Mama T. got herself a room in the girls' wing of the dormitory, and the task of keeping an eye on the ladies, as the brand new guidance counselor.

So far, everything was pretty quiet and peaceful.
That either meant everyone was already in bed, or at least behaving themselves, or they have already sneaked out to cause trouble. Either, or.

Her door was open a crack, and the light was on as she unpacked her suitcase; if someone wanted to come in to see who the knew teacher was, they were most welcome. She walked up and down the room, putting clothes and things into the wardrobe and the drawers, humming to herself as she did so. She'd already called the kids and told them about her new job and the new address. They congratulated her, but didn't sound too enthusiastic about the job description. Mama T. didn't bother trying to convince them.

This was her new home now. She had no doubt she'd get to stay; it wouldn't take more than a week for Mr. Johnson to realize the school couldn't possibly exist without her.

Now all she needed to do was make friends with the kids. She was looking forward to it.

Ruby had heard through the grapevine that there was possibly a new staff member at the institute and needless to say the fox was excited. Ruby tended to get along with adults far better than she got along with other people her age. She liked talking to the older kids and she was so used to talking to her older sisters that she felt like she was an expert at talking to adults. The youngest Lupin was in fox form, running eagerilly through the institute in order to meet this new staff member. Once she had gotten into the girls dorms she started to run again only to be met with a rather strange prediciment.

Suddenly, without warning, the fox demorphed back into a girl causing Ruby to yelp loudly as she tumbled onto the floor from the sudden de shift. The Fox girl whimpered a little in pain, her ears drooping, she hadn't been forced out of her morph since she had worn the collars at the camps and even then she had some sort of warning about it. Usually in the form of a painful burning sensation around her neck due to the electrical shock not working on her because of her abilities. But this was diffrent, it was so sudden and it was painful to be forced out of shift for her.

Ruby's ears drooped as she looked down at her knees, both of which were skinned from the sudden tumble. Both knees started to bleed and Ruby winced, getting up off the floor, she decided to start to head towards her room, in order to treat her knees and maybe try to find an explanation behind her sudden demorph.

There was a thud outside the door, and Mama T stopped doing what she was doing and nudged the door open to look outside. Here we go, someone must be sneaking around. This time of the night, it was bound to mean trouble.

She just caught a glimpse of a girl walking away from the door; she was not running, but she looked like she just picked herself up from the floor. She was not sure who she was, but she might have been effected by her abilities. She was certainly close enough for that.

"Stop right there, young lady" she called out in a soft voice, not wanting to wake up any more students "Are you all right? I think you just walked into my aura. Sorry about that. I'll put up a sign first thing tomorrow morning." she smiled at the girl "And who are you?"

Almost immediatly, Ruby froze once she heard those words, used to her mother saying them to her older siblings. The youngest Lupin always got into the least trouble out of the Lupin sisters so she wasn't exactly used to someone saying that to her. She turned to the woman placing her hand behind her head sheepishly, her ears twitching in thought.

"Ruby Lupin, youngest of the Lupin sisters. It's alright Miss, you dont have to apologize for something you can't help." Ruby replied, her eyes bright and friendly. Her tail swishing back and forth only slightly, for some reason she didn't feel as fox like as she normally felt. "So Your Aura makes me turn into a person again? Never heard of a power like that before." Ruby told the older woman in her normal sweet tone.

>>"Ruby Lupin, youngest of the Lupin sisters. It's alright Miss, you dont have to apologize for something you can't help."

"Nice to meet you, Ruby." she smiled at the girl "My name is Gemma, but most kids call me Mama T. I am the new guidance counselor here."
On tryout. She didn't need to add that. She knew the Johnson kid would be keeping an eye on her for weeks to come, but that didn't mean she didn't have to do her job as a full-time, official staff member.

>>"So Your Aura makes me turn into a person again? Never heard of a power like that before."

"You are a shifter." Mama T noted, looking at the ears and the tail "My aura cancels mutant powers. If you come close enough, you won't be able to shift."

She looked at the girl again. Fox? shifting and bright eyes, she looked too cute for her own good. And her knees were scratched. She also noticed that.

"You are bleeding." she said, opening the door wide; the light fell on the fox-girl "Come on in, I'll clean you up."

"Nice to meet you too Miss T," Ruby smiled, eyes bright. "I'm not just a shifter though my body naturally produces electricity so I guess I'm an electrical manipulator too."

Someone who cancelled out mutant powers would be a very intresting addition to an all mutant school, Ruby knew that much. Her older sisters would probably not like it very much if they knew a person like that was around, especially Sapphire, who would most likely rather die than be cut off from her abilities. It is something Ruby would probably have to warn them about or force them to steer clear of. For everyones safety as well as the safety of Miss Gemma.

"Well at least if you help me fix them up here then Emerald won't ask me if anyone caused me to fall and where she could find them," Ruby replied making her way into the well lit room. She looked around for the first aide kit or bandages helpfully, not wanting Miss Gemma to have to work to hard. "I doubt anyone could survive another one of her shakedowns, she broke a guys arm last time some guy was saying anti mutant things about me. I have to say though Sapphire's are far worse. Sorry I'm rambling Miss Gemma but I sort of enjoy talking about my sisters.They are a little protective of me." Ruby finally decided to just let Miss Gemma look for it cause she was having no luck, so she sat on the bed, swinging her small legs back and forth.

