One moment Amber found herself tentatively enjoying the festivities surrounding the eclipse and the next chaos erupted around her.  It felt like the world went crazy, with winds strong enough to force people and objects into the air suddenly erupted and panic in every direction.  What should have been a nice evening and a chance to properly interact with the human world, mutant and human alike, had become something more closely resembling a nightmare.  In a a panic the decision had been made to change her shape into that of a deinonychus and, mere minutes after that fateful decision she'd found herself in the air and forced through what could only be described as some kind of opening or portal to another universe.

How do describe what it felt like to be shunted from one world to another?  Disorienting, certainly.  More words than that, she didn't have.  Landing hard on the other side, pain shot through her as her she fell ungracefully onto her back.  Tenderly getting to her feet, at first glance things didn't see so strange but there was something subtly wrong with the way everything smelled and none of the buildings were quite the same or in quite the same location.  What in the world had happened and where in the world was she?

All around her, people ran and panicked.  Spinets of conversation overhead with beyond-human hearing made obvious that she wasn't the only one who had suddenly appeared in the other world and that people in this world had suddenly disappeared just as the event that had taken her hear had occurred.  Sent through the rift to the place she, herself, had come from?  It seemed likely.

For the moment, no one paid much attention to the dinosaur standing in the middle of the street but how long was that likely to last?  Picking a direction to take her away from the radius of the crowd, she started jogging.  With luck, she'd find somewhere with clothing that might offer her the opportunity to resume her human form and discover more about this world and what had just happened.

It was hard to describe exactly what the scene at the eclipse festival was, but if Benjamin Ellliott Park had been pressed... batshit, maybe? Or mad.

He'd signed on for a happy-go-lucky festival with masks and food and women. He had not signed up for ground zero.

Dressed in a black domino mask for the festival, blue jeans and a long-sleeves white button up dress shirt, he felt a little out of place with the folks in costume... as well as the ones appearing from out of thin air. Had invisibility been an option? Dang. He'd really dropped the ball. People were disappearing, too, and it felt like there was no rhyme or reason. It was like a freaking teleporting tea party, here. Mad Hatter said everyone move one dimension to the right.

He had no idea why it was happening. It was chaotic. And everyone was freaking out. And there was a freaking zombie dinosaur running down the street.

Pause. Rewind. Fzzz whizz fizzle. Cue rewinding noises from old VHS. Play the scene over again. Had he really seen a zombie dinosaur waltzing down the street?! The Korean blinked.

At some point, he needed to check in with Shiv about this. Maybe get the X-men involved in the situation. They could do a lot of good. But right now, all he had was himself. What do you do with a dinosaur? Fight? But it wasn't running around like a wild animal. It looked like it was confused. Mutant, maybe? He approached it with palms upturned and facing it, emptied.

As he approached it he decided zombie was bad as a description. Mummified, better. The desiccated dinosaur hopefully wouldn't hurt him. "Hey there buddy. Are you a friendly dinosaur?"

It wasn't easy to navigate through a crowd of panicking humans.  Even when confronted with an actual dinosaur, fear made people stupid and chaotic.  The smart thing to do would be to run away from the dinosaur, not dart in and out of its path all willy nilly with no concern for the giant claws or rows of razor sharp teeth.  To make matters worse, the screams and shouts of those self same terrified humans were hurting her sensitive ears.  All she wanted to do was get away from the crowds and figure out what the hell was going on.

A bedraggled man ran in front of her, almost tripping her and causing them both to fall to the ground.  She let out a high pitched screech and bared her very impressive mouthful of teeth.  The smell of urine, a sound that could only be described as a wimpier and a stumbling run in the opposite direction was the result.  Now that was the proper way to react when confronted with an angry dinosaur!

"Hey there buddy. Are you a friendly dinosaur?"

She turned her long neck to look at a young Korean man.  He seemed calmer than most around her and she had to give him props for actually approaching her and talking to her.  Maybe he had some idea what was going on?  Not for the first time, she wished she could speak while transformed but she wasn't comfortable resuming her vulnerable human shape just yet.  Instead, she chirped at the man and nodded her head.  Yes, she was friendly.  As long as no one tried to attack her first, of course.

