Kate took a deep breath as the car drove down the road to her new home. She was excited but the feeling was just dampened by the fact that she was worried about her mother. She didn’t know if the woman could survive without her anymore. Harriett had reassured her daughter that she was fine before Kate was born and she will be fine long after she leaves, but Kate couldn’t help but worry. Her mother had a tendency to have little freak outs, especially if she watched the news. Kate was waiting for the overly complicated android phone her mother had gotten for her to ring and Harriett to be begging her to come back. She was out in the world she had dreamed of for so long. Why wasn’t she smiling and staring in awe at everything around her. She was 17 years old. She shouldn’t be thinking about other people right now. But she was and there was nothing she could do about it. She wondered when she had lost that vivacious curiosity she once had. There was a time when everything was beautiful, amazing and full of possibility. What had changed?

The car stopped and she heard the driver talking to some disembodied voice at the other end of an intercom. There was a buzzing noise, the gate opened and the car advanced. She suddenly started to feel that excitement as a large brick building began to come into view through the front window of the town car. After only minutes the car came to a stop and her door was opened. She took the drivers hand and climbed out looking around at her surroundings. She could see that the grounds were almost deserted but it was after 7PM in September.

“Well that’s everything Miss. Finch-Hatton,” The driver placed the last of Kate’s five bags on the ground next to her and took a card out of his inside jacket pocket, “If you ever need another car feel free to call.”

“ Thank you very much. I most certainly will.” Kate smiled up at the man and took the car, tucking it into her purse.

The driver tipped his hat and left her standing at the front of the school alone.

It was a little late to be heading out doors but Andrew felt like having a quick walk around the grounds before delving back into his studies. Right now was study time and he'd been at it for a few hours now. Thus Andrew had decided to get up and have a walk. He'd explored enough of the inside of the mansion so the outdoors it was. Might as well put the break and the walk to good use after all.

Andrew descended one of the staircases that led from second floor where the rooms were located to the main floor. The foyer was still pretty grand with those two staircases and the classical styling. The various paintings and busts and such decorating the space definitely made it grand. He crossed the space to the front door and opened it.

There was a girl on the porch. Probably a few years younger than him, give or take a year or two. She had some baggage with her. Another student for the school perhaps? Andrew blinked before realizing that he was staring and smiled at the girl.

"Hello and welcome to the Institute or the Mansion. Whichever you'd like to call it. I'd guess you're here to stay. Let me get those bags for you."

Andrew left the door open and grabbed a couple of the girl's bags. He transferred these inside and repeated the process until all five were indoors.

"Come on in. I'm Andrew and it's nice to meet you miss."

Andrew sort of hoped that sounded good because he was improvising as far as this went. Generally someone else handled the new arrivals. Andrew himself was just a resident for the moment. He had no authority to get her signed up but he could at least help her find someone who could.

Kate stood for a moment wondering if anyone even knew she was there. "Oh of course they know I'm here. This is my mother after all." Kate muttered herself as the door opened and she was met by a handsome young man. A smile crept over her face as he just stared at her with a silly surprised expression on his face. They obviously hadn't been expecting her.

>>Hello and welcome to the Institute or the Mansion. Whichever you'd like to call it. I'd guess you're here to stay. Let me get those bags for you.

"Thank you." He was so awkwardly polite she couldn't' help but giggle as he took her bags inside and she stepped in after the door closing behind her.

It was a lot warmer inside and she was grateful for it. She had never been one for the cold.

"Katherine Stanly Finch-Hatton." She offered him her hand, "But you can call me Kate."

Andrew smiled.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Kate. I'm not precisely the person to be giving you the tour and getting you signed in and what not but I bet if we hunt around we could probably find someone. We'll just leave the bags here and once you're all signed in then we can get them up to your room."

Boy he hoped that someone was in their office. Andrew wasn't exactly sure what he was doing with this. All he had to go on was guesswork and the tour that Kealey had given him. That wasn't exactly much but he hoped it was enough. Andrew turned toward the stairs and motioned for Kate to follow him.

"Will you be attending school here too or just living here?"

If she was going to be taking classes then Andrew would have to take her around the classrooms as well. That is if he couldn't find a greeter first.

"Downstairs is where the classrooms, kitchen, dining room, and that sort of thing can be found. Upstairs is living space and the offices for the staff. The library can be reached from either floor."

