Every photographer has their favorite subject. For some, they love landscapes, for others they enjoy a nice still life; for Winnifred Ann Wickham, surprisingly it was engagement photos. She didn’t know why they appealed to her, she had dealt with some real bridezillas in her life, but for some reason the majority of the couples that she worked with tended to be so, so sweet. There was so much hope in their eyes, plans that they couldn’t wait to make for the future. Even though Winnie had no plans of ever being married (an idea which could possibly change down the line), she still found herself smiling so brightly whenever she worked with these couples in love.

Today’s photoshoot was of two lovely women. Both were gorgeous, both in cute dresses and with smiles that could light up a room. Winnie herself was dressed in trousers, with white shirt, loose tie, and jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Upon her head sat a soft, brown fedora, which she kept having to tilt back in order to keep her professional camera up to her eye. Still, the two women were adorable, accommodating, and picked an absolutely beautiful venue.

The Grand Central Terminal in New York was one of the business train stations in the world. It could be a real pain to get good pictures here, especially which how busy the station was. People milled about, traveling from one end of the terminal to the other, rushing through her shots, or stopping and looking extremely irritated by it. Still, as much as Winnie wanted to raise her voice to these people, she bit her tongue; she had to be professional, after all.

In the end, against the picturesque scenery, Winnie managed to take some absolutely amazing photographs. With her two brides happy with the previews that she offered, the photographer waved them both away with promises that they would be sent to them by the end of tomorrow. They still needed to be downloaded, cropped, and touched up, but they would be perfect -- she would ensure that they were.

Returning to a bench, Winnie side as she planted herself down and casually crossed one leg over the other. She pulled her camera bag onto her lap as she turned around her camera to once again go through the previews that she had shot. It was quick work to delete the ones that were not the best and flag those that she had every intention of fixing up and sending to the two women. As she was working though, Winnie pulled a plastic baggie from her pack, a snack that she had been saving for herself -- M&Ms.

Now, Winnie rarely indulged herself in chocolate but she liked to treat herself after a good photoshoot. However, what she didn’t realize was that her baggie had a tear at the bottom. Once she had lifted the bag up, there was a sound of cascading chocolates that spilled across her lap and down across the smooth, marbled floor. Watching the rainbow of chocolate roll away from her, Winnie squeaked as she tried to catch a few but only proceeded to send them spraying outward and further away.

”Ugh! Goddamn m**********g piece of **** *** ******* candies!!” she growled with her patented sailor’s mouth. Shoving her camera back into her bag and zipping it up, she grumbled as she moved onto her knees to collect everything. As much she wanted to leave this for someone else to fix, the last thing she needed was to be banned from this place for leaving a mess.

Amber liked autumn.  The preference hadn't always been there but now days, if asked, she would say it was her favourite season.  There wasn't as much sunshine as summer which made it easier for her to venture outside safely and it hadn't yet gotten so cold that, with her resistance to temperature, she really minded.  Even with a lifetime of being burned by what others might consider the shining rays of sunshine, she'd never quite accepted a completely nocturnal lifestyle.  Gradually, she'd been learning how to best maximize her limited daylight time and that mostly involved timing her departures so there was plenty of cloud-cover, wearing robes that covered her head to tow and walking with a shade umbrella.  None of these things solved her problems entirely, but they allowed her precious hours of daylight where she might otherwise have none.

This day she'd spent the better part of the afternoon in the library, indulging her recently-rediscovered love of books.  During her time spent living alone as a dino in the woods, reading hadn't exactly been a priority and she'd forgotten what it was like to get lost in the fictional lives of other people.  In a world in which she was a walking corpse, a visible mutant despised by many simply for being different than them, escapism could be a wonderful thing.  Now it was evening, the sky just starting to darken and she deemed it safe to go outside without having to worry too much about her sensitive skin.  

Covered as she was, few people noticed her except, perhaps, for the odd strange glance at the umbrella she held over her head, blocking the sun.  Her robes hid the dry desiccated skin of a corpse that marked her so obviously as a mutant and she took care not to meet the eyes of anyone.  It was easier this way, to travel hidden in plain sight.  The Grand Central Terminal  was her ultimate goal, in order to get herself back home to the Mansion.

She very nearly tripped over the collection of colourful candies that, all of a sudden, rolled out and in front of her.  

”Ugh! Goddamn m**********g piece of **** *** ******* candies!!” 

"Oh, I'm sorry."  She crouched to pick up a few of the escaping treats and awkwardly handed them over to the girl who'd lost them.

Winnie was assured that her day was going to be ruined because she had such a good session with her clients. It was almost like the universe was balancing itself out. Whenever she had a good day, the universe needed to correct itself immediately and throw some shitty luck her way. She should have been expecting it. Then again, it wasn’t as if it were all-together that bad a thing. They were just candies after all. However, for as much as Winnie wanted to believe that, she knew she could never bring herself to say those awful words. It was chocolate. CHOCOLATE! DAY. F***ING. RUINED.

