Amber might have chosen to change into a styracosaurus but there were certain challenges with that.  Most specifically, styracosuaruses were big, much bigger than deinonychuses and often bigger than really fit comfortably in somewhat crowded locations like the Mansion grounds.  Even with not too many people around, something the size of an elephant and not just any elephant, but an elephant with 2 foot giant horns, wasn't exactly practical.  Next time, perhaps.

"Hey, Amber. Nice feathers.  I think we can understand each other."

She chirped in shock and excitement and took a surprised hop backwards.  Someone could actually understand her!  She wasn't just a chirping, trilling bird-like creature, but something another person could actually comprehend.  Amazing!

"You have no idea how amazing this is."  To the outside world, she spoke in a series of trills, chirps and twitters.  "Its not easy to get humans to understand when all you can do is make bird sounds."

"Well luckily we can communicate with each other. Isn't that great?"[/i] Derek smiled widely at the predator and slowly took steps toward her. Apparently dinosaurs did have feathers. Which explains how they evolved into birds and soworth. He glanced up into Amber's reptile eyes before gently running his fingers against her feathers.

"In this form you can take down a lot of people." He said with a vocal chuckle. "How did you find the fossils for the three animals you can turn into? Did you go to a museum?"

It really was great being able to actually be able to speak to another person while in one of her non-human forms.  She could have all the advantages of being able to see and hear better than any human while still being able to make herself properly understood.  For the first time, she truly began considering getting her powers fully trained and maybe putting them to good use actually helping people.  Of course, she was more than proficient in their day to day use, but maybe she could do more with her life too?  Maybe.

"I don't hunt people, but it is very good for hunting." Despite what one particular woman believed, she didn't actually eat people. Not intentionally, anyway.

"I may have snuck into a couple of museums in order to gain access to their fossils."  If there was any way for a dinosaur to look sheepish, she looked as sheepish as a dinosaur could look.  "I didn't steal anything though, I'd never do that."  They just didn't tend to let young women in to handle their expensive and fragile research materials, was all.  She allowed herself to be pet; it felt nice.

"Oh, well, that's definitely good." Derek continued to examine Amber's raptor body. It was certainly designed to take down prey much larger than themselves. God, what Derek wouldn't give to watch one of these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat.

"Mm, have you been to the Smithsonian Museum yet? They have dinosaur fossils there. Maybe going there and being able to touch the exhibits there will allow you to add more dinosaurs to your register." Derek commented before moving back to the front of her.

"I bet those teeth of yours could slice through anything."

As interesting as it was to have someone who could actually understand her birdlike vocalizations, it was still more comfortable communicating in actual words.  "I'm going to change back now.  You might want to look away."  Not only because of the grotesque nature of the transformation but also because humans had a strange aversion to nakedness.  It was one of their more baffling traits.

With a thought, her human body returned to her and she spent a minute re-garbing.  Protected once again from the dangers of the sun, she turned back around to resume the conversation.  "I love the Smithsonian Museum.  That's where I've found most of the fossils I've used.  Funny thing is, they don't use real fossils in the displays.  Those are fossil replicas because its too dangerous to have delicate real fossils out where the public could accidentally damage them.  I had to sneak into the research areas."  Yup.  That had definitely been a thing.  Twice.

Amber paused a moment to consider her next words.  "How would one become an X-men if they wanted to, anyway?"

Derek nodded his head and turned around again like he did before. The same sounds that were made when she dino-shifted the first time happened again, but reverse.

When he started to hear Amber talk again, Derek turned back around to face her. "Oh, well that explains it," Derek paused, "Have you tried going back? Maybe sneakin' in again allow you to get in touch with more dinosaur fossils. Like at the American Museum of Natural History. They have a lot of different fossils."

Amber laughed at the suggestion that she should sneak back into the museum to find herself more forms to shift into, not used to others encouraging some of her less than legal activities.  Granted, it was only a little illegal since she wasn't hurting anyone or stealing anything, but it was still against the law and the human world was filled with laws and rules.

"Oh, I'll be back again one day.  I can only have some many different forms, though.  If I want to learn a new one,  have to lose one of the ones I all ready have.  Right now, I'm very happy with my selection."  She had a healthy range of different types of dinosaurs with the only niche she was really missing being something that could survive under water.  Eventually, she might even have one of those.  

Oh, so that must've been one of the applications of Amber's powers. She could only transform into three different dinosaurs at once and if she wanted a new form, she'd have to switch out one of her current forms. From what Derek had seen and heard, she had a good, diverse batch of dinosaurs already.

"Understandable," Derek searched for the watering can before finding it. There was still a bit of liquid left inside so he decided to go ahead and finish off a couple of bushes. "From the form I just saw, I say you're good to go already." Derek tilted the water can over the base of the rose bush and watched as water soaked the ground. A couple of butterflies fluttered around his head before going off into Amber's direction.

"I'll bet some of the animals you talk to must be pretty interesting." While not exactly a feral mutant, she did have some connection to the instincts of the prehistoric animals who's forms she could assume.  How different might those instincts be for modern animals?  Likely she'd never have a real answer to that question.

"Its not all about being able to kill things.  I mean, I'm good at that but only when I need to.  To see and hear and scent the world as a deinonychus or other dinosaur, no human bound by human form can really understand."  The strength and the claws and the teeth were all well and good, but it was the way the world bloomed with the enhanced senses that most animals and dinosuars alike possessed compared to humans that was the true gift.  She looked nervously down at her fee, not wanting to come across exclusionary.

"Oh, it is. You gain a lot of information about the world around you," Derek stated, "I remember falling asleep out in the woods and when I woke up, a fox was resting on top of me eating the bones of some rodent. I was too stunned by the cuteness to really care." That was one of his most favorite moments at the Mansion. It was something that summed up his life in a nutshell.

Derek nodded his head. "Okay, I can see where you're comin' from. I've always wondered how it felt to be an...animal. I can take to them all day long, but I'll never know how they communicate with the natural world." Derek turned to look at Amber. "And luckily, you can."

Amber giggled at the mental image of the fox and what it must have been like to simply wake up with one who had decided to make friends.  "I bet that was some experience."  She could be silent enough to get close to other animals, of course, but she smelled wrong for any of them to really make friends with her.  Unnatural.  Dead.

"I guess we all have our wishes in life.  Who knows, maybe one day you'll have that experience.  What you are now isn't always what you'll be in the future."  Cryptic.  Ya, maybe kind of.  But her own experiences going from a mostly human girl to a walking corpse had taught her that, where being a mutant was concerned, things didn't always remain the same.

Taking a brief look up at the still very bright sun, she realized that her time out in the sunlight was coming to the end.  Beneath her robes, her skin was starting to itch and that was a sign.  "I'm sorry, but I think I need to go inside.  The sun isn't good for me.  I enjoying our talk little talk, though.  Than you for it.  Than you for it. I hope I'll see you around some more."  The friendly smile she offered remained hidden behind her veil.

Derek laughed a bit. "It was. Hopefully I won't end up waking up next to a black bear when I fall asleep again outside." That might be a little bit too much for Derek if that happened.

That was a very good thought to have. "Yeah, you're right." Derek smiled kindly at Amber. He couldn't wait to run into her again.

"Thanks for helping me with watering the garden. It really means a lot," Derek placed the watering can by his side, "See you around!" Derek gave her a wave before picking up the water cans and heading back to the greenhouse.