Amber remember well the attitudes of most of those who decided to reside in the Mansion. A lifetime ago they didn't seem so bad; might have, in fact, even seemed noble. Now, however, they mostly just seemed naive. She had never done anything wrong, never hurt anyone and yet the humans continued to judge and condemn. In truth, she hadn't even had it that bad compared to some. The stories she had heard simply keeping an ear open in Sanctuary shocked and horrified her. Or at least, they would have had she not all ready been so jaded.

"You do what you have to," Amber spoke to Regan, eyes intently upon her. She tried to catch eye contact and, if caught, intended not to let that eye contact go. "But how far has that really gotten you? How far has it gotten anyone? I used to be like you, intent on being nice to people. But then I got kidnapped and brought to South America, so the dinosaur freak could fight to the death with bears and tigers. I learned something then; that you find your pack and make sure they're worthy and no one else matters. You fight for your people, but no one deserves your loyalty unless they prove themselves first." It was good to have her words back. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed them. How someone could have such a dark and still hold onto that idea that you should be nice to everyone baffled her. Then again, she had believed the same at one time.

Amber wasn't quite sure what to make of Tses' words except that the woman was clearly angry. One thing she understood quite well, however, was the fact that everyone had their demons and she included herself in that. "Sometimes embracing your dark side can make you stronger. You control it, don't let it control you." Abyss had taught her that, if not in so many words than at least through watching him in action. It was an important lesson to be learned.

Regan watched Tses do a bunch of unnecessary acrobatics and she couldn’t help but think that this girl was just a bratty show off. She was irritating and rather a bully, which Regan didn’t like at all. She had been bullied enough by the humans, she didn’t need it from other mutants as well just because she chose to be nice to people, unless she was provoked otherwise and Tses was provoking her!

Regan’s emerald eyes glared at the girl as she continued to mock her. What the hell was her issue? This was absolutely ridiculous and absurd! She had never met someone so rude in her life. Deciding to be the bigger person in this situation, Regan decided to ignore Tses and focus her attentions on Amber for the time being. She didn’t enjoy this sudden shift of aggression and wasn’t going to play this little game even though she did kind of start it unintentionally.

Regan’s eyes caught Amber’s and she listened intently as she spoke, she shrugged her shoulders slightly and looked down at the floor before looking back up and responding. “It might not get me anywhere high up in the world Amber, but you know what it gets me? The satisfaction that I’m better then them. That I can rise above whatever they throw at me and still be a nice person in the end. I’m not going to let people break me down and change who I am and who I want to be. That just makes them win.”

Hearing Tses pipe up again, she turned to look at her, but her fanged mouth gapped open as Tses pretty much called her a monster. That was it! She wasn’t going to take this anymore. She had come out for a walk and some peace and quiet, not to be picked on and abused. Here Tses had made fun of her for being a good person and for living at the mansion, when in fact it just made her appreciate that place even more. Finally getting the courage to speak, Regan shook her head. “You know what? I don’t need to take this crap from you Tses. One day you are going to pick on the wrong person and you are going to regret it!” She turned to Amber and sighed “Look I’m sorry Amber, I don’t need this, maybe we can meet up sometime on our own and talk?” She posed it as a question but didn’t really give her time to answer before stuffing her clawed hands into the pockets of her hoodie and walking away. “Anyways, if you do, you know where you can find me.” She said over her shoulder as she started to head back to the mansion.

Leave well enough alone: this was a phrase Tses would do well to learn, but unfortunately, the time for learning that hadn't come yet. As Regan continued her rant, and Amber gave her input, she grew bored. And boredom for Tses was something that usually ended in disaster. And illegal activity was usually the mildest of her possibly reactions. She sat and let the light from her powers crawl across her arms, wishing she could will it into a flower or a shape, something other than her current tendrils of light, but they just kept licking her arms like little flames looking for something to consume. It was like her emotions: just trying to eat her from the inside out.

>>"I don't need to take this crap from you Tses. One day you are going to pick on the wrong person and you are going to regret it."

