Helleber Kinlan trotted down the bent wooden stairs, a bowl of soup steaming from between his hands. He paused at the bottom only long enough to push the unlatched door open with one hoof, balancing easily with his feathered tail, and continued into the spread of a convenience store.

A corner unit, Helleber had emerged into the section of the store that faced the main road. He glanced around, but the store was empty and he simply slipped behind the main counter. He settled himself on a stool, flicking his tail a few times to keep the softer feathers at its base from catching beneath him, and elbowed a few papers aside to make space for his bowl. A spoon he produced from behind one ear, and he set about his supper as evening cast its lengthening shadows across the store; Deermart was open 24/7, since the owner lived upstairs, didn't really go anywhere, and found it more effective to fend off thieves by always being open than hunkering down and waiting for dawn.

Such thoughts were unnecessary for the moment, however. It was a quiet evening, and his day workers hadn't reported anything unusual. He figured there would be a customer or two throughout the night, as usual, but nights were never busy. He always had time to clean and stock and go over the papers. He was absently musing over whether or not there would be enough from that day to restock - he had gone through everything the night before - when the door bell twinkled.

Skydancer was of mixed views when it came to the fact that she was back in the city, away from her circus family. It had been a wonderful few months, traveling and performing in front of a crowd. It brought back memories of her earlier life as a gymnast, although the life of an acrobat was for more cynamatic than any gymnast she had ever known. At first it had been intimidating, the need to play to a crowd, but given time she had not only adapted to it but learned to love it. The months spent away from home had been wonderfully healing, not to mention how much good it had done in accepting the fact that she was, and would forever after be, a visible mutant. But it had also been exhausting and, now that she was back in the city, she realized just how badly she needed a break from it all. Luckily she had enough funds to last her months and she intended to make the best of it.

It came as a bit of a shock when Skydancer went looking for a place to stay, just how much tension was in the city. With her circus family, it was easy to forget that the outside world simply didn't have that easy acceptance of mutants. If anything, it seemed there was even more tension than she could remember from before she departed, though that could easily be chalked up to the fact that she had gotten used to simply being accepted and embraced for who and what she was any any deviation of that came as something of a shock to her system. Still, it hadn't taken her too long to find herself a small little one bedroom that was affordable and all her own. She had paid the landlord her month's rent and began to settle in immediately. There were still many things to do, buying proper furniture not the least of it, but it was a unique feeling of satisfaction knowing that she was now living on her own and able to support herself with the funds she had earned through her own efforts.

Having gotten a good start on settling, Skydancer decided that evening to go out and explore the neighborhood. Deermart was the first place to really catch her eye and, having nothing better to do, she opted to wander inside. What greeted her was an entirely unexpected sight. The store itself seemed relatively normal, as far as 24/7 stores went, but it was the man by the cash register that really caught her eye. He appeared to be some sort of hybrid between a deer, a bird and a man, complete with stunning feathers and fur.

In the past, Skydancer would have been too insecure to approach the mutant, still unsure of her own place in the world as the girl with the purple skin. With her newfound confidence, however, it wasn't nearly so much of a problem. Besides, she remembered acutely what it felt like to be the freak in the crowd. With a friendly smile she approached the counter. "I must say, and I hope you don't find this too strange, but I think you look quite fascinating."

When the door bell went off, Helleber looked first for his cat; Early tended to be a better greeter than he was. All of the visible perches were empty, however; there would be no delaying the customer with feline attentions. Still, he took his time, balancing his spoon on the side of the bowl so that he wouldn't have to fish it out from beneath the celery and carrots and potatoes later, and then sliding sideways off the stool so that his tail feathers wouldn't catch.

He was about to ask if there was anything he could help with when he finally caught sight of the customer. He blinked, and then narrowed his eyes slightly, peering at the woman. There was something distinctly odd about her skin. His ears twitched a little, and he glanced around the store; not being able to distinguish colours properly, he had developed a little system; he kept things he knew the colour of in nicely obvious places throughout the store, in case he needed comparison. Comparison was a good thing right now; it showed him that, no, his eyes weren't going even weirder; the customer was indeed purple.

