As they reached the doors, the first thing Calley did was scratch curiously at their golden surface. On second thought, Issie’s don’t-get-ideas advice was probably wise. He stopped himself, and instead opened the door for Issie with a foolish grin. It was nice to be able to open doors for himself. None of this sit-and-meow-piteously-until-someone-comes stuff, not tonight.

As he walked inside, the first thing he saw was a smile. It was quickly followed by a bright, “Good evening, Isabel. Who’s your friend? Is he a new resident?” There was an application out on the desk before Calley could even make a startled gurk noise. Lisa was even more alarmingly receptionist-like, when you were tall enough to meet her friendly gaze. The clock above her head read 2AM. He shot a look to Issie. Does that woman ever sleep?

“Ah… I think I’m might try it out here. For awhile.” He replied. And somehow, before he quite knew what was happening to him, there was a pen in his hand and he was scribbling down the same BS everyone else did. Name? Issie’s stray. Mutant power? Statistically speaking, I’m not likely to be a mutant. Is your power dangerous to yourself or others? Is your power being a Receptionator?

He shot a bemused look to Issie when he was done. A please-don’t-let-her-kidnap-me-on-a-tour look.

Isabel looked over to Lisa once she'd stepped through the doors and was greeted. "Oh, hello Lisa. This is Calley," she greeted back, watching amusedly as she produced the new residence form and had Calley fill it out. Well, at least she hadn't given that long winded speech of hers. "I'd apologize for coming in so late, but seeing you up as well makes me feel a little better. Don't you ever take a break?" she asked, that amused grin still held within her features as she looked at the blond receptionist. Lisa only glances briefly at the clock, though she seemed to be a bit startled by the time. "Is it that late already? I didn't realize. But, a receptionist's work is never done," Lisa said, beaming at Calley as he stopped scribbling away with his pen. Quick as a flash, the packet was back in her hand and being filed. "Does your friend need a tour of the Sanctuary before he settles in, Isabel? I'd be more than happy to help" she offered, flashing yet another of those wide and somewhat creepy receptionist-like smiles. "No thank you, Lisa. I know my way around this place by now, so I can show him where everything is."

Tugging lightly at Calley's sleeve she left Lisa to her filing and her creepy receptionist-like smiling. Casually she approached and opened up the secret staircase to the hidden lower mutant level and descended, the secret entranceway closing behind them, as if it had never been there. "Anything in particular that you'd like to see first? We've got a kitchen and dining hall, a pool, a gym and training room, the library and recreation room. Or, we could find you a room and save exploring for a more reasonable hour,"

Calley looked back up the staircase, and set his expression to Suitably Impressed. "That was kinda cool. Any more secret doors and hidden passageways I should know about?" He turned to her with a small smile. "And thank you, thank you, thank you for rescuing me from that... Receptionist." 'Receptionist' with a capital 'R' seemed more appropriate than calling her Lisa, now that he thought about it. She was a Receptionist named Lisa. The Receptionist came before the Lisa.

He had to think very, very hard about that next question of hers. Admitting he was tired just seemed lame. But really, it'd been what, at least half a day since he'd napped? Com'on. He was used to being a cat. That was a long time. "I think maybe the room search sounds good," he finally admitted. "But I'll take a rain check on the exploring."

Secret doors and hidden passageways? Like the War Room or Mr. King's personal office, perhaps? "Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of secrets around this place. However, there aren't any more that you should know about," Isabel replied with a look of utmost innocence with maybe just a hint of a smug smile. Order? What Order? No secret organizations here. She gave a small chuckle at his repeated thanks, returning his smile as she did so. "It's no trouble at all. I couldn't very well let her drag you all over the place and talk your ears off at the same time. I may be many things, but I'm not that cruel," she said, her smile turning into more of a smirk. Lisa was a wonderful receptionist, and she was very good at explaining things and giving tours, but a person can only take so much of her cheery attitude and sunny smiles.

"Well then, to find a room it is," she said, easily weaving through the corridors until she found the area of the Sanctuary that held the living quarters. It wasn't much more than a long hallway lined with doors on either side. "You can pick just about any room you'd like. There's no segregation between the boys and girls, so you don't have to worry about that. Just be sure you're quiet in case you stumble into an occupied room. Some of the residents here have a bit of a temper. I think most of the rooms down toward the end of the corridor are still vacant, though"

Calley looked down the hallway. He raised an eyebrow--a completely innocent eyebrow, mind you--and looked back to Issie. "Are there any free ones next to yours?" He asked. Innocently.

Isabel turned her attention from down the deserted corridor to give Calley a somewhat quizzical look. She had to think a moment on that one. She'd never really payed any mind to the possibility that there could be other residents on either side of her room. Hm, she'd have to remember that next time she decided to sing in the shower. She'd been told a few times she wasn't the best singer in the world and she was sure an early morning or late night serenade wouldn't be very appreciated by her neighbors.

"I think the room to the right of mine is vacant. I've never seen anyone going in or out of that one," she mused, seeming to recall someone entering and exiting the room on the left at one point or another. "C'mon, it's down toward the other end of the corridor on the left." Giving a little follow me kind of wave with her hand she began making her way down toward her own room.