>>"I'm not just a shifter though my body naturally produces electricity so I guess I'm an electrical manipulator too."

Mama T made a mental note of that too as the fox girl walked into the room. So, fox shifting and electricity. Interesting combo. She'd need to ask the boss man for that list of mutation a.s.a.p. It would help her be prepared for meeting the kids.

>>"Well at least if you help me fix them up here then Emerald won't ask me if anyone caused me to fall and where she could find them. I doubt anyone could survive another one of her shakedowns, she broke a guys arm last time some guy was saying anti mutant things about me. I have to say though Sapphire's are far worse. Sorry I'm rambling Miss Gemma but I sort of enjoy talking about my sisters.They are a little protective of me."

"It's okay." Mama T smiled as she opened the first aid kit and proceeded to clean the scratches on Ruby's knees "I'm going to meet them anyway, if they live in the school. You know, my job is to look out for children, especially mutants. And I can do my job better if I now more about them."

Especially the one named Emerald. She sounded like an interesting girl to meet. Breaking people's arms to protect her sister? Wow.

At first Ruby winced as her wounds were being treated, she wasn't afraid to show that her scrapes stung a little. Gradually though it started to hurt less as they were being cleaned, making the formally tense fox girl relax considerably. It was somewhat easy to see the fox girl wasn't very comfortable with others treating her wounds. While she wasn't nearly as mistrusting as her older sisters when it came to others treating their wounds, the tenseness was there and it was apparant, her ears were flattened and her tail was curled around her body. Whenever Miss Gemma started nearing the end, her ears perked up a little and the smile made its way back onto her face.

"If you need information about some of the mutants at the school, I can help you with that. I know about a lot of peoples powers and I can tell you things as long they arent secrets. I sorta, eavesdrop a lot." Ruby sheepishly stated. She hoped that Miss Gemma would take her offer.

Mama T was very careful, but she could tell the fox girl still wasn't comfortable with her trating her wounds. There might have been bad experiences in there, or some baggage from the past; she decided not to pry right away. There were plenty of other ways of finding out thing like that. Like, files. Or other students.

>>"If you need information about some of the mutants at the school, I can help you with that. I know about a lot of peoples powers and I can tell you things as long they arent secrets. I sorta, eavesdrop a lot."

Mama T. smiled as she put the first aid kit away. "I bet you do. And I bet you are good at it too." she chuckled "Still, if it's a secret, you shouldn't tell it. If it's not... well, I will talk to everyone who lives here, sooner or later. Including your sisters" she smiled "So, why don't you tell me about yourself instead? That would be a good place to start. And if you want to ask me things, that's okay too. You don't have to eavesdrop." she winked

Ruby knew that Miss Gemma was being very careful and she was appreciative of that. The little girl still had that nagging feeling in the back of her head back from the camps and the labs that anyone who would hurt her wounds may try to hurt her. It was something that was very hard for Ruby to get over but she was making progress.

"Tell about me? Okay, I have 2 overprotective big sisters, one of them goes here, thats Emerald and my oldes sister Sapphire is an artist and she is really good, Mom and dad are really proud of all of us," Ruby smiled happily at the mention of both her parents, seeming to love to talk about her family. "I'm the most science oriented out of the Lupin sisters and I sometimes tutor Emmy in Physics when she doesn't understand. Its sort of a repayment for her training me to use my abilities!"

>>"Tell about me? Okay, I have 2 overprotective big sisters, one of them goes here, thats Emerald and my oldes sister Sapphire is an artist and she is really good, Mom and dad are really proud of all of us,"

"I bet they are" Mama T smiled at the fox girl. She looked like a very nice kid, and she was one of the lucky ones, having a family like that. Siblings who cared for the little one and parents who supported their special children were a blessing, and a very rare one too, in the mutant world.

>> "I'm the most science oriented out of the Lupin sisters and I sometimes tutor Emmy in Physics when she doesn't understand. Its sort of a repayment for her training me to use my abilities!"

"That sounds like a fair deal" she agreed "Science, you say? You must be very smart." she chuckled "I never quite got the hang of Physics and science. I liked sports better." she admitted with a playful smile.

"So, Ruby, where are you from?" she asked "I know many students come here from far away. I came from Baltimore." she added, just to share something about herself.

" Thank you Miss Gemma," Ruby said in response to being called smart, this was when she heard the mention of sports and Ruby grinned broadly.You sound like my big sister Emerald when you mentioned sports."

Ruby giggled at Miss Gemma, Miss Gemma sounded exactly like Emerald when she mentioned liking sports better. Even when Ruby tried to help Emerald with her homework, the older girl still devised some way to turn it into a sports related game. Not that sports were bad, Ruby just perfered studying her books as opposed to throwing a football only to be bull rushed by a bunch of big guys.

On the question of where she was from, Ruby paused, trying to remember what she was supposed to say when they were asked this. Not everyone was supposed to know that the Lupins lived on an island off the coast of Florida. Typically they would say they lived in a city as opposed to an island.

"St Augustine, Florida." Ruby replied, the city name rolling off her tounge. It was one of her favorite places in Florida to say where she was from and it was such a pretty city, everyone usually knew what she was talking about.