For almost a month Amber had been back in the city, returned from her self-imposed exile in the woods.  To be back was...agonizing, wonderful, confusing, tumultuous all simultaneously.  Was she glad to be back in the company of other mutants and other humans?  Had she made the right choice in deciding to rejoin her 'kind?  Well, that might depend upon the day one asked and how settled her emotions were feeling at the time.  In other words: the jury was still out on that.  Time would reveal all things.

Human food was a delight rediscovered.  So many wonderful flavours and textures completely foreign in the little patch of forest she had called her territory.  Rarely had she gone hungry, but there was a definite difference between being sated and truly appreciating those things you put into yourself or sustenance.  Sure, there were things she couldn't eat as one of the drawbacks of being half dead, but why dwell on those things she couldn't' have when there were so many wonderful things she could?

To be sleeping inside again, under a roof and within the prison of 4 walls, that was something she was finding surprisingly difficult to settle back into.  During those times when she was awake and active it wasn't so bad,but when she settled down to sleep it felt like those walls were pressing in on her, smothering her.  Other humans seemed to think that a soft bed and a warm room were everything one could ask for in seeking comfortable sleep, but the cold barely bothered her and she'd gotten used to sleeping on the ground within her cozy, little den.  Aside from the interactions with the humans themselves, it was definitely the hardest thing about coming back.

Which brought her to the humans themselves and her ability (or inability, as it often felt) to interact with them.  As a dino, life was easy: Eat, sleep, hunt, protect oneself, occasionally play.  There wasn't much more to life than that and if not for the horrible, biting loneliness, she might have learned to be content in that life.  Among humans, however, there was so much more and it was all so complicated and confusing.  There were so many utterly baffling rules and it was so easy to say or do the wrong things without meaning to or even being aware of the mishap.  Thus, it was those very same humans with whom she craved contact who also served to cause her the most anguish since her return.

Since her return, Amber had been doing a lot of thinking about what she wanted out of life and what she hoped to gain from returning to the human world.  Completing high school was something that the motherly Ghost had recommended but her answer to that was far from certain.  Could she, as something barely alive and looking as monstrous as she did, integrate into the world enough for something like a high school diploma to even matter?  She had more than a few doubts.

What wasn't in doubt was a re-discovered love of knowledge.  The first time she sat before a computer since her return had felt awkward and unnatural but once she started looking up her various interests online, she remembered how much she missed learning things just for the sake of doing it.  There was just so much information out there it could very easily get to be overwhelming and she spent more than one night wiling the hours away on online expeditions.  This was a definite draw to remaining in the human world!

It was during one such night that she made the decision that, along with her new life, perhaps it was time to seek a change in her old life as well or, more specifically, to change one of her alternate forms for something new.  It had been years since she'd made such a change and, as now was the time that change was happening, it felt like the right thing to do.

Such an important decision required a great deal of thought and consideration.  She knew she was limited to 5 forms from the Mesozoic era and the choice of which form to lose was just as important as the choice of which form to replace it.  The compsognathus was the one that would be lost as, as much as she would miss it, it was the one that least fit into a useful niche.  In honor of her lost sister, she wanted something formidable in a fight, something dangerous and intimidating.  After many hours of research, she decided upon the kaprosuchus, a prehistoric crocodyliform that would fit all her needs.

A primarily terrestrial predator, her research discovered it to be over 3 meters in length with a weight of around 1 tonne.  Paleontologists surmised it to be an active predator, chasing down prey on long legs.  A distance relative of modern crocodiles, it had vicious, long teeth, was heavily armored and was very likely a nocturnal hunter.  In a world often hostile to mutants, it would make an excellent addition to her existing arsenal of forms.

Once the target of her desire was chosen, next came the somewhat trickier task of finding out where to find a piece of fossil to imprint.  To her great fortune, the almost complete skull was housed at the American Museum of Natural History.  It would be the second time she'd traveled there in order to acquire a new form, the first time having been the pterodaustro with her sister Aura.  People had gotten hurt in the attempt, then, and they had barely gotten out.  Aura wasn't exactly known for her stealth or her subtlety and, in retrospect, perhaps hadn't been the best person to choose to accompany her.  Still, no one had died and everything had worked out in the end.