Oh, she was, was she? Well, today seemed like as good of a day as any. She let the energy condense in her palm, making a handful of tiny explosives. Then with a flick of her fingers, she sent them sailing through the air. One exploded right next to Regan's tail, the other next to her ear, and the last somewhere by her shoulder. It was probably something that would come back to haunt her in a few seconds, but all she could feel was the thrill it gave her to, how would you say it, taunt someone's darker side. Regan was on the edge, who knows what she'd do. And Amber wasn't really taking sides right now, but that could quickly change. All she knew were the words echoing through her broken little mind, you are going to regret it.

I regret nothing Her mind snapped.

Amber nodded at Shamrock, considering her words seriously. When she spoke, her wording was chosen carefully. "It is important to be who you are, always. Don't be ashamed and don't let anyone else change. Me, I've been brought into the conflict between humans and mutants, compelled to take a stand because that's what my pack believes in and I stand by my own. But you, you have your own pack and its just as important for you to stand by them and to stand by yourself and your ideals." She was talking a lot tonight and, in truth, it felt good to talk after so many endless months of silence.

When Regan turned to Tses, replying in an angry tone, Amber wasn't surprised. The other woman had probably deserved it and, besides, she had encountered enough feral mutants and feral non-mutants to understand about heightened emotions and responses. She nodded in confirmation of the invitation, quite intending to meet up with her again. Who knew, perhaps next time they might even be able to have some real fun as only a pair of large predators could. Or perhaps not; she didn't know what the cat woman's views on hunting actually were, despite her predatory form.

When whisps of light started dancing along Tses' skin, Amber didn't think twice about it. After all, it was natural for a mutant to be proud of what they could do and what they could do was as natural as anything. When those lights condensed and were shot out at Regan, Amber immediately stiffened and fought to suppress a growl. She pinned the other woman with her void eyes, staring intently. If things got violent would she have time to shift? It didn't really matter, the other woman had crossed an unforgivable line.

"You do not harm other mutants unprovoked." She made no offensive moves but her voice, calm as it was, also contained within it heavy threat. She fingered the knife under her robes, just in case she didn't have the time needed. Just in case it turned out to be necessary. Regan didn't appear seriously injured but, if she had been, Amber wouldn't have bothered with words before actions.

Regan smiled softly at Amber’s words, she understood why Regan chose to be good to people, just like Regan understood why Amber had her views. Sure they were slightly different as Regan didn’t have a pack, but the two understood each other and that was what mattered. Once her “Father” had passed away, she was alone. Sure she had made a few friends at the mansion, but there was no one there so far that gave her a bond like that, and for a moment her heart panged with a sense of loss she had never really felt before. She really was alone in the end. That thought made Amber’s earlier words stick a little stronger in her head, maybe being good all of the time wasn’t really getting her anywhere after all. She would have to mull over that later though., right now she just wanted to go home and cry, Tses had really hit a soft spot and she was feeling rather broken inside.

As she was walking away, a few tears had already started to fall from Regan’s eyes. It was hard enough having the humans calling her names and making her feel bad about being what she was, but now one of her own kind was beating her down and berating her too? How could someone be so damn cruel?

Her train of thought was quickly interrupted by a rush of air by her tail, then another by her shoulder and then a third by her ear. The last one made Regan roar out in pain as the change of air pressure from the explosion made her ear drum pop like she had just been assending in a plane, only a million times faster. She stopped and clasped a clawed hand over her ear and let out a few more muffled roars and growls. She shook her head a few times to try and make the ringing in her ear stop, but it didn’t really work. Glancing back over her shoulder at the blond witch sitting on the ground made Regan’s pink feline nose flare. The cold winter air made the warm breath that came out of it look like smoke.

That was it! This girl needed a serious lesson and the saber tooth was only too happy to egg Regan on in the matter. The adrenalin was pumping through her veins and there was nothing stopping her now. Regan let out a blood curdling roar as she dropped to all fours and sprinted the short distance towards Tses. As she came to the final few steps, she skidded to a stop and with a swift and fluid movement, she grabbed Tses by the throat, pulled her to her feet, and slammed her against the tree behind her.

