( OOC: Continued from a midnight prayer. )


Lance had been driving for about an hour now... keeping to the side streets had considerably lengthened their travel time. The teen occasionally glanced towards his unconscious passenger to make sure that she was alright.

It took almost another hour of nervous driving before the gates of the mansion came into view. He had expected to be stopped by one of the school’s security personnel. But to his surprise, there appeared to be no such personnel on duty when he drove the little car through the gates. A blessing? Maybe. A few more minutes and Lance was finally able to park the battered car inside the mansion’s driveway.

The teen quickly got out of the vehicle and made his way over to the other side. Several residents curiously glanced towards his direction. Ignoring the looks he was getting, Lance carefully lifted the unconscious Casey from the passenger seat and hurriedly entered the mansion... his destination, the infirmary.

Walking through the mansion with an unconscious woman in one’s arms is a sure guarantee of drawing the other residents’ attention. But Lance did not mind that for now. His primary concern was to get Casey to the infirmary for proper medical attention.

Hopefully, someone had already alerted any one of the more senior members of the school’s staff to their, somewhat unconventional, arrival.

Stepping into the infirmary, Lance glanced around for Xavier’s resident healer, DocProf. Not spotting the man in question within the confines of his territory, the teen placed Casey atop the examination table.

The teen could have sworn that he had just broken several rules of the mansion with regards to bringing strangers within it confines, but he had no choice. This was the right thing for him to do. Leaving Casey out in the street in her present condition was not something he was keen on doing. His parents, mostly his mother, raised him up as a caring individual. He would just have to explain later why he did what he did.

“Well, what do we have here?” a male voice curiously asked from behind him.

The question brought Lance back to the present. He quickly spun around to come face to face with an elderly man curiously looking at him.

”DocProf?” the teen asked.

“You got that right, m’boy,” The elderly man answered, smiling and nodding at the same time. “How about you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. How did you know of my little domain here in the mansion?”

Lance managed to smile sheepishly at the doctor’s question. ”My name is Lance and I’m sort of new here in the mansion.”

DocProf nodded as Lance introduced himself. ”Why don’t you sit over there while I check on your friend...” the man said, pointing towards a cushioned chair. DocProf moved towards the unconscious woman on his examination table. As the doctor began examining Casey, a soft golden glow enveloped his hands.

This was the first time that Lance had seen a medical examination with the doctor’s eyes closed. The teen was curious as to how DocProf was able to examine his patients without looking at them.

It took only a few seconds before the good doctor opened his eyes once more.

“Nothing to worry about, Lance... your friend only suffered a concussion from being manhandled by those protesters you encountered, earlier.” DocProf explained to the teen, a reassuring smile on his lips. “An ice pack for the bump and some bed rest will make her feel better.”

Whoa! How did he know about the encounter with the protesters? Is DocProf psychic?

“Now, let me see that nasty gash you have in your arm.” the doctor said as he approached the teen.

Lance tensed up. Convinced that DocProf has the ability to read minds, the teen feared that the doctor would be able to read his mind and find out about the skeleton in his closet.

“There’s nothing to fear, dear boy. I won’t hurt you. I just want to see how you ended up ruining that nice suit of yours.” DocProf assured Lance, upon sensing the tension building up in his patient.

Placing his hand over the gash, the doctor closed his eyes and the same golden glow enveloped his hand once more. A warm feeling came over the teen, emanating from the point where the doctor’s glowing hand was making contact with his body.

“Hmm...” the doctor simply said after opening his eyes. The warm glow had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared earlier. Though his initial comment upon learning the history of Lance’s gash was non-committal, DocProf’s expression had gone from cheerful to serious.

“You should be more careful around those anti-mutant protesters, Lance,” the doctor commented as he started applying antiseptic on the wound. “You and your friend are lucky that your conditions were no more serious than a concussion and a gash. It could have been far worse...”

Lance did not comment on the good doctor’s advice He has had a long day, and the last thing that he wanted was to enter into a discussion with the person that had just patched him up.