He hated it when mutations were inconvenient. The Dino couldn't outright talk. It chirped and nodded. It was a friendly dinosaur. The hissing and teeth baring at the man who had bumped into it? Yeah, that was just self defense. He got it. Aggressive as hell. If he'd seen that before cautiously approaching, Benji might have reconsidered. Maybe gone to pick a fight with a wood chipper instead. Probably would have been safer. But he'd committed himself to the action. And she hadn't nailed the man, just scared him. Dinosaur: 1. Humans: 0.

The fact it couldn't talk was a pain. He wasn't even sure of gender, not that it mattered for a dinosaur, but for the mutant within? Yeah. A silly thought, but gender identity is a big deal these days. For the moment, he assumed the dinosaur identified as a dinosaur and decided he was an ass, but didn't take the thought further. Jeez, Benji. You can't just ask a dinosaur what gender it is.

"Okay," he said slowly. The Korean scratched his chin stubble. "Let's get somewhere safer. Last thing we want is someone to think you're some sort of monster instead of what I assume is a mutant protecting itself... because I saw you scare the piss out of that dude. Side street?" He asked. Then, when he figured she couldn't answer if she tried, he broke into a light jog towards the nearest alley. Away from the festival crowds.

As he passed a vendor stand, he grabbed an oversized eclipse festival tshirt and slapped a twenty on the table. The thing was a tent. If the dinosaur had one inconvenience, it probably had others. He was quick on his feet. He could anticipate threats and problems. Benji stepped into the alley with his tent.

Safer was definitely better and hopefully the human's idea of safer also included less people around by far.  She nodded her affirmation at the suggestion.  The thing about being a dinosaur was that it made you a target.  Whether humans with a bias against mutants, big game hunters wanting to catch the impossible or people who simply panicked when confronted with a dangerous and unknown creature, there were all sorts of reasons why one might turn on and attack a wayward dinosaur.  Today, of all days, this was not something she wanted to deal with.

Another nod at the suggestion of side street.  Sounded like he had much the same thoughts as she about being unexpectedly attacked.  If they could get to an area with few enough people she might even be able to resume human form and therefore be able to converse in a properly comprehensible fashion.  Answers: She needed them and hopefully this stranger had them.  

Breaking into a light job herself, she followed, pleased at his forethought to grab the festival shirt as they went past a vendor.  She'd met several other shapeshifters over the years and while it wasn't a universal that clothing didn't shift with flesh, it was common.  Maybe he'd met others as well.  Keeping her senses on hyper-awareness, she was prepared to deftly dodge anything that might get in her path.  Turning into the alleyway herself, she strained her ears in order to try to detect the presence of anyone else.  For the moment, at least, she didn't hear or scent anyone obvious.

How exactly did one indicate that they were about to change shape and needed a little privacy to do so when one couldn't speak?  The privacy was more for his benefit than hers given how uncomfortable a simple thing like nakedness made most humans.  Having no other options, she chirped, held up one finger to indicate that she'd be just a moment, turned and hopped a few feet a away.  Changing from one shape to another was never a pleasant nor a beautiful experience, as flesh and bone warmed and melted forcing itself from one configuration into another.  In less than a minute, a human corpse girl replaced the dinosaur who stood there before, facing away from the other.

"If you have that t-shirt, talking might be easier."  Her voice was mostly calm although with a tense edge.  

He followed what she was getting at, easily enough. And it was a she. He got that once he'd turned back and noted the parlor and the form. He'd turned around, at first, because he'd figured hey, the dinosaur might be changing and need a minute if privacy. That was was the single claw had been getting at. But when she'd spoke, he'd turned back, and immediately shifted eyes away and to the right. It was only a little nudity. Less than an HBO television program. And she hadn't said "look away, look away!" So Benji it the impression it didn't bug her much. But he was still a gentlemen.

The Korean stepped forward and sheepishly held the big t-shirt out in front of her, from behind her back.

"Tried to get something large enough. They don't sell pants. Hope it's good." He said.

Nudity didn't bug him. He'd painted artistic nudes. But art is one thing, naked pale human corpse girl full frontal on the street is a separate thing entirely. It'd be a separate thing, even sans the last several descriptors other than naked and girl on the street.

"So what exactly is going on?" He asked her the same question she probably wanted to ask him. If he got more data maybe he could use it to alert the xmen into exactly what was going on.

"Tried to get something large enough. They don't sell pants. Hope it's good."

