Nate's schedule was as empty as it always was, and he was suffering from cabin fever. He did not just need to get out of the apartment, he needed a reason to leave. He scrolled through the contacts on his phone, noticing Kealey's name flash by and his memory clicked into place: he could always take the tour he had been putting off since his first day in New York.

Nate looked the school up, and shortly enough he was on his way. He just wore nice jeans and a button-down shirt, wanting to look somewhat presentable. You never know where life will take you, but it is good to keep options open anyway.

It crossed Nate's mind to mention to Quin what his plans for the day were, but it also occurred to him that she had mentioned in the past that the X-Men were not on her list of favorite people, so her interest in his day-trip would be at an all-time low.

He approached the gates to the giant mansion. It was certainly grand and imposing, from close up. A very impressive place indeed.

With a locked gate.

"Hello?" he hollered. "I'm here for a tour!"

As much as he would rather be elsewhere it was still to early to go out. The place that Drew had once appreciated as a refuge and then loved as a home felt stifling now. He'd rather be out in the streets putting things to rights instead of here. But he needed to maintain his place here. The mansion was his home and Sam was his employer and Drew was loyal to them, to him. Paperwork and greeting were what he did. The paperwork was done and filed, for the moment, and there was no one to greet that he knew of. That gave Drew a bit of free time to get out of the house, if not off the grounds. Leaving the office Drew swung by his room to grab a coat and was out the doors shortly after.

He was almost free. Until he saw the guy at the gates.

Heaving a sigh that didn't pass his lips Drew headed for the gates to let the guy in.

"Hey there." smile nicely now Drew, "Let me get that gate for ya."

After a few moments the gate was open and Drew faced the guy without bars between them.

"That's better. Never comfortable talking through that thing. I'd guess you're here for the tour right?"

Gina was out walking the grounds, today. Just walking, enjoying the trees, letting her mind wander wherever it happened to feel like wandering. It was a decent day to be out walking-- the sky was clear, it wasn't inhumanly cold out, so Gina didn't need to worry for her feet. She was just walking, without so much as a care in the world.

And then, Gina saw Drew. He was beelining for the gates, coat tossed carelessly over his shoulder. He was well on his way, when something snagged his attention, and he altered his course slightly. Someone was at the gate--

An excellent diversion--

Now, Gina was not the sneakiest of people, but when she saw someone she knew, and they weren't paying attention to her, it was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up. Thus, being as surreptitious as a five-foot-tall gargoyle could be, she slinked after Drew oh-so sneakily while he fussed with the gate, came up behind him--

"Saved your life!" Gina gasped, lightly pushing Drews' shoulders with the intent of making him jump. She peeked up around his arm, smiling impishly, "Hi Drew."

She then looked past Drew, and spied the reason he'd come to the gate. Hey, it was that one guy! She knew him!

"Heeeey..." Gina trailed, pointing at him, "I know you!" It was that one guy, with the crazy shadows.

Stunning powers of observation, and big surprise, there-- Gina knew way too many people for the average person to keep track of. She came up beside Drew, standing on her tiptoes. They were both so dang tall... it was like being a munchkin in the land of giants. They needed to shrink...

"How's it going?"

Nate was pleased to see a younger guy introduce himself and more importantly, opened the gate. "Thanks very much. And yeah, I'm here for a tour. I've been meeting a few of the people that live or work here, and curiosity got the better of me. My name's Nate."

Their conversation was interrupted by a gargoyle girl essentially pouncing on the young man. After her successful playful attack, she recognized him from their Turkey Day craziness. "You do! You're... Gina, right?" She was a likable kid, that was for sure. "This young man was about to give me a tour of the mansion. How have you been, darlin?"

The voice was what stopped Drew from whirling around to punch the person that had snuck up on him. He recognized it as Gina and that stopped him from delivering the blow that he wanted to. Maybe he'd been spending too much time patrolling as it were. If the first thing he thought of was being attacked then he needed to wind down a bit. Maybe.

"Hey Gina."

He smiled at the gargoyle girl. It was hard not too. She was a nice girl and had been there when he was in a strange state of mind. To say that he'd taken to the changes in his mutation easily would have been a bald faced lie. Gina had put up with him while he was dealing with it. Plus there was the incident with Agnes' parents. In short, Drew liked the girl. The girl that apparently knew today's visitor.