“Thank you.” the teen said after DocProf had finished tending to the wound.

The doctor flashed Lance a comforting smile, as he was rolling down his sleeve.

“Why don’t you go to your room and change? Your friend will still be here by the time you return... and I’ll be here as well.”

“I might just do that... Thanks.” the teen replied with a smile. Before he stepped out of the infirmary, Lance took one long look at Casey’s sleeping form then he left her in the capable hands of the doctor.

The shower felt relaxing, as if washing away all the sad experiences Lance encountered in the two days he had been away from the mansion.

It was good to be back. Back with the people who understood him and accepted him for who he is and what he is.

After the refreshing shower and a fresh change of clothes, Lance headed back to the infirmary. He did not want Casey to wake-up in a strange environment without a familiar face nearby.

“Arrr” Casey Carlyle groaned softly as she began slipping back into concusses.
Her almost angelic, expressive, blue eyes fluttered open to see the ceiling.
She felt the examination table under her then she realised she did not know where she was, that was never a good thing, the alarm bells started ringing.

Casey shot to a sitting position, in fact she sat up too fast, it gave her that dizzy feeling that you get when you stand up to quickly.

Placing a hand on her momentarily dizzy head Casey glance around her surroundings and saw she was in a medical facility of some kind, she did not know where she was but she knew it was not a hospital.

“your up” DocProf said with a warm smile as he tore himself away from his paper work.

“Where am I?” Casey asked not letting her alarm come through in her voice.

“Your in the infirmary at Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters, sister school” he replied

Casey had read something about Xavier in the paper once but that was about all she had heard about him or his school.

Casey’s concerns clearly showed on her face as the thought “gifted youngster” went round in here head.

“I was with someone...” Casey realized she did not remember her companions name, she had purposely refrained from using it while she was with the teen, if he did not have a name she would not have to remember him when they parted. This was something she did often since leaving her family and home back in England three months ago, it helped her to avoid making friends.
“...a teenager...” Casey continued in a concerned tone.

“He is getting cleaned up. Don’t worry, he is fine” DocProf assured in a comforting tone, “and so are you Miss Carlyle”

Casey was relived to hear her companion was fine, but she was curious how this man knew her last name.

Casey felt her ribs, to her surprise they did not hurt, she touched her bottom lip that had been split open by an angry protestor and discovered it was also wound free, “Thank you” she said to the old looking man, she assumed he was the reason she was injury free.

“That was some fight you where in Miss Carlyle, I’m surprised you did not have more injuries than those you came in with. But I suppose your military training helped you…” DocProf said and he continued to chat about the events as if he had been there.

Casey became defensive, how did this man know her last name? who hid he know she has been in the military? And how did he know in so much detail how she had gotten her injuries? Casey assumed he must be a psychic mutant or something, she did not like the thought of that, of someone poking around her mind, “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but in here is mine… she said pointing to her head, “what is in here is mine, I don’t want any one poking around in here.” She scolded.

“name: Casey Carlyle. Blood type: A. D.O.B:03/08/1983. unit 4. project Eve” DocProf said as if reading from some paperwork.

Casey began to blush slightly as her hand found its way to the Special forces ID tags around her heck, she had no choice but to swallow her pride and apologize, “Oh... I’m sorry. Its been a rough day”

Just then Lance entered the room looking clean and refreshed.

“Your friend is up” DocProf said happy to deliver the news. He returned to his paperwork and left the pair to talk.

Casey waved weakly as if to say “hi” she did not smile even a half smile, she was in low spirits but was putting on a brave face.

“How are you?” Casey asked the teen, trying to sound like she was fine.

“Your friend is up.”

One of the better news the teen has had for the day. The good doctor returned to his paperwork, giving the two some small amount of privacy.

Casey weakly waved at Lance from the recovery bed.

“How are you?”

”Fine, I guess...” the teen answered, as he moved towards the bed. His eyes never leaving the woman. ”How about you?”

