He'd seemed normal. Apparently Calley was also a freak, though one with the advantage of being able to be human. Then again, cat ears and cat tails were adorable. Dahlia was momentarily distracted as they disappeared again. She pouted. Dahlia had wanted to touch them. Of course she was distracted from that by the really horrible mean things Calley was saying! Dahlia would never do that! Hurting people was mean. Just really really mean! She didn't have any clue what she wanted to do but she didn't want to hurt people. Not at all!

"But, everyone's been nice to me here and I don't wanna hurt people!"

Her skin quickly shifted to a combination of dark blue and dark red. She was sniffling a little, just on the verge of crying, but when she spoke again she sounded indignant.

"And I've never punched a puppy!"

"What? Never punched a puppy?" The young Italian gave up looking at his nails and sat forward on the edge of the couch, hands on his knees. Le gasp.

"Well if you don't want to hurt people, what are you still doing here? You know that's what the people here do, right? I mean, you've noticed that there aren't many humans in the neighborhood? That's because they force them to pay for 'mutant protection'—anyone who doesn't pay gets forced out of their home." Calley was on the crew that collected payment, not the one that did the muscle work—he didn't know how they did it, but the windows and doors he'd walked by afterwards hadn't broken themselves. 'Forced' was the polite word: the 'don't want to mentally scar the lizard girl who gets teary eyed over puppy punching' word.

Heck, he wasn't even going to tell her how many people living in this very hallway were murderers. He'd be extra nice, and not even take her to visit Aura's collection of bone furniture. That stuff even freaked him out.

"Let me tell you a secret about the people at the Sanctuary: they're nice to you because you look like a chameleon. If you didn't—if you were a human—you'd have to be careful walking in the streets around here. They hurt humans who get too close. If you want to live here, then you'll start hurting people one day, too. It happens to all the kids they let stay here."

He leaned back on the couch, put his feet up, and got back to his nails. He'd only cleaned his right hand; time for his left. Pick, pick.

"Like I said, though, it's up to you. You can grow up to be a mean person that hurts people," and punches puppies: let's not forget the puppies, "or you could go to school at the Mansion."

Pick, pick.

"I mean, not that you should take my word for it. Have you ever been to the Mansion? Classes won't start for another week or two, but most people are back from summer break. You could go on a tour, see if you like the joint."

She could also Google some of her fellow Sanctuary residents, but it was a little early in the day for a horror show.

The blue was pretty much gone by the time Calley finished speaking. It was all replaced with dark red and a bright green. If the Sanctuary only turned out mean people then Dahlia didn't want to be there any longer. Without so much as a word to Calley she practically sprinted out of the common area toward the bedrooms. She didn't really have much but what she did have was going to come with her to this Mansion place. School or not if she could live there and not become a mean person then that was where she'd go. Plus that meant not having to go back to her parents.

It didn't take long for the chameleon girl to grab her things and head back towards where she'd left the catboy. He was going to show her where this Mansion was and he was going to do it NOW!

...Aaaaand he'd scared her off. Completely. Not a word more to be said between them: she just turned the colors of a vaguely murderous Christmas tree, and strode out of the room.

Well, no one could blame him for trying. He'd even told her the absolute truth, in a child-friendly manner, if he did say so himself. Hadn't even told her to search "Isabel" and "cops" on ViewTube. As hard as the authorities tried to keep those clips down, it was like trying to stop people from posting anime episodes, or the latest in Game of Crowns.

No matter. Now he had the rec room all to himself again: just him, his knitting basket, and a scarf that was back to being homeless. He picked the basket up and settled it next to his side; dragged over a hassock, put up his feet, and—

Watched the chameleon enter from stage left as silently as she had left, carrying with her a Thank You For Shopping bag with a handful of small keepsakes rustling around inside its used plastic. Well now, were those the colors of determination that he saw?

"Going somewhere?" The shifter asked, with all the innocence in the world.

Dahlia was glad he hadn't moved from where she'd left him. It would have been a pain to hunt him down if he'd left like most cats did. But then again he was at least part human too. Which probably made him really confusing but a lot less scary than a dog. Dogs were evil. Without further ado Dahlia marched right over to Calley and his knitting. She grabbed hold of one of his wrists and began to try and tug him out of his seat.

"You're going to take me to this Mansion place, please."

She'd almost forgotten to say please. That would have been horrible. Obviously the Sanctuary had already started ruining her manners like the horrible evil devil's den that it was! Hopefully the Mansion would help fix that.

The young man let said tugging occur, playing the oblivious male blob. (An act that took a lifetime to perfect, as men of any age could assure you.) His arm may have moved, but the rest of him stayed planted on the couch. Until...

"Well. If you say 'please.'"

