Aura had no idea what to do or say. She had agreed not to expose the x-men hide out. She would not break her promise but she had needed to get out for some air. To that end she was also going to try and be on her best behavior. She did not want to cuase the x-men more trouble after they had saved her.

She did want to fight to blow off some steam but she had no desire for actual destruction or to kill. It was so strange seeing people walking the streets like this and to be not searching for a target. It was interesting to see the building and the people though and the animals.

She picked a nice looking pagan shop she saw and decided to enter the place. She had no idea what the word pagan meant but it seemed as good a place as any. She had seen a few other mutants walk in and out of the place after all.

She walked in and looked around in wonder, she had no idea what anything in the place was. and so it all hit her as fresh and new which both scared and excited her. She mentally made sure to keep her Aura off, but small flickers of blue still happened due to her nervousness. Her wavy brown hair was a mess around her head, falling to her midback in unkempt waves.

"Hello?" she said not really sure what to do and looking around in the middle of the place clearly lost though her eyes showed a childish sense of wonder that betrayed her age.

Half way through her shift, Ambrosia hummed softly to herself as she worked on tidying her shop.  It had been a slow day today and those were always the hardest to get through.  In truth, there wasn't much that needed to be tidied but when there was nothing else to do, busy work was the best she could come up with.  In truth, it had been slow a lot recently and she was worried that her activist activities were starting to have a negative effect on their clientele.  Sure, she brought in a healthy number of mutants but, unfortunately, it sometimes seemed that for every mutant she brought in, she lost 2 humans who just couldn't get past their own bigotry.  Dear Gods, she sometimes hated the bigotry in the world!  It was just one more sign that her time there was coming to an end and she really needed to get herself into school to follow her true dream of becoming a counselor and social worker specializing in mutant patients.  

The bell on the door jangled a someone entered and she walked to the front of the store to greet the newest guest.  She found a somewhat nervous young woman with large, innocent eyes.  That, in itself, wasn't unusual but the flashes of blue were.  Likely she was a mutant and likely she was a mutant looking for help.

"Hello, I'm Ambrosia.  Is there anything I can help you out with?"  She smiled, trying to be welcoming an unassuming.  Fortunately, she was good at both.  Her naturally friendly and easy going personality combined with her even features usually worked to her advantage.  Elves were cute and kind of mysterious rather than scary or intimidating.  In some ways, it made her a good middle point in interacting with humans and visible mutants: She was just visible enough to stand out while still feeling safe and non-dangerous.

She was caught off guard by the shop keeper asking her if she could be helped. Aura opened her mouth to respond but realized she really had no idea why she was there. She had really just wondered in at random and had no idea of what they even sold here.

"I'm not...really sure" she said looking at the other woman and trying for a friendly smile. She was unsure if she should articulate what she had gone thrue and as her nervousness increased, the flickers of soft blue increased without her even realizing it.

"Im sort of new?" she said not really sure what to tell the lady. "So um what is it you do here?" she managed to ask the lady. She looked non human, if only slightly. Aura might have missed it but she had been taught to analyze the people she met, analyze their powers and consider hoe to beat them.

The woman seemed nervous and uncertain.  Certainly she wouldn't be the first mutant to have come through the shop doors to have such a reaction.  Unfortunately, more often than not the life of a mutant was a hard one. Between day to day bigotry, powers that were sometimes difficult to get a handle on and occasional violence, there were many challenges.  Her own history had been more kind than many, which was one of the reasons she had dedicated herself to helping other mutants.

"Hey, don't worry about it.  As far as what I do here, that depends.  Of course, I sell various items and objects appropriate for witches across the Pagan spectrum.  As you can see, we have all sorts of things that might be of interest."  She waved her hand to encompass the shop where there was everything from books on magic to divination tools to incense and crystals.  

"I think, however, you might be asking about what I do for mutants, right?"  She paused a moment, waiting for some kind of response.  "Mostly I help match mutants to the resources they need.  Things like food, shelter, mutant-friendly establishments, that sort of thing.  I also provide a friendly and non-judgmental ear for those who need one so, if you need to talk, I'm here for you."  She spoke softly and kept her expression open and honest.  Experience had taught her that some mutants were easily spooked and she was concerned the woman might be one of them.

Aura listened and calmed herself a bit but had no idea of what a witch was or pagan was. They certainly did have a lot of interesting things but nothing she really recognized as being relevant to her. Still she nodded politely and looked around at the various wares the place offered, noticing the crystals and other stones used in the practice.

She nodded when she asked about Mutants before she even thought about it. "That sounds like a nice thing of you to do. Im sure their are many Mutants with awful pasts." she said considering her next words on it. She seemed like a kind friendly person to Aura.