Regan brought her snarling face right up to Tses’s, her emerald eyes were almost black as her pupils dilated to their full size. She kept a firm grip on Tses’s throat, not enough to choke her, but enough to keep her attention. Her sharp claws pressed against the tender skin of her neck, ever warning that she could break the skin and rip her throat out in a second. With bared fangs and angry eyes staring right into Tses’s, she finally spoke to her. “You talk about demons but you have no idea what one really is! You want to see my demons? You want to see a monster Tses? I’ll show you a monster, but you won’t get to remember it because you’ll be leaving here as a pile of body parts in a shopping bag when my monster is done with you!” Teetering on the edge of breaking lose, the saber tooth more then happily lent Regan a little help in making her point by ever so slowly letting her saber fangs slide down out from under her upper lip to their full length. "Embrace this!"

Tses felt lost somewhere in a corner of her mind where the line between reckless and suicidal blurred together. There, the words of Amber didn't register, and the roar of anger from Regan didn't click. She was just somewhere where her heart was deprived of sensation, and she just wanted desperately to feel something. Hatred, anger; it all was the same to her. She didn't care if the other mutants hated her. She hated herself, so why not make the feeling mutual?

The only thing that rattled her was the feeling of getting thrown into the tree, a clawed hand pinning her by the throat. Her world became a momentary blur, then a sharp flicker of pain sent her body into survival mode. Air left her chest with a whoosh similar to the sound her powers made, and stars lingered in her vision, brighter than the ones in the sky. Adrenaline ran through her veins, but it didn't feel strong enough to straighten her thoughts. She just felt numb. But she fought out of reflex.

Gasping for breathe, she clawed at Regan's hand with her all too human fingers, arms flickering and glowing with the moon energy she couldn't quite will into action. Fear flickered in the back of her soul, but hurt overwhelmed it. The risk right now felt like nothing more than a thrill to prove she was alive. Maybe she was loosing it. Maybe she had finally gone crazy, and she felt dumb that it was a boy that sent her over the edge. But maybe it was more than Ty leaving. Maybe it was just this feeling of emptiness that kept driving her deep and deeper. There was just nothing to loose; she wanted something worth fighting for.

Her eyes sharpened slowly on Regan, and she stopped squirming, relaxing against the pain. She watched the teeth slowly lengthen, and she stared back without fear. She pressed against Regan's hold just enough to raise her chin defiantly, and snarled with a hiss of air. "Go ahead. Kill me. You're no more of a monster than I am." She reached back with one of her hands, pressing one of the feline claws deeper, drawing a small drop of blood. She didn't even flinch. She was challenging the tiger woman, daring her to do it. Part of her wondered if she was a better person than Tses like she claimed to be.

Part of her hoped she wasn't.

Things were taking on a very dangerous turn and Amber was not so much a fool as to not understand that both of these two mutants were dangerous. There was a reason why humans feared mutants and, perhaps, a little fear wasn't such a bad thing. At Regan's roar of pain, she knew the tension in the clearing was about to explode and someone was going to get hurt.

When Amber was new to her power she had lived with the mindset of a victim, constantly reacting and never acting. She had neither self-confidence nor enough control over her abilities to have more than a vague idea what they were actually good for or how to go about protecting her and hers. That had changed, however and as much as she regretted losing almost 2 years of her life in the body of a beast, she had also learned from it and learned a lot. If the other two women were potentially dangerous, well, so was she.

It was frightening to hear the inhuman roar coming out of Regan's mouth and the transformation that she underwent, more subtle than Amber's own transformations though it was. While not the target of the angry cat-woman's wrath, she was suddenly feeling far more vulnerable than was comfortable and, while she didn't especially want to get into a physical confrontation with either of them, she wasn't about to lie down and wait for misfortune to strike. It took less than a minute for her own changes to occur, bones shifting and popping and scales and feathers growing, not to mention deadly teeth and claws. She didn't have the same feral glint in her own black eyes as Regan and, perhaps, that was a good thing. In the place of the pale black eyed girl now stood a black eyed and potentially deadly deinonychus.