"It's, fine," she answered.  If being naked didn't bother her than being unfashionable certainly didn't.  The shirt was long enough to cover any parts of her that might be considered indecent (whatever that meant) and it wasn't too impractical, all things considered.  Of course, if the sun started rising then she'd be in serious trouble with all the exposed skin but that was still a ways away.  Hopefully she'd be under shelter long before then.

"So what exactly is going on?"

Well, there went the theory that he might have some idea what the hell was going on.  "No idea."  She shrugged and though the reaction was casual her expression was anything but.  "One minute I was enjoying the eclipse and the next I was flying through the air and landed here.  Wherever 'here' is.  It looks almost the same but there's something off about it.  It doesn't smell right and it doesn't quite look right either."  

It was frustrating being so out of touch with her surroundings, frustrating not to have the right words to describe what felt wrong.  The not knowing made her feel afraid and helpless and it had been a long time since she'd felt either of those things.  Nether feeling was enjoyable.

If it doesn't smell right and it doesn't look right, chances are it isn't right. He had never dealt with a dinosaur, but if he had to guess, its senses were likely as good, if not better, than many modern animals. You don't ascend to the top of the food chain on prehistoric earth for several million years by collecting bottle caps.

"It probably isn't right, then. All those people, appearing and disappearing. It's weird. Like some sort of... teleportation?" Was that the word? It was a weird thought. She felt like things were off, different from what she was used to. He wasn't a total nerd, but he'd watched that Stargate movie. And that was about portals to other worlds. Maybe people were being teleported through space and time? That was a laugh riot. Hilarious. What the hell was this, Doctor Who? "You didn't see a blue police box when you were falling, did you?" He joked.

More somberly, he continued on. "Joking aside, this doesn't sit right with me either. You say it doesn't smell right. You say it looks wrong. Wrong, how? Like, things in different places? Different colors? Weird smells. I take it dinosaur senses aren't bad. I... may know some people who specialize in helping people out. Maybe I could call them and get their take?"

Maybe Shiv would have some handle on what was going on. Maybe they were already responding to it. If it was okay with the dinosaur girl, he'd give her a call.

"I'm Benji, by the way." He said.

So the disappearances were going both ways and teleportation sounded like the right word for her.  One moment she was somewhere familiar and the next moment she was...not.  What better word than teleportation?  Portal, maybe?  Teleportation portal?  "Blue box," she asked, confused and coming out of her own thoughts.  While she did her best to balance the two sides of herself, dino and human, neither pop culture nor television were high up on the list of things to learn about.

"I think maybe I went through some kind of portal or something.  Everything around is similar but different.  Different colours, different locations, slightly different shapes. It's almost like wherever this is is a slightly distorted mirror world or something."  Surely that didn't even make sense, but what else was she to believe?  So far she hadn't heard any better ideas.

At least he had an idea about someone who might be able to help.  "Anyone with possible insight should probably be called," she agreed.  Maybe someone had a better idea than her what the hell had just happened and where the hell she now was.  "I'm Amber.  So, I take it you might have some idea where to go from here?"

Well. She thought it was some kind of portal. Like this was a bizarre mirror world where everything was different. An alternate version. He quirked an eyebrow, letting his mind reel at the ramifications of something like that. Alternate versions Or himself, minor differences, maybe? Different president? Different brand names for toilet paper and fast food chains? Maybe in this "mirror world" she was from, Kim Jong Un wasn't such a jerk? All of that seemed so unlikely... but they were already living in a highly 'science fiction' world.

Yeah... Shiv definitely needed in on this. This potential alternate earth was way beyond his pay grade. It sounded like some sort of Earth Two.

Amber was fine with him phoning a friend... and he was fine with it, too. But she brought up a good point. They needed to go somewhere from here. Where?

"Well. I think we should get off the street. Maybe my friend can give us a ride." He didn't quite know Shiv's vehicle situation. She'd appreciated his motorcycle, but-- he almost slapped his forehead. His motorcycle. He had parked a few blocks from ground zero, and walked to the festival. It was still there. "Scratch that. I have a motorcycle about six blocks from here. With all the chaos, I forgot."

Shame he had no side car. He could have carted a dinosaur in the side car. There was no way a raptor could ride bit-- er, ride pillion, in the British English vernacular. And he didn't have a spare helmet. You would have thought he'd have learned.

