Internal balance was now to be the new theme of Amber's life. Not once but twice had she spent months at a time locked in one of her other forms, retreating entirely from human life. The first time hadn't been entirely her own fault or decision, a matter of survival, and had resulted in her completely forgetting her human self entirely. The second time she never forgot who she was but simply chose to escape the human trappings of a complicated and all too depressing life. That could never be allowed to happen again. She had a pack, a family that required her not to disappear for months on end. More importantly, however, she was both more than human and more than beast, a hybrid of both and both sides of her must be tended to in equal measure. It was her predatory senses and gifts that made her more than human and her mind that made her more than beast and both of these were essential to her physical and mental well being. Never again would she forget herself or retreat from a part of herself.

Very recently Amber had reconnected with her sister Aura and re-acquainted herself with her home in Sanctuary. It was something of a relief, surprisingly so, to find herself back within a human structure with very human luxuries. No longer did she have to worry about the simple things like food, safety and a warm place to sleep. She hadn't realized at the time just how much she missed such simple things, but being back in them, she knew they were very much a part of her life and her feeling of rightness in it.

Still, days under a human roof had also resulted in feeling constrained and locked in. In the daytime, there was nowhere to go and no freedom to leave because of her skin condition and at night, well, she hadn't yet gone out to connect to her predatory side. That was going to change tonight because if it didn't she worried she might do something truly regret able. There had been a time, not so long ago, when she could exist indoors in the human world perhaps indefinitely without worry, but that was before. No longer was she that person and never again would she be that person.

To that end, Amber took a cab to the woods a little ways outside the city. Paying the cab driver, she wandered into the woods, more confident in her prowess than any normal teenager would be. As a human she carried a flashlight which she used to navigate to a convenient and memorable cove of trees. There was little risk of her clothing being stolen there and, with that thought in mind, she stripped naked, shivering with the frigid winter cold. However, she knew it wouldn't be long before she was covered in a layer of scales and feathers. It took a minute and a thought her her form to start changing and mutating. For anyone who happened to be watching, she knew the visual was just as horrific as it felt, excruciating pain ripping through her entire body as her body morphed and stretched to accommodate her new form. Less than a minute later, where once a pale teenage girl stood, there was now a sleek and deadly Deinonychus. She stretched out her long neck and tail and took scent of the air around her, reveling both in her new strength and in her far enhanced senses. This was why she could never again consider herself merely human.

It was just after nightfall and Regan needed to get some air. She had spent the day inside the hot greenhouse toiling away on the neglected plants and the thought of being in the mansion for the evening was making her fur stand on end. Deciding that a nice walk in the woods was in order, Regan went to her room and got a black zip up hoodie to wear outside, her fur kept her warm, but she liked to be ready for anything.

Regan went out to the woods behind the mansion and started to walk deeper into the city areas where she could just get away from the world. Regan did a lot of thinking when she was out in the forest, it was a place of peace and solace, but also a place where she could be herself and let the cat inside out to play without much worry of running into people that she could hurt.

After walking for a long while, Regan came upon some nice solid trees and smirked to herself. It had been a long while since she had climbed some trees and hopped around the tree tops like a big kitten, it used to be one of her favorite things to do. Getting down on all fours Regan ran towards the trees and launched herself onto one. She gripped the bark with her clawed hands and started skittering her way up to a strong branch and perched there for a moment, breathing in the cool fresh air.

There were times when Tses regretted using public transportation, and she encountered one of those moments when she tried getting a ride to the home improvement store. The trip started decently. She told the cabbie where she wanted to go and the man nodded and said "I can get you there." Whatever, no big deal. But after about 20 minutes of driving, Tses started to notice the New York scenery fading behind. Her face crinkled into a frown, and she tried checking with the cabbie to see if he understood her correctly. Once more, he repeated: "I can get you there." And like a punk, she believed him.

Little versed in dealing with cabbies, it never occurred to her she was facing a language barrier. She just thought he was too stubborn to ask for directions, and expected to pay a bit extra for the fare. It happened sometimes, so she didn't complain. But as trees started to appear in her window, and Tses realized this was the direction of the mansion for mutants, she realized there was definitely some misunderstanding happening. So with some arguing, cursing, and general irritation for both parties, Tses demanded to be let out, prowled out into the darkness, and slammed the door behind her. The irritated cabbie spun its wheels and pulled away, leaving Tses glowering in it's wake.