Lance was worried more for Casey than he was for himself. She was, after all, the one that took the beating.

”You know, you scared the daylights out of me when you asked me to drive earlier.” Lance remarked, a grin inching its way across his lips.

Tilting his head towards DocProf, ”Will she be alright, doc?”

DocProf strayed his eyes from the paperwork to look at Lance. ”As I’ve told you earlier, a little bed rest and she’ll be good as new.”

”That’s good,” Lance remarked, nodding.

Turning towards Casey, ”I hope you don’t mind that I took you here to the Mansion. After you passed out in the car, this was the first place that came to my mind, considering the fact that you are also a mutant...”

Ooc: Thank you for rping with me again .
Sorry I forgot to say thanks in my last post, how rude of me .

“Fine, I guess...How about you?” Lance responded

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me” Casey said waving her hand dismissively “Not the first fight I’ve been in, probably won’t be the last” she said with a tough front.

”You know, you scared the daylights out of me when you asked me to drive earlier.”

Casey smiled a half smile at that remark, she could imagine it, “Yeah, sorry about that”

On hearing the doc say she would be fine Casey hopped off the examination table, she was not a big fan of the whole resting thing when she felt physically fine. She planed to leave the infirmary with or with out being lectured about resting by the kind DocProf.

”I hope you don’t mind that I took you here to the Mansion. After you passed out in the car, this was the first place that came to my mind, considering the fact that you are also a mutant...”

“That’s fine. Thank you for bringing me here” she said with sincere appreciation, not everyone would have bothered taking her anywhere.

“I guess that means the car made it here then, I wasn’t sure it was going to”

Lance once again looked clean and smart in his fresh clothes, this made Casey conscious of her own blood spattered t shirt and grubby clothes.

“I have some clean clothes in my car, would you mind showing me where it is?” Casey asked, she genuinely wanted to go to her car for her clothes, but she more so wanted to see what damage it had taken now she was not too disorientated to take it in.
Now she knew Lance and herself where fine she wanted to know if Andy was too, after all she was stuck where she was with out a car.

“That’s fine. Thank you for bringing me here. I guess that means the car made it here then, I wasn’t sure it was going to.”

Casey’s last statement elicited a chuckle from the teen. ”Yeah... the little guy gave me a good scare with all the weird noises it was making on our way here.”

The sudden shift of Casey’s expression from jovial to uneasiness did not escape the teen. Lance wondered whether he had said something that unsettled the woman before him.

“I have some clean clothes in my car, would you mind showing me where it is?”

A playful grin suddenly crept across the teen’s lips. She’s concerned with her outfit, after all that we’ve been through?

”Sure. I parked the car outside the mansion.”

As the two of them made for the door of the infirmary, DocProf raised his eyes from the paperwork he was perusing. “And where do you think you’re going with my patient, young man?”

Lance stopped and tilted his head towards the good doctor, ”Casey just wants to get a fresh change of clothes... we’ll be back.” the teen replied.

The doctor’s gaze transferred from Lance to Casey and back again. He was silent for several seconds as if considering whether to let the woman out of his sight or not. “Very well. But you had better make sure she returns here.” DocProf finally replied, sternly. “She still needs to rest...”

Lance nodded in response to the doctor’s orders. Having finally obtained the DocProf’s approval, Lance took Casey to the driveway where he had parked the battered yellow car a while ago.

Lance noted the curious glances the two of them were receiving from residents they had encountered along the trip from the infirmary to the mansion’s driveway. He remembered the selfsame curious glances he received when he first moved into the mansion. But now, walking alongside a woman wearing bloodstained clothing was sure to draw more than the occasional curious glance.

Several mansion residents were curiously looking over the little vehicle, but quickly backed away as they caught sight of the approaching pair.

”Well, there he is...” Lance quipped, pointing towards the car. ”I don’t think you can take him anywhere right now... he’ll need a good body repair before he becomes road worthy again.” the teen opined seriously.