“It might not get me anywhere high up in the world Amber, but you know what it gets me? The satisfaction that I’m better then them. That I can rise above whatever they throw at me and still be a nice person in the end. I’m not going to let people break me down and change who I am and who I want to be. That just makes them win.”

Amber watched the events unfold, Tses thrown into a tree followed by barely contained threats. Tses had clearly been out of line in throwing her power at Regan but she hadn't really hurt the other woman badly; from what she could tell it had been done to antagonize and provoke more than anything. As such, as much as Amber hated to admit it, she didn't deserve to die and, having heard Regan speak earlier, she knew the tiger woman would regret it if she killed and regret it deeply. Amber knew what that kind of regret felt like; it wasn't something that anyone should have to live with.

Amber growled at Regan, low in her throat, a warning only. She made no offensive moves towards either woman but, if push came to shove, she would. Hopefully her warning would snap the woman out of the state Tses had provoked her into. Hopefully.

Regan’s own vision started to blur as the smell of blood filled her pink nose. The saber tooth was just dying to come out to it’s full power and shred this girl to pieces. Hearing her words, Regan shook her head and stared at her, her long saber fangs slowly retracted back up and she let out a soft growl. Her attention was brought back to Amber as she heard another low growl and saw that she had shifted back into her dinosaur form. Regan frowned for making her feel the need to shift back in order to feel safer around her and Tses. She was quite ashamed at this point.

Still holding Tses by the throat, she lifted her off of the ground and moved her away from the tree before letting her go to fall down onto the ground beside her. She let out another low growl and then hissed out her own words. “The difference between you and I Tses is that I may look like a monster, but you, are acting like one!” She glared at her and just shook her head. “Why on earth would you provoke someone, one of your own kind for that matter, to kill you? Are you insane?” Regan turned her back to her for a moment and sighed, she felt pity for Tses, something pretty horrible must have happened to her to bring her to this point in her life. She had everything a mutant could want in order to fit in and yet she so willingly wanted to throw it all away. Turning back with a softer posture and facial expression, she sighed and crouched down in front of Tses. “What happened to you?”

Regan was genuinely curious as to what had made this girl fly off the handle like this, there was really no point to it. All mutants had a pretty simple code of ethics. You didn’t attack anyone of your own kind, even if you didn’t agree on things, unless it was necessary. This didn’t make sense, she had been kind for the most part and she tried to be friendly and the better person by just walking away, but Tses insisted on starting a fight. Regan might be mad at her, but damned if she was going to sit by and not try and help her through whatever it was that was eating her alive.

She looked back at Amber and motioned for her to come closer and help with the situation. “I’m sorry Amber, this is not how I had planned the night to go. I’m sorry things escalated to a point where you felt the need to protect yourself. Something is obviously very wrong here, maybe together we can find out, and help.” She let out another soft sigh and tried to catch Tses’s with her own. Her emerald eyes were soft and kind, not violent and feral like earlier. She even curled her long tail around the front of her and placed it on one of Tses’s hands, hoping the feeling of the soft fur might just calm her down a few notches.

Tses felt like her mind was processing things like a skipping cd. Moments flickered past, emotions bubbled to the surface and vanished again, and she was sometimes closer, sometimes further away from really registering. She felt herself moving away from the tree, the grip on her throat painfully cutting off air still. Then she fell in a heap to the ground, slapping into the cold soil with a sharp pain to her knees and forearms. Pain was sharper, made her think clearer, and the little dribble of blood down her neck felt.... real. It felt real. Unlike so many things, at least that felt real.

She listened as the tigress spoke, and slowly raised her eyes, cold gaze meeting the green irises. She wondered what the girl would see. Pain? Hatred? Emptiness? All of it? Tses didn't know. She couldn't feel anymore. She drank up adrenaline for it's numbing effect, played with danger like it was a toy. But she couldn't make it go away completely. Ty was still gone. She still felt abandoned. And she still felt afraid.