Calley trailed after her like a puppy. A happy puppy. He looked around as they walked, mostly to keep his eyes from settling on her door. It was very safe to say that he knew which room was Issie's. He also knew such tidbits as what color her sheets were, which of her pillows as the fluffiest, and what her favorite pajamas seemed to be. He felt like she didn't ever need to know that he knew these things.

"So you said it was free to stay here, right?" He asked, just to clarify. "So who all lives around here? Any cool powers?" He scratched at his necklace nervously. Which, for the record, was a bad habit. He had to stop trying to explode himself like that.

He wasn't spying. He was habitually collecting information. There was a difference.

"That's right. It's completely free," Isabel assured him, occasionally glancing from one door to the next, some of which had little homemade name plaques stuck to the outside, or 'do not disturb' signs hung from the knobs. Those doors were the helpful ones. They said stay away so you know that there's someone inside. It's the bare doors that were the tricky ones. Some of them just look oh-so-inviting, but when you open them, Boom! There's a big angry mutant yelling at you to get out of his room. Tricky, tricky doors. Silently she wondered if she'd get in trouble for putting a little scratch into the doors of the occupied rooms. She'd have to test that out someday.

"We've got all kinds of people here. Lots of them look like normal humans, but there's a good handful that are obviously mutants," she replied, thinking back on all the people she'd run into while staying at the Sanctuary. "And as for powers, there's a whole variety. You name it, we've probably got it here somewhere." Spying her own door, she slowed to a stop in front of the door to its right. Carefully she turned the knob and cracked the door open, double checking that she'd been right in her assumption that the room was empty. Finding it to be satisfyingly vacant, she let the door swing open the rest of the way and flipped on the lights. "Here you go, Calley. Make yourself right at home. Don't hesitate to come and ask me anything, since I'm right next door."

Her answer to his question about the Sanctuary’s inhabitants wasn’t as specific as he would have liked, but then again, no complaints, right? He officially had a non-furry foot in the door. He could ask people for himself what their powers were. And from what he’d seen, mutants were almost compulsive about the level of info-sharing they’d do with a total stranger. So long as said stranger was a mutant, of course. Calley had that base covered. He was going to take his state of non-explodedness to mean that it was alright to tell people he could shift to tiger. He didn’t need Doc Jimmy’s finger hovering over any buttons to not volunteer further information.

"Here you go, Calley. Make yourself right at home. Don't hesitate to come and ask me anything, since I'm right next door."

Calley was incredibly amused by her pre-announcement room-inspection. He could have told her that no one lived there. Actually, he could have told her that a green-tinged guy with amazing powers of botany had lived there, but he’d moved out two week ago. Something about needing more light than a basement could provide. Sad—he’d always been willing to drop a bit of bacon to a starving kitty. But there was that “volunteering further information” thing.

He entered the room, and made a great show of looking around. It was the Sanctuary’s standard single suite—bed there, bathroom there, generic-looking desk and chair there, etc. “Thank you, Issie,” he said, turning back to her with a smile. “This was entertaining. We should run from the law together some other time,” he joked.

He was sort of tempted to kiss her, but not really willing to push his luck. It had been a great night. He was hoping for more great nights and additional chances to crop up in the near future.

"Oh, there's no need to thank me. I'm happy to help," Isabel replied, giving a smile and silently noting another new nickname she'd been given. Issie. Heh, she kind of liked that, and it wasn't a mouthful like Green-Ribboned Do-Gooder. Briefly she let her gaze scan the room. It was almost painfully bare, the same way her room had been before she'd begun painting the walls and slowly filling it with different odds and ends. She wondered momentarily what Calley would do with his room, if anything at all. "Oh yes, lets. I had so much fun. Thank you for taking me with you," she responded, turning her attention back to Calley with a quirky little smile.

"Ah, well I'll let you get settled in and won't waste any more of your time," she said as if just remembering exactly how late it was. "I'll see you later, Calley." She turned as if to leave, but paused for a second, leaning over to give him a quick peck on the cheek before she disappeared out the door, trying to ignore that dusting of pink that covered her cheeks for the second time that night. Quietly she headed toward her own door. Even if it hadn't been right next door she would have recognized it rather quickly. It was probably the only one that always remained opened a few inches, leaving just enough room for a small animal to squeeze through. In this case that small animal was a little black and white cat, one that she hadn't seen in a while, come to think of it. Oh well, knowing cats, especially strays, he probably had two or three households to visit.

Calley was beaming long after Issie left the room. This was not to be confused with smiling, and was a clear upgrade from grinning. He was, clearly and distinctly, beaming.

He'd just gotten his first non-family-member peck-on-the-cheek. Whoot. He finally closed the door, and sat down on the bed. It wasn't quite as good as Issie's bed--it was lacking her nice comfy blankets and her nice comfy self--but he was right next door to her. Whoot, again. And it was unlikely that the Scary Boss Man would mind him being here--actually, he'd probably like it. Triple whoot. Underage drinking, his first bar fight, his first date, and a kiss from a Green-Ribboned Do-Gooder.

Definitely beaming.

He went to sleep that night in tiger form--mostly, because he was in the unfortunate habit of shifting when he went to sleep as a human. He planned on stuffing himself with bacon in the morning.

...Truly, an awesome night.

((ooc: Continued in "The Room of an Entirely Innocent Individual".))