With a grumble she moved onto her knees to start collecting her candies before some poor soul slipped and broke themselves on it. That was the last thing she needed. Not because she cared ALL that much, but because she didn’t want to be sued. It was pretty clear that she was the culprit and this world was full of people just waiting to screw you over.

Scooping as many close to her as she could, she grumbled as the majority of the people just walked over or past her without making any attempts to stop. Again, she was not surprised. It would have been more shocking if someone actually got off their ass to kneel down and help her pick this blasted things off the gro--

>>"Oh, I'm sorry."

Winnie jumped at the sudden voice. Looking up, she watched in complete surprised as another person, a woman who seemed draped from head to down in cloth which covered all but her eyes, crept close, helping to wrangle the wayward candies. Winnie breathed a sigh as she let the idea that someone was helping her sink in before she lifted her gaze, blushing a little for her earlier grumbling that returned to the task of scooping everything up.

”Not you’re fault, hunny,” she said with her very light, English lilt. ”But I appreciate your help nonetheless.” She said, shaking her hand and deposited what she collected back into the bag which would be promptly thrown away. ”Just my luck, though. I was having a good day. Of course something had to befall me,” she added with a cheeky grin.

Even at the best of times Amber was a little uncomfortable in dense crowds of people.  More than once she'd been chased by an angry mob intent upon mutant destruction.  In general, she had no great resentment or hatred of humans but those feelings didn't always run both ways.  Humans were as varied as their mutant counterparts, both good and bad and every shade in between, but crowds increased the possibility of bad ones being around.  Would she be considered bigoted because of her fears?  Maybe, but hard life lessons had taught her they were often warranted.

She handed the candies over to the woman in a thinly gloved hand and smiled through her veil.  Of course, the smile wasn't visible.  The only part of her skin that was visible was her black eyes and the thin slit of yellowish skin between them.  In another hour, maybe two, it wouldn't be necessary to keep herself so carefully covered but for now it was for her own safety.  More life lessons, although these had been with her since she was a young child and long before it was obvious that she was a mutant with actual powers to make up for her health issues.

"I could buy you some more candies, if that would help make your day better," she offered in a soft voice.  The only clue that her adopted father, Abyss, was still alive was the fact that the credit card he'd given her so many years go when he'd first taken her in was still working.  Someone was definitely paying it off every month and that someone definitely wasn't her.  Nor, she suspected, was it her sister Aura.  Without it, she had no source of income and few skills that were employable.  Even if she had those skills, who on earth was likely to employ a walking corpse?  No one.  No one at all.

Suddenly Winnie was feeling a little embarrassed for getting so angry over spilling a few candies. Really it wasn’t that big a deal, even if it was chocolate. At the end of the day, it was just an accident, it wasn’t as if someone had grabbed the bag from her hands and spilled the confectionary delights on purpose. It was just one of those things that happened to people at the worst of times and served as a reminder that the world wasn’t always supposed to be peaches and cream -- sometimes sh*t just happened, and that was okay.

As she started to gather the last bit that was close to her, she looked up when the other, covered and veiled woman walked up to her and handed over what she had been able to collect. A soft smile pulled at Winnie’s lips as she nodded her thanks, opening the bag for her to spill the candies into. The majority of it was gathered up now so there was no need to continue fretting. Any that managed to escape were not seen immediately and probably rolled far, far away. So long as they were out of the way, she was fine with that.

Candies collected, she tightly rolled up the open end of the bag and proceeded to tighten her grip on it. She was going to have to throw all these away now. Shame.

>>"I could buy you some more candies, if that would help make your day better,"

Winnie turned back to her new friend, smiling a bit sweetly at her. Honestly this woman didn’t seem for real. Maybe the photographer was just too cynical for this world but she was used to people...well...pretty much just acting like ***holes all the time. Sometimes the world just made you so bitter that when faced with someone with genuinely good intentions, it was actually hard to recognize. Taking a second, she just started to collect her camera back into her back and shook her head.

”That’s okay, sweetie,” she said. ”But thank you. That means a lot.” She said. She bit her lip a little, looking down watching the other, before she extended out her hand with a brilliant grin. ”My name’s Winnifred. But everyone just calls me Winnie.”

Because she'd never had to earn it herself and it had always simply been available, money didn't have the same meaning to her as it did to others.  Even if it did all of a sudden disappear (which was always a possibility), she was more than capable to taking care of herself without it.  Whether that involved living at the Mansion for free or living in the wild and relying upon her own resources, money wasn't something she needed in her life.  Of course, it made things easier and there were luxuries that it allowed to her indulge but it was not, strictly speaking, needed.  

"My name's Amber," she extended her hand to accept the handshake.  "Nice to meet you."  Small talk was not something she was comfortable with.  Talk in general was not always something she was comfortable with.  Since her return to the city, she'd gotten better but it probably wasn't ever going to come as easily to her as it did to many.  A tribute to her less than human side.  

She stood awkwardly for a moment before speaking again, her eyes catching sight of the camera.  "Were you taking pictures?  Are you a photographer?"  