"Maybe I'm insane. Lots of people say it, or scream it.... I don't know what I am. Least you have a clue who you are. Least when people hate you they see you. Least when people hurt you you feel something." She felt the words slip out, and slowly got to her feet, wiping the blood on her arm band. She shrugged her shoulders slightly, and glanced up at the moon in the sky. "Whatever. I don't care what I am. A monster, a mutant. A human. Doesn't have a meaning to me." She brought her gaze down to the dinosaur and the tiger. Then gave a slow shrug.

For very long seconds Amber watched the tense scene play out between Regan and Tses, loath to interfere. It wasn't the violence or the threat of injury that had her on edge; sometimes such things were necessary. In a proper pack, there were often struggles for dominance that took a variety of different and often violent forms. In the end one backed down and the other assumed a higher role in the pack. Things weren't so different among humans and mutants, although such struggles were often far more complicated in nature. It was death she was afraid of and those injuries that couldn't be easily healed and she knew, should it come to that, she would jump in the middle without hesitation. Struggles for dominance aside, mutants needed to stick together and should not kill one another.

Gradually, ever so gradually, the tension started to die down and the desperate edge of violence started to dissipate. It seemed there would be no one dying this night and the injuries acquired were merely surface wounds, easily healed. For that she was grateful as she had no desire to get into a scrap with either of the two woman.

Crisis at least temporarily averted, Amber returned to her human self, grimacing as the usual pain swept through her body. Once, she wouldn't have let anyone view the grotesque scene that was her changing forms and she certainly wouldn't have allowed anyone to see her nakedness afterwards. Now, after so long spent in the wild, none of that matter. Calmly, shivering with the cold, she gathered her robes around her and put them back onto herself, caring not whether either of the other woman happened to be watching her. Once properly clothed, she returned her attention to the others.

Amber glared at Tses, her voice cold, before speaking. "You should be ashamed. Whether you choose to embrace it or not, you are still a mutant and mutants do not attack their own kind without provocation. Don't expect a sob story to gain you sympathy. You don't know my past or hers," she gestured towards Regan. "But I will tell you this. If you have a problem with your life then go and change it. Whether you understand it or not, you don't have to be alone with your demons. If you're not a complete ass there are those who will help you, you have only to ask." She knew how hard a lesson that could be, but that made her statement no less true.

Looking into Tses’s eyes, Regan saw the empty shell she was at the moment. There was no flicker of life or happiness, no spark of a spirit, just dead, empty pain. She needed help, but how do you help someone who doesn’t want it? Maybe she does want the help but she doesn’t know how to ask? Regan’s head was filling up with so many questions to ask, it was when Tses started to speak that she snapped out of her thoughts. Regan just shook her head, Tses was a messed up mind right now. Trying to figure her out was like trying to put two puzzles together at the same time, but all of the pieces were mixed together in one box. It made her head hurt.

Suddenly she heard the cracking of bones and pained groans behind her. Amber was shifting back to her human self. Regan didn’t watch her out of respect. She had seen the robes on the floor, she knew that she would be naked when she had finished. It didn’t sound very pleasant either, so the least she could do was allow Amber the dignity of not having someone staring at her and Regan knew all too well what someone staring felt like. She could hear Amber’s teeth chattering as she shivered in the cold winter air. Instinctively Regan stood up and took off her black hooded sweater and offered it to Amber for the extra warmth. Regan had her thick fur so she knew she’d be alright.

Without much warning, Amber snapped at Tses’s herself and frankly, she did have every right to. Tses was hurting in some way and for some reason, but there was no reason to be lashing out like she was. Regan nodded in agreement with Amber and then looked back to Tses. “Amber is right once again. All of this didn’t need to happen.” She waved her clawed hands around at the tree and in the general area around them. “You are obviously pretty lost and broken right now, but instead of asking for some help, you lash out and try to get yourself killed.” Regan was getting rather exasperated at this point and she wiped a clawed hand over her feline face. “Look, you might not know us from a hole in the wall, and you have no idea what we have been through in our lives, but maybe, just maybe we have been through something like what you are going through. I’m pretty sure that both Amber and I are willing to try and understand, heck even willing to try and help, but not if you are going to try and blow us up for no damn reason.”