This time she planned to travel alone and this time she planned to make a lot less noise and cause a lot less of a commotion.  With luck, she'd pay her fare to get into the public area, change into the rat-sized mecistotrachelos in order to sneak into the non-public area, find her query and then sneak out on the clothing of someone travelling back outside.  That was the plan, anyway.  Time would tell if the plan had any chance of actually working.

The first part, and unusually tricky given her extreme sensitivity to the sun, was to figure out when to leave and how to get to the museum.  Time was on her side and she waited for an overcast, rainy day to venture out.  It wasn't a perfect solution and, given time, even an overcast sky would still burn her, but it offered time and opportunity.  She left in early evening, wrapped in her usually layered robes, and took a taxi to her location.  Fortunately, despite his mysterious departure, it turned out that she still had at least some access to the money that had been his and, by extension, been available to his adopted children.

The ride to the museum was uneventful.  Wrapped in her robes as she was, the fact that she was a mutant was far less obvious than it would have been had she been wearing more conventional clothing.  In theory, she was an adult now so perhaps it was time to consider learning to actually drive so she didn't have to rely upon taxis to get where she needed to go.  It was always a risk, stepping into the vehicle of another and assuming they were both going to take here safely where she needed to go and also that they didn't have a great hatred of mutants.  

The lineup to get into the musuem was likewise uneventful.  Even during overcast days, she disliked being outside during the daylight.  She could feel the sun through the clouds and through the layers of robes, beaming down at her and theatening to burn her sensative skin.  Even with only the slits of her eyes and her hands exposed, the sun felt like an implicit threat.  For years, even before she had retreated from the human world, she had resented her weak human form.  Not only was it soft and fragile with senses far inferior to any other shape, but it couldn't tolerate the harmful rays of the sun for more than a few minutes without developing painful burns.  Sometimes it was hard to accept those limitations.

The original intent, once inside, was to go straight to her intended destination.  However, something about the place brought out the long lost little kid inside her and she couldn't resist the temptation to make her way slowly through the many different displays first.  It was hard, being among the throngs of humans but as discomfort warred with fascination, fascination won.  Of course, there was a special interest in the dinosaur exibits, but those creatures who lived in other eras of the earth's history were almost as fascinating to behold.

Only after exploring all the exibits that interested her did Ambert make her way to the back of the museum where the public was not allowed.  The next part would be the tricky part; finding a place where she could hide long enough to shapeshift into something small and unassuming.  Hopefully she could find a corner where her robes could be stashed for retrieval later, but even if not, there was nothing important in the pockets to be worried about leaving behind.

Where could she hide long enough to change shapes and then sneak into the back area?  The bathroom might have been the obious answer but the problem with that was there was no way to stash her clothing for later retrieveal.  No, she needed somewhere else to hide.  Fortunately, by this late point in the evening the crowds of people were starting to thin out.  Perhaps, if she was quick enough, she might be able to jump behind one of the barriers without being seen and crowch in some of the display folliage.

Luck was with her that day.  Having spotted a display that would serve her purposes nicely, aptly enough a late cretaceous display housing a family of triceritops and lush jungle folliage, it took around 10 minutes of waiting before the moment came where no eyes were watching.  Heart pounding in her chest, she quickly slipped under the barricade and crowched behind an especially large fern.  The colour of her robes had been chosen specifically for this purposes, dark greens that blended in nicely with the plants surrounding them.  Once she had her privacy, it only took a minute for her form to shrink and distort and where once had been a young woman, now stood a tiny Mecistotrachelos.

Next was the challenge of getting from the display she had hidden herself within over to the doors leading to the research labs.  There were both advantages and challenges to being the size of a rat and some of those advantages and disadvantages were one in the same: People often weren't likely to look down.  Her diminutive size would largely work in her favour, so long as she could avoid being inadvertantly injured by the much larger throngs of humans.