Lance moved to the side to allow Casey more room to rummage through her car. ”Don’t strain yourself too much...” the teen reminded her.

Casey noticed the playful grin that suddenly crept onto Lances face when she mentioned clean clothes, she wondered if the teen thought she was being a typical girl or something, “come on look at the state of me”, but she let it go.

She began to follow Lance towards the door as subtly as she could, hoping that the kind Doctor would not notice.

“And where do you think you’re going with my patient, young man?” a voice came in a “father knows best” tone. On hearing the voice Casey stopped where she stood, she glanced a mischievous “we’ve been caught” look to lance, she knew that tone, it was the same tone her eldest brother Christopher used so she knew she was not going anywhere without a good reason.
Casey turned on her heals to face the doctor preparing to give him an excuse.

”Casey just wants to get a fresh change of clothes... we’ll be back.” Lance offered, Casey just gave DocProf a half smile and a nod in agreement to the teens statement...well the clothes part, not the “we’ll be back” part.

“Very well. But you had better make sure she returns here. She still needs to rest...” DocProf replied sternly after a moments contemplation, Lance nodded, naively agreeing to the terms...bless his heart.

Casey followed Lance through the hallways of the mansion where the pair where meet with a stream of curious glances and stares from inquisitive residents. Casey tried to ignore the looks and the high school memories that they where conjuring and just continued to follow Lance.

As the pair neared Andy the curious group of onlookers that had gathered around him quickly dispersed.

”Well, there he is.. I don’t think you can take him anywhere right now... he’ll need a good body repair before he becomes road worthy again.” “No kiddin’” Casey though to herself as she looked at the battered car. “what am I supposed to do now?” Casey though to herself, she was not as presumptuous to assume she would be able to stay at the mansion, she was neither a student or a teacher.

“What did they do to you?” Casey said to her car as if she was talking to a pet while she gave him a quick once over to inspect the damage.
“Poor little guy” she said at the end of the inspection placing a hand just above the drivers door before opening the rear door to retrieve what she had come for.

”Don’t strain yourself too much...” Lance cautioned Casey as she leaned in to get the duffle-bag that contained her clothes and pretty much all of her worldly belongings.

Casey placed the strap over her shoulder and closed the door, “I don’t suppose I could take a shower or something?” she asked humbly, the teen had done enough already.
“It would be great to clean up a bit” she said motioning to the blood, sweat and dirt that was on her, making a little point that she was not being a "typical girl", she did not have a problem getting dirty but she did not like feeling this grimy.

“I don’t suppose I could take a shower or something? It would be great to clean up a bit.”

Okay... Now that was something Lance had not thought of. The teen was not sure whether the mansion had bathing facilities for transient guests. His instincts told him that the best recourse was to head back towards the infirmary. If that place did not have a bathroom for Casey to use, at least they can ask DocProf if there is such a facility for his companion to use. ”Let’s go back to the infirmary. Maybe there’s a bathroom there you can use.” he offered.

Motioning for Casey to follow, Lance quickly made his way back to the infirmary.

Once there, ”DocProf?” the teen called from the doorway. A few moments of no reply from DocProf, Lance stepped into the infirmary to look for the good doctor. Unfortunately, it seemed that DocProf was not in at that time.

Turning towards his companion, ”Looks like DocProf stepped out for a while. I’d gladly offer the bathroom in my room. But I’m not so sure if I’m allowed to do that. Plus you’re female.” Lance said, apologetically. There must be something that can be done to help Casey...

The teen was quiet for a few moments as he tried to figure out a solution to their present predicament. He needed to ask permission from a mansion staff before deciding on a course of action. Lance was sure that he had already broken several house rules by bringing Casey into the mansion without prior permission from any of the senior staff members, and he did not want to aggravate the problem anymore than it already is. He needed someone that would understand the situation and whatever the two of them had just gone through. The name Kealey Quinn suddenly popped into the teen’s mind. Of course! If there was anyone in the mansion that would understand their predicament, it would be his boss, Kealey.

