One of the great disadvantages of flying through a mysterious portal as a tiny dragon that lead from one universe to another was that those basic necessities such as clothing and money got left behind.  Those were the struggles for one with a (apparently) limited ability to plan for the future and an insatiable curiosity that may or may not have been the direct result of being a dragon that was more cat than reptile.  When a mysterious rift between realities opened, who could resist the temptation of going through it just to see what was on the other side?  All of Ambrosia's friends, apparently, who also happened to insist that she was an idiot for jumping (well, flying) without thought of all the possibly horrible things that lay on the other side.  An idiot she may well be, but so many grand adventures were only just waiting to be had!

This was the the second time she'd ventured through the rift, because one time just wasn't enough to discover it all.  Much like the first time, she'd come after dark because strange flying creatures were a little more difficult to see and id as unusual at night.  Unlike the last time, she'd accidentally fallen asleep in a tree and didn't awake until well into the daylight hours.  The advantages of being a dragon were myriad, but, being in a whole other world, it did make retrieving her clothing and therefore her human form a little more challenging.  Wandering naked humans got themselves in trouble, no matter how cute they happened to be.

So, what was a girl to do?  The answer: Enjoy the day and go to the beach.  Clearly.  Taking to the air at an altitude hopefully high enough to be mistaken for a bird by most, she flew off in the direction of water.  Eventually she knew a beach would call to her and so it eventually did.  A little off the beaten path and therefore not quite as crowded as many of the more popular beaches, there was beautiful sand as well as some rocks that would be perfect to perch upon and sunbathe.  Yes, even tiny dragons enjoyed sunbeams.  Finding  herself a rocky perch at the edge of the the soft sand, she landed and spread her wings to absorb the sunlight beaming down on her.

Iggy didn't know how he hadn't thought of coming to the sooner?! It was the Summer after all and everyone who was anyone spent their days lounging about at the beach. Even though the New York beach wasn't as beautiful as the ones back home and even on the west coast, Ignacio still felt at home there. He hadn't asked any of his friends to join him since he planned on meeting new ones down along the coast. The seventeen-year-old mutant was dressed in a pair of loud swim trunks that had pink and orange Aztec print, a white tank top, and flip flops. Slung over his shoulder was a bag that held his beach towel, two chilled bottled drinks of water (Thanks, @[Aiden]) three chocolate bars, and a bag of dried mango slices. Oh, and the latest subscription to US Bison Attire.

After wandering about the beach for a while, the kaleidoscope eyed teen found a nice spot by a couple of rocks and settled in. Iggy took out his beach towel and laid it on the soft sand so that it was parallel to the ocean. Next, he laid himself down, grabbed the dried mango slices and started to eat them. Oh, he almost forgot. Iggy took out his magazine and started to flip through the pages, lazily.

Becoming a model for US Bison Attire had been on his mind for the past few days. He knew that he could be able to be one, especially with his unique beauty.

The sun was glorious.  So what if there was that little voice at the back of her head telling her that she was, presently, supposed to be at work and therefore she was technically playing hooky?  What did that little voice matter anyway?  It had been ages since she'd gone and enjoyed the beach and longer still (or at least it felt that way,anyway), since she'd skipped work to have a day to herself.  Mental health day, wasn't that what they called it?  So no reason to feel guilt here.  Nope, none at all.

Making a noise that very much resembled a contented pur, she hoped her eyes at the sound of movement on the sand below.  A young man had appeared, moderately attractive, and she watched him for a time.  He didn't appear to notice her and she enjoyed watching others when they weren't aware they were being watched.  People acted different in those times they believed themselves to be alone.

That's when she noticed the mango.  She liked mango and her rumbling tummy suddenly reminded her that it had been hours since she'd last eaten.  She wanted mango.  She would have mango.  

Waiting for the man to turn his head away, she picked her moment to jump silently down onto the sand.  Silent like a cat wasn't just a saying, in her case.  Creeping up, tail swishing behind her, she eyed a mango slice left sitting and undefended.  Picking her moment carefully, she darted forward and grabbed her mango prey in her dextrous little hands, hopping back a couple of feet to devour it.

Ignacio was in the process of flipping a shiny page in his magazine when he heard some sand shifting sand behind him. Thinking that it was just a seagull or crab, he turned his head to see if he could get a picture of it. However, when he did, Iggy saw a pink and blue scaled...something that had just stolen a dried mango slice.

