It had been a good night for Amber. She had left the safety of Sanctuary shortly after dusk, found a convenient spot to shift and proceeded to spend the next couple of hours lurking the underside of the city as a Compsognathus. That delicate balance between her human life and her predator life was one she finally felt she was starting to get a handle on. Ins the daylight hours she either slept or re-aquanted herself with human technologies and human comforts and at night, more often than not, she went into the city or the forests around the city to hunt and remain connected to that other half of herself.

Having gotten her share of skulking in the shadows, Amber had returned to human form, putting on her heavy robes which served to insulate her from the cold. Hidden within its many pockets were the knife she carried on her always, at the urgings of her sister Aura, as well as a small amount of money and a cell phone. These were the things required of her when she ventured out into the human world.

During winter it was never entirely pleasant to be outside as Amber wasn't well adapted to cold in any form, but it was also entirely necessary. Now, however, she had done what was needed this night and all she wanted was something warm and some food of the sort she couldn't catch and kill herself. A quick look at the GPS of her phone told her there was a 24/7 convenience store nearby going by the name Deermart. A curious name, but that wasn't likely to bother her any.

A few minutes of walking and the store came into view, lights surprisingly welcoming. Amber opened the door and walked in, pitch black eyes taking in the sights inside. There didn't seem to be much exceptional about the place and, for once, she was thankful for it. Now, as long as she didn't receive any grief for being a mutant, something that happened more often than she'd like to admit, she could finish off the night positively.

Earl Grey was in a lively mood tonight. Sure, it made the night pass more interestingly, but Helleber could only play so much hide and seek! And Early was insanely good at it, even if Helleber was equally good at pinpointing the direction of sound and had a keen sense of smell. His cat, on the other hand, also had paws rather than hooves to walk on - and the flooring was linoleum - and wasn't next to colourblind. Not that Early was colourful to begin with; solid grey was far more subtle than the bold red-brown, tan, black, and white that adorned Helleber's fur and feathers.

Which gave him away again. Helleber heaved a sigh as Early seemingly dropped from the sky onto his crouch-curved back, slipped on his back feathers, and caught himself in the crook of one wing by wrapping his clawed paws around Helleber's wing shoulder. "Fine, fine, you won that one. Again." He twisted around to haul the cat off him, and Early sprang to the ground and took off across the store, weaving expertly and silently between the aisles. Helleber stood, stretching his back and wings. If that cat didn't get tired of this game soon, he was going to have to break out the catnip.

The door bell jingled. Helleber immediately forgot about the cat and strode from the back corner of the store to see who had come in at such a late hour. "Need a hand with anything?" he called, sighting a figure wrapped in bright red. Helleber preferred it when people wore red. It stood out so much more and there was so much more variety to it, no matter what anyone else tried to say. He shivered slightly, the fur on his chest and arms fluffing, as a waft of cold air reached him from the door.

The question was: What did Amber actually want to eat now that she had found a place to sell her food? Increasingly she had found herself with a sweet tooth, perhaps owing to the fact that it was a uniquely human experience. It wasn't that she couldn't shift into a prey form and thus enjoy the sweetness of fruit, its just that she didn't. The instincts of her forms were only there in slightest degree, the barest shadow of what she imagined they must feel like in truth. They were there, however, and she didn't enjoy those that came from prey creatures. She was a hunter and a predator in truth and would only deign to be otherwise if it should prove to be absolutely necessary.

"Need a hand with anything?"

Abruptly the decision of what to purchase was delayed and Amber turned around to face the speaker. Upon seeing him she smiled, black eyes gazing upon his face. Mutant and beautiful mutant at that. Her sister's aesthetic preferences had influenced her own more than she might have thought. Of course, it was obvious that the man was no predator creature, but even a feathered deer was something beautiful to behold. It was also something she had never seen before.

"How refreshing to see someone of your stature working in a public place such as this." It would be interesting to see if he was able to meet her unnerving black eyes; that said something about a person. "As for help, I am simply looking for a late night snack. Something sweet, perhaps."

The red-robed customer turned at his voice. Helleber barely kept his ears from twitching; he was certainly getting a lot of mutants in here of late. Solid black eyes were also about as helpful as, well, purple skin, at least when it came to giving clues as to the nature of someone's mutation.