"So you know him, Gina?"

Drew turned back to the tour of the day.

"Well, like the little gargoyle here mentioned, I'm Drew. I'll be your tour guide for this afternoon. Now, we can go around the grounds if you want but inside is a bit warmer." He spent a moment taking a good long look at the guy at the gate, "Planning on moving in or just want the tour?"

>> "You do! You're... Gina, right? This young man was about to give me a tour of the mansion. How have you been, darlin?"

"Yeah, Gina," Gina confirmed, beaming. It always flattered her when people remembered her, though she was a difficult person to forget. She also liked being called "darling", "Life's been good, pretty normal. Yourself?"

Or as normal as things could be, at a mutant school-- a whole lot more normal than giant turkey gollems stomping up and down the streets of New York. Gina quieted down as the guys discussed more businesslike things like tours and such. She wouldn't side-track them, too much.

>> "So you know him, Gina?"

"Mmhmm," Gina hummed, grinning as she pocketted her hands.

>> "Well, like the little gargoyle here mentioned, I'm Drew. I'll be your tour guide for this afternoon. Now, we can go around the grounds if you want but inside is a bit warmer. Planning on moving in or just want the tour?"

Gina continued with her smiling, her tail developing an amused little curl at the "little gargoyle". Yup, that was her. She obviously wasn't leaving anytime soon... Unless Drew asked her to.

>> "So you know him, Gina?"

Nate nodded and smiled, "Yeah, she's one of those people I mentioned having met before." He turned his attention to the young gargyrl. "No giant turkey demons have crossed my path, so I think things have calmed down a bit since I saw you, too." Talk about meeting a person under pressure.

As much as Nate was interested in the grounds and checking out Agnes's garden, it was considerably colder outside than the Southerner cared for. "I'm more than happy to check out the inside. And it's just the tour... well, for now, at least." It did not hurt to leave options open, right? "Are you gonna help out with this tour, 'little gargoyle?'" He was more than alright with her tagging along; he was sure she'd keep things interesting.

Giant demon turkeys? Sounded like a typical holiday for New York. They never seemed to pass quietly. Hearing that Gina had been involved in that little business worried Drew for all of a few seconds. She was here and unharmed some time later so it didn't matter.

"And thus I'm glad I ignore most holidays anymore. Giant demon turkeys would just ruin my day."

So new guy just wanted the tour. That was fine, it saved Drew some paperwork. Gina appeared to be sticking around as new guy opted to go inside.

"Yeah, it's too cold out here to do the grounds today but I try not to limit people." Drew gave a casual shrug and started the procession toward the doors, "Well the gates are always open, figuratively speaking."

Leaving Gina to answer for herself Drew led the way and held the door for the other two. He could still use those manners from time to time.

"Right, first stop the front door and foyer. This is floor one and has the classrooms and other features of the school side of the place as well as the kitchen, dining room, living room, garage access, and library."

No point in mentioning the Danger Room...

>> "No giant turkey demons have crossed my path, so I think things have calmed down a bit since I saw you, too."

>>> "And thus I'm glad I ignore most holidays anymore. Giant demon turkeys would just ruin my day."

Gina chuckled and sang, "But Drew, the giant turkeys were awesome."

Not exactly the word of choice for most, but in retrospect, the giant uncooked turkeys had been a pretty neat feature for Thanksgiving-- spare nearly getting trampled, of course.

>> "I'm more than happy to check out the inside. And it's just the tour... well, for now, at least. Are you gonna help out with this tour, 'little gargoyle?'"

>>> "Yeah, it's too cold out here to do the grounds today but I try not to limit people. Well the gates are always open, figuratively speaking."

Gina smiled and shrugged, "I wouldn't say... 'help'. Maybe... tag-along?"

She looked towards Drew inquiringly, for either a yay, nay, or any form of reaciton. He didn't seem to mind, either way.

>>> "Right, first stop the front door and foyer. This is floor one and has the classrooms and other features of the school side of the place as well as the kitchen, dining room, living room, garage access, and library."

Yup, sounded like the typical tour.

Awesome. Yeah, that is exactly what he would call the turkeys that almost ruined his Thanksgiving. Begrudgingly, he had to admit that it was an exciting event despite the stress, and it allowed him to basically network with people like Silver Streak and Gina.

