'Combat' per say, wasn't something she had a lot of experience with.  Combat implied something almost organized, a competition in which one party was trying to kill another.  She could wound and kill if necessary.  She could hunt and defend if necessary.  She was dangerous.  Combat implied an intent to battle as a primary focus and that was something she rarely, if ever, pursued. Sometimes wounding and even killing might prove necessary in the accomplishment of other goals.  Still, she saw no reason to correct her sister and knew it was a skill Aura possessed like few others.

"Thank you," she responded, beaming at the compliment.  'Beautiful' was not a word often used to describe her nor one she'd ever use to describe herself.  How could a living corpse be considered beautiful?  It was one of the traits in her sister that she most admired: The ability to see beauty in all mutants.  "I don't think crocodiles make good prey," she agreed with a smile.  "They're tough and they fight back."  Not that she'd ever actually hunted a crocodile before.  Why would she, when there were so many less dangerous animals about that would do just as well?

"I would like to see it," she agreed.  "I don't know much about Hades.  Once he was safe and went back into civilization we lost contact.  I wasn't ready to come back yet."  She hadn't expected to ever see him again.  It might be good to reaquant herself with him.  Maybe he'd teach her some of the skills she'd seen him use in the woods.

"True but that's what makes the hunt worthwhile for me sometimes. That sense of danger which my power protects me from so often. Its not often I meet in Animal capable of doing me true harm though." she said. Other then humans she added in mentally. Even they had trouble but some of their toys worked very well. "Its why I enjoy fighting other mutants, their more of a challenge then humans, even if I have to try hard not to hurt them to bad" she said knowing mutants had the added trouble of needing to not be killed or maimed.

"I have been working with him to establish a new order, a new group for us to work for our people benefits" she said hoping it would work out much better then her founding of the order had. She could let Hades lead and with their new focus of hitting high targets it might make more difference. "Im hoping the shift in focus to targets of power will make more difference then just killing random gang members." she said before looking around from their hidden stand of trees.

"Care to talk on the way?" she asked wondering how hade smight have felt about the interaction with her sister. She assumed their would not be an issue and that hades would be happy to have some more help in the group to do spread some of the work around.

She knew her sister viewed humans as animals and so referring to them as such didn't cause any reaction in Amber.  Her own philosophy of hunting was different: Since she usually hunted for food it was usually better to have as little challenge as possible.  Challenge meant the possibility of being wounded and being wounded in the wild meant things could, in turn, hunt you.  Still, she was back in the human world now so perhaps the rules were different.

"That makes a lot of sense," she nodded, considering.  She'd never quite understood her sister's attraction to killing gang members, anyway.  Sure, most of them were pretty terrible and didn't deserve to live, but it didn't do any good because there were always more to fill their place.  "Not only killing them, but what about infiltrating important places too?  Like, spies and maybe even taking over places of power?"  She could be a good spy, probably.

"Of course we can talk on the way," she agreed.  It was just so good to have her sister back again.

"You always did catch on quick sister. All of those things will be part of what we do. Knowing groups and enemy's has a high value of course. " she said glad her sister understood just what they were doing. She had always been primal but smart and like Aura, Amber was a survivor.

She began to walk, after eight years the layout of much of new York city was cemented in her head. Much of Auras walking pattern went through alleys and shadowed areas do to her own highly questionable past. She avoided very busy intersections and always was on the look out for police.

"Your position in the Mansion might be good for those things. Just having someone there could provide us valuable information. I like some of the people there like ghost, though I only met her once" she said thinking about the long past situation at the book store. The people of the x-men and mansion were mostly ok just misguided.

"Have you acquired new form other then your crocodile?" she asked curiously, both to know how her sister had grown and to know her new capabilities.

She decided that it might feel good to be a part of something larger than herself.  Even if she didn't share her sister's zealotry, perhaps having some kind of greater purpose in her life was exactly what she needed to be more at peace with herself.  "I would like to help."