The shifter rolled to his feet, and led her towards the door as quickly as was inconspicuous. Best to have her gone before someone convinced her to stay. He waved cheerfully at Lisa, just like a non-kidnapper, and pushed open the golden doors—

Wait. Chameleons were land animals. So unless she was hiding a heck of a lot more tricks under that skin, they needed money for the subway. Calley waved again at Lisa, as he led the chameleon back to his room. Money, money... ha! A whole wallet! Right then; they were good to go. One more wave to Lisa, and he put his hand on the door—

He was dragging a naked thirteen year old out onto the city street.

Back to the room. They needed something with a head hole that would fit over the horns. Not a problem: Calley's usual clothing items could fit two of him inside. He wasn't much of a stickler for a good fit, given that a good fit just made it harder to wiggle his way free when he shifted. Bigger was better. Now if the girl would just hold still—

Oh come on—

It was clothing, ever heard of it? Wasn't she just all in a lizzy-tizzy about getting a scarf? Wasn't a big ol' Daffy Duck T-shirt like hitting the lottery, then?

...Right. That's what he'd thought. Besides, only chameleons with compromised morals thought it was okay to show subway goers their private scales.

So, with a dark red chameleon in tow, and one final wave to Lisa, they made it out the Sanctuary doors and onto the trains. She probably thought the ride was interesting, or something, because that skin of hers started getting some purple highlights creeping in. There. Couldn't be a grumpy-face lizard for the whole ride, now could we?

The Mansion was only about two blocks from the station at Inwood and 207th Street—as soon as they were up the stairs, they could already see the lush green grounds and the red brick wall surrounding the place. As they got closer, it would become clearer and clearer than "Mansion" wasn't just a nickname for the place.

"There. We're here," Calley said, stopping at the gates to get buzzed in, like some kind of front-gate using person.

Dahlia tugged at the shirt. It was awkward! While she wished she could wear clothes again previous experience had already confirmed that attempting it was very awkward for her. The clothes didn't sit right and it was difficult getting them off. Especially anything that had buttons. This shirt didn't but it didn't make it feel any less awkward. She'd rather go without it but Calley insisted and actually fought her to get her to wear it. So if she'd glared at him the entire subway ride it was understandable. And the purple? Well thoughts of pudding in shoes and other prank like activities directed at certain catboys tended to do that.

When they arrived at the Mansion, and oh how she'd stared as they approached, Dahlia was still sporting a bit of dark red and dark purple but they'd mostly given away to an eye popping combination of orange and a brighter purple. The place was huge and it even had gates like those gates you saw in front of rich people's houses.

"Wow."

Almost instinctively Dahlia started trying to tug the shirt off as she stared at the house. It was just too uncomfortable! The sooner the scarf was ready the better!

"I know, right?" Calley said, conscientiously tugging the corner of the lizard girl's shirt down even as she tried to pull it up. He wouldn't be with her much longer, probably, but as long as he was guest starring as her Responsible Chaperone, he was not going to be bringing naked lizards into the school. There were some conversations he just didn't want to have with New Guidance Counselor.

"It's even bigger on the inside. See the forests and stuff behind the school? That's all their property. It goes all the way to the river. There's even a hedge maze, though it's getting a little overgrown now that the gardener's gone AWOL." There were rumors of a nightmare wolf that lived in there, as well: one that only came out in the foggy mornings, with a pelt black as midnight, reaching out from the maze with the hands of a human to ensnare her breakfast.

Since he was in a position to confirm those rumors completely, he figured it was best not to. The girl cried pretty easily already, for a cold-blooded reptile; no need to add nightmare fodder into the mix.

Johnny, the gatekeeper, buzzed them in; Calley swung the gates open, and led her up the paved walk to the front doors, talking as he went.

"The classes and the dorm halls are really easy to navigate, though. They're pretty much just straight hallways. Umm, is there anywhere you'd like to see? Or should I just... make with the touring?"

They had all that land to themselves? Wow. This place was way nicer than the Sanctuary. Well golden things aside. With the forest there had to be plenty of trees to climb. Maybe they even had a nice rock somewhere that she could lounge on and soak up the sun. Calley was wanting to know if there was anything she really wanted to see. Dahlia thought about it...

"Um, just make with the touring I guess. I'm sure there is plenty of neat stuff to see in this place."

A big school like this had to have all sorts of fun things around. Though Dahlia wondered what the people here were like. The people at the Sanctuary had been nice, despite being mean. Maybe this place would be opposite? Would they force her to talk to her parents again? She'd have to go back to the Sanctuary or just live on the streets again if they did that. Dahlia kept right on staring, each eye swirling about, at the house in wonder as they walked toward it. It was really amazing no matter what.