Purple? How did purple make sense? He continued to blink as she approached the counter, all calm cheerfulness, and it took him a moment to process her words and respond. "Er... thanks?" he said, not quite sure what to make of her. He gave himself a slight shake, though, some of his feathers rustling, and faced the customer properly, shoulders relaxing back and wings tucked neatly behind him, though they had flicked past his sides for a moment when he shook. He surreptitiously tugged at his jacket; it had gotten a little crooked while he was getting his dinner. "Is there anything I can help you with, ma'am?"

Skydancer hadn't meant to make the feathered deer mutant uncomfortable but she got the impression that she might have accidentally done just that. It wasn't that she didn't understand; she did, probably better than most. Only scant months ago she would have been profoundly uncomfortable if anyone had so much as commented on her unnatural purple skin, but a time with people who didn't care about such things had healed her mind and spirit in profound ways. She wasn't sure about the healing of others but she knew she had to at least show the kind of acceptance that had been shown her.

"Is there anything I can help you with, ma'am?"

Well that was a question that probably should have had an obvious and immediate answer, but no such answer came to mind. "In truth, I'm not really looking for any sort of help. I've just moved into a new neighborhood and am trying to learn my way around. Your store caught my eye." Skydancer shrugged and smiled apologetically.

"Have you been in the neighborhood long? Are the natives, um, ok with mutants?" For the moment the store remained quiet and she wasn't sure when else she'd get the opportunity to ask such questions, except by hard first hand experience. Just because she had managed to find more acceptance in herself didn't mean those around her were likely to be any more accepting.

Helleber tipped his head. Not a customer at the moment, then, but if she lived in the area, then definitely a potential customer. Scaring away potential customers wasn't good for business... though scaring away potential thieves was, of course. Still, this individual was currently classed as a potential customer, and keeping thieves and nasty individuals away from customers helped the customers have enough money to buy from him. "Well, I've lived in this area and those nearby for my entire life," he said, a touch drily. "There are some areas you won't want to head in the dark; there are quite a few churches in the immediate few blocks, and most of the, well, idiots, won't follow anyone into them if you do run into trouble. The population's pretty diverse, lots of humans coming from the Caribbean and Africa, so there are some interesting stores around."

He rested his chin on a hand for a moment, considering. "The natives vary a great deal," he said eventually. "Most people around here are busy enough trying to get by, but there are definitely some who are less than fond with, ah, mutants." His face twisted slightly; he wasn't excessively fond with the term, though he had more than enough experience with mutants in general not to be on the same page as the local mutant-haters.

"First time you come across them, make sure you don't let them push you around. At all." He softened slightly and let his hand fall down again. "If they think they can get away with something, they'll never give up. On the other hand, it's not usually all that hard to get their respect. Stand up to a few and the word spreads. Then all you have to deal with are the new fools and a couple who've been hit in the head so many times that they think they're tougher than the people who've already beaten them up." He rolled his eyes; that sort was mostly what he had left to deal with.

Skydancer listened attentively as the man spoke to her. It wasn't as if she was a stranger to living in cities or even in this particular city, she was just a stranger to that particular neighborhood. Still, it was good to meet another friendly face especially given the number of faces out there who weren't friendly towards someone who happened to be coloured purple. She may have found a pocket of acceptance in her circus family but unfortunately that didn't really extend to most of the rest of the world.

"Don't worry, I can more than take care of myself," Amber answered with a smile and a glint in her eye. "Its sort of one of the advantages of being a mutant, isn't it?" It wasn't that she enjoyed violence or committing harm upon others, but she was practical about it. If threatened she would act to defend herself and those around her. Not only that but her power, as much fun as she was sometimes able to have because of it, was dangerous. While she had never killed and hoped never to do so, she had hurt people with it and probably would be forced to do so again. It was dangerous and, more than that, it was potentially deadly if she let it be. In truth, she could cause a lot of death if she were the type to do so.

"Being a mutant really is a mixed blessing, isn't it?" Skydancer asked, snapping out of her reverie. "It can be amazing and empowering but it also puts us in a lot of danger and, depending on the mutant, can put a lot of other people in danger as well." She smiled apologetically, realizing this probably wasn't the place or time for such a discussion. Coming back to the city really had put her in a strange mood.

Helleber inclined his head slightly, and took the purple woman at her word that she could take care of herself. Statistically, an odd colour skin was highly unlikely to be the only aspect of her particular mutation. For himself, however... "The advantage varies," he said with a touch more dry humour than he might have had at a different part of his shift. It was early, however, and he was in a decent mood. "It is, after all, rather dependent on being distinctly more than you appear to be."

