Matthew wandered along behind the hydra, his eyes wide and attention divided so much that he made for horrible conversation all the way. He hadn't seen much of the school yet, evidently. Everything appeared to hold a certain kind of wonder to him. Only when they came to the headmaster's office did he really speak with any sort of focus.

"Um, what did you want to show me?"

The scrawny mouse peered up at the trio with another friendly, if somewhat timid smile. He was holding a book against his chest again, though this time he was patting a soft rhythm along the bound spine.

The hydra heads all nodded, but Roderick was the one in charge of this little foray to the loft. "Come on in, I want to show you something." The hydra checked the door, unlocked, good. Opening it he was even more pleased to see the headmaster wasn't in as they entered, making sure Matthew was right behind them. The room itself was impressive including Drake's luxury bed, stone desk, kitchen, several soft chairs, but Roderick ignored all of these things and went straight across the room to a sliding glass door out to a balcony. Now he took Matthew's hand and opened the door, walking out with him and right up to the railing. "Take a look around, soak it all in. This is what I wanted to show you."

Truth be told, Matthew was more interested in the hand now holding his. He tensed for just a half-moment, before he found he was comfortable with the contact and gripped back. He offered another tentative smile up toward the three heads, before looking out and on at the view.

He clasped his free hand over his mouth, his eyes drawing even wider than they usually did. The startled mouse gasped between his fingers. "Oh, wow... Thank you, Roderick."

Then, embarrassed, he added as a quiet afterthought, "a-and, um, you too Luke and Maverick."

"This really was a great idea Roderick, I have to admit. And you know how hard it is for me to give you credit for a good idea."

"A very good idea, the sights, the smells, the timing, one almost wonders if you planned this. Did you know the headmaster wouldn't be in at the moment?"

"Heh, well remember the last time we got called up here guys? I managed to sneak a peek at his schedule book and his calendar, he's going to be out all day and probably won't be back until tomorrow. So you like the view?"

Luke was more impressed at the possible psychological value of the trip up here. Getting to stand tall over the entire school like this could help their new roomie feel a lot more comfortable around Golden Oaks and its students. Right now he was the big mouse on campus in a way, in the most important place, with the best view, only one person... well three... sharing it with him.

"I do!" For a short while, Matthew couldn't pull his eyes away from the view. He snared the railing in one hand (the other still clutching the hydras'), leaning out and standing up on his toes to stare down at the people far, far beneath them. His pink tail was flicking about, showing his exuberance just as well as his cheerful grin.

Then, he looked right on back up at the triplets. He swiveled on his heels and attempted to snare them in a tight hug. Not having a corridor of people nearby was apparently as beneficial for his confidence as the hand-holding and the sightseeing.

The hydra gladly gave him a hug back, firm but not crushing. This was the sort of look they all wanted to see from him, the kind of freedom they hoped he could express more often. This was how he should be able to live, not constantly worried about being shy or embarassed of anything. "We're glad you came up here with us. Heh, well since the headmaster isn't going to be here we can stay as long as you like. Bet he's got a few nice snacks over in that kitchen of his too if you want to go get some and come back out here. I'm sure he won't mind, practically throws cookies at everyone that visits his office even if they're in trouble, hehe."

"He's not exaggerating either, in the middle of lecturing someone all of a sudden out of nowhere it's like, "here have a cookie. Oh and another thing, blah blah blah, would you like something to drink with that? Blah blah blah, oh it's okay you got crumbs on the chair don't worry about it." So raiding his kitchen sounds like another rare moment where Roderick has a good idea."

The mouse drew back after a moment or two, now fidgeting anxiously again. Not so much so as he had earlier, but, well. He had just hugged somebody on the spur of a moment. His tail still swayed about and he hadn't yet lost his smile. "I'm really not that hungry. But we can get some food if you are.

Um, how do you decide who eats what? Do you all share a stomach? You don't look fat at all," and indeed he did appear to be looking the hydra over for such, if only briefly. "Um, I think that, uh..." And he trailed off, looking all embarrassed again.