>>"You should be ashamed."

Tses hardly noticed Amber's transformation, but her attention was caught by the words being spoken to her. The scolding tone caught her by surprise, and she lifted her head, gazing at the now human figure in front of her. It was like listening to another language. You caught one word, maybe two, and the general tone. But the actual message seemed to slip past. She just couldn't get a grip, couldn't function right now. She was in a dangerous position, teetering somewhere on the edge of disaster. But she couldn't bring herself to move away.

As she stood, she didn't meet either girl's eyes, but instead looked somewhere off between either of them, or towards the trees. She hated making eye contact with people. Eyes were too revealing, and when she could avoid it, she did. Right now, she had no reason to look at them. She knew what she'd see: frustration, irritation, maybe even disgust. Tses didn't need to be told what she did was wrong. She already knew. But she couldn't do anything about it.

>>"Whether you choose to embrace it or not, you are still a mutant and mutants do not attack their own kind without provocation. Don't expect a sob story to gain you sympathy. You don't know my past or hers, but I will tell you this. If you have a problem with your life then go and change it. Whether you understand it or not, you don't have to be alone with your demons. If you're not a complete ass there are those who will help you, you have only to ask."

Tses honestly didn't understand this mindset. She saw no reason not to fight with mutants just because they were mutants. In her eyes, mutants and humans were the same. Having powers was like having a different colored hair. She didn't think one was really more important than the other. Sure, she didn't like cops, but she had personal reasons for that. She didn't care whether they had powers or not: she hated the authority they wielded and the problems they caused for her. Her gaze sharpened ever so slightly, and she glanced at Amber. One beat, maybe two trickled through in the skipping nature of her mind. ...those who would help you, you only have to ask... Bitterness took hold of her heart, and her eyes sharpened. That idea sent pain right through her. Because she'd asked before. And look where it got her.

"I don't separate humans and mutants. I don't think either are better or worse than the other. I fight my kind same as I fight with humans. And I don't expect sympathy. I don't want it." Tses said coldly. She brushed more blood away, and growled slightly. "I've met people who said they would be there. Met people that seemed different. Met mutants that seemed different. And guess what? They aren't. Same story, same little speech. No one follows through."

>>"Amber is right once again. All of this didn’t need to happen.” Regan was saying. Tses turned slightly towards the voice, like an animal turning to defend against a new enemy. “You are obviously pretty lost and broken right now, but instead of asking for some help, you lash out and try to get yourself killed. Look, you might not know us from a hole in the wall, and you have no idea what we have been through in our lives, but maybe, just maybe we have been through something like what you are going through. I’m pretty sure that both Amber and I are willing to try and understand, heck even willing to try and help, but not if you are going to try and blow us up for no damn reason.”

Tses mouth curled slightly into a frown, and she processed the new words. They stabbed at her, each one sticking like a porcupine barb in her skin. Her emotions stung with each statement, and she wanted nothing more than to just fight both of them and deal with the consequences. They had no right to judge her, and act so high and mighty. It was easy to say things like trust, but it was so much harder to do that. Where she grew up, you only looked out for yourself. You broke an arm? Deal with it. Got caught by the cops? Deal with it. No one cared, no one gave a shit. And she learned to think the same way. You fought to get stronger in those days. If you got caught being sad or depressed, someone would take advantage of that. Fighting was just self defense. She was just an injured animal right now, snarling and trying to keep herself safe.

"I don't need help." She said, straightening her arm bands, and trying to keep the green glow from building on her hands again. Little green tendrils of energy traced up her arms, then went away, and reappeared again. It was evident she was trying to keep the light down, but it was a loosing battle. Her face was a mixture of anger and pain, and the words they were saying just made her build up higher walls. Why would people care. Why would people help. They would understand. "You guys may be part of the whole 'mutant club' of friendship, but I don't see things that way. Being a mutant isn't just some stamp of approval I give to people. I don't want someone to treat me differently because I am one. I don't know why you'd want someone to do the same."