As always happened when she assumed one of her dino forms, her senses alighted with sights, sounds and smells that no human with their dulled senses could ever imagine.  An arboreal insectivore, she was fast and agile for her size and possessed both excellent hearing and sight.  By her estimate, her best bet of success lay in skittering from one display to another, staying near to the walls and hopefully out of sight of curious eyes.

Being so low to the ground, it wasn't easy gauging the line of sight for the humans towering above her.  The trip from the first display to the second occurred without incident as did the excursion from the second to the third.  It was the last trip that almost ended in disaster.  As she ran into the open walkway in an effort to get to the last place of relative safety, she heard a woman shouting above her that she had seen a rat.  Heart in her throat, the shouting and pointing went on for several minutes before it was eventually decided that the woman must have been imagining things.

Next was another waiting game.  Being sized tiny and lacking arms and hands to open doors, the only way to get into the research labs was to wait for someone to enter said labs.  She was banking on scientists and other workers coming and going even as the public areas of the museum were starting to shut down, otherwise she might end up stuck there for the entire night.  That was not exactly the most appealing proposition.  While the displays might look lush and full of edible critters, it was all an illusion and she couldn't eat a plastic plant or a plaster insect.

Fortunately the wait wasn't long and although it was difficult to tell time in her present circumstance, her best guess was around half an hour before the doors opened.  A pair of boots walked past her, a distinct beep from a key-card scanner and the human walked through the doors, Amber skittering in just behind him, almost under his feet.  Once again fortune saw fit to smile upon her and the man she followed didn't notice the tiny lizard that trailed behind him.

Once inside, there was a whole new set of struggles to navigate.  Most specifically, where and how did she find what she was looking for.  Looking up and around, the place was huge although no larger than it had been the first time around.  She knew the general area where the dinosaur and related fossils were kept but beyond that general concept, had no idea on the specifics.  Running underneath tables and around equipment, she made her way to the quarter of the research labs she needed.

During this time of evening there were relatively few people around which played strongly to her advantage.  Hiding among fake foliage was a thing easily accomplished but hiding in a lap with pristine, hard floors was quite another.  She relied more upon her hearing than her sight to indicate when it was safe to move from one hiding place to another, darting behind the various objects that littered the laboratory.  It felt like agonizingly slow process, the hurry up and wait game where a quick run would follow several minutes of waiting which would follow another quick run.  

Eventually, however, she made it to her destination at the far corner of the lab.  The challenge now would be to determine which of the tables housed the skull she was seeking.  She had studied pictures of it carefully before leaving on her expedition and was reasonably certain she'd be able to recognize it when she saw it.  It was an almost complete specimen and rather distinctive with large teeth that grew over the openings of it mouth.  So far, nothing like it had ever been discovered before or since.

First, Amber decided, she would explore the tables with the articles presently being studied.  Failing that, she'd go through the specially designed storage drawers used to preserve the fossils and protect them from damage.  She knew from her last trip to the museum that, although the laboratories themselves were locked via key-cards, the drawers were not.  After all, if you can get into the lab you're probably supposed to be able to get into the drawers as well.

Scurrying up the leg of the first table, it was surprisingly difficult to actually determine the nature of the exact shape of some of the larger fossils due to her present vantage point.  As she explored the table, she did her best not to actually disturb any of the delicate fossils or the equipment.  Just because she had basically broken in and was there illegally, didn't mean she didn't have a respect for the work they were doing.

The first three tables were explored and discarded without incident.  Sure, she could use any fossil to give herself a new form, but she was hear for a very specific reason in order to get a very specific new form.  There was a limit to the number of different shapes she could possess at any one time and she was forced to play within that limit.  The shapes she had were treasured so how could she give up one of them for something she knew nothing about?  A little voice that sounded suspiciously like Aura's said she could just steal a few small fossils and bring them home with her, but she dismissed that voice with some irritation.  Even if it was ethical to steal from a museum, it wouldn't be possible to carry the fossils home while still remaining unseen.

Upon reaching the third table, she wasn't as fast as she needed to be in getting herself out of sight.  

"Hey, what's that?"  