Tses was a street kid, so being on her own wasn't such a big deal. But this was definitely the first time she'd been out in the forest. It was like a park, but on steroids, with trees and grass and shrubbery growing all over the place. Curiosity drove Tses away from reason, and she figured if she was going to be stuck walking home, at least she'd enjoy herself first so she moved into the trees, and breathed in the strangely fresh smell of the wildlife.

Overhead, the moon was loosing it's last sliver of darkness. In two days was the full moon, and she had yet to decide what she would do about her old employer. If nothing else, she hoped wandering in the trees would give her time to think. But as she walked, she realized she was ill equipped for this unexpected adventure. No staff, no jacket, and just a t-shirt and jeans. If that wasn't enough, luck would have it there was some foreshadowing taking place, placing two predatory creatures into the forest around her.

It was going to be a long night.

A simple shift of form and the world opened up to Amber's senses. It wasn't until one happened to gain a non-human body that one truly appreciated just how limited human perception really was. Even not being perfectly adapted to nighttime activities, her vision was keener and sharper than her weak human eyes. Vision might have been hampered by the darkness, but hearing and scent were unhindered and sharper than any non-beast could imagine. She was a hunter at heart and her ears and nose were just as important in finding prey as her eyes were. During the darkest hours, perhaps, she wouldn't hunt but as soon as dawn came she was sure to find a wayward deer or coyote and flex her predator's muscles. To kill one`s food made the meal all that much more satisfying in the end. Yet another thing that no mere human could possibly comprehend.

A scent of the air around her revealed all the things Amber expected to find in the forest. Trees, moss and the small animals and insects were all noticeable. None of that specially caught her attention, however. What was important, at that moment, was the knowledge that there didn't appear to be any threats nearby. It was another of those laws of nature that humans mostly didn't understand. Even being the predator that she was, and she was a very good one, there were always potential threats out there and those threats she needed to be weary of. She was a survivor, always, but in order to survive one needed to remain alert and prepared for anything.

Just as Amber was prepared to set out on a run, the bright almost full moon helping make that possible, she scented something very unfamiliar that didn't quite belong. It smelled of cat and human but with a touch of something that didn't quite feel right. She swiveled her long neck in the direction of the scent and followed it a short way towards a tree. The scent then went up the tree to a place that, in her current form, she couldn't follow. Craning her head up in an attempt to catch of glimpse of whatever it was, she let out a shrill chirp. Unnatural scents often meant mutants and mutants were worth meeting. More importantly, it was usually dangerous to surprise mutants when they weren't expecting it and a chirp would, at the very least, advise of her presence.

Enjoying her perch in the tree, Regan sat down on the branch with a leg on either side of it. The moon was lighting the area just enough that her eyes easily adjusted to the darkness and that allowed her to see clearly. She relaxed back onto the trunk of the tree and looked up at the stars in the dark blanket of sky. Her fur ruffled softly in the breeze and she started to purr softly. She was really enjoying this.

Regan’s peaceful perch was suddenly interrupted by the crunching sounds of snow under something’s feet. She scented the air and picked up something new, it was a rather odd scent to put her finger on. It was somewhat lizard like but it was also somewhat of a decayed smell. Rather confused and cautious, Regan scanned the ground around the tree she was sitting in. She couldn’t really see anything in the area, but she kept trying, and then she heard the chirping sound below her.

Regan looked down and between the branches. What the heck was that? It looked like a dinosaur! There was a large lizard like creature below her with a few feathers on it. It kind of looked like those big raptors from Jurassic Park, but slightly different. This wasn’t possible, what on earth was below her and was it a threat?

Tilting her head to the side Regan watched the creature closely. The possible threat made the sabre tooth press on her mind, the animal wanting to protect herself. Regan shoved the overbearing cat to the back of her mind for the time being, she wasn’t about to go ripping through the forest or killing a rare creature for no reason. For the time being she was going to stay where she was and observe the creature.

The lone human figure moved slowly through the woods, ears and eyes open, but brain buzzing a million miles a minute. Her thoughts kept drifting, and it made her feel less observant than normal. But nothing could make her miss a silhouette in the distance. Training her eyes on it, her mouth dropped a little bit, because she could swear the figure was not human. In fact, it didn't even look animal. It looked reptilian, and if she didn't know better, she would say it was a bit prehistoric. While she knew little about dinosaurs, she'd seen a picture or two, and this definitely seemed to fit the bill.