"Gonna make a call first, excuse me." He held up a finger, and stepped aside, pulling his cellphone out to dial Shiv. Hauled the phone up to his ear, waited. Come on, pick up, pick up. He waited for what felt an eternity. In the background, a siren from an ambulance or a squad car wailed on by. Finally, she picked up.

"Hey Shiv, Cheshire here. I'm standing in an alley now with a girl from Earth Two. You got a minute to talk about what's happening by Madison Square Park at the Eclipse festival? By 23rd and 5th? Seems like a portal to another world...?" He didn't know. He was just reiterating what Amber thought. Milking it a little for extra enthusiasm, maybe? Guilty, as charged.

((Ooc paging Cait!))

[tag]Khzar[/tag]

One of these days Cait was going to tear the word normal out of any dictionaries she owned. English or otherwise. A precious day off from the base, followed by a lovely long nap before work was cut short by her newest informant. Seeing Cheshire's name on the phone she hoped this was good. No amount of cuteness was worth losing sleep.

"Hmmm yeah," she barely got the greeting out before she was bombarded with the information, the gravity of it kick starting the sleepy cogs in her brain. Portals? Other worlds? Either he'd been hit with something nasty and was experiencing some very strong hallucinations, or the weirdness in the city had finally gone full blown sci-fi movie on all of them. She was really hoping for the former, a trip to ER and some rest would fix that. Closing portals was a little bit outside of her skill set.

"Right, OK I can be there soon. Try to stay out of trouble and call me if something happens." World hopping girls and tears in reality were too much but duty called. Literally.

Pulling on her uniform, checking all the pockets for her various stashed items and knickknacks she'd gotten used to carrying, she strapped on the knife belt before taking one mournful look in the mirror at her red hair before applying the horrible black spray dye she had. It would take forever to wash out before work! One of these days she was tempted to just properly dye it brown to not have to deal with that part of the costume.

Speaking of the mask, it was kind of important with the whole secret identity thing. Grabbing it from a drawer, slapping it on with adhesive and climbing onto the fire escape, she set off to find the person who'd disturbed her slumber.

If nothing else, it seemed like Benji had some sense when it came to dealing with unusual situations.  He didn't panic and began formulating a game plan, which was something she could appreciate and respect.  From experience, she knew not everyone would be some calm minded when confronted with the seemingly impossible.  Hell, her first reaction hadn't been entirely rational although she was feeling more mentally in control now.  So what if she was in some sort of strange alternate universe which may or may not have a path back home; she was alive and physically whole which meant she could work on a solution.  Not to mention learn about the place she'd ended up in and, now that some of the initial panic had dissipated, seemed like the start of a fascinating adventure.  Who knew, maybe this place was the mutant paradise her sister Aura had always striven for.

She nodded at the suggestion of the motorcycle.  "If you have an extra helmet I can ride behind you.  If not, I can change into something small enough to fit in a pocket."  Dinosaurs had a reputation for being large, lumbering beasts but that reputation wasn't entirely accurate.  There were just as many small, sleek dinosaurs as large ones and she wasn't, strictly speaking, limited to just dinosaurs.  The era in which her different forms came from was just as varied as the present world and so too were her potential variety of forms.

When Benji walked a few feet away to make his call, it was frustrating to not be able to hear the entire conversation.  In almost any of her other forms the few feet of distance wouldn't have been an issue but, as always, her human body possessed inadequate human senses.  She caught bits and pieces about 'another world' and the 'eclipse' but couldn't make out the the full conversation.  It wasn't that she didn't trust him; so far he'd been nothing but helpful, but life had taught her that caution was often warranted and knowledge was always worth having.  

"So, where to from here?" she asked once he'd returned from his conversation.

Shiv ended the call short sooner than he would have liked. It left him with a question or two. She was coming here, so did that mean they should stay where they were? And what should they do in the meantime? As an adult, clearly it was his duty to take charge of this and think for himself, because nobody had time for handholding. A pity, that, he thought wryly.

Benji tore his attention back to the matter at hand for them. Getting safe and off the streets. And had Amber just said she could become a pocket dinosaur?! Okay. He turned to talk to the pale girl.

"Sorry I stepped away. You probably couldn't hear all of that. Didn't mean to seem shifty. It's just, my friend is an x-man. That's, like, a costumed superhero on Earth 1 here." He explained helpfully, smiling calmly at Amber. "I'm not sure if you have a team like that on Earth 2."