She froze in place for half a moment before scrambling behind a crate as quickly as her little legs were able to carry her.  She heard rustling and two men now talking to one another.  They came closer and she silently implored the universe to make sure they didn't find her.  If they did, this whole adventure would be for nothing and the consequences could range from simply being kicked out to going to prison to something much worse.  The words 'lab rat' came to mind and they were among the most terrifying words she could think of.  After some long minutes of searching, however, they returned to their previous tasks, obliviously still confused and weary.  She would have to be more careful going forward.

The remaining tables were searched without incident but also without finding her target.  In her present form, there was no way for her to open any of the drawers, which required both opposable thumbs as well as enough weight to actually pull them open.  Of course, to imprint on the fossil she'd also have to be human but it was much more dangerous to take on that shape for the relatively long period of time necessary to go through countless drawers.  

Once again, it was down to the waiting game.  Although it was difficult to determine exactly how long she'd been in the lab for, it had to have been over an hour.  Time was on her side and now it became more necessary than ever to ensure there was no one around to see her.  The next wait was an especially long one and one difficult to do patiently.  Not only did she have to wait until there were no detectable voices in the lab but no voices for long enough to assume that everyone had gone home for the night.  She was hoping to not have to remain all night, but now it was seeming like the most probably option.

When all voices had departed and all but basic lighting had been turned out, she returned to her human form.  In moments, the tiny lizard was replaced with a naked, mostly human woman.  Modesty was a confusing human convention and one she had little care for, especially given that she was the only person presently in the building.  It had been a long time since the cold had bothered her and she didn't notice the slight cool air.  Although she assumed everyone had left for the night, one never knew when someone might try to enter the lab so time was of the essence to go through all the drawers until she found her target fossil.

For the first time Amber felt a real sense of urgency, almost verging on panic.  In many ways, she hated her human body.  It was weak, lacking in natural defenses and woefully lacking in proper senses.  She had no armor, no claws and barely had teeth.  Her eyes, ears and nose barely qualified as functional in comparison to any of her other forms.  She was learning to appreciate what it could do: hands were glorious things for a great variety of different reasons and that almost made up for the lack of anything else.  Now, however, was one of those times when such appreciation felt hollow.

There were literally hundreds of different drawers, any one which could possibly house the illusive fossil which had been her reason for coming here at all.  Fortunately, each of them came with a neat little label indicating the species found within as well as the year and date of its discovery and where it was first discovered.  It was still a daunting task to read each and every label given the need for haste, but at least it was faster than having to manually open each drawer.

Dozens of tags were read until her goal was found.  Kaprosuchus: Discovered in Niger in the year 2009.  Now, finally, her goal was in sight.  She paused for a moment to listen in case anyone was approaching and, hearing nothing, pulled open the drawer.  Inside was the almost complete skull of the boar crock and she smiled to herself before reaching down a hand and placing it upon the skull.  At the moment of contact, an almost electric shock went through her system and she felt the compsognathus disappear from her body and be replaced by this new and fantastic creature.

Amber almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of footsteps.  Frantically, she ran back to her previous corner, only realizing once she'd gotten there that she had forgotten to close the drawer.  As a human, hiding was not nearly so easy a feat to achieve but the need for a human body had passed.  She'd have to live with the possible consequences of her moment of forgetfulness and hope she wouldn't come to regret it.  With a thought, she returned to her diminutive size and once again, a tiny gliding lizard stood concealed behind a crate.

From her vantage point, she couldn't see the person who entered that portion of the lab, but she could hear them move around.  She heard as the person approached the drawer and closed it and heard as he made his way around the remainder of that corner of the lab.  Once, he came close to her hiding place and she thought she would die of anxiety, but he was looking for a human culprit not for a lizard and didn't think to look down or in the little cracks where humans were to large to fit.  

Eventually the unseen person left, although she remained in her hiding place for a time.  Several minutes later the person came back, this time with a second person.  She could hear their words, as they deliberated as to who had left the drawer open or if they had an intruder in their midst.  There didn't appear to be anything stolen, although who could say for certain without a full examination of the entire laboratory?  It was decided that tomorrow the police would be called and then they'd know for certain.  That decided, the pair finally left.