If that wasn't enough, after the dinosaur chirped, she could have sworn she saw movement in a tree above the animal. Her gaze went up, and in the light of the moon, she saw a form that looked oddly like a tiger... A tiger with red hair. Starting to wonder if she was still completely sane, Tses backed up a few steps, and put her back against a tree. She tried to keep herself calm, and settled back to observe the strange creatures, curiosity getting the better of her.

((ooc: sorry it's a bit short. been sick all morning but didn't want to hold you guys up))

It was a shift of movement that finally allowed Amber to catch a glimpse of the creature hiding in the tree, and what a creature it appeared to be. Her idea that it was probably a mutant proved to be accurate as she was quite certain she had never seen a white and green tiger person before. Cat people she had seen, or at least one other cat person, but nothing quite like that. Now the question was, how did she make it apparent that she wasn't a threat?

Another high pitched chirp and Amber bobbed her head at the cat in the tree. She had long ago come to terms with the inconvenience of the lack of speech while shifted; all it meant was that a little creativity was necessary in order to express herself. She would have smiled up at the cat, but given her jawfull of razor sharp teeth, she knew from experience that such could come across far more threatening than she actually intended. She was, in heart and body, a predator and that came across clearly. It especially came across to those who also had ties to the natural world.

Instead Amber opted for another technique. First, she let out another chirp and a couple of clicks, making sure she had the cat person's attention. Once she was fairly certain she did, it was time to write. Winter had many issues, not the least of which was the cold which was something she wasn't as well adapted to as she might have liked. However, it also had snow and snow meant the ability to write. Walking in slow steps, she began to write out the word 'hello' in the snow in large print. Surely the cat mutant would know that no mere dinosaur could write and the only logical conclusion in that case must be that she was a mutant.

Amber was just about to write out the final 'O' when she scented another scent in the air, this one far more human. She froze and slowly turned around to face the newcomer, teeth bared menacingly. This one smelled human and looked human. Until it was proven that she wasn't a threat, Amber wasn't about to take chances.

Regan kept her emerald eyes locked onto the large reptile below her. It continued to make chirping and clicking noises as it bobbed its head in her direction. Well it obviously knew she was in the tree so there was no way she could hope to remain unnoticed, some days she cursed her red hair and green stripes. She might as well just strap Christmas lights to herself and hold up a sign that said “Hey Look at Me!”

She noticed that the reptile was starting to move around in the snow, getting a little curious Regan hopped down to a lower branch so she could see better. The creature was writing in the snow! Well there was no way an animal could write in the snow! Even Regan couldn’t understand human speech or any writing when she was in her sabre state. This creature must be a shape shifting mutant.

Still cautious, Regan waited on the branch, the letters in the snow spelt out “Hell” so far. Suddenly the reptile’s attention was drawn in another direction. Following the direction of the mutant’s gaze, she spotted a rather terrified looking girl backed up against a tree. Regan’s eyes shot back down to the mutant below her who was baring her teeth at the poor girl. Without a second thought, Regan started to bound from branch to branch, working her way down to the ground to stop whatever was about to transpire, there would be no innocent blood shed tonight, not if she could help it!

Tses was usually a pretty fearless person. But there were some things that took even her by surprise. Dinosaurs, giant cats; well, those were up there on the list of things that could scare her, if only just a little bit.

Ok, maybe more than a little bit.

In fact, she thought it was quite acceptable to feel a little nervous when you met one in a dark forest very far from any help. Terror, fear, slight nausea; those were common responses when you encountered danger, especially outside your comfort level. Unfortunately, they also made it hard for thoughts to process and that was a bit dangerous. Tses didn't notice as the Dinosaur started writing, because she was too busy trying to vanishing into the tree behind her. But she glanced back long enough to see the toothy teeth bared at her, and the giant cat creature with green stripes coming down the tree.

Could tigers and dinosaurs work together? Well, the cat had some pretty giant fangs, it could be like a prehistoric dino cat, right? Maybe they both spoke the same dino launguage?

To much thinking, not enough running.

Tses made a quick decision, and gave a strong jump to catch the lower branch of the tree she was under. With a slight scrambling, she lifted herself off the ground and up into the leaves. Ok, so the tiger could climb as well. One creature at a time. The first thing she wanted to avoid was sharp fangs clamping around her legs; she could deal with a potential mauling after. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you! You can go back to your dino meeting or whatever you were up to!" She called, pulse starting to race in her throat. She didn't know whether the creatures could hear her, but after everything she'd seen in New York, she knew sometimes a reassuring gesture made all the difference. She swallowed her fear the best that she could, but the tips of her fingers glowed just subtly as she flattened herself against the trunk.