”We need to ask permission from a mansion staff.” Lance stated. ”And I know just whom to go to...” the teen added, smiling at Casey.

Quickly moving to the ground floor of the mansion, Lance headed towards the oaken doors that led to the library. He hoped that Kealey would be there even though it was a Sunday and that the library would be normally closed today.

Taking a deep breath, Lance twisted the door knob testing it if it was unlocked. The knob effortlessly obeyed the teen’s motion. It’s open! The teen thought excitedly. Lance felt a wave of surprise and hope, in various proportions, wash over him. Finally. They were going to get the help they needed.

Pushing on the oaken door, Lance stepped onto the carpeted library floor, motioning for Casey to enter as well.

A quick glance towards the circulation desk, informed the teen that his boss was not there. He hoped that she has not stepped out or something.

”Hello! Anybody here?”

It was Sunday, but that didn’t mean that it was time to lie about. Kealey sorted through returns at the circulation desk and hummed while she worked. Shin was off doing one of the hundreds of things he had on his plate, and Kealey had decided to take the opportunity to get a little work done so that when he came back she’d have time. School was just starting and time partitioning was going to be important. The blond could tell.

The library was quiet, she was the only one there, and the relative emotional silence was relaxing. Sure, her range extended beyond the library, but only a little ways. It was more like emotional echoes. That was good. She hadn’t left the doors open after she’d unlocked them, and the closed sign was still flipped. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too many students wandering in for help with assignments.

Finishing her sorting, Kealey grabbed the wheeled cart next to her and pushed it from around the circulation desk. There hadn’t been too many books this week, but with the school year starting that would change. Best to be organized before the rush instead of getting slammed later, Kealey thought. Even with her new assistant things were probably going to be a little difficult.

The blond headed for the fiction section first, a vast majority of the books on her cart being from that genre. That was another thing that would change. She found the appropriate shelf, and started to put the books in their proper place, still humming.

She was halfway through the shelf when new emotions entered her field of “view”. Surprise and hope were paramount, but there were lots of other things too. Mostly the things that Kealey associated with a really long night. She frowned just as the voice called out. Kealey closed her eyes and concentrated, deciding that there were two people just as voice rang out.

The voice was familiar, and Kealey smiled slightly, still mildly concerned with the emotions she was feeling. ”Hello Lance” she called, Irish accent tinting the words lightly as she finished with the book in her hand and made her way out of the stacks.

The two were just inside the door and Kealey nodded to Lance before her eyes fell on the girl who’d followed him into the library. She was a mess.

”Hello. Who’s your friend? It looks like you two have had a bit of a rough time.”

Kealey approached the two, welcoming smile spread across her face for the newcomer. ”I’m Kealey by the way, welcome to the Mansion. How can I help?” Shin would be proud, that had been a great greeting.

“Hello Lance.”

A feeling of tremendous relief washed over the teen, as he heard his name being called by the familiar voice of Kealey. She seemed to be somewhere in main floor of the library, amongst the rows of shelves.

A few minutes later, the blonde woman appeared from the forest of shelves that made up the main floor of the library. Kealey nodded to Lance in greeting, before her eyes fell on the woman with the teen.

“Hello. Who’s your friend? It looks like you two have had a bit of a rough time. I’m Kealey by the way, welcome to the Mansion. How can I help?”

Lance could not help but smile in relief upon seeing the familiar face of his boss. ”Uh... Kealey, this is Casey, a fellow mutant I met yesterday in Westchester.” the teen said, starting off the introductions. ”And this is Kealey Quinn, Xavier’s Sister School’s head librarian.” he concluded, tilting his head towards Kealey.

Lance sighed at Kealey’s observation, the feeling of relief dampening just a little bit. ”It’s a long story...” was the teen’s only reply.