What was most important was to be gone before law enforcement arrived .  The biggest risk was possible security cameras, but even if they did catch her on tape, it wasn't as if she had actually taken anything.  Maybe she had technically snuck in, but it wasn't like she had committed any violence or property damage to do so, unlike the first time.  No one got hurt and all fossils and equipment remained exactly where they were before she had entered.

METAbots were her greatest fear.  They hadn't yet been built before her retreat but she'd spent enough hours on the internet catching up that she'd heard the stories and many of them were not good.  Not only were they a risk to mutants committing legitimate crimes, but reports were everywhere detailing how many of them went crazy and attacked innocents and often with far more force than was strictly necessary to deal with them.  No, they would be considered worst case scenario.

It was easier the second time around to make her way to the entrance given that the entire lab seemed to be abandoned at this late hour of night.  Predicting the exact time was difficult, but she assumed it was sometime after midnight.  It would likely be after 6 before the first scientists came in for morning and not until 8 that the museum was opened back up to the public.  While waiting, a few hours of sleep seemed like the best option and she found a hidden away corner and curled up.  She'd slept in worst circumstances before.

Although she did sleep, she slept restlessly.  The nerves associated with a need to escape the museum unscathed warred with the excitement of actually trying out her new form.  It had literally been years since she'd last acquired a new one and, although she would miss her tiny little camptosaurus, she knew this was ultimately the right choice.  With the boar crock, she'd finally have something with some real power at her disposal.  Not that her deinonychus didn't serve her well and not that it didn't have an impressive competence when it came to doing harm and killing things, but sometimes one just needed a little bit more size and a little bit more power.  Now she had that.

Eventually she was awoken by the sound of a door opening.  Creeping as close to the door as she was able to without being spotted, when the next door opened she would be out of there.  That occurred, maybe 10 minutes later, when a female scientist entered the room.  Thank any Gods that might be listening (not that she believed in any of that) that it wasn't the cops or Metabots.  Those would be coming soon but she wasn't about to stick around and wait for them.  She scurried out the door, out of sight out of mind and back into the public area of the museum.

It was far more empty in the public section at this early hour of morning, mainly consisting of maintenance staff and the like.  As such, it took relatively little time to find the area in which she had stashed her robes.  Of course, now came the new problem of maintenance staff patrolling to clean the area of debris and ensure that all the displayed were clean and up kept.  Fortunately they hadn't yet gotten to the area where her robes were stashed.  Unfortunately it wouldn't take them much longer to get there.

It was a race against time and the nameless attendant to get to her robes, change, and flee with them on her person.  A skitter across the ground in order to find them followed by a painful shift into her human body.  The shift itself took less than a minute, as it always did, the scramble to put on her robes took slightly longer than that.  Her breath was short as she imagined all the terrible things that might happen if the attendant caught her in the museum after hours.  She'd be thrown out for certain, and quite possibly thrown into jail as well.  That wasn't something she'd be able to handle.

Scrambling to clothe herself as quickly as she was able to move, she had scant moments to spare in fleeing to an area of the museum that had all ready been attended too.  Damn her weak human senses anyway, being unable to hear the quiet broom swishes or the patter of footsteps as she had been only moments before.  Having made note of where the employee had and had not all ready cleaned, she made a mad dash along the wall until she was safely behind yet another display.  Once there, she crouched down and prayed to Gods she didn't believe in that she'd done enough to keep herself hidden from too curious eyes.

It was tempting to once again regain her lizard form in order to make use of its enhanced senses, but this time around she refrained.  Instead, she crouched, silently waiting for the public to start filtering into the museum in order to once again enjoy the pubic displays.  It was, perhaps, an hour before they started arriving and she waited another hour after that to make her departure in order to ensure she did't attract undue attention to herself.  The first sight of daylight upon exiting its doors was among the most beautiful she had ever seen.  She had done it. She had successfully snuck in, acquired a new form, and made her way out all in one piece while maintaining her freedom.  And now she was free to return home to The Mansion, exhausted but pleased by her success.