It was heartwrenching just how many mutants were broken shells of what they might have been if the world were just a little bit different, just a little bit kinder. Amber herself was one such and, from what she had been able to glean, so was Regan in her own way. But Tses, in so many ways Tses was broken and shattered in ways neither of them were. They, at least, had been able to find some peace, or so seemed to be the case with Regan, but Tses didn't even seem willing to accept the possibility. How did one help someone who couldn't even admit that help was a possibility?

"I am so sorry for your pain," Amber offered Tses, inclining her head and averting her eyes. It seemed like such a flimsy offering but it was the only thing she had left to give. She had taken upon a responsibility to her pack and to the goals of her pack and that responsibility was to help mutants however and whenever she may but the woman didn't seem to want any help she might have to offer. What then, to do? She couldn't simply walk away and do nothing, leave her to her own self destruction. That would betray everything her pack believed in and everything she had come to believe in. Even if Tses herself wasn't one which Amber could feel loyalty towards, she couldn't betray her family by simply abandoning her. She had a moral code to uphold and she wasn't about to let down anyone of those she had come to care for in failing to live up to it.

"Maybe not all mutants are so different from humans." It was so difficult to separate herself from the deeply ingrained truths of her family. "But some of them are. How is it that you can content yourself with surviving alone? How long is it that you can continue to do so? Humans and mutants alike, we're meant to be social creatures. If we're not the right people to help you," she gestured to herself and Regan, "then find the people who can!" She spoke with a rare intensity, as if trying, by force of will alone, to compel Tses to seek the help she so deeply believed the woman needed. Her downfall, and that seemed depressingly inevitable if things didn't change, would be Amber's failure; her failure to help and live up to those standards she needed to live up to.

Listening to Tses go on about how Amber and her were part of a club and how she didn’t want or need help made Regan throw up her hands in pure exasperation. What was she supposed to do? Nothing was getting through to this girl, their kindness; their concern for her wellbeing was just a joke to her. What the hell was wrong with this girl that people reaching out to her was treated with such hostility?

Regan rubbed her face with her clawed hands and turned away from the two females. She honestly had nothing to say at this point. She was frustrated and angry. She wanted to grab Tses by the shoulders and just shake the hell out of her, but really what good would that do at this point? That girl was so far gone in her sorrow and misery that she would just lash out again and end up in them fighting once again, and this time Regan might not be able to keep her saber tooth in check.

Pacing was the only thing that Regan could do at this point, her tail twitched about behind her, clearly showing her agitation of the situation. She listened as Amber still tried to reach out and help Tses in some way or another, giving her different routes for finding some help. Regan shook her head as she kept pacing, didn’t Amber see how pointless this was? She was wasting her breath and her precious words on a stubborn girl who wanted none of it. Regan respected her for trying though, it was admirable of her to keep going where Regan just wanted to walk away and let the girl wallow in her self-pity. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want it and you can’t offer strength to someone who isn’t willing to fight. Now Regan wasn’t one to walk away from someone who needed her help, but when someone needed help and defiantly refused to accept any sort of it was a waste of her time, time that she could be using to help someone who actually wanted it, someone who would actually appreciate the energy she was using right now to try and give Tses a fighting chance in this cruel world by offering her some friendship, offering her someone she could look to in times of need, but instead it was being thrown back in her face, and in Amber’s face too.

Still fuming over the current situation, Regan finally turned back around to face the women but stayed back a few feet behind Amber. She dropped down to sit in a squat position on her haunches and rested her elbows on her knees. He green eyes darted back and forth from Tses to Amber and back again, silently watching their body language and listening to them talk. Maybe having her stay back in a non-threatening position and just shutting up, Amber could get through to Tses and finally make some sense of all this chaos.

>>"I am so sorry for your pain," the woman spoke, and for the first time, Tses noted something genuine in the remark. The eyes looked away, those dark voids showed little anyway, but the face... she wished she could understand what was there in that face that was different. She moved and talked as if she had memories of a pain like that Tses face, and her voice was perhaps not sympathetic, but empathetic. The difference was what kept her frozen, and what broke through her twisted mind.

