Like imprinted little ducklings, the female Sundances dutifully followed after Ms. McCullen. Mrs. Sundance took great care to keep a mask of politeness on, obscuring her suspicion and various other feelings. She was beginning to have even more doubts about this, about having Liz stay there. Within minutes of them actually arriving at the school, a boy with wings and a tail had already flown in to…talk with Liz. Well, there wasn’t really anything bad about that. He hadn’t really seemed dangerous. A small voice in the back of her mind piped up, saying that that is what made mutants more dangerous. She shut it down quickly. She wasn’t one to put up with rumors or gossip unless proven. So far, the only two mutants (besides Elizabeth) she’d encountered had been friendly. The probably irked her because he was a boy.

Beth brought up the rear, silently taking in everything around her and absorbing all the information Jenny was spouting. So she would probably eat in the kitchen like everyone else did. She wouldn’t have to worry about alcohol; something that she could tell made her mother feel much better. The “21 and older” comment surprised her, though. She had assumed this was merely a boarding school like any other. She hadn’t thought that it could also be a complete home for mutants that weren’t in school as well.

The stuff about the living room’s TV caught her attention. She liked Animal Planet and many of its shows, and she’d been watching it even more so ever since her mutant powers developed. She also wouldn’t mind watching the cartoons they’d show. She still liked cartoons. Elizabeth glanced at her mother again. She could see her starting to relax a bit more. So far, the school seemed like a safe place, much the same as any camp or other school. Liz was thinking that that was what her mother was worried about the most.

Then Jenny seemed to stop, as if she was waiting for something. Liz and her mother just stood there, gazing around and thinking through what they’d been told. Liz was liking the place so far, and her mother hadn’t seen anything bad enough to pull her out so she was happy.

An awkward moment followed aburptly after Fade silenced herself making room for any question. All she got in response were two pairs of eyes blinking back at her with a quizical look. They weren't confused about the Mansion, they were confused as to why she had stopped talking. Well, it seemed she would be one of those guides you could listen to through headphones instead of a conversationalist. That was fine too, her heartbeat slowed when she realized she had made little to no mistakes on the tour so far. Questions usually meant she wasn't thorough enough with her explanation. Nodding her head, she pointing out the window to the pool.

"We do have a pool outside and usually during the summer, we host little pool parties where the students can have some fun out in the sun," she refrained from rolling her eyes at the rhyme. Beyond the pool was a large backyard, but she was sure they could see that on their own. "Our residential rooms are separated by gender. Females live on one floor and males live on the next one. We have security here, of course, the security is not completely necessary but it gives the residents and parents a feeling of relief when they know anyone inside our gates is safe and well protected," she said, remembering the security rooms.

Some people when they heard this, automatically thought it meant they needed security, that the school was constantly mobbed by angry New Yorkers who were against mutants, but it was simply policy to keep the students safe, as any logical school would put into effect. "If you would like to put your stuff up, you can pick out you're room here, I believe we have a few rooms that haven't been filled, if you'd like," she smiled. She was getting so much better at this. She gave a mental sigh.

A pool. Nice. That would be very useful during summer. Although she hadn’t thought to bring along any bathing suits. Oh well, I can always buy one later. Or bring a few out here whenever I go home next. She resigned herself to the fact that the most she’d do at the pool is lounge around and talk to people and only get a little bit of a tan. Her eyes lingered on the pool for only a moment before drifting to the expanse behind the pool. The yard was quite impressive! But what could one expect after having seen the front lawn?

Then, while Liz was wondering about the male floor and where exactly Carrick’s room was, Jenny happened to mention security in the place. A spike of alarm showed in her mother’s eyes, caused by the realization that security meant something needed to be secured and wasn’t safe without it. But what could one expect in a school full of mutants and their strange powers? Amanda Sundance couldn’t help but glance around in case a radioactive mutant or a dragon came charging down the hall at them. But in the next instant or so, her fear was partially alleviated. So the security was merely icing on the cake. Tasty, but unnecessary.