Walking by her sister's side, her knowledge of the layout of the city was much more limited.  Near Sanctuary and near the Mansion, she had a solid understanding but little outside those areas.  Of course, in the forests surrounding the city, a different answer might have been offered.  She'd spent more time in those forests during her absence than any other area.

Would it be wrong to spy on the people in the Mansion?  Maybe, but she knew it was all being done for the benefit of mutants everywhere, even if some disagreed with the methods.  "Ghost welcomed me with open arms twice.  I like Ghost.  You know my eyes and ears are yours."  Even if she didn't really know many at the Mansion who were likely to give useful information.

"Only the boar crock," she answered with a smile.  "I recently discovered there's a limit to how many shapes I can change into. If I want a new one, I have to sacrifice an old one.  I like the shapes I have now."  It was an unfortunate limitation, but not one that bothered her too much.  5 was still a number to provide plenty of versatility.

She nodded, she had met ghost only once or twice and a long time ago at that. Aura considered the ghost she knew might be entirely different. Still Ghost had been nice to her sister which was always a positive in Auras book. "Do they realize were sisters?" she said curiously as she took a turn down another alley. It occurred to her, her sisters affiliation with her while it was unlikely to get her booted from the mansion might still be an issue of it just randomly came up.

"is it hard for you to switch them?" she said curious how easy Amber could switch between her learned and unlearned forms. If it was quick or easy they could just steal her half the Dinosaur exhibit to fuel the power. If it was longer that would not be as easy. "Like could you forget a form for another, then recall the old form when the new learned form had served its use" Powers fascinated Aura of course but she liked to know the limits of peoples powers.

One more alley and Aura pilled out a key and opened a remarkable door made of steel. "not to much further" she said opening the door and entering. After Amber came in, Aura would close and re lock the door. She would then walk to another less obvious door hidden in the warehouse, behind boxes just enough space to open a simmeler steel door. "Do you have any plans for the future?" she asked curiously. She was curious if her sister had any goals for her future.

"Oh, Ghost knows but I don't think anyone else does."  She couldn't imagine a sweet woman like Ghost approving of Aura's antics or violence, but she'd never actually said anything about it to Amber of made any judgments.  Maybe she didn't know about her sister's history, although that seemed doubtful given its rather public nature.  

"Not hard, just time consuming.  It takes about a month to get comfortable with a new form and in that time its instincts can take control.  Myself and another girl, Aoi, kind of accidentally wrecked the Mansion kitchen when we fought as a polar bear and  a boar crock because we couldn't control the instincts of our other shapes."  At least she assumed that was the case for the other girl as well, especially considering how scared she seemed to be.  It was not Amber's finest moment and it brought her feelings of shame.  She should be better than that.

She nodded, looking forward to seeing where her sister now lived.  "Well, I'm going back to school and getting my GED.  I don't know how likely it is to be useful but I figured I should do it anyway."  She shrugged her shoulders.  In truth, she was pretty sure she'd never be suited for a real job; being a walking corpse and all.  Still, education was never a bad thing.  "I don't really know aside from that.  Living in the woods, I didn't really think much beyond the day to day of eating and sleeping."

If it took that long then it was better for her to keep her current forms. She had hoped she could re add forms in minutes or hours. She laughed a bit on hearing her sister and another mutant wiped out the mansions kitchen. She had hoped it had not gotten them in to much trouble if any but still picturing it was very amusing to her. She could see how not being able to control such powerful forms being out of control could be.

"Whats a ged?" Aura asked confused. She recalled hearing or reading the term once or twice but had never found it relevant to find out. Aura had no recollection of her school days or how much she completed. She had no way to tell Amber if it would be useful or not do to her lack of knowledge on it.

"Forest are quite beautiful" she said enjoying them a lot herself she could understand how her sister could get so absorbed in them though she suspected her sisters powers played a role to.

They soon cleared the tunnel and came up into the hotel itself, Not many people were here and though their were clearly staff no one gave Aura much trouble other then a guard who asked about her companion. "The hotel is vast and has room for a lot of people, it will be much like sanctuary i believe in that their will of course be no humans" she said quite glad in that fact.

