Lily was not crying.
The jewelry manipulator sat on a bench under a tree at the edge of the Mansion grounds, wrapped in a winter coat and a scarf against the chilly weather. The sun was shining, but it was still cold outside; long before springtime. But she needed some fresh air, needed to get out of her room and her everyday routine of the past week (weeks? how long has it been?...). She didn't like being locked up all that much. Obviously.
She didn't really want to talk to anybody. If she wanted to, there were people she could find, or ask, but most of them had their own problems, last thing they needed was somebody else's. She didn't want to have that kind of talk with Shawn either. That would just lead to more questions, and another talk.
Fresh air and sunshine was all she needed for now. She knew they would make her feel better. Eventually.
She did the sort of 'not crying' that was worse than actual tears.

Ruby had been walking about on the mansion grounds, looking for the remains of a robot she had accidentally blown up with pent up electricity. The fox girl was frustrated that she would have to start again, but she wasn't too angry though, no use crying over spilled milk. Unlike most of the Lupins, Rubys temper wasn't nearly as prevail ant in her life as it was with her sisters or her mothers., of course that didn't mean it wasn't as bad. She wore a long sleeved shirt and jeans like any other person but over her head she wore something similar to a beanie cap but with two holes cut in the top for her foxy ears to poke out.

It was a relatively happy looking day, the sun shining and the birds chirping, it was still cold though, which meant her big sister wasn't going to come out any time soon. Amidst scanning the grounds, Ruby noticed someone sitting under a tree on a bench looking rather sad. Though she knew it was known of her business, Ruby hated to see people sad so she quietly made her way over to the girl and looked at her with her normal caring eyes.

"Penny For your thoughts Miss?" She asked in her sweet soft voice, tail curling around one of her legs and her fox ears perked up curiously.

"Penny For your thoughts Miss?"
Lily looked up, more than a bit surprised; she was so lost in thoughts she didn't even notice someone walking up to her. The girl was young, and cute, and had... were those fox ears? And a tail?...
She really should have been used to meeting all kinds of mutants by now.
"Hi there" she smiled at the girl; the smile was weak but at least it was there. She didn't want the girl to notice her mood. Lily didn't like making others sad. Or concerned.
"I don't think we've met." she continued, instincts taking over, she didn't need to think about introducing herself to people, she was naturally good at that "My name is Lily."

The sad lady seemed to try to brighten up when Ruby adressed her but Ruby knew better. After reading her own siblings expressions and tones for a while she was rather good at knowing when a person was sad or not. It was in her instincts that once she recognized that a person was sad she would do everything in her power to try to cheer them up.

"Ruby, my name is Ruby Lupin." Ruby told her, a bright smile appearing on her childlike face. "Its nice to meet you Miss Lilly, may I ask why you looked really sad earlier? Because I can help if you want."

While Ruby didnt want to pry, she did really want to cheer the lady up and maybe her talking to her may help

"Its nice to meet you Miss Lilly, may I ask why you looked really sad earlier? Because I can help if you want."
Children. There was no hiding the truth from them. Lily shook her head and chuckled a bit. She was really not as good with people as she thought she was. Or the fox girl had some kind of secret ability. That was an option too.
"I'm fine, Ruby, but thank you for asking. I'm just... thinking about stuff, that's all."
She moved over on the bench none the less, making room for the girl in cas she wanted to stay. She didn't really know why. After weeks of mostly avoiding her friends, was she really thinking about talking to a stranger? A child?
Not like it was weirder than many other things around the Mansion.
"How would you help?" she asked, trying for a smile again.

Adults, Ruby never did understand why they thought they could hide things from kids and teens, they always knew what was going on. The little fox girl smiled a little at Miss Jewel, wanting her to feel more at ease with her. Not that she was all that hard to get a long with but it was good if she felt at ease.

" I can listen if you want to talk about stuff, because I listen my big sister Emerald all the time and it makes her feel better." Ruby scratched at her neck sub conclusively, the vague scar from the collar at the camps residing there. She had heard of the Romanian camps and she wondered if that's what her new companion was sad about. After hearing that the camps happened again, Ruby couldn't help but feel sorry for the newer X men coming back from Romania. "Is it about the camps in Romania that you are thinking about? I mean i don't want to pry or anything but its just I know that the camps are horrible cause of what happened to us at the mansion during the US registration. Though if i pried to much I'm sorry!" Ruby seemed to really want to help while at the same time not wanting to upset her new friend.

Lily stared at the girl as things started to register in her mind, one after another.
Emerald. That sounded familiar. Wasn't that the wolf girl Shawn wanted to introduce her to, at the wedding? So, were-kids came in twos, from the looks of it. Right.
Romania. How did she know about Romania? How many of the kids knew?... And how did she guess? Was it that obvious?
I hope she's not a telepath. Slate was enough of that to last for a long time.
"... what happened to us..."
Us?... Ouch.
"I... how..." she blinked, then shook her head, smiling a bit again "Yes, I... um, got back from Romania, not long ago. I'm..." she sighed "I am not sad, I just have to think about stuff."
She glanced at the girl. "You... have been in the camps?"
How old as she anyway?!

Ruby blushed a little at the surprise of the older girl, she might as well get this off of her chest now instead of having to tell any of the other x men about it.

"I sorta hacked into the mansions mission database and found out about it. I also figured people would get captured too because that sort of mission is bound to have some hostage situation." Ruby explained, clearly feeling guilty about hacking into the mansions computers.