It was a generic rundown and he'd take her past all of those places if he ended up giving her a tour himself. For now just telling her about them would suffice.

Kate shook his hand and followed him further into the expansive room. She didn't bother looking around. At first glance it looked much like her own home. Art and architecture.

>> Will you be attending school here too or just living here? Downstairs is where the classrooms, kitchen, dining room, and that sort of thing can be found. Upstairs is living space and the offices for the staff. The library can be reached from either floor.

Kate listened and thought for a moment. her mother had never told her if she would be a student, "I'm not sure if I will be attending actually. I was just told I had to come here and didn't really have a choice in the matter. Though, knowing my mother, I will not be here for very long. Eventually she will have one of her tantrums and..." Kate looked at Andrew and then smiled awkwardly. She had this tendency to exude word vomit.

He gave a nod in understanding. A lot (read nearly all) of the residents and students had complicated circumstances that led them here. If she wasn't comfortable talking about it then that was fine but Andrew would be willing to listen if she did want to talk.

"I see. Well hopefully the time you do spend here will be good. If you do leave know that the doors will always be open for you, if you choose to come back."

Hey he wasn't too bad at this. At least he didn't think so. They came out on the second floor and Andrew headed for the offices. He poked his head into each of the greeters offices in turn, finding no one within. Well that sucked.

"None of the greeters seem to be about so I guess I'll give you the tour. With luck one of them will be back by the time we're done. Since we're already up here we'll start with the bedrooms and the library."

Andrew backtracked somewhat and led the way to the hallways that contained the bedrooms.

"Guys to the left, girls to the right, and the middle hallway is for the adults. If you've got any questions feel free to ask. Or just talk. Either one is fine by me."

Kate followed Andrew almost blindly around as he popped his head into a series of rooms.

>> Guys to the left, girls to the right, and the middle hallway is for the adults. If you've got any questions feel free to ask. Or just talk. Either one is fine by me.

Kate just looked at him for a moment and then just burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you're so terrible awkwardly formal, and then you inserted that oh so subtle 'if you ever need to talk' and I just couldn't hold it in anymore. You've never done this before have you?"

Well crud. Apparently he hadn't been doing too well because she straight up laughed at him. Andrew deflated a little.

"No I haven't. I'm not a greeter. In fact I'm still pretty new here. None of the greeters seem to be about at the moment though so I'm doing what I can. Once we're done wandering around this place I'll drop you off to the greeter's offices."

He gave a shrug. If she would rather he just walk her around the place Andrew could do that too. He could drill himself on his studies while they went if that was the case. See how much he'd learned from the last two hours of studying.

Studying and anything else aside Andrew turned and navigated his way toward the library. He pushed open one of the doors and held it for Kate so she could walk in and get a look at the enormous multi-level library.

"And one library, big as it is."

Andrew stood to one side so that Kate could have a brief look around if she wanted before they moved on to the first floor.

Kate went all wide eyed at the number of books. She had never seen so many. They had a library back home that she thought was a good size but it was nothing compared to this. She made a mental note to come back and spend a few days coming the shelves. She may actaully be able to find a book she hadn't read

She started walking down the walk way running her hands along the books. There was nothing like the feeling of a physical book. The smell as it opens after sitting alone for years, the spine creaking and the worn pages crinkling as they are idolly turned. There was nothing like it.

She smiled slightly taking it all in, closing her eyes and breathing the smell of the room.

Her amazement was sadly cut short by the growling of her stomach. She looked down at one of the banes of her existence and thought about it, she really hadn't eaten in about... a little over two hours. This was not good. She needed to get fuel and needed it soon. The temperature outside was to low for her to go to long without eating. "So, I'm assuming this place has food somewhere."

Well it appeared Kate liked the library. She reacted to it the way he had to the kitchen. It made Andrew smile. Not smirk or grin, just smile. If nothing else she'd have plenty to read while she was here. After a minute or two she asked after something to eat.

"Sure, we were going to head downstairs anyway so we'll make our first stop the kitchen. There's sure to be something in the fridge. If not, I'm sure I can make something."

Andrew headed back out of the library and back to the grand stairs. Down he went, with Kate in tow he assumed, and toward the kitchen. Andrew walked in and was glad to see that some of his latest batch of baked goods, some banana nut muffins and some blueberry muffins, were still intact. That would give Kate something to start with at least.

"Help yourself to whatever you can find."