Of course Aura would smile at the thought of the destruction she and Aoi had caused to the Mansion in their fight.  At the time, it had been a rather traumatic experience but, since then, she had gained full control of her boar crock and had learned from the experience.  In the future, new forms were to be experimented with away from people until proper control was assumed.  She managed a weak smile.

"A GED is a high school diploma.  It means I've graduated and have a basic education."  Knowing of her sister's past, it didn't surprise her that she didn't know what a GED was.  Would it ever be of any use to her?  Maybe not but it still felt like the right choice to pursue it.  

"Maybe one day we could go hunting together in the forest?"  she asked hopefully.  Maybe Aura couldn't change into different forms, but she knew her sister to be a competent hunter.  From what she knew of her past, she'd had to be.  It could be a bonding experience.

She didn't really have an issue with humans as long as they left her alone but nodded anyway, following her sister into the hotel.  A place like Sanctuary would surely be nice.

"Hunting could be a lot of fun, though it has been awhile for me, but yea we could even make it a regular thing. I can't recall when the last time i hunted with someone was" She said not recalling any time after the forest it had happened. She had certainly never done so with family before and thought it sounded like a nice idea.

"I wish you luck on the ged, it may serve you well. I don't recall any of my time at school or most of what i imagine they teach" she said having had school memories ripped away and the order had certainly not made her attend class. It was good her sister seemed to have goals as well past their battlefield. AUra never had and maybe with luck her sister would end up a much better person then her.

As she led her sister down the hallways toward her room, they saw various visible mutants hanging around soem chatting some just relaxing. They reached Aura's toom and Aura opened it to show what could have been an unoccupied suite except for a Katana and a few other very out of place items.

"I've never gone hunting with anyone before.  No one else seems too interested in catching and eating dogs or cats."  She laughed a little, knowing Aura was one of the few people who would see humour in such a thing.  In the city such things were among her usual fare, along with raccoons and the occasional coyote.  Humans had a strange relationship to animals they considered pets and the idea of eating a 'pet' animal seemed repugnant to them.  She could understand not eating a beloved member of the family, four legged or two, but didn't quite understand why such a prohibition should extend to otherwise unrelated 4 legged creatures.

"Thank you.  If you want to learn things I could probably help you."  Once she caught up on her own learning, of course.  Even with years spent in the wild, she knew her understanding of the human world, in many ways, surpassed her sister's.  One foot in and one foot out was the balance she strove to maintain, although success was sometimes inconsistent.  

As they walked towards her sister's room, she couldn't' help but smile seeing the different and sometimes very visible mutants lounging about casually.  It reminded her strongly of her previous home back in Sanctuary.  "Sometimes I miss Sanctuary.  The Mansion is great, of course, but it's just not the same."  Was it the sense of escaped desperation that was missing, all too common in a homeless shelter that took on anyone and everyone who was mutant and needed help?  A strange thought, that one.

"yes their are not many who like to hunt down their own food. The mansion's Null lady always frowned when i mentioned eating such things, others as well. I once let bears go in central park to hunt it" she said recalling the time and that she had never found the second bear. Dogs and cats were easy to catch, some would even walk right up to you. Deer were tougher, Aura tended to find a tree near a game trail and wait in the tree till she could drop down.

"That might help, i have not made the best of efforts to learn about things not related to combat or organizations like the order. " she said which was mostly true, Aura had kept her scope limited having never believed she would be alive so long. Now it just routine and easy.

"Many of us miss sanctuary, it's why this place and organization excite me, it will be our new sanctuary, different but good" she said trying to assure her sister. Aura had not handled the break up of the order well and she knew without Hades she would likely have charged off to her death well before reuniting with her sister.