He might as well have left his ears to do as they wished; the customer's first comment was more than enough to knock them clear back. "It is the right and responsibility of each person in a society to provide some service or product," he replied warily. It wasn't common for him to come across mutants who either felt that they shouldn't have to work, being oh-so superior, or were so terrified by the local human-dominated society that they couldn't even fathom participating in it.

Whatever this woman's perspective, she was a customer. He straightened his shoulders and folded his wings more neatly behind him. "Well, I do have a fair selection of sweet foods," he said politely, looking next to the woman's eyes rather than actually at them. When he tried, his own just kept sliding away and refusing to stay on target. "There is candy in those aisles, and some baked products on the racks against that wall." He gestured to each in turn.

"It is the right and responsibility of each person in a society to provide some service or product,"

Amber nodded, although she wasn't quite sure she understood. A slight frown played itself across her face. It was, perhaps, one of those human things she had found herself disconnected from in the past two years, although even thinking back before then she wasn't sure it was ever something she believed. Or, perhaps it was. Memories from that time were hazy in her mind, having lost her clarity in her time trapped as a Deinonychus in the rain forest.

"Why?" Amber finally asked, curiosity evident. There was no judgement in the question, merely a hint of confusion.

"Baked goods, I think, is exactly what I'm looking for." Amber smiled and went off to peruse the shelf of cookies and cupcakes. Dinosaurs couldn't hunt cupcakes on their own.

Helleber wasn't bothered at all that the customer didn't understand; it seemed that the majority of people had never bothered to think about it. In order to be a society, the people involved have to work together, even if it's as self-centered as selling for profit something you have in excess to people who can't get by without it and can't get it on their own. If someone doesn't participate in their society in any way at all, how can you really say that they are a part of that society? They're just someone who happens to be in the same area."

Helleber kept out of the woman's way as she made her way to the other end of the store. Keeping an ear in her direction, he turned around and returned to looking for his cat. "Hiding while there's a customer here is really not appropriate, you silly cat," he muttered beneath his breath. "Get your butt out here already."

He was only a few aisles away from the door when it slammed open, the bell jumping about madly. He turned sharply, only to find a lean, unfashionably dressed kid, probably in his late teens, standing aggressively in the doorway. Helleber stared down the short barrel of a small handgun. He glanced towards the counter and the shotgun shelved below it. Not... likely to work. He shivered and slowly lowered his hand to his hip.

Shi--

He didn't have his belt on. No belt, no holster, no handgun of his own. This was not the best situation to be in, not at all. He forced himself to breathe evenly, to stare the coil of fear in his gut in the eye and tie it back down. "May I help you?" he said evenly. He'd emptied the cash register fairly recently, so there was really only his float inside. That might satisfy him, or it would give Helleber the chance to snag his shotgun. He only hoped he wouldn't feel pressured enough to break anything, and would leave the red-robed woman alone.

Amber liesuraly perused the baked goods before finally choosing a cinnamon bun. Right there was one of the primary reasons, she decided, that she was never again going to neglect her human side. Sometimes it was the small things in life.

Amber listened as the man spoke about the workings of society and nodded thoughtfully. "So you're saying that society functions almost like a very large pack with everyone supporting one another." Put that way it started to make a lot more sense although she still wasn't at all certain she wanted to be a part of this greater society. Or at least, she was fairly certain she didn't want to be a part of the greater human society. Should a society of mutants come about, well, that might be different. After all, was that not what her own pack was fighting for?

Amber might have decided to say more except at that point the door slammed open rather aggressively revealing a disheveled and angry looking youth. That, in and of itself, might not have been cause for concern, especially at the hour it presently was. The handgun he was holder, however, most certainly was.

Amber felt a cold shiver of fear make its way down her spine. She wasn't good with guns in the best of times and, in her weak and slow human form, things were even worse. Under her cloak, she wrapped a hand around the ever-present knife her sister, Aura, had convinced her to carry. It felt inadequate compared to her natural weapons but in order to access those natural weapons she needed a distraction. She could only hope Deerboy managed to offer that distraction.