Of course, Helleber's misleading weight and associated strength was usually enough to offset the disadvantage of, well, the rest of him. Still, if he had the opportunity, he wasn't sure he would turn down the opportunity to have been born, if not human entirely, then at least human enough to satisfy his parents, wherever and whoever they were.

"Hm?" Even as the purple customer's words broke herself from her thoughts, they jarred Helleber from his own musings. "That it is," he agreed. Most of the time, he didn't dwell on whether it was more of a mixed blessing or a mixed curse; it was simply a part of his life. His expression, not quite smiling but at least closer to it than he usually went, faded to neutrality as his customer continued. Yes, being a mutant was dangerous, both to the mutant and those around them. Had he not considered what would (had) happened to people immediately near him when he was driven to shift? And that was only the most drastic, most accidental and uncontrollable way in which he could hurt others. He paused, awkward in the sudden lack of knowledge as to where to take the conversation. Its current location was, while not entirely normal or comfortable, at least... disturbing. Yes, it was rather disturbing. "Are, ah, are there any particular places or services you are looking for in the area?" he managed after a moment, clinging to the earlier topic of conversation in the absence of any new subject.

Purple or not, Skydancer knew she had certain advantages over other visible mutants. In particular, there was no way for anyone to predict, based upon her unusual skin alone, what her powers actually were. The prospect of the unknown alone was enough to dissuade many potential assailants. Of course, there was no way to know for certain that a mutant with the printings of an animal actually had abilities related to that animal, but it was an assumption that was easier to make.

"If you don't mind my asking, do you have any powers beyond being furthered and feathered?" Not wanting to take up the man's time with simple idle chit chat, Skydancer walked a short way to pick up a bottle of water and placed it on the till, fishing out some coins to pay for it. Soda pop had never been much to her liking.

"Well, I guess a local gym might be useful," Skydancer answered, quite content with the change of subject. She hadn't meant for things to get quite so serious with a complete stranger. "I'm something of an acrobat and a gymnast so physical fitness is important." And sometimes the exercise of jumping from rooftop to rooftop and swinging from building to building just wasn't feasible, no matter how much fun it was.

Helleber's ears flicked sharply back before he caught himself and returned to polite attention. Fortunately, the woman proved herself to be a customer after all, if only in a small way, and gave him a chance to consider his options. She had not offered her ability; by rights he had absolutely no obligation to discuss the remains of his own. However, if he did reveal it, he could likely get hers as well, and in a neighbourhood with a high potential for trouble, information on unknowns was often very useful - especially mutant unknowns.

When it came down to it, he simply didn't want to talk about it, but knowing what a new neighbour could do might prove helpful for his business. He flicked his tongue against the backs of his teeth once, sharply. "Very little," he said briefly, and after a moment's hesitation, tapped one of his currently dormant antler buds with a seemingly overgrown black fingernail. "Most of the year, though, I have antlers." He sighed. "You may have noticed the gashes on every door frame in here, at about such a height." He gestured to the rough height where his antlers had the greatest spread, somewhere over seven feet from the ground. There were indeed gashes and dents and scrapes on each door frame at that height.

He had begun ringing up her purchase as he spoke, and sorted out her bits of change as he finished. "Mostly, I'm just me," he said, continuing to stay silent on the most annoying aspect of his mutation. "I take it your have your own mysteries," he said absently, not truly asking but hopefully pointed enough that she would provide the information he would find useful without thinking much of it. He slid the change across the counter to her, as usually a touch reticent to actually come in contact with anyone. "Gyms? There nearest one is just a block or two east of here. If you stay on the main road. Church, it's hard to miss. I can't say I know anything more about it; they aren't my thing," He shrugged lightly, but set aside her comment of acrobatics for later reference. Fit and agile; such qualities did bear consideration, if she turned out to be less than savory.

In truth, Skydancer hadn't actually noticed the marks on the wall until they were brought to her attention but now that she did see them, she couldn't help but think the man before her must be quite impressive with a head full of antlers. "I'm sure those must be an intimidating sight, not to mention potentially dangerous." She took a sip of her bottled water, grateful for its cool refreshment.