Winnie had to smile at the newcomer. She was still a little dumbfounded that someone was being so nice to her. How sad was the state of world when someone being nice throws you off? There was probably some social commentary that could be made about this but Winnie wasn’t the type to write up or vlog about something like that. She preferred to be behind the camera...rather than in front of it. But it was not something she would have to worry about now as she just needed to get her head on straight when interacting with the person she just gave her name to.

>>"My name's Amber...Nice to meet you."

Her offered handshake was accepted and Winnie beamed a brilliant smile to the fully covered woman. Amber. That was a pretty name. Winnie didn’t know many “Ambers” in her life but she hoped that all, if not most, were at least as friendly and understanding as the one she was meeting now. Once she retracted her hand, it found its way onto her hip as she tilted her head, eyeing the woman a bit more closely.

”Oh it’s great to meet you, love,” she said sweetly. Vaguely she wondered if the other was all covered up due to her religious belief. Not that it bothered her but she did have to note that when she attempted to look at her eyes, all she saw was darkness. Probably just a trick of the light, nothing more than that.

Silence prevailed between them for a moment as Winnie waited to see if Amber would continue their conversation. While Winnie was all for drawing people out of their shells, she didn’t want to try to hard with the other woman as she had been nice enough to help her. The last thing she wanted to do was show her appreciation by badgering her for information so she would let her decide where this would go.

>>"Were you taking pictures? Are you a photographer?"

”That I am!” she exclaimed happily.

Winnie turned and noted the camera bag that Amber had pointed to. Winnie nodded her head, turning and picking up her bag. As she strapped it over her shoulder, she unzipped a small portion of it and fished inside for a business card. Upon finding one, she pulled out the pristine white rectangle of cardstock with the embossed golden letters that announced her name and title as a freelance photographer. She handed the card over to Amber.

”Please, take one. I’m always looking for clients.” She said with a sigh. Obvious the life of a freelance artist of any kind meant constantly looking for work. Slipping her bag over her shoulder and securing it, she thought for a moment before she gestured behind her towards a nearby eatery in the station. ”Can I treat you to something the eat? The least I can do for all your help in cleaning up.”

Amber had always been more comfortable interacting with those she knew to be mutants than with humans.  As a walking corpse, there was a lot about her that people found unsettling.  Death hovered around her in a way that was for more literal than she might prefer.  For those with an especially keep sense of smell, it could literally be scented upon her as a slight sickly sweet odor.  For those lacking in such keen senses, one only needed to look upon her dry, cracked skin to understand that she wasn't exactly the paragon of health and wellness.  Mutants, at least had some understanding of the unusual price their genetics sometimes forced them to pay.  Humans, not so much.

Covered as she was, her less savory traits were hidden under layers of fabric and even if Winnie had seen her eyes, they only told a small part of the story.  To accept an invitation out was to inevitably remove at least her veil and hood and who knew what kind of reaction she might receive then.  It made her nervous.

"Um..."  She didn't want to be rude.  She didn't want to be afraid.  How does one be cautious but not paranoid?  How does one try to interact with the normal world outside without hiding away for fear of being judged for being a freak?  It was the judgement, per say, that bothered her.  It was the possibility of violence that all too often followed.  She was proud to be a mutant, gifted with amazing powers. She didn't want to have to hide them.  She also didn't want to be attacked in the street while trapped in her virtually defenseless human body.

"You know I'm a mutant, right?"  The words were blurted out rather more forcefully than intended and her face reddened under her veil.  She looked down to the ground, embarrassed.  Would she never master this whole art of human interaction?

Winnie was not one to falter in the face of others. She was the life of the party, the attention seeker, the person that would try her hardest to pull others from their darkened shells and out into the spotlight. She couldn’t help it. She knew that not everyone was like her but she wanted to do whatever she could to help others been more comfortable with themselves. After all, that was all shyness was, people who needed to know that it was okay to be themselves.

Besides, the other woman helped her. The way she was raised, it was only proper to offer that person a show of thanks. In this case, for helping her climb the insurmountable mountain of cleaning up scattered chocolate pieces, she would treat her new friend to something to eat or drink. A perfectly innocent offer, really, as Winnie really just wanted to thank for her all of her help.

>>"Um..."

It seemed that Amber was going to be a little hesitant. Winnie wouldn’t have had hurt feelings if Amber declined, but she really hoped it wasn’t because of something Winnie said or did. Maybe the other had a meeting to attend or some other sort of shenanigans that she was running off to. If that were the case, Winnie wouldn’t stand in her way, but otherwise, she would still want to offer her gratitude.

>>"You know I'm a mutant, right?"

Winnie tilted her head, momentarily confused by the admission. For a moment it seemed so out of left field that the photographer couldn’t wrap her head around why it was said. Briefly she wondered if maybe Amber were speaking to something directly behind her. So, Winnie turned her head and looked, saw no one, and turned back to face her covered friend. Upon realizing that the black-eyed woman was talking to her, she just offered a soft smile and shrugged in reply.

”So? It’s a snack or a drink. I’m not asking you marry me, silly,” she smiled earnestly. She then lowered her voice a bit, tilting her head the other way. ”Besides, who says that you’re the only one?” She raised her eyebrows, indicating that she herself was one too.