Beneath the fire and fury in her heart, Tses felt something stirring, something flickering in the emptiness. Her eyes gazed out with the passion and anger of a lost soul, but there was something deeper than that. It was a fear. Like a beaten animal, she tried everything she could to drive people back. But she was so afraid of feeling pain again, so afraid of being betrayed again. How could someone, anyone, be genuine. How could someone, anyone ever stay? There was so much to go wrong, so much to take someone away. She had cared with all her heart for her sister, but she lost her. She had learned to care again for Ty, and he left her. It was a blow that cut deeper in her heart with a force that she couldn't endure. She was a bird with broken wings, just falling so quickly from the skies. But something made her feel as if she wasn't alone in that feeling. Something made it feel like there was a hope of catching herself still.

>>"Maybe not all mutants are so different from humans. But some of them are. How is it that you can content yourself with surviving alone? How long is it that you can continue to do so?

Tses wasn't content in her situation. Not really. She tried her best to live on her own, but she did it because it was the only life she knew. Survival was all she knew. Since her frozen feet raced away from the hospital in Chicago, she ran, and she kept running. She was a ghost: no identity, no direction, just a wisp of a person, an echo of a sound. She didn't think she was really existing anymore. But it was all she could do, all she knew. If she tried to let go, she might loose herself. But if she ever let go, she might find herself. Who would she be without the pain, the fear? Who would she become? She was carved from the trials in her past, shaped by the flames of adversity. She didn't get here because anyone helped or gave her anything. She got here because she clawed her way out of the shadows of her past and didn't let anything keep her down. Surrendering now would be weakness! She wasn't weak.... was she? Maybe somewhere under her exterior, she was. Just falling, falling falling, no way to catch herself...

>>"Humans and mutants alike, we're meant to be social creatures. If we're not the right people to help you, then find the people who can!"

Tses' expression shook, ever so slightly her brow softened, and the anger seemed to burn out. What was left in those eyes was something lost, something aching and confused. She took a slight step backwards, shaking her head at the two figure. She saw the eyes of Regan still gazing at her from behind Amber, and had watched the feline woman pace in the background as Amber spoke. They were so different, the three of them. Yet in many ways, they were alike. Lost little ghost, floating through humanity trying to find something to make them real.

Amber had obviously been through a dark place, but found someone who gave her a meaning and a direction. Regan had been through a rough past, but was still learning to seek out others and the companionship they offered. But Tses... she never had anyone. She never felt she needed anyone. She never was social, never had friends, and lived in a little world where there was just her and the moon glowing through her veins. But she knew the ache that came from resisting contact with people. How many times had she sat on a rooftop, and watched other children play in the streets? How many times had she watched couples walking down the streets, and wondered what it was like? She watched, she wondered, but never ventured close. Reality just crashed in on her, and now, she had to learn all at once. She didn't know how to start, or what it would turn her into.

But if she didn't change, she wasn't going to survive.

"I don't know how." Tses whispered quietly, and slowly crossed her arms, turning her head slightly away, then glancing back at the two figures. "And I don't know if there is even hope for me... People like me, we're like birds. When something is wrong, we hide it, because weakness attracts the attention of predators. You stay strong, you stay alive. But sometimes, that illness gains so much strength, you can't hide it anymore." She felt her throat tighten slightly, and she snuffed it back down, arms glimmering slightly with the light of her powers. The tendrils of light flowed softly towards the ground as her arm dropped slightly to the side, and it looked like the streams of unshed tears were trying to crawl with gravity to the earth.

"I'm in a place, and I don't think there is a way to help me out of it. Every time someone tries to come near now, something snaps, something attacks. I don't know how to change that. I don't know how to prevent that. Maybe with time, it'll get better. But right now, I'm just a danger to myself and others. And regardless of how cold hearted I am, regardless of my behavior, the only one I'd ever want to hurt is myself." She shot a look towards Regan, that seemed to flicker with a small apology she couldn't word, but her walls were slowly starting to reform, and the vulnerability was getting locked away. Perhaps there was nothing they could do for her, or so it seemed. But their actions had touched her, if only a little. It was glimmer of light in the dark little world she'd trapped herself in.