The mansion really fit the check that title wrote. It was expansive, and everything looked very nice and refined. "So is this place free to live and go to school for mutant kids?" Seriously, Nate should have ran to New York much earlier in life.

One of his eyebrows raised involuntarily at Gina's description of the turkeys. Awesome? Really? Drew's nose wrinkled up in an expression of disgust. Things that tried to hurt you were not awesome. Not to Drew's way of thinking. Mittens certainly didn't qualify for that title and he'd almost made Drew into a paste.

"If you say so Gina..."

At her request to tag along Drew just grinned.

"Well I'm not stoppin' ya, little gargoyle."

Drew liked Gina, she was refreshingly sweet after all the crap he'd seen. It was easy to forget his own issues around the younger mutant. The new guy pulled Drew out of his musings with a question.

"Yeah, pretty much. Regular schooling combined with help controlling mutations. We get a fair number of runaways and such, as you can imagine, so it is by necessity free for them." Drew gave a self-deprecating chuckle, "Makes you wish you'd found the place earlier in life, huh?"

>> "Well I'm not stoppin' ya, little gargoyle."

That was good enough for Gina. She gave a faint "yay" and bounced in celebration of her permission to tag along, before jogging a few steps to catch up with Drew and Nate.

>> "So is this place free to live and go to school for mutant kids?"

>> "Yeah, pretty much. Regular schooling combined with help controlling mutations. We get a fair number of runaways and such, as you can imagine, so it is by necessity free for them. Makes you wish you'd found the place earlier in life, huh?"

Gina nodded her head, able to avow for Xavier's accomodations. As if to support what Drew was alleging, Gina added on, "My roomie was a runaway. This place's been great to her. I just came here for the school."

Because, in the public, human-dominated schools, people just weren't as understanding of girls who looked like stone demons.

A shiver ran up Drew's oddly accurate comment. This was a mutant school after all, so there was no reason to assume the kid could not do something like read thoughts or taste lies or any of the other crazy powers the x-gene could provide. He tried to clear his mind, but it was when you do not want to think about the wrong thoughts that they become the only thing on your mind. "Yeah, this woulda been a much better place for me when I was a kid, that's for sure."

Gina's roommate was a runaway? The place apparently had its fair share of them, but there was no harm in name dropping. "Yeah, I met a student not too long ago. Agnes? Nice gal, followed by ladybugs and such?"

If this tour was going to run its full course, he had to know that Drew was not going to be listening in to his every dark thought. "So Gina's is pretty darn obvious, but what does your power do, Drew? If you don't mind me askin, of course." He felt it was a rather innocuous question in a school of mutants that should not be too suspicious if the asked party did not have special insight.

He smiled slightly as he heard Gina's small utterance of yay. Gina's support of his commentary about the number of runaways was welcome. Hearing Nate mention meeting one of the students was unexpected but he did say he'd met a few workers and residents before.

"I know Agnes, though I dare say little gargoyle knows her better."

Nate's question about his mutation made Drew stop and think. He'd been given an out. He didn't have to answer if he didn't want to.

"I don't mind the askin' but I'd prefer not to answer on account of me not knowing you so well. You understand."

He might have shared immediately once upon a time. But that was before Martin. Drew was a bit more close-mouthed about it these days when he could be.

Nate mentioned Agnes, and Ginas' eyes widened in shock. She was pretty sure that only one Agnes went to Xavier's, and there was definitely only one Agnes that was followed around by ladybugs. That was her Agnes, as in, her sister Agnes. Drew said something to the persuasion of that he knew Agnes, but that Gina knew her better, and just as Drew finished with this statement, Gina couldn't help but succumb to her amazement.

"No way, you met Agnes?" Gina gasped, nearly bouncing up at the notion, "That's so cool- Agnes is my roommate!" How awesome was that, they even shared a friend, and didn't even know it! Of course, by the standards of most normal people, meeting someone once didn't count as an "instant friendship". But, for Gina, it did. Nate asked Drew's power, and Drew dodged the question, to which Gina arched an eyebrow. She didn't recall Drew being so introverted about his promise-making ability before, but he had a point... he didn't know Nate very well.