Then their guide mentioned Liz going ahead and settling down in a room. “That sounds, great,” she said after checking with her mother through a look. Either Nico had been hitting the heavy seed a lot lately or the metal bars were increasing density a couple dozen times, it didn’t matter. Her arms were starting to ache. “I assume she will have a roommate?” Mrs. Sundance asked, being a mom and watching out for her daughter. And at least the roommate wouldn’t be a boy. And once they got to Elizabeth’s room, she could get out of there quicker. The place was giving her the willies.

"No ma'am, her room mate would be a girl," she said, sticking strictly to the gender separation code. She'd heard about a particular mutant that didn't quite fit that all, a Gawain, or so it says by file, but females were roomed with females and males with males. It was the same as a college, except younger students and they were all mutants. Plus, the drinking thing, no drinking at the Mansion. In order to go upstairs, they had to go into the foyer first, which was perfect. In the foyer, Fade opened a drawer in the desk under the large mirror and pulled out the room mate master list.

"We have about three rooms that are alone for the time being and about two rooms that need a room mate," she said, thumbing through the list. She quickly remembered the numbers and put it down. Number were hard but simple. She knew them up to ten and that was really all she needed. She didn't need to know one-hundred-forty-two, she could just say one-four-two and it was the same thing, just less breaths, it was easier. The rooms were 243, 231, 229 for the empty and 233 and 259 for the ones that needed room mates. "If you want to follow me up the stairs," she said, grabbing onto the railing.

Lightly dragging her hand against the railing, she walked up the stairs and stopped in front of the hall, waiting for Elizabeth and her mother. "The rooms are 243, 231 and 229 for the ones that are empty. Keep in mind, even if you get a room that doesn't have a room mate, you will most likely get a room mate when school starts up. The rooms that need room mates are 233 and 259, though I'm not sure if the girls that currently live in those rooms were staying here over the summer, they may be home with their families or out and about.

Liz and her mother followed the mutant back the way they’d come. Again, Beth was impressed with the foyer. They followed Jenny over to a desk where she pulled something out of a drawer. It was probably a list of who was in all the rooms because she soon mentioned that there were three empty rooms available and two with a person already in them. Elizabeth thought it over and decided she’d prefer an empty room. That would give her time to adjust to everything without being disturbed by someone. She wasn’t a person that required other people to be happy. Besides, she didn’t want to just barge in on a roommate with all the stuff she had.

The Sundances followed Ms. McCullen up the stairs, both of them having only slight difficulties in dragging Elizabeth’s suitcases up the steps. Liz had packed as much as she was able to in those three bags, having no idea at all what she would need, and the two were feeling it. Nico squawked a few times as Liz accidentally banged his cage against a step or shook it too hard. Oh well, he wasn’t going to get motion sickness or anything so he’d be alright.

When they finally reached the top, they stopped to catch their breath as Jenny rattled off a list of numbers. Which ones had she said were empty? 45, 31, and 28? 33 and 59 were taken by one person each already. She tuned in to the rest of what Jenny said. Okay, so she’d probably end up with a roommate anyways. Yeah, that was okay with her. She had been expecting one anyways. But she still wanted an empty room. “Um, I’ll take…231,” she said, randomly picking out of the three that were empty. She was assuming she had a choice in the matter, since she had been offered.

The ladies struggled to get everything up the stairs, which overwhelmed the redheaded mutant with a sense of guilt. She should have helped them carry it up the stairs from the bottom! Never-the-less, it was too late now to offer, best thing to do was to wait for them to catch their breath. Elizabeth picked out one of the rooms without a room mate. She didn't blame her, Fade had done the same thing, though she was primarily a resident, not a student. Her philosophy was that she could get to know someone around the school, but didn't have to live with them. Fade never even had any siblings to share with or even really a family to share a house with, so room mates were a fist for her.

However, Elizabeth's mother was standing directly in front of Fade, which meant this wasn't a broken family, right? Didn't seem so but every rose has it's thorn right? Or maybe the proper saying would be appearances can be deceiving... "Let me help you carry one of these," she offered. They would not be carrying it down the hall on their own, no siree. If Fade abandoned them with the stairs, they would not have to worry about the walk to the room. Of course, she would not want to touch anything of the Sundance's without their permission, so she waited for them to respond before making another room.