Almost the moment Amber bared her teeth at the human girl, the cat person began making her way rather hastily to the ground. Meanwhile, she noted the look of terror on the little human's face, a feeling made even more apparent as she started to try and climb up the tree she was cowering against in order to get away from her. Maybe she wasn't much a threat then, after all, but no one could blame her for being cautious given her rather conflicted history.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you! You can go back to your dino meeting or whatever you were up to!"

The words settled it for Amber. Those, and the fact that she didn't want to get into any sort of conflict with the cat mutant who seemed intent upon protecting the human. Besides, it wasn't about hurting the girl it was just about not getting hurt herself and as long as the girl didn't make any threatening moves towards her she was quite content to leave her be.

Amber closed her lips over her teeth and relaxed her stance, letting out a number of amused chirps and clicks. How to get across to the both of them that she wasn't a threat, that was the question. She pointed down at the ground thankful, not for the first time, that her arms and hands at least bore a passing resemblance to human ones. Another couple of chirps and very intent glances between the human and the cat to make sure they were watching and she completed her word in the snow, writing out the final 'O' to make up the word 'hello'. Watching to make sure they both read the word, she bobbed her head up and down and twittered in greeting.

Not wanting to wait much longer, in case things went badly, Regan stopped trying to jump onto branches and flung herself off of a branch about halfway up the tree. As she sailed towards the ground, she kept her arms and legs outwards to brace for the fall, her tail spinning wildly behind her. Finally she reached the ground and landed on all fours with a thud and a poof of snow.

She ran towards the girl and the dinosaur as fast as she could on all fours, but by the time she had gotten there the girl was up the tree and apologizing for interrupting them. Regan skidded to a stop between the girl and the dinosaur and stood upright. She extended a furry, clawed hand, palms out, towards both of them. “It’s alright; I don’t think you were interrupting anything really. I think we have all just stumbled upon each other this evening.” She said looking at both of them as she spoke; her Irish tones were calm as she tried to keep the peace.

Suddenly the dinosaur started chirping and bobbing its head once again. It finished writing in the snow and it read “Hello”. Regan put her hands down and curled her extremely long tail around her feet. She gave the dinosaur mutant a small wave, “Hello, I take it you are a mutant as well.” Looking back up at the girl in the tree, Regan tried to smile, but not too much as she didn’t want to freak her out even more then she already was with a fanged grin. “I think it’s alright to come down, I’m not going to hurt you and I don’t think the dinosaur wants to either.”

Tses hated being caught by surprised, but she hated being caught afraid most of all. She always tried to act tough and composed, but tonight didn't seem to be her night for it. That was a hard pill for her to swallow. She ruefully accepted she had to. If nothing else, she would have to try to regain the dignity she had, and accept the rest as loss. It was like poker; she knew it was time to fold.

Slowly, she lowered herself so she was kneeing on the branch, and he peered down at the creatures below her suspiciously. The dinosaur had written 'hello' in the snow, which proved it was either very intelligent, or, as the tiger g....girl said, a mutant. Tses suspiciously glanced over the Irish tiger, and with a little 'pft' of air, blew her bangs out of her face. "Well, I'm glad neither of you plans to eat me. Excuse me while I find my pride." Tses muttered, and ducked back into the branches of the tree. After a few seconds to compose herself, she hoped down, and landed gracefully next to the tiger.

Standing and brushing the snow off her hands and onto her jeans, she glanced at the two other mutants, and tried to decide what to do. Habit insisted she do something impressive and talented to salvage her damaged ego, but she doubted she could do anything to impress these two individuals. There was little she could do to compete with being part animal, and no matter how many things she blew up, damaging property just didn't seem like a useful skill in society. "Well, nice to meet you two then... I think" She added uncertainly, and straightened her stance, trying to look more collected than her cowering prequel. "You... live around here?" Ok, small talk was not her thing. There was nothing about this encounter that could go well, was there?

Inwardly, Tses's brain looped back to the trip to take Sophia to the mansion. They'd passed quite a few trees, and she had noticed the path seemed familiar earlier. Of course, her brain hadn't thought to connect mutants with people close to the mansion. Plus, there were quite a few teenagers at the place, so some of them must sneak out at night, right? She wondered if these were teenagers or adults, and it was hard to tell. How do you age a dinosaur?

She decided to google it in the future.