She knew that her older sisters would let her have it later about it, ut it was worth it to keep her caught up on what was going on. The little genius felt her ears flatten at the mention of the camps and her tail that was swishing stopped. Her mind thought back when the mansion was swarmed with mutant hating cops, trying to capture all the mutants they could, she and emmy escaping only to be slowed down by her own exhaustion causing them to be captured.

Ruby moved some of her hair out of the way and pointed to the scar around her neck. "The American ones were the ones me and Emmy were in....they hurt a lot of people in those camps. It was almost a year ago, back when i was thirteen but I still remember everything." Ruby's voice got sort of quite, as she remembered the camps in frightening clarity.

Fourteen-year-old fox girls were hacking into the Mansion computers. So much about security. Lily smirked, amused by the thoughts. Wonder what Sam would say if I told him.
Of course, she wouldn't want to get Ruby caught. She'll find another way to hint.
"The American ones were the ones me and Emmy were in....they hurt a lot of people in those camps. It was almost a year ago, back when i was thirteen but I still remember everything."
Lily's hand wandered to her own neck without her realizing it; the scar from the collar was gone, healed by the unicorn, but she could feel it all the same. Once in a while she even winced when a scarf or the collar of a shirt brushed against it.
"Shawn told me about the camps..." she said quietly "Not much, though. I..." here it goes "I was there for a month. In Romania." she frowned "It's still freash, you know. It's gonna be okay in time."
Or at least I really hope so. If a little girl can deal with it, so can I.

Ruby nodded at the older girls words, having a feeling that Miss Lilly was in the camps as well. The little fox girl sat down on the bench next to Lilly, tail curling around her small form. In time, Ruby had found that she was able to forget about a lot of what she had to deal with at the camps. What worried her though, is the fact that her older sister had to deal with a good deal of the pain.

"It does fade after a while, though there will be times you wont be able to stop remembering," Ruby explained, looking down at her feet. "Like, when Emmy refused to let the guards take me to isolation and the beat her up and threw her in there because of it. I felt so bad, because I stole some food from the Customs department and I was gonna give it to Emmy so she could stay strong while working in the quarry with all the men. They hurt my big sister because of something I did ." Ruby clenched her tiny hands into fists before taking a big breath, calming herself down. She didn't want to be mad, because she knew that nothing would come of her anger at her ghosts of her past. She would not allow something that happened so long ago affect her like that. "But, I cant blame myself for something like that happening in the past, because there is nothing I can do about it now."

"It does fade after a while, though there will be times you wont be able to stop remembering,"
Lily nodded. Here she was, getting advice from a 14-year-old on something no one should ever experience, teenager or adult. She frowned again, the conversation was not exactly helping her mood, neither did it make it easier to deal with things. But Ruby was only trying to help her, and it was nice of the fox girl.
"But, I cant blame myself for something like that happening in the past, because there is nothing I can do about it now."
"It was not your fault to begin with" Lily shook her head "It was nobody's fault. Not on the mutant side, at least." she sighed "That's what makes it bad, isn't it. People didn't deserve it. Any of it." she mused "Not everyone got away as easy as I did."

Ruby paused for a moment in thought, she was starting to realize she was possibly making her new friend even more sad than she already was.Guilt flooded the fox girl as she looked up at the older girl with sad eyes. It was true that not alot of people got out of the camps as lucky as they did. It upset her greatly that people could be so cruel to others, especially those people who believe the are doing the right thing by doing so.

"You can talk to me about it Miss Jewel and," Ruby paused for a moment morphing into her fox pup form quickly. She was a little bit faster at morph than her siblings were, overall her speed was always much greater. "I'll listen and you can pet me and stuff if you want, it seems to calm people down when they are holding a little animal and talking about thier problems." Ruby told her, her voice a little higher than it was in normal form

"You can talk to me about it Miss Jewel and, I'll listen and you can pet me and stuff if you want, it seems to calm people down when they are holding a little animal and talking about thier problems."
Despite her mood, Lily laughed a little at the offer. Ruby was a nice girl, and ver ycute as a fox; she watched with curiosity as she morphed from one form to the other. Shifters have always fascinated her.
"That's... very kind of you, Ruby." she smiled, scratching the fox hesitantly between the ears "I feel better already."
After a few moments of hesitation, Lily picked the fox up and held her on her lap. She had never seen a fox so close, real or mutant.
"You know... I haven't really talked about it yet. I don't... really know how I should do it." she mused.

Ruby enjoyed head sctaches as much as the next animal shifter, though she couldnt help she enjoyed it a bit more than her big sisters, her ears were so big she couldnt always scratch all the way behind them. She was glad that she was making someone feel better about everything they had gone through at the camps. Ruby wished she could make people happy for a living, then she would have the best job ever.

"Maybe at the begining Miss Jewel, maybe that would help?" Ruby told the older girl, nuzzling her hand gently. Big fox ears flattened as she looked up at her new friend curiously. It was always easier for her to talk to her sisters at the begining of thier problems instead of the end, that way they could get out all of thier anger before the big climax.

Lily kept scratching the big foxy ears quietly as she thought about all the things she wanted - or didn't want - to say.
"You know, it was my first mission." she sighed "I am not even part of the X-team yet. I am just a trainee. But I... I guess I wanted to help the best I could. During the American Registration... I barely knew what being a mutant meant. I can pass for human, I... I guess I'm the only one on the team who didn't have any experience with a crisis like that. So the whole thing going on in Romania... was unexpected. For me, I mean."
She didn't really know where she was going with all that, or how much she wanted to tell the fox. For now, she just had to start somewhere. And keep scratching.