The bird would be a nice addition to the Mansion. Some people had pets around the Mansion. While she never had a pet, it was nice to have one around, a friend when times go bad that will just see you hurt and comfort you instead of questioning why and what you did and all that junk. Maybe she would one day get a pet, but she'd heard they were much tougher to take care of than most people thought. While she lived on the streets, Rat sometimes had her walk around with a dog, it made people feel even worse for her and give her money. Begging with an animal usually turned a profit, although she had never really taken care of the dogs Rat would 'lend' her.

Now that the mother and daughter had had a chance to rest, they were ready to move again. But Jenny stopped, offering to take a suitcase. “Thanks,” Liz replied gratefully as she relinquished the suitcase she was holding. Now she was left with the cage with Big Bird in it. She immediately felt better, not having to lug the thing around. And it had been the heaviest suitcase, a compromise she had reached because Nico’s cage was the lightest of all four burdens. She shared a quick smile with her mother and moved ahead, taking the center position in the little train they had going on.

Anticipation began welling up in Elizabeth. This was where she was going to live for the next several years. New York! The smile on her face broadened as she imagined all the Broadway shows she could see, the people she’d meet, the famous sights and sites she’d see, everything. She was in New York, practically the most famous city in America after D.C and Vegas. She’d heard so many wonderful things about the city from her friends and family who’d been there.

And the mansion. It was a fact that Liz just couldn’t get over. Never in her wildest dreams would she have envisioned herself living in a place like it. It was like a modern castle and palace combined into a fantastical example of architecture and beauty. And it was full of people like her which gave her a sense of feeling at home. She could just feel that good things were going to happen to here there. She just knew it. Elizabeth’s thoughts ran along the pretty path, making herself feel better with each physical step taken as she and her mother followed Jenny.

When they had reached the room, Fade moved the suitcase to her other hand and used her free one to open the door. It wasn't anything too special inside. The bed was plain, it needed some sheets and personality, but it was a nice mattress, not the horrible flat topped spring bed, it had a little pillow top cushion to help the students' backs. Though it was optional in case the students preffered harder beds, like the Earth mutants. The furniture was a light colored wood. It made up the bed, which could be switched to a bunk bed if the room mate wanted, or raised or lowered if Elizabeth pleased.

The desk was the same color as the bed frame and the chair was a little wooden one, though the students could cover it with cushions if they wanted. The dresser was a three drawer, the top one the smallest for panties and socks and such. The closet was an average size but there were two doors, one for each room mate so they had separate closets. The carpet was plain white, though that seemed to cause some problems with the students since they loved to bring food to their room. "If you spill anything, there's a janitor's closet on your floor where you can find the spotbot to clean it up. We also have the vaccum cleaner in that closet too. There are two for each floor so please put it back when you're done with it," she said, informing her of the little curtesy rules.

Moving over to a door next to the door, she opened it to reveal a bathroom. The sink, mirrors, and cabinets were outside the door while the toilet and shower was inside the door. "Of course, you share this bathroom with your room mate but also with the room mates in the room next to your's," she said, moving out of the way for Elizabeth to see. There were a couple towels up and some bathroom supplies in the shower along with some toilet paper. The neighbors had already settled down. "The toilet paper is also in the janitors closet, I would suggest having an extra roll in the cabinet so you don't have to just sit there calling your room mate or neighbors to bring you a roll," Fade sort of laughed, it was a little funny to think about.

The room was a quaint little thing. Not that it was little. It was about the same size as her room back home, but now she’d probably end up sharing half with somebody else. Oh well, I can use these lemons to make something with. She paid careful attention to what Jenny said, though. She didn’t want to miss anything. Janitor’s closest with cleaning supplies. Check. Amanda Sundance decided that she needn’t hold the suitcases anymore and set them down beside a bed. Liz did similar, except she placed Nico’s cage on the dresser, earning only a low cackle in protest.