"Hey, you...you colorful scaled thing! Ignacio shot up and looked down at the creature. "...What are you?! And I want my mango slice back!"

"...What are you?! And I want my mango slice back!"

Ambrosia froze in mid-thievery.  Caught!  Darn!.  Even her superior cat-like steal and silence hadn't hidden her from the eyes of the owner of the delicious mango.  Maybe he would take sympathy upon a poor starving dragon?  

"Finders keepers!"  She gobbled down the slice before he could steal it back from her.  On second thought, maybe that wasn't quite the best way to convince him to give her more mango.  

"I mean, sorry.  It's just that I haven't actually eaten since last night and you had these little little bits of dried fruit that were looking all too irresistible.  I hope you can forgive me?"  She did the big innocent eyes expression she could possibly manage.

Ignacio didn't know what to think about this creature that had stolen a piece of dried mango from him. Could he really allow her to take more? Iggy knitted his thick eyebrows at the dragon-thing.

"...I can forgive you, but no more stealing food!" Iggy nudged the bag of dried mango slices over to her. "...What's your name?"

"No more stealing food," Ambrosia agreed doing her best to sound chagrined.  It wasn't even an act, if she wasn't so very hungry she never would have resorted to theft.  Really, she should no better!  

Accepting the now offered mango slices, she took slice into her deft, little clawed hands and devoured it before answering.  "I'm Ambrosia, what's your name?  You seem pretty accepting of the idea of a dragon coming to visit you."  The words were said with a distinct flavour of approval.  Even as cute and tiny as she was, fear was still a reaction elicited by some.  A dragon was a dragon, after all.  Or maybe more aptly (and unfortunately) a mutant was a mutant.

>> "I'm Ambrosia, what's your name? You seem pretty accepting of the idea of a dragon coming to visit you."

Ignacio shrugged his shoulders, "At this point, anything's possible!" He ate another mango slice and moaned at the taste. He had no intention of eating the entire bag by himself anyways so he might as well share. Ignacio turned his attention back down to the weird mutant creature, tilting his head from side to side before giving up trying to understand who or what it was.

"How did you get here?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "did you go through one of those portals I keep hearing about?"

This was definitely the life.  Here she was, sunbathing on the beach, eating mango slices and talking to a curious young man doing the same.  It would have been a lot less pleasant had he been less accepting of tiny talking dragons, but who really, who wouldn't fall under to enchanting and adorable spell?  Enchant and delight was what she did!

"Yup, right through the portal," she agreed, taking another mango slice.  "I meant to return home when it was still night but kind of fell asleep.  It's a little public for a dragon to be flying around, so I came here instead."  She offered a toothy, cheeky grin.  Time management had never been her strongest trait.

"So how about you, what's your story?  You don't seem especially bothered by the presence of a mutant."  That trait was far from a given even when confronted with cute.

>> "Yup, right through the portal...I meant to return home when it was still night but kind of fell asleep. It's a little public for a dragon to be flying around, so I came here instead."

Ignacio nodded his head slowly. "I see. Well, I like dragons!" The kind that didn't go destroying cities and the such.

>> "So how about you, what's your story? You don't seem especially bothered by the presence of a mutant."

He giggled, shaking his head. "Aw, well...I'm a mutant, too!" Iggy pointed to his kaleidoscope eyes. "See? My eyes are special!"

Who didn't like dragons was, perhaps, a relevant question.  Probably those who happened upon misfortune of dragon enemies was probably the most relevant answer.  Well, she didn't really have to many enemies, excepting maybe those bigots who were so enraptured with the idea of disrupting her protests.  Those people sucked.  Big time.  This kind hearted stranger was not any such person as that.

"You are?  How delightful!  Do you have any powers?"  She hopped in place.  Not all mutants had powers and she didn't want to just assume.  How fortuitous to meet a fellow mutant.  Maybe that explained why he was so unfazed by the prospect of having a tiny dragon show up out of nowhere to steal his food.  Well, either that or the fact that she was plainly adorable and who could really take issue with that?

>> "You are? How delightful! Do you have any powers?"

Ignacio nodded his head quickly. Of course he wanted to tell her about his mutation! That was something that he was extremely proud about. "Let's see, I can absorb solar energy and turn it into energy for my body. I can even let out solar flares." He added with a wide smile. Iggy looked Ambrosia over and giggled. "Were you always like this? A, uh, dragon?"