Was it rude of him to call his earth earth 1, and label hers as Earth 2? Presumptuous, perhaps. Maybe even a little egotistical. But this earth was his earth, hence earth 1. If they'd been in opposite roles, likely she'd have made the same faux pas.

"My friend is coming and she said to stay out of trouble and stay close. I think for the moment, I'm going to forget about driving you somewhere. Indoors, or higher ground are good alternatives. I told her everything you said, but didn't give her your name. If you want, you don't have to stay here. But--"

An ambulance wailed past them and down the street, not too far away, a car alarm went off. He heard a couple of pops, like gunfire. Were police firing on people?

Benji glanced towards the fire escape hanging on the building next to them, and up towards the roof. Higher ground would let them survey and plan. Only problem was, he couldn't reach the ladder to climb it. With his power, he could make the jump. But carrying her would make it easier. He could leap up and break the ladder down, but... it looked rusted, on closer inspection. Poorly maintained. Criminal negligence, even. What if there were a fire?

"Maybe I can get us up there. I could carry you, if you shrank..." he noted thoughtfully. "What do you think?" Roof was probably safer than street but it was her call.

The journey over wasn't an easy one. Sure it was quick but she had to avoid most open spaces since she was all, suited up and stuff. Getting caught out by some random thug with an axe to grind wasn't exactly on her agenda today. To many other weird things to deal with. Like a portal opening up.

Seriously how the hell did a portal to another world just pop open. Like was this some kind of multiple universes deal or like a portal across the galaxy. Then there was the awesome issue of what was the world like on the other side. They had enough trouble without a planet full of cannibals or an Mad Max style apocalypse place. There was no way she was getting into the thunderdome, or whatever it was called.

Muttering under her breathe, "Can I not just catch a break one of these days. Like seriously." Recently it was like everything was determined to fall apart. All the time, at once.

Once she got near the meeting place, she slowed her pace and went into full recon mode. Rushing in seemed liked a pretty bad idea so Cait watched everything as she continued.

About the only thing that jumped out at her was the more than normal amount of confused people. Like, a huge amount actually. Was this some poor sods who'd just ended up in a totally new world without knowing how? Gave her the creeps whatever it was but she had something to do, no time to stop and offer help, as much as she really wanted to.

Rounding one last corner, she was pretty much at the meeting place. Flicking her phone open, she rang Benji's number. "Hey, I've managed to get here where abouts are you? Can't see you from where I am."

"We have X-Men on my earth too." It was going to prove interesting learning about the similarities and differences between the two earths.  She'd not had much interaction with her own earth's X-men given her association with Aura and therefore kind of being on the opposite side of the fight.  From everything she'd heard, however, it sounded like they did good work even if their philosophy was a tad naive sometimes.  Survival of the strong was something that applied even if it wasn't always the most desirable.  At their core, mutants and humans were just very special animals and still influenced by baser animal instincts.  Still, it would be good to have someone with the experience to deal with whatever the hell was going on.

Sirens could be heard in the background as well as loud bangs that sounded suspiciously like gunshots.  In a chaotic situation like this, was it any surprise that people might be shooting at one another?  Chaos and anarchy always lead to violence and theft and she'd be surprised if this situation were any different.  She felt no desire for others to be hurt, but she didn't feel much grief towards the situation either.  People got hurt and died, it was all a party of being alive.  Hopefully those she knew and loved remained safe.

"Going somewhere less exposed might be good.  I don't mind if you give out my name."  Why should she?  It wasn't like her name was attached to anything especially bad.  On her earth.  Then again, if there were X-Men on both earths, did that mean there might also be duplicate people on both earths too?  Was there another Amber living here?  The thought elicited a barrage of confusing emotions, none of which she had time to process right then.

She nodded her ascent.  "I can shrink.  You might not want to watch."  She knew her transformations to be disturbing things as bone and flesh warped and contorted as she became another creature.  They were also horribly painful although blessedly short.  Within a half a minute she became a Mecistotrachelos, a small prehistoric gliding lizard not much larger than a mouse.  Once changed, she ran up to Benji, seeking a pocket she might safely hide in while they traveled.  The shirt she'd been given remained in a crumpled heap on the ground.