"I was recently recued....by friends...I don't recall much other then the facility I was in. Honestly I had no idea what you even did here when I came in. Stores are a bit of a new concept for me." She said honestly. She had gotten a crash course on things from the x-men and their staff but was almost child like in learning things most people took for granted. Still she knew to hide the X-men's help from anyone who asked of it.

"I don't really know what I need my friend. But I am a mutant" she said at last and that was when she stopped holding back and an inch of transparent sky blue energy suddenly flickered on like a light switch. "I have the ability to manipulate and use the aura around my buddy to form a shield or weapons if need be" she said, which was the most confident thing she had said the entire conversation.

Ambrosia was good at reading people and could tell the woman in front of her didn't have much interest in the more conventional wares of the store.  That was all right though, she had expected that almost the moment she saw her.  It was her other insights and resources that would help in this situation.

"Too many," she agreed with a sad shake of her head.  People could be such cruel bastards and that included humans and mutants alike.  She listened to the sad story of what the other woman had gone through with sorrow in her heart.  "That's such a horrible thing for someone to do to someone else.  I'm glad to year someone came and rescued you.  Do you need a place to stay?  Food to eat?  Anything at all?"  If only she had the resources to challenge such a corrupt organization directly.

"You've got a beautiful ability."  She wasn't much for weapons herself, but the confidence with which the other woman spoke of her abilities was evident.  "I can create faerie fire and change into a tiny dragon.  Did you want to see?  By the way, my name's Ambrosia."  She tried to be as friendly and welcoming as she knew how to be.

"I do, but I am infringing on the limited resources of them. So if you have advice on either of those I would be grateful. I don't have money and I don't recall my actual name. I have been trained in combat however" she said honestly.

"I would love to see that" she said having no idea what a dragon was or faerie fire but interested to find out. Aura loved seeing other mutants abilities. She had been trained to watch and analyze powers but past that she found joy in each unique power and in considering what those powers might do for the world. The power demonstration made her smile brightly.

"For as long as I can recall my life was managed by others. when to sleep, eat, train and what to do were all decided high above my head." she explained further still looking at Amber.

Ambrosia shouldn't offer to have a complete stranger come stay with her.  She knew she shouldn't offer it.  Not only did she not know the young woman, but the woman had been held captive for years, admitted to not having much in the way of real life experience and may or may not be potentially unstable.  So, why was she about to do just that?  Damn her kind hearted nature anyway.  She just couldn't say nothing and feel good about herself.

"I tell you what.  I don't have much myself, but I have a spare room in my apartment and I've been thinking about learning to defend myself for a while.  How about you you teach me some self defense and you can stay with me and I can help you learn about the world.  How does that sound?"  Like a recipe for disaster, of course.  Well, too late to change her mind now.

"First, fire.  Don't worry, it's not actually that dangerous."  Warning out of the way, she picked up a small candle and blew gently upon it.  A small stream of green and purple flame came out and covered the candle, wick and wax all.  She handed the flaming candle over to the other woman.  "Here, you can hold it if you want to.  It doesn't actually burn.  If I ignite a living target, it makes them sick and dizzy.  On an object, it just looks pretty."  If the fire display went over well, then she'd show off the tiny dragon.

"That is quite the gesture. I can certainly teach you to defend yourself. and I would try and pull my weight in other ways as well once I know where my skills can be applied." she said trying to make herself seem more useful to the woman who had just offered her a place to stay, with her no less. "I will gratefully accept you offer" she said with a smile. She hoped she would not end up imposing on this kind woman.

She watched as the green and purple flame lit the candle, wax and all. She took it in her hand and looked around it clearly fascinated by the power. It was interesting to know her power had different effects weather used on living or non-living objects.

"Making people sick seems a good way to try and get away from someone if they were attacking you, can you use it on people quick enough to defend yourself with it?"[/color she asked curiously, both to understand how ambrosia could defend herself as well as her own curiosity.

Well, now she's somehow just recruited herself a teacher to learn some basic self defense.  She tried to settle the uneasiness in her stomach.  It wasn't that the woman didn't seem nice, but something told her she'd just taken on a task that was far larger than she was prepared for.  Oh well, if she didn't jump right into the deep end it probably wasn't worth swimming in the pool.

"I'm happy to hear it."  The smile and the enthusiasm were mostly true, despite the lingering uneasiness.  Maybe it would be fun to have a roommate.  "You'd be surprised at just how horrible some people are.  They see the pointy ears and just decide you're some kind of monster.  Its terrible!"  Being a cute elf helped sometimes, but not always.  Some people were just too far gone in their bigotry to give peace a chance.  Sad, really.

"Set people on fire and run away is pretty much the only defense I have.  It's fast enough to work, but once the fire snuffed the effects go away."  Not that she really wanted to hurt people, of course, but sometimes there was just the tiniest bit of envy towards those with more physical powers.  "So, you want to see the dragon?"