Both the cat and the human now seemed to understand that Amber meant no real harm to either of them and that was good. Maybe one day the technology would be invented to actually make communication possible while shifted, but until that point she made due with what she had. She could be surprisingly expressive when she needed to be but even still, there was only so much that could be gotten across to others when one lacked the vocal chords necessary for coherent speech.

“It’s alright; I don’t think you were interrupting anything really. I think we have all just stumbled upon each other this evening.”

Amber nodded her head in agreement. Now that the cat girl was closer, she really was a fascinating sight. She had never seen a natural cat of quite those colours before, even during her time spent in the exotic rain forests of South America. Mutants, it seemed, were ever fascinating creatures and no two were quite exactly alike. It was one of the many reasons she was proud to be counted among them.

“Hello, I take it you are a mutant as well.”

Once again Amber nodded, muscles of her long sinewy neck bunching. This time she opted not to grin, not wanting to frighten the little human girl all over again. Or, for that matter, make the cat girl angry at her. Cats were not exactly her area of expertise, but from what she could recall they didn't tend to hunt in packs as she had always desired to do. Touchy was another word that could describe them, or at least their domestic variety. Best not to test if mutants cats were the same.

As for the human girl, Amber still wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She seemed to have calmed down, which was good, and didn't appear to be one of the mutant haters she had encountered in the past. Humans, so long as they weren't trying to harm her or her pack, were to be tolerated and, in truth, mostly ignored. The cat girl was much more interesting by far.

"You... live around here?"

A third nod. Deciding once again to take advantage of the snow, she let out another shrill chirp before writing out here name in large letters 'Amber'. She pointed to the name and then to herself, trying to get across the fact that that's who she was.

Regan watched the two intently, the dinosaur mutant was answering questions with nods and chirps as well as writing in the snow. That was utterly amazing, it was an animal but it could understand human speech as well as write it? Regan was rather jealous of it right now; she couldn’t do anything human like when the sabre tooth was in control, she was pretty much purely a beast. She made a note to try and spend a bit more time around this mutant, maybe she could learn something.

She watched as the dinosaur mutant wrote her name in the snow and pointed to herself. She smiled a fanged grin “Hello Amber, I’m Regan.” She turned and looked at the girl, “What’s your name?” she asked with a soft smile. She nodded at her question about living nearby. “I live at Xavier’s Sister School. How about yourself?”

She had to admit that for a human she was looking quite comfortable around two mutants that were literally animals, and predatory animals at that. She was starting to get a little curious, “You seem quite calm for being near visible mutants. Am I safe to assume that you are not a mutant hating human?” she questioned with her head tilted to the side.

Tses crossed her arms across her chest as she watched the writing appear on the snow. Amber. Well, it certainly seemed like a human name, so that settled her last suspicions. Tses blinked as Regan introduced herself, and gave a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm Tses."[/color] The name came out as 'Tess', and she had to resist writing it in the snow next to Amber's name. Even though it was pronounced the same, it bugged her a little when people thought she was 'Tess' instead of 'Tses'. it was the concept of the thing, and Tses's rather pronounced ego liked making sure people knew the difference.

As Regan kept talking, she pushed her hair out of her face again, and gave a shrug. "I don't really live around here. I just had a dumb cabbie that doesn't know where the hardware store is. I live around Central Park."[/color] She said, and had to resist laughing at the idea that drifted through her head. She imagined what this encounter would look like in the city. Probably a bad rendition of Jurassic 'Park'.

"Psh... And I'm hardly a mutant hating human. Hardly human at all." Her eyes glimmered mischievously, and she put them behind her head, giving a crooked grin. "I'd like to see you guess what my powers are though." While it was fun being mistaken for being 'normal', Tses couldn't pass up mind games. Part of the fun of meeting new people was starting from scratch with them. You got to slowly scratch at the surface and see what they were made of. Light or dark; good or evil; friend or foe. She never knew what position people would take with her, but it was sure interesting to watch the unveiling.

Now that Tses was closer to Regan, she could notice the green hue the stripes on the tiger had, as well as the piercing of her ears. She was always curious what it was like for people to be visibly mutated. She didn't think she could handle it. If she had to walk around with fur and a tail 24/7, it would drive her nuts, regardless of the advantages it gave her. That didn't mean she disliked those sorts of mutants. Nah, they were fine. She just liked trying to understand them. Some people liked to walk in someone else's shoes, Tses would kill just to see things through their eyes.