Kealey’s offer of assistance was exactly what Lance had been waiting for... ”Umm... There is actually something that we need... or rather, that Casey needs.” the teen quickly answered, then just as quickly corrected his statement.

”She needs a place to bathe and change clothes. And I’m not sure if the mansion has any guest bathrooms...” Lance explained. ”That and probably a place to stay as well.” he added as an after thought. Uncertainty quite evident in that statement.

Lance was not certain if Casey would qualify for mansion residency since all mansion residents he had encountered so far were students, either of Xavier’s or nearby universities and colleges.

But he had to try... at least.

Lance was quick to try and assist Casey with her request to bath, after a moment of thinking the teen suggested that they go back to DocProf. Casey was not thrilled with this suggestion, but she did not have much choice.

Casey took one final glance at Andy before she began to follow the teen, a sad expression appeared momentarily on her face, not because her car was hurt, but rather because of how the car got hurt, there was so much hate in the terrorist mutant, and the five protesters.
As she stood there Casey decided to forgive the men for what they had done and what they tried to do, it was not the easiest thing to but she needed to do it.

Casey sighed as she began following Lance, "You should have taken the bus" she thought out loud.

After a failed attempt at finding DocProf the pair eventually came to the doors of the library, a brief sparkle came to Casey's eyes as she saw the rows of books full of all kinds of information, she did so love to learn. The sparkle disappeared as quickly as it had come and a female voice soon called out.

A beautiful woman soon appeared and the intros started.

”I’m Kealey by the way, welcome to the Mansion. How can I help?”

"Call me Legs" Casey said with a weak smile, ignoring the instinct to offer her hand for a handshake, she knew how important touch was, she did not want to get too friendly.

"Kealey, this is Casey, a fellow mutant I met yesterday in Westchester.And this is Kealey Quinn, Xavier’s Sister School’s head librarian.” said Lance

He went on to explain that Casey needed to bath and possibly a place to stay.

Casey hoped the blond woman could and would help, it had been a long day and a long three months for that matter, Casey was physically tired, emotionally tired from constantly having to look over her shoulder and she felt slightly depressed, she wan not wallowing in self pity of anything, she missed her family, when she was away from her brothers too long she just becomes depressed and being so grimy was not helping her at this point.

Kealey nodded her head as Lance gave a succinct summary of the situation. There would be time for details later if they were needed, and if the girl wanted to give them. The Mansion wasn’t really in the business of pry into peoples’ business. At least not when they were in need of help as obviously as this young girl was. It had been a rough night.

Kealey tilted her head slightly as the girl suggested she’d like to be called ‘legs’ surely that was a joke. Casey was deflecting, Kealey could tell from the emotions rolling around in the younger woman. There was mental exhaustion there, as well as a healthy dose of longing and depression. It made the blond frown, brows drawing together slightly.

Lance pointed out that she would need a shower, and probably somewhere to stay. Kealey nodded again, a smile lighting her features in spite of the slightly dreary emotional climate.

”Well, you came to the right place.” She said, moving back to the circulation desk to grab her cell phone, ”Shin isn’t around, but I know where everything is in his office.” she turned another friendly glance on Casey.

”If you’re wanting a place to stay, I’ll need a little paperwork, but I can’t imagine it being a problem if you want to clean yourself up first. You can even use my room if you want. It’s a mess, but I have fluffy towels.”

“If you’re wanting a place to stay, I’ll need a little paperwork, but I can’t imagine it being a problem if you want to clean yourself up first. You can even use my room if you want. It’s a mess, but I have fluffy towels.”

Lance could not have been more pleased with the outcome. Kealey’s offer was the silver lining hiding behind the leaden clouds that had followed them from Westchester. He couldn’t help but smile.

The teen took a long look at Casey, wondering whether she will accept the offer. He hoped she would, since that will solve one of her problems... a place to stay. Her second problem, employment, could be resolved at a later date. Lance had not forgotten his offer of a gig for Casey, and the teen will definitely push through with it.

