She'd sounded like she was British but being as Andrew knew next to nothing about British accents he hadn't guessed.

"Lexington, Kentucky. Home to lots of horses and the University of Kentucky."

Andrew had lived in the city itself so he hadn't had a horse himself but you couldn't go anywhere around Lexington without seeing horses and white fences.

"Mind you I lived in the city so I've never actually rode a horse but they were there."

Andrew finished off his water as he thought about his home and his parents. There were some things he missed but given the choice he'd stay here in New York. It may have been just some place the past two years he'd lived here but that was changing.

"I can honestly say I have never been there." Kate looked at him seriously for a moment before smiling "I have however ridden a horse and I didn't particularity enjoy it. There is a ridiculous amount of being shaken about involved. My mother felt I had to be a proper lady and learn how to ride, and I can honestly say I have never actaully used the skill and probably never will." Kate laughed and looked at Andrew contemplating her next question.

She finished the last of one of the muffins leaving 2 left. "Andrew why don't you tell me about yourself. Don't feel obligated to tell me anything you don't want to share, even if that's the whole thing. I understand if you don't want to talk about your life. This is just my first opportunity to find out about someone who grew up seemingly normal. I have spent my entire life around the same 30 people and you are the first person I have actually had a conversation with since I have been out and about. So, please excuse my curiosity," She then waited for a reply, while beginning on the second bottle of water and the 3rd muffin.

He smirked a little.

"Then maybe I ought to be glad I never rode one."

Kate inquired about him and Andrew gave a shrug.

"Not much to tell. Had a fairly normal childhood I suppose. Went to a decent school, did well and had a fair few friends. Then my mutation came along when I turned sixteen and it all sort of fell apart."

He sighed and looked at his empty water bottle.

"Guess you could say I isolated myself. No friends, I concentrated on my studies instead. I didn't go out and do anything at all. When I graduated high school and started contemplating colleges I decided I wanted to get away from there and picked one here in New York City.'

'I've been studying here for two years now. Up until recently I kept to myself and avoided getting to know anyone. That sort of changed when I met one of the people in charge here, Sam. It wasn't the best of meetings I suppose. I was after all holding up a coffee shop at the time."

Andrew chuckled at the memory. Lord he'd been hopeless when he'd met Sam. Heck he still was considering that wasn't too long ago. Andrew liked to think he'd changed a little since then though.

"It's a long story but I had made a bad promise and Sam helped me out. After that I met a lot of other mutants. Eventually I met the librarian here, Kealey, and she dragged me here. That's pretty much it."

With that said Andrew got up and threw away his empty bottle.

"Anything else ya wanna know?"

Kate listened as he told her his story. There were moments in it when she wanted to know more but felt best not to prod to much. She could always ask him more if they became friends. She filed away the held-up-a-coffee-shop for later. "Nothing comes to mind. What about you? Anything you want me to tell you? Any odd quirks," she made a point of looking at the food in front of her as the words left her mouth, "or behaviors or things I've said that have caught your intrigue?" She looked at him for a answer before continuing when she did not get one right away, "I am going to have to tell people about myself over and over, so why not start now?"

He chuckled a bit. Well there was one question at least she seemed to want him to ask. After all the pointed look at the food was certainly not a dead giveaway.

"Alright, I'll bite. What's with the snack? Seems a bit much for just a snack."

Andrew figured it had to do with her mutation. However it was better to know than to assume and be wrong.

"Also, you mentioned spending your life around the same thirty or so people? What's with that?"

Ok that sounded just plain rude to Andrew. He wanted to apologize right away. His mother would have smacked him for saying that. Kate however had insisted that not hold back so much so he'd hold off on apologizing until she confirmed that it was rude of him. A lady was always right, even when wrong. At least, according to his mom. She'd done most of his raising so it was her sayings that stuck with him.

Kate had chucked quite a bit tonight but at that she full out laughed. Andrew was finally warming up it would seem and he got way more entertaining and fun when he was more comfortable. "I don't really snack... because of my mutation I have to eat a lot throughout the day. In weather like this I have to eat a full meal about every three hours. If it is colder I eat more, warmer I eat less. It's kind of like how temperature effects a fire. If it is colder you have to tend it more. So I'm tending my fire."