"I think I can guess how terrible people can get" she commented with a smile. She knew at least how bad the ones she had delt with were, Though she could not speak for those Amber and others had encountered and as such she regretted her words almost immediately.

What amber said did make humans seem petty, still she decided to try and stay optimistic about it. Humans may have been evolutionary rejects but like anyone else they had their right to live. If nothing else the fact she did not need to kill was comforting to her. Aura had never quite gotten to the point where killing was easy and she was grateful for that.

"We can work on getting you more then that, though you being able to scar4e people that way is certainly nice. Gives a non-lethal option which is always a plus. I would love to see the dragon by the way, I bet you look so cute" she said looking around the shop again. She had no idea what she might find that she had not already, still the shop was very interesting as was what Aura presumed to its owner.

She probably should have known better than to suggest to someone that had been imprisoned by humans for years that humans weren't always exactly nice.  Of course she would know how horrible people could be and she probably knew it better than Ambrosia herself did.  She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to be held prisoner for so long.  One of the things about being a dragon and granted the gift of a flight was a profound desire for freedom.

"I would love to show you the dragon."  Technically, she wasn't supposed to shapeshift in the shop.  What if a customer came through the door?  It was one thing to serve customers as an eccentric elf, it was quite another to start flying around as a talking dragon.  Some people could only take so much.  Besides, lack of fully opposable thumbs was a problem.  Not that her little dragon paws weren't long and dexterous just like the rest of her, but they didn't quite have the same versatility of human hands.

A thought began the change and, for any who happened to be watching, it looked like she was melting and reforming into the tiny dragon.  The process wasn't long and it wasn't especially painful, the full process taking approximately half a minute.  Her clothing fell away around her.  It was inconvenient, yes,but not world ending.  Once changed, she stood as a blue and purple dragon, slightly larger than a large house cat and with a strangely cat-like demeanor despite the reptilian scales.  She let out a happy chirp, stretching her wings and tail.  "So, what do you think?"  Yes, even dragons could talk.

The dragon shift was fascinating and Aura watched it the entire time without looking away. The blue and purple dragon was very cute as small as it was but she could see how getting away might be tough as the dragon shift seemed to take a few moments. She glanced at the left behind clouthing a moment and was glad her p0ower did not have such a downside.

"That's amazing, can you fly?" she asked curious in awe of the mutant that was before her. The power was cool and though she had encountered a few animal shifters in her time she had never encounter someone who changed into a dragon. Aura found herself wishing she could fly, but was pretty sure her power could never give her the wings Amber had.

"Is the change tough or painful?" she asked as it looked like it should be painful to her, but Ambrosia had not screamed at all which told her their likely was not pain in her change. "Do you live here?" she asked curiously thinking maybe she lived in the basement or the second story, if the place had either anyway.

Ambrosia preened and puffed out to best display her very impressive 25 pounds of majestic dragon self.  All dragons enjoyed admiration no matter what size they happened to be and she was no exception.  Her scales gleamed and she grinned a the woman with a toothy, dragon grin.  

"Why thank you, how nice of you to say so.  Of course I can fly."  What self-respecting dragon couldn't?  Tiny she may be, but she was a true dragon and not some pale imitation drake or wyvern.  Could she fly?  Of course she could fly!

Once again breaking shop rules (its not like there were any other customers in there anyway), she spread her wings and took to the air.  Rising straight up, she made a short circle around Aura's head an acrobatic flip in the air just to show off a bit.  Psh.  Dragons who couldn't fly.  What kind of dragons were those?  No kind of dragon at all, that's what kind!

Landing back in where she had first lifted off, she spoke again.  "Not painful at all."  She'd met other shapeshifters who couldn't' say the same and always felt bad for them.  "No, I don't live here but I'm not too far.  My apartment is only a few blocks from the shop."

The dragon girl got up and started flying and Aura could not help but smile at the beauty of it. Flight had to be a wonderful power to have and one that she would one day like to have herself. It seemed like way more fun then her own anyway. She wondered how high the girl could fly or if birds ever harassed her but decided against these for now. The woman had been very kind and Aura was not looking to impose.

"That's good then, it would kind of suck if it did hurt to do it, but flight must be wonderful" she said clearly impressed with the ability. She had met others who could fly as well but never a dragon and never in freedom. "Well that is pretty close then which is nice" she said figuring it would minimize her exposure well she learned to deal with people.

"Your a very kind woman you know, im glad I have encountered you. Do you own the shop?" she asked curiously It did seem like a pretty nice shop and it would explain how the dragon girl could afford to help other mutants like she did. Aura knew when she lived with this woman she should do her best to help out wherever she could. The woman deserved at least that much for the kindness she had shown to a complete stranger.