Andrew grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down at the table there in the kitchen. He took a sip and settled back to watch Kate as she grabbed something to eat.

Kate walked into the Kitchen and was not at all surprised by the size. It was smaller then the one back home but it was still very spacious and could support a good amount of people all at once.

She walked over to the fridge and put her purse on the island. She unzipped the mid sized leather handbag, the contents of which would confuse even the most well rounded of women, and pulled out a small pair of gloves. She nonchalantly slipped them on her hand as if it was a normal action before under the circumstances and turn to the fridge.

Making sure to stand about a foot and a half away, she opened the door slowly. She scanned down the shelves backing away as she had to bend over to see what was there. She saw a drawer full of fruit and stood. She began muttering to herself about what she had eaten that day counting on her fingers the different items.

once she had determined she had not eaten enough fruit today she opened the drawer at a distance and pulled out an apple placing it next to her purse before returning to the fridge to grab two bottles of water. She made sure to make a note in her head to ask whoever was handling her sleeping arrangements for a chest of some kind for her water. She also noted to go get a few cases of water the next day.

She bounded over to the sink with the apple and water bottles and removed her gloves as she turned on the hot water. She turned it all the way up and placed the three food objects under it, using a glove on the initial touch, long enough to warm them up.

Once she had determined they were at a warm enough temp, she grabbed about 4 muffins, 2 of each, and sat down with Andrew.

That was certainly an odd way to handle foods. Andrew didn't say anything about it. It just wasn't his way. He kept a lot of his observations to himself. At least at first. If someone opened themselves up for questions later then he'd generally ask about it at some point. At first go though he wouldn't mention it. She grabbed some of his muffins to add to the apple and the two bottles of water. It seemed a lot for a small snack but he wasn't going to criticize her eating habits. Besides, it obviously didn't affect her weight at all.

Andrew took another swallow of his water. He wondered what her mutation. Well, no time like the present.

"If you don't mind my asking, what's your mutation? If you aren't comfortable discussing that's fine. Just curious."

Not every mutant easily accepted their mutation. Andrew ought to know. He'd practically cut himself off from society when his mutation manifested itself. Speaking of which, you had to give a little trust to get some.

"My mutation makes me keep the promises I make. If I don't keep a promise I get hurt. Sometimes it's just pain, other times it's an injury. It all depends on the promise." Andrew gave a chuckle, "That's the condensed version anyway."

Kate organized all of her food very neatly and crossed her ankles of to one side of the feet of the chair. She began devouring the apple as she listened to Andrew.

"Oh I don't' mind you asking at all," She chuckled at his back stepping on the question. Where she had come from people were never so tentative as he seemed with personal information. She knew that they would respect if she didn't want to give it, a fact she had assumed was common even out in the world, but he was so different then her norm, "But first I want you to know you don't need to tip toe around me. I am not going to break if you ask the wrong question or say the wrong thing. You have nothing to be afraid of with me. I promise." She smiled at him reassuringly and thought of the right way to answer his question, "As for my mutation... I am a being of elemental fire I suppose."

Andrew gave her a sheepish smile when she told him to basically not be so shy. She could say that until the cows came home but it wouldn't make a difference. It was just who he was. He didn't ask questions or say things unless he knew a person very well. In short he just wasn't a direct person.

"Sorry. I just don't do things like that unless I know someone well enough. It's not you. I guess you could say I'm just a bit shy."

So Kate was a fire elemental huh? That was interesting. If he thought about it that might explain the appetite as well. Fire had to be fed after all.

"Interesting mutation. I haven't met a fire elemental. I've met some other interesting mutants but not a fire elemental." he paused for a drink of water, "So where are you from?"

He had just narrowly avoided saying something like, if you don't mind my asking again. It was just hardwired into him to be polite until he knew someone well. If that made him a little socially awkward oh well.

Kate had never met anyone shy before. She had seen them in movies but never met a shy person in... well... person. She had always interacted with people she had grown up around and they treated her a certain way. They either treated her like the noble they worked for, which she hated, or they treated her like Kate, the girl they watched grow up. Though, it dawned on her that interacting with people her own age was goign to be very different then interacting with people much older then her.

"I'm from just outside of Deene in the UK," She was determined to be very kind about everything she said and get Andrew to warm up to her. According to the movies, she had to gain his trust and become his friends in order for him to stop being so shy, "What about you? Where are you from?"