>>"Also, you mentioned spending your life around the same thirty or so people? What's with that?"

This just made Kate smile more, he didn't seem shy in that one at all. She was excited she may have actaully made her first friend ever. Well the first on her own age. She actually realized she had no idea what his age was. She would have to ask at some point.

"That is a complicated question I would be happy to answer. When I was 2 years old my father was killed, and because he was in the house of lords and the Earl of Nottingham, among other things, all the papers saw was that he was a mutant. According to Jensen, our butler, he was killed because he lost control of his mutation and scared a police officer. Let's just say, the papers ignored the truth and payed attention to the lesser of the two facts. It destroyed my mother," Kate's smile faded the more she talked, "She retracted us from the world and has kept us locked away in our country manor since then. Today was the first time I have been outside of the gates that I can remember. I know I had before but I was to young. I don't even remember my father. All I know is what my mother told me and what happened to her afterward." Kate looked out at the empty muffin rapper in front of her but was miles away from it, "I grew up with my mum, our staff, and my professors. That is the 30 or so people I grew up around." Kate finally looked at Andrew again, "I'm sorry. I went to far, you didn't need to know all of that. I just got started and the words poured out. I don't think I have ever actually told anyone that."

Kate smiled at him again but this time it wasn't like before. The light happy that was there was gone.

The funny thing about the Mansion: new people kept showing up out of the blue all the time, and now that Gawain had some experience with the greeting process, he couldn't help but wonder who the hell they were. Of course, back in the day (almost a year ago, can you believe that?), he'd spend months in the school without Sam knowing about her. But still.

For example, look at those two in the kitchen. He just wondered in looking for an energy drink or something before practice, and there they were, and he was pretty sure he'd never seen either of them before. It was a shame, really, that girl looked nice.

He only caught the end of her story as he walked into the mirror from the living room.

>>"I grew up with my mum, our staff, and my professors. That is the 30 or so people I grew up around. I'm sorry. I went to far, you didn't need to know all of that. I just got started and the words poured out. I don't think I have ever actually told anyone that."

"Happens a lot when you're among the right kind of people" he grinned, stepping out of the mirror and landing on his feet "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I didn't wanna eavesdrop either." he walked over to them with a friendly smile "I don't think we've met. My name's Gawain. And I live here."

It turned out that he was right about her eating. It was related to her mutation. That sort of sucked. Then she dove into answering his second question. Wow. That was pretty much the word that was buzzing around Andrew's mind. He had it good compared to that. What did you say to something like that? Andrew was just about to try and say something when a voice responded for him in what Andrew figured was a much smoother answer than he would have given. He tried not to jump but sadly failed as his shoulders jerked with surprise at the sudden appearance of the other guy.

Wait a second...where the heck had he come from?!

His mind ran in circles before he remembered that he was in a mansion full of mutants and the boy could have come from anywhere. Duh, Andrew. Now introduce yourself to the boy before you look even more like an idiot.

"Nice to meet you Gawain. I'm Andrew. I'm still pretty new here. Kate there just showed up and I was showing her around."

Why was everyone he met here ten times better at anything remotely social than he was? It really wasn't that fair. Surely there had to be someone else around here who had no idea what to do or say around strangers.

Kate turned away from Andrew to see a new boy in the room. He said his name was Gawain. She was not sure where he had come from since she hadn't heard him approach but she hadn't been paying much attention.

After Andrew had politely introduced her to Gawain, who he apparently didn't know either, she offered the new arrival her hand, "Katherine Elizabeth Stanly Finch-Hatton. Very nice to meet you." Kate smiled now that she was distracted enough, "And, I suppose you're right. New ears, new things to let them hear. Really, it was also only a matter of time I talked about all of that. With it so prominent in my mind and all."

>>"Nice to meet you Gawain. I'm Andrew. I'm still pretty new here. Kate there just showed up and I was showing her around."

"Nice to meet you Andrew" Gawain nodded, shaking his hand. Good for him. Who wouldn't wanna play tour guide for a pretty damsel who just arrived and need help finding her way around the mansion.

>>"Katherine Elizabeth Stanly Finch-Hatton. Very nice to meet you. And, I suppose you're right. New ears, new things to let them hear. Really, it was also only a matter of time I talked about all of that. With it so prominent in my mind and all."