Skydancer caught the hint regarding her own powers and smiled. While her purple skin she might have considered a curse once and, if truth be told, sometimes still did, her actual powers were another matter entirely. They allowed her to do things that most people could only dream of and it was difficult not to feel blessed when fully experiencing what they allowed her to do. Mixed blessings indeed.

"It's a lot more impressive when outside and I can really give a proper demonstration regarding what they can do, but this should at least give you an idea." At those words, a tube pushed itself through the top of her wrist, razor sharp tip causing a brief burst of pain. There was a drop of blood before the wound closed a moment later, healed around the tube now outside her body. It waved in the air a moment before she sent it out to wrap itself around a container of Pringles. It then set the Pringles down upon the service desk before disappearing back into her skin, the mark disappearing within seconds.

"I don't usually eat junk food but what the hell, right?" Skydancer began digging for a bit more change.

"Well, recognized attempts at burglary do seem to go down when they're fully grown, but that could just be the time of year," Helleber replied lightly. "As for danger, well, they really are more annoying than anything, even when I get fed up with them and sand the tips to blunt them." He shook his head tolerantly. "I suppose, though, that if I did actually use them to, I dunno, fight somehow, they could do a fair bit of damage." He shrugged.

The purple woman's warning really didn't prepare him for what was about to happen. He stared, awestruck (and a tiny bit disturbed) as a tendril of some sort emerged from her wrist. His nostrils flared at the slight scent of blood, and he forced himself to breathe, deeply and slowly. Blood wasn't one of his favourite things. Not by a long shot. Okay. So the purple woman could shoot tubethings out of her skin and... move them, apparently. He blinked as it grasped a Pringles tube and brought it to the desk. He stood, a little stunned, while she rummaged for change. "I... imagine that makes for quite the party trick," he said after a moment. He automatically rang up the chips. He blinked, still thinking of the blood. "Does it hurt?" he eventually asked, nodding to her already unblemished wrist.

Skydancer had learned to enjoy the reactions her power sometimes provoked. It hadn't always been the case. Back before she had joined the circus, she rarely felt like anything more than some sort of freak of nature, but she had learned to revel in what she was. So what if people stared, at least make it something worth staring at. Of course, picking up a can of Pringles wasn't nearly so impressive as her usual acrobatics but a reaction was a reaction.

"I... imagine that makes for quite the party trick,"

Skydancer grinned back at the deerman. "I suppose you could say that. I'm an acrobat by trade and these tubes kind of make my show. You have to have a gimmick to make it as a public spectacle and this is mine."

"Does it hurt?"

"A little," Skydancer shrugged. It was a pain she was used too. "But my skin heals real fast. I'm Skydancer, by the way." Since they were both conversing and exchanging money for goods it seemed introductions were in order.

"Acrobatics?" Helleber blinked. He'd never met an acrobat before, as far as he knew. He considered her again. So this was what an acrobat looked like? Other than the purple skin and hidden tubes, anyway. Curious. "You must be entertaining to see in action," he offered - not that he was in any way asking for her to demonstrate in his store. He didn't want anything to get broken, and everything he had ever heard of acrobatics strongly recommended keeping it out of his store.

"It must be useful to heal quickly." He held up a hand briefly. I have no such luck, though I suppose my fur does reduce my incidence of paper cuts. Unfortunately, I suspect any such benefit is entirely overridden by the amount of paperwork I have to do." He shrugged; it wasn't as if such a thing actually bothered him. "Helleber Kinlan," he replied. Skydancer probably wasn't her birth name, but it seemed an appropriate title for an acrobat.

"Acrobatics? You must be entertaining to see in action,"

"Now that you mention it," Skydancr answered, "I suppose that I am pretty entertaining." She didn't consider herself to be particularly egotistical, but she did have a pretty good handle on her abilities. Besides, the crowd seemed to like her. She dug into her bag and pulled out a card with the name and website of her circus troupe. "If you're ever looking for a day of entertainment, this is who I work with." She handed the card over.

"I'm afraid my healing skin doesn't help with much that's more serious than paper cuts," Skydancer replied with a sheepish shrug of her shoulders. "Paper cuts, minor cuts and bruises, that's about it. Seems to be a skin only sort of thing. So, probably not so much more useful than your fur."

At the name offered Skydancer extended a hand for shaking. "Pleasure to meet you."