"Heh. Oh, trust me," the shifter said, with a somewhat shifty smile, "I'm a master of touring this place."

He'd toured it from top to bottom, from public areas to Evil Hat Rooms; he'd toured it from room to room, and established migratory domiciles in the best. He'd learned what times of day where optimal for striking the refrigerator, what all the remotes in the living room did, and where they kept all the trapdoors and stairs that granted rooftop access.

Calley's headache was completely, one-hundred-percent cleared up. He grinned.

"Do you like tree climbing? Because I know all the best trees for getting in and out of this place, and all the windows that people like to leave unlocked."

Yes, there would be touring. But unless some silly responsible Mansion greeter type intervened, and quickly, the touring might not be of the officially sanctioned variety.

There was cat fur. Everywhere.

Gemma had a high tolerance for Mansion students.
And patience. She had a lot of patience.
She also had experience.
What she did not have was a cleaning crew.

Not the kind that Swiffers cat fur up, anyway.

"Caleb Schwarz!"

Gemma Taylor stood in the Mansion doorway. The culprit, in human form for once, seemed to be walking the Mansion grounds with...
... a mutant that was definitely not registered in the system. Gemma would have rememebered a chameleon girl. So unless the one in the old files called Twyla suddenly leveled up into a lizard, this girl was definitely not on her radar.

"Calley!"

She waved at them, more friendly this time. She did not want to spook the newcomer.
At least lizards don't have fur.

Dahlia was worried about Calley's smile. Until he followed it up with trees. If there was one thing that the lizard girl was good at and loved it was climbing trees. It was a useful skill to have! You could hide in trees. Nasty neighbor dogs couldn't get you in trees. So Dahlia grinned happily at Calley.

"I love tree climbing!" She flexed her fingers, "These mitts are useful for some things you know!"

Besides, knowing which windows were unlocked would be great for pranking. Dahlia was almost bouncing in anticipation. At least until she heard a shout. She couldn't exactly tell what was said but it sounded like someone was shouting for Calley. Dahlia looked over in the general direction that she'd heard it from to see a very tall black lady. She was waving and seemed friendly. Dahlia wondered if she'd go tree climbing too.

"Hi. Are you coming tree climbing too? Calley just said he'd show me the best trees to climb!"

The currently green, orange, and yellow chameleon girl smiled happily. The more the merrier!

"Excellent," the shifter grinned down at his young tree-climbing window-jimmying protégée. "We'll start with—"

>> "Caleb Swartz!"

With full names. Gah. Why had he put his full name in his Mansion records? Oh, right: because Neena had been the school counselor, when he'd joined. But then, somewhere along the lines, the administration had sent Neena off to get the West Coast school running, and brought in New Guidance Counselor. Their very own pet Adapted. Lovely idea in a school full of mutants, wasn't it?

>> "Calley!"

And lo, she could give Dahlia a lesson on color changing, with how fast her tone brightened up. She even gave a cheery wave. 'Calley!', she called out, like they were the bestest friends ever.

"Why Ms. Taylor," Calley pleasantly replied. Or was it Mrs. Cervantes? She and that cop had been getting pretty smooshy-faced lately. "Always a pleasure to see you. Being the responsible adult that I am, allow me to introduce Dahlia. She was living at the Sanctuary, but I figured a tour of Mansionland would do her good, what with classes about to start and all."

"Later, we're going to climb up trees and into peoples' windows. Won't that be grand?"

The young Italian smiled, like the upstanding citizen he clearly was.

>>"Hi. Are you coming tree climbing too? Calley just said he'd show me the best trees to climb!"

The girl seemed cheerful and definitely new around here of she didn't know who the counselor was. Gemma wondered how she got in without being checked in, but she soon concluded the person of Calley himself was probably the answer.
Said person was grinning at her like a Cheshire cat.

>>"Why Ms. Taylor. Always a pleasure to see you. Being the responsible adult that I am, allow me to introduce Dahlia. She was living at the Sanctuary, but I figured a tour of Mansionland would do her good, what with classes about to start and all. Later, we're going to climb up trees and into peoples' windows. Won't that be grand?"

Sanctuary. Yet another thing she needed to talk to people about. The girl looked way too innocent to have lived there for long (or maybe working with Aura just skewed her judgement that much). Then again, she was a new student on the mansion grounds.

"That sounds a lot of fun." she smiled back at the cat boy "Nice to meet you, Dahlia, I'm Gemma Taylor, the school's guidance counselor. Welcome to Xavier's." she looked at the two kids "So, how about I check you in as an official visitor, so you can come and go as you please. It will only take a few minutes. In the meantime we can let your friend here clean the cat hair off the living room couch, I'm sure he was about to do that anyway."