"Welcome to the Mansion, Katherine" Gawain smiled a charming smile, noting the British accent. Some nobility from the Old World, huh. That explained a lot. "It's okay, you'll find most people who live here are friendly and easy to talk to. Everyone's got a history." he added. Really, everyone did "So... did you two have plans or something? hve you been checked in yet?"

Andrew gave a nod in response to Gawain's 'nice to meet you' while they shook hands. Well at least he'd met another of the Mansion dwellers now. When Gawain asked whether or not they had plans Andrew spoke up again.

"I was just gonna take her around a few more rooms and then see what I couldn't do about finding someone to get Kate signed in. You're welcome to join us if you've nothing better to do."

Though Andrew didn't know how long Gawain had been around the Mansion it was still longer than Andrew had. Thus he'd be quite a bit of help as far as the tour when. Plus he seemed to be quite opening and charming. He'd probably keep Kate a lot more entertained than Andrew could. Realizing he hadn't actually replied to Kate since Gawain had made his entrance Andrew turned back to her with a smile.

"I'm always willing to listen."

Kate shook Gawain's hand and smiled at him genuinely, "Feel free to call me Kate. Everyone does. Well almost everyone."

>>I was just gonna take her around a few more rooms and then see what I couldn't do about finding someone to get Kate signed in. You're welcome to join us if you've nothing better to do. I'm always willing to listen.

Success. She had finally gotten Andrew to warm up with a nice session of sharing. "Thank you." She smiled at him gratefully. She was going to need it once things started to go wrong. She needed to stay strong on this and not run back the first time her mother called, and maybe her new friend could help with that.

"Oh yes please join us. The more the merrier." She turned to Gawain, her happy smiled returned, "But first I need a bottle of water."

Kate repeated the same process she had to get her 'snack'. She put on her gloves, stood away from the fridge, and ran it under water before bounding back over to the two boys smiling.

>>"I was just gonna take her around a few more rooms and then see what I couldn't do about finding someone to get Kate signed in. You're welcome to join us if you've nothing better to do."

Gawain grinned and walked over to the fridge to find himself something to drink. Someone had sorted through the whole kitchen lately and all the tasty unhealty things had disappeared, so he had to settle for orange juice. He made a mental note to find out who had been messing with the half-eaten pizza slices and other stashed food.

"Well, you are lucky" he grinned "I can't really officially check you in, but I can start the paperwork for you. I'm good at filling out forms. Part of the training." he chuckled, drinking a glass of orange juice before he turned back to them "And I can show you around too, although I bet Andrew knows most of the building already."

She watched Kate curiously, what was it with the gloves and the water?! He'd have to find that out soon. Well, she'll tell him anyhow, it was part of the check-in paperwork.

He clapped his hands together. "What do you say, ready to go?" he asked them with a grin before he walked out through the mirror on the wall.
After a few seconds he appeared in the mirror again, with the same grin plastered across his face "You two comin' or what?"

Andrew sort of chuckled. It was hard to dislike this Gawain. He was too friendly. As a bonus he could take care of part of the check in process for Kate! Well that made things loads easier. Andrew grabbed another bottle of water out of the fridge for himself and watched as Kate repeated the process she'd done earlier. Andrew rolled with it, having seen her do this particular little ritual once already. Gawain on the other hand seemed sort of curious. It was an odd thing to do, Andrew would give him that.

Gawain walked right into a mirror on the wall instead of using the doorway. So that was how he'd showed up like that. A mirror-walking mutant wasn't something he'd thought of before. Then again neither was a woman with acid bones or a girl who could shift into dinosaurs. Mutants really could have some strange powers.

"Where to then?"

Andrew queried with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't like they could use the mirror like Gawain did after all.

"Well that's wonderful. We can start the process and then go find a greeter to finish it off." She would be settled in in to time at all at this rate.

Kate looked on in surprise as Gawain entered a mirror as if it was an everyday thing. She had been told this was a place full of mutants like her but she hadn't expected something like walking through mirrors. It was all so fascinating, like Alice going through the looking glass. She wondered what was on the other side and would ask the boy later.

>>Where to then?

Kate looked at the mirror waiting to find out what to do next as she sipped her water.