She laughed at the image of bears in central park.  When you really thought about it, it was a horrible thing to do.  Wild bears were dangerous and the humans who frequented the park were almost certainly not equipped to handle a wile bear.  If left unchecked, they could maim and kill and probably worse than that.  Of course, her sister wasn't likely to ever think of the innocent humans in the way of her hunting game and most mutants were likely to have a stronger chance against the bears than any of the humans were.  "I'm sure she had her reasons for not approving of bears in the park."

"Organizations need both fighters and thinkers."  These were the sorts of things that she'd been considering a lot recently. Did she want to just be another fighter?  Another soldier in the war, just like her sister?  She wasn't even sure she wanted to be a part of the war at all, let alone just another fighter.  "And eventually we're going to win, right?  When that happens, we'll definitely need people with other skills as well."  

Amber had learned to take change in stride.  The learning hadn't been easy, with the abandonment (and partial return) of her family and the jarring changes between the time she spent in the woods and the time she spent in the city, but learn she had.  Change happened and it had to be dealt with.  "We're never going to get Sanctuary back, but maybe this is an opportunity to make something different and better."  So far it looked to be off to a good start.

"Of course she did, she cares about the welfare of the human's. AT the time i disagreed with her choice, but i realize now many of our own kind might have wound up hurt. Luckily i did find and kill the animal." she said with a smile. The things Aura had done were not always the most well thought out when she was not on a mission. The null was a nice lady, a fool, but nice. She meant well but Aura knew she was dangerously misguided. Their was the issue as well on weather null's were even mutants. Aura thought they were but other she knew thought the opposite.

"yes, sister organizations need all kinds of peoples, much like nature and all the species it makes. Nature has chosen us to rule this world, but humans have powerful weapons nature could never have considered. We should win, but Sister remember your path is your own, you can choose that path. After the war i will have no role, other then to be discarded to time. Be more then me sister, do not simply be a weapon, but learn and grow both on and off the battlefield, like i never did" she said hoping her sister who was a fine warrior could find a role after the war, it surprised her the thought of amber dead becide aura when Mutants claimed the earth was a sad one.

You may be right Sister. We must be like nature and grow and adapt, become what we have to to make sure those after us still have a place to walk. Their will be people who know what that better is but i am not one of them. All i can do is fight and give our people the future they are destined to have. It is unlikely i will see the end of our people struggle." she said honestly. Aura knew her life style was not the best if one wanted a long life span. eventually she would move to slow, get taken by surprise, betrayed or any number of things that would lead to her death. Aura could do nothing after the war because all she knew and understood revolved around a single focus, war.

It made her happy to know that her sister was a proficient enough hunter to kill a bear.  Good hunters were always needed in a healthy pack and, for all of her own struggles with it came to socializing and otherwise mingling with humans, she considered her hunting skills to be excellent.  The prospect of going on a proper hunt with her sister filled with excitement.  Perhaps not, however, within the confines of Central Park.  A park within the city had its uses but for a proper hunt more wild territory was needed and away from humans who might accidentally get caught in the crossfire.

If she hadn't known her sister as long as she had, her talk of being a weapon to be discarded after the war might have disturbed her far more.  However, she knew Aura's opinion of herself well by this time.  "You can learn to be something more than a weapon.  I can help teach you."  Almost laughable, that suggestion, given how much she sometimes struggled herself to be human.  But if not her, who else?  "It's not too old to learn to be something more.  You're barely older than me."  She offered a smile and a light laugh.  Of course, she knew a little about how much her sister's brain had been messed with but that didn't mean she couldn't become better than what she was programmed to be, did it?  

Talk of death and dying rarely bothered her.  Perhaps it was her connection to nature and the cycles of life and death or perhaps it was the death that lived within her, but neither her own death nor the death of those few she loved brought her grief.  Of course, she would miss Aura a lot if she died but that fear was of loneliness far more than death.  Death would come for them all, one way or another.  Why fear it?  "I would like to see our future and hope you're here to see our future too.  I hope it will be something beautiful."  Did she believe it would be?  Beautiful?  Maybe, maybe not but the daydream was a nice one.