Lance grinned at Casey, ”As I’ve said earlier, I’d gladly offer you the use of the bathroom in my room, except that you’re female.”

The teen’s expression turned a little bit serious after a few seconds. ”I hope that you’d accept Kealey’s offer.”

Lance took a quick glance towards the large clock above the library’s door and his features went slightly pale. ”Oh, hell. I forgot I still haven’t finished that paper for tomorrow, yet...” he muttered.

Tilting his head towards Casey, ”Kealey will help you with the residency paperworks.” Lance assured her and at the same time flashing a smile at Kealey. ”I’ll be here in the library, finishing that paper, should I be needed.” the teen quickly added as he moved to the table that had been assigned to him since he started working as Kealey’s assistant a few days ago.



( OOC: Feel free to go on ahead with the thread. Lance will be in the Library should he be needed. If there is a need for him to tag along, just tell me and I'll modify my post. )

Ooc: :-[Sorry, I forgot to thank you for joining in Kealey, honestly I don’t know where my manners have gone lately. Thank you for joining in .
Ooc: Lance, thanks well see you later

”If you’re wanting a place to stay, I’ll need a little paperwork, but I can’t imagine it being a problem if you want to clean yourself up first. You can even use my room if you want. It’s a mess, but I have fluffy towels.”

A smile appeared at the corners of Casey’s mouth when Kealey made this generous and slightly humorous offer. Casey found the thought of fluffy towels surprisingly appealing, “That, that would be great” she said with a small hint of relief in her voice, her body language relaxing ever so slightly.

The offer of a place to stay until she could fix Andy was a relief that caused Casey’s emotions to take one step in a positive direction.

”I hope that you’d accept Kealey’s offer.” Lance throw in.

“Yes. As long as I can make myself useful while I’m here” the English woman put forward politely, she didn’t want to get too friendly with these people but she certainly did not want to use them.

Lance suddenly turned a shade lighter and muttering about an assignment, “Kealey will help you with the residency paperworks. I’ll be here in the library, finishing that paper, should I be needed.”

“Thank you... for everything” Casey said expressing her gratitude one last time before turning to follow Kealey to her room.

“So this is a school for mutants?” Casey asked curiously as she followed Kealey down the hall,
“I’m surprised I’ve never heard of this place before”, she added moving the hair out of her eye’s, Casey had not had the chance to brush her hair since she had met Lance and there where more stray locks than ever, only these ones where messy.

In due course the ladies came to Kealey’s room, Casey thanked her for the use of her bathroom before entering it and locking the door.

Casey placed her duffle bag and dirty clothes next to the sink and jumped into the shower.
A pleasant moan escaped her lips as the hot water hit, beginning to wash the dirt away.
Casey found herself singing God on the mountain as she washed, no matter how bad a day ever was Casey always found herself singing in the shower, a song always made her feel better especially on that affirmed her faith.

Once clean Casey dried herself on one of Kealey’s towels, she was not kidding, it was lovely and fluffy.
Casey quickly got dressed and shoved her dirty clothes into her duffle bag.

After a grand total of 15 minutes Casey emerged from the bathroom with her bag once again on her shoulder, wearing her brown leather jacket, black leather fingerless gloves and an outfit exactly the same as the one she had gone in wearing... only it was clean.

“Shall we sort out this paperwork?” Casey suggested as she began to re-plait her long, strait brown hair that was once as blond and curly as Kealey’s.

Kealey’s small smile mirrored Casey’s own as the other woman accepted the offer of a shower. A shower could make almost anything better. Kealey still didn’t ask any questions, if Casey wanted to share how she and Lance had ended up together and in what was obviously a predicament , she would share.

Casey accepted the offer to stay, but only on the condition that she’d find a way to be useful while she did. Kealey had to chuckle, ”You sound like me when I first came here.” she said, ”But don’t worry, there are plenty of things that need doing in a place this size.”

Lance remembered as assignment he had due and Kealey had to suppress the urge to chuckle again. Her assistant was so earnest. Casey thanked him, and they were on their way, the younger woman asking about the uses of the school. Kealey nodded her head.