"Hey it's okay, no need to be shy. We each have our own personal tastes but we do share a stomach. It does make us pretty easy to take out to a restaurant though, heh, can order almost anything and still be sure we'll enjoy it, even if one of us doesn't that just leaves him free to talk. And we have a pretty high metabolism no matter how stocky we might look to some. And if you're not hungry we're fine too, just thought I'd mention it."

Maverick smiled, focusing on their new roomie's gaze and expressions. He wasn't really that timid, he just needed to feel more comfortable with himself probably. After all they were up pretty high and he didn't show any fear, no, he was excited to be here. So it was just interacting with others that could be a problem for him, now he was happy they got assigned this little mouse when he was new to the school. "Would you like to sit? Can still see pretty clearly through the railing?"

"Um, sure!" Matthew shuffled his way over to the glass door, shimmying his way down until he was sitting with his back against it. He smiled up to the hydra, holding out a fluffy hand in invitation. Despite this display of confidence, his tail coiled around one of his feet again.

"I'm really glad you brought me up here."

"I'm glad too. So feeling more confident? A little more at home?" The hydra heads all smiled, taking his hand and sitting down. Good thing this balcony was designed to hold the weight of dragons and their heavy landings. Their broad tail swaying back and forth across the cool stone floor, trying not to hit their friend. Maybe later they'd poke around Drake's office and see if there was anything interesting, or a snack or drink later, but for now it was nice just sitting here with their new friend. Maverick only noticed after a minute that they were still gently holding the hand that had been offered to them when they sat down, the middle head's smile getting a little wider than before.

He seems more than happy to hold onto that hand. In fact, despite whatever anxiety he might still have been feeling, his slender tail wriggled out to wrap about the hydras'. Matthew didn't mention it - he didn't even look at their entwined tails, really. Instead he stared out at the view.

Sounding somewhat meek despite the situation, he murmurs up to the three. "I dunno how I'm feeling. But, um, I sure do feel like Golden Oaks is a friendlier place than it looked before. Thanks, you guys."

Two of the three were very much aware of the tail around theirs, and still holding hands. The third was still more focused on making sure their roomie felt at home around here and was glad at what he heard. Their hands stayed together, tails wrapping around one another, as Luke spoke. "We're very glad to hear that. Heh, much better than if our new roomie was afraid of us or always nervous of hanging out. If that had been the case I'd imagine it would have been pretty hard getting a good night's sleep."

"There's other ways I can keep you up." Matthew had no idea where that came from. He cleared his throat a little after he said it, burying his head down and doing his very best not to look too mortified. Needless to say, he reconciled to think before he opened his mouth again.

That said, he did sort of squeeze the hydras' scaled hand when that moment of realization dawned. And he hadn't stopped squeezing even after he lowered and thus hid his face. He murmured quietly, his voice sort of shakey and uncertain. "B-by, um... doing... reading and stuff."

And stuff huh? Roderick and Maverick both grinned, Luke even smiled as he started to catch on. Their free hand gently ran their thick fingers through his hair, trying to reassure him that what he said wasn't such a bad thing. "Oh? I think we'd like to see how you'd keep us up some time." Roderick's mind was completely in the gutter now and picturing them "borrowing" the headmaster's nice big luxury bed for a while.

Maverick was thinking more civilized things, like actually seeing if their roomie had said that in haste or if he was serious. And trying to judge if it was just the fact that they were the first nice person he'd met, a passing fancy or something.

The mouse craned his neck in toward the brushing, inadvertently looking up once again. After a moment he tilted his head toward the hydra and gave his very best deliberate smile, though it appeared puzzled and pensive as he muddled through what he said. "I'm sorry... Um, I-I guess I, uh, I... I wasn't thinking is all."

Then he sank his eyes down again, his own tail constricting tighter about the scaled one. He thought on Roderick's response and swallowed hard, still holding the hand as firmly as he could. "I feel like I like you all. Um, I-I guess it is pretty silly..."