Liz followed Ms. McCullen over to the other door, which turned out to be a bathroom shared by two other people. Remember to always have a spare roll of toilet paper. Check. Liz didn’t like the idea that Jenny put forth though. That would be very embarrassing. Especially to have some random stranger walk in and give her toilet paper. She pushed back a stray strand of hair as she tried not to really think about the possibility. I’ll just make sure it never happens.

And just like that, the tour appeared to be over. “Is that all?” Mrs. Sundance asked politely, a bit anxious to help her daughter settle in and get out of the place. A neutral mask adorned her face, restraining the anticipation and hope that Ms. McCullen would say yes and leave them alone. Elizabeth ambled over to where she’d placed Nico’s cage. she took the blanket off the top and set it to the side, allowing her pet to get a good view of the room that was going to be his new room.

While Liz seemed like she was taking notes of everything, Fade could tell her time with the tour was over. Usually, parents wanted to help their children settle down, say their goodbyes, give them a final talk on how clean their rooms should be and blah blah blah. Again, this was everything Fade had seen parents do, nothing her actual parents had done. Unfortunately, Fade did not live with them long enough to even graduate Kindergarden and when she was returned from her captor, they had died in a car crash. Not even her foster parents had enough time to go to her elementary school graduation since her powers developed even before that. No, Fade had never been kissed goodbye.

While the facial expression on Mrs. Sundance's face was that of neutrality, the words informed Fade well enough that it was time to make her exit. Glancing around the room to make sure she did not forget anything, she clapped her hands together and inhaled with a smile. "Well then, I'll leave the rest up to you, ma'am. If you have any further questions, you can stop by the foyer, I will probably be hanging around their. Or if in the future, you have any further questions, here is our direct number to the Mansion," she said as she pulled her wallet from her back pocket, she hated purses.

While the wallet was a little tattered and old, it held sentimental value, the business card inside was undoubtably professional. It was a little off-white color with the words Xavier's Sister School Institute for Gifted Youngsters and underneath had her name along with the number directly to the school, the fax number, and her e-mail adress. However, she was not too tech savvy nor was she that good at reading, so she only checked her e-mail maybe once a week. "I hope you enjoy your stay here and I'll be seeing you around," she waved to Liz as she exited the room. Leaving the door open, Fade walked down the hall, letting out a little sigh of relief as she walked away. Well, that went well...

Mrs. Sundance accepted the card warmly with a smile forged from decades of faking a sincere smile. She was partially sincere though, and her mask dissipated shortly after the mutant left the room and Elizabeth returned the wave. With a fresh smile on her face, Amanda turned to her daughter and began helping her unpack, helping out as much as possible and giving her opinion on things.

Elizabeth had packed a little bit of everything. She had a few nice dresses, in case she ever needed to be fancy for some reason. An assortment of several different skirts, pants, blouses, t-shirts, and other clothing items for everyday use. A very small selection of make-up and jewelry, again mainly for formal things. Only a few pairs of shoes and sandals. Toiletry supplies. About ten or so books. A small photo album of things from home. An air card, in case something ever happened to her cell phone. A digital camera. A couple hats. A small part of her sunglasses collection (only twelve pairs). Various other things.

The mother and daughter duo quickly and efficiently put everything away neatly and orderly, knowing full well that Liz would keep it that way, even after she probably got a roommate. The suitcases were stowed under the bed that Liz had picked out for herself. “Now remember, you can always call home if you need anything, or just want to talk. You can always text or e-mail. You have all of the numbers and things in your phone, right?” Amanda looked around the room again, searching for any reason to spend a few extra moments with her daughter.

“Yes, Mom. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” Liz assured her mother. A big smile swept her face and she hugged her mother tightly. “Really, I’ll be okay. I’ll miss you,” she said, sensing the time for them to part was near. “I’ll miss you too,” Amanda replied, returning the hug with the same force. “I love you, Elizabeth,” Mrs. Sundance said as she finally broke away from her daughter. Liz returned the sentiment.

“Well, I’d better get going. Remember, call me!” Amanda smiled one more time before waving and walking out the door to speed through the mansion and get off the estate. Which left Elizabeth to do nothing, except flop down on her bed.

“Nico?” she addressed her bird. “I think we’re going to love it here.”