”The school itself services students through high school.” she explained, moving through the familiar halls of the mansion as she spoke, her accent flowing with the words, ”We also serve as a bit of a boarding house as well, for adults who are new to the city and trying to get their feet under them. Some of us go to school, some of us work, it’s nice to belong somewhere though.” Kealey didn’t mention the X-Men. The school itself was usually more than enough for someone new to take in. There was no need to overwhelm.

Arriving at her door, Kealey turned the knob and pushed, revealing the space inside. The room was small’ish but comfortable and showed definite signs of being lived in. Kealey’s fashion school projects were lying around, as always, and the plusie army that she and Shin had made was guarding her bed as always, the Shin plushie in his place of prominence on her pillow.

Casey didn’t seem to mind the clutter, and Kealey set her up with a towel and went about straightening a few things up while the other woman made use of her bathroom. It wasn’t long before Casey emerged clean, and Kealey nodded her head at the suggestion that they get the paperwork out of the way.

As they worked towards Shin’s office Kealey noted that Casey had simply changed into the exact same outfit. Functional clothes. Again, the blond didn’t ask, simply made her way down the halls and towards the office. Silence could be straining, though, and Kealey didn’t want to make Casey uncomfortable.

”I can tell by your accent that you’re not from around here. I’m sure you could tell the same by mine. Every day I meet more people who prove the point that nobody is actually from New York City.”

They were at the door now and Kealey pushed it open to reveal a small, cluttered office. Signs of Shin were everywhere, and Kealey took a moment to grin at the picture of the two of them on the file cabinets behind the desk as she made her way behind it to grab the appropriate paperwork, ”He swears he can always find everything in here…and I’ve seen him do it…but I can’t figure out his organizational system..” she muttered as she worked.

Finally finding what she wanted, and a pen for Casey to use Kealey held out the clip board with a smile, ”You only have to fill out the lines with an astrix by them. I’ll wait while you work, then get you some keys.“ she instructed, then sat, rocking back and forth and giving Casey a chance to work.

The Ladies headed towards Shines office, whoever Shine was Casey did not know but Kealey seemed fond of him.
Casey noticed that Kealey did not seem to be asking a bunch of question about what had happen to her and Lance prier to coming to the mansion as she probably would of if the roles had been reversed, that was a good thing though, because Casey did not real want to answer a bunch of questions.

”I can tell by your accent that you’re not from around here. I’m sure you could tell the same by mine. Every day I meet more people who prove the point that nobody is actually from New York City.” Kealey asked to prevent an uncomfortable silence.

“I’m from England” Casey replied confirming Kealey’s statement, “I assume your from Ireland?” she added Casually.

The ladies entered the office and Kealey began searching through the piles of paper work for the appropriate forms, ”He swears he can always find everything in here…and I’ve seen him do it…but I can’t figure out his organizational system..”

Casey could relate, back home she had a unique filing system of her own that only she seemed to understand, her older brother Ben had a small clue of how it worked, but her eldest brother Christopher had to ask for help whenever he wanted a bank statement or something like that.


“You two look happy” Casey said motioning to the photo that Kealey had just been admiring.

”You only have to fill out the lines with an astrix by them. I’ll wait while you work, then get you some keys.“

“Thank you” she said taking the paper from the cheerful librarian.

That was good Casey wanted to give as little information as possible, the whiteness protection people had advised her not to contact anyone back home and to not give out information that could compromise her cover.

She used Carlyle her original last name, instead of Wiesel the name she had been using since her age was in the single digits, once the name was sorted she began answering the other required sections.

“I noticed you make clothes, did you make those? They’re very nice” Casey asked referring to the outfit Kealey was wearing, she was trying to make conversation but wanted to keep the focus on Kealey so it would not fall on herself.

“Done and done”, Casey offered the completed form to the helpful woman assisting her and waited for further instructions .