help her with training.

He fiddled with the keyboard. Her question threw him off his game. Shin looked up.

"Uh. Sure." He turned the monitor to face her, and slid a little to the side to make room. It was just a list of rooms with vacancies, after all.

>>"And Andrea said I could share a room with her when I ended up coming, if I came at all, if that helps."

It helped a great bit, actually.

"In that case, I'll just hook you up with the same key as she has... let me see..." He took a moment to find the key. It was... somewhere around the office. Was it on the wall, or in a drawer in his desk. He couldn't remember.

Ah, right. Drawer, it is. He came back up from his ducked position, key upheld like a trophy. He held it out for her, and told the girl the room. "Now, just so you know, the rooms are on the second floor. The boys are on the left, right hallway is girls, and adults are down the middle. I think Andrea got one of our adult rooms. Center hall. I could show you around the mansion, if you'd like?"

He picked up the ice again in his right hand, after she'd taken the key. It seemed there wasn't much else left to do but show her around, or show her to her room.

Shin smiled. "If you ever need help practicing that ability of yours, ask me, or someone on staff. They should be able to help you out."

~~"Uh. Sure."

She cocked her head as he shuffled a space for her and turned the computer so she could see. In an instant she realised that her question of mutation had been mistaken for that of curiosity for the rooms. She decided not to say anything rather than embarrass one, or both, of their two-man party. She cocked her head a little. Some of the room numbers were in the high hundreds, the place must have been massive to hold that many rooms even remotely comfortable. And this coming from a girl who had slept under park benches or behind dumpsters. She remembered that Andrea had offered her own room and said so to Shin, who after a few moments rummaging handed her a key.

She stretched her neck a little as she considered his offer. While it was helpful to know where everything was, somehow it seemed that bed was a far, far nicer thing to be heading towards.

“I’d love to look around, this place is massive, but I think I might have to take you up on that on another day, probably best if I remember where things are.”

Because, of course it is far easier to draw an internal map when you’re wide awake.

~~~"If you ever need help practicing that ability of yours, ask me, or someone on staff. They should be able to help you out."

She smiled, a true smile, one that made her grateful eyes sparkle with joy and, admittedly, a little victory. She had made those forms work and got what she wanted. Now to just see if Andrea would still have her. Rash promises made in the sun with no one to witness and no binding contract could be easily forgotten. She hoped not.

“That would be really nice, I’ll keep it in mind.”

Pocketing the key quietly she stood. Forward to the middle corridor!

“After you.”

>>“I’d love to look around, this place is massive, but I think I might have to take you up on that on another day, probably best if I remember where things are.”

Shin nodded. “ Sure.” Another day would be fine. After his bump had healed, and ceased being as bumpy. Speaking of bumps… he iced his. Though, by now, most of the ice was melted. It was more ‘wetting’ it. He wetted himself. Yeah. That was the ticket.

His offer to help train her was met with a smile.

>>“That would be really nice, I’ll keep it in mind.”

He stood, after her.

>>“After you.”

After him, that is. Shin led the way to her room. He stopped in front of the door, and turned to face Verdigris with a polite smile. “Here it is. Welcome to the mansion. I hope Andrea helps you get settled in.”

~~“Here it is. Welcome to the mansion. I hope Andrea helps you get settled in.”

Verdigris took a deep breath and rubbed the palms of her hands against her jeans, well, this was it. Crunch-time.

"I hope so too, thankyou, you've been very helpful."

She smiled at the young man. If all mutants were that helpful and polite it was a wonder anyone could be a mutant-hater. Unfortunately, as with all creatures, there were those who insisted on making life difficult for the rest. Like the wolf that breaks formation, the bird that refuses to take its place at the head of the 'V', there were those mutants who maimed and killed. It had gone far past 'who started it', perhaps even too far for someone to end it. She sighed.

((OOC: Continued(roughly) for Verdy in theultimatexmen.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bedrooms&action=display&thread=5179&page=1 , the timeline may be a little off...))