Since Amber's return to the city, she'd made a lot of progress.  She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so comfortable living in her human body among her fellow mutants, if ever.  If she still didn't quite feel like one of them, she no longer felt like something entirely foreign.  During her many long years spent living in the woods she'd almost forgotten what it was to be human.  There, survival was the primary priority and it was easy to simply let go and give into the instincts of the creatures that lived within her.  Unlike some shapeshifters, those instincts were mostly buried deep and easy to control , but that didn't mean they didn't exist.  It was easier, in so many ways, to live as a predator in nature; easier and simpler.

The human world required a lot more than food and shelter. Maybe it was speech that complicated things or maybe there was just something inherently complicated about humans and their nature, but they came with what sometimes felt like an infanent number of social rules and guidelines that often didn't make any inherent sense at all.  The need for clothing and modesty was one of the ones that baffled her the most, especially in warm climates.  Clothing for warmth she understood and had once required herself, but what about during hot summer days?  Modesty was the reason.  It wasn't right to walk around naked, apparently.  Baffling and only one baffling thing among a barrage of baffling things.  How to talk, how to walk, where to look, how far to stand, all of these things and more served to complicate interaction.  It hurt her brain.

Even with such endless challenges, she'd finally started to reintegrate.  Maybe she'd never be an expert at human behavior but at least now she was starting to learn and re-learn the most important rules and with each thing learned, she felt more comfortable and more at home.  For all the peace of being a wild beast, the loneliness was worse than almost anything else and it was that loneliness that had compelled her back into the human world.  Despite everything, it was a choice she didn't regret making.  She was, after all, human just as much as she was dino.

Even as she'd begun to feel more at home among humanity, it was impossible to escape certain things about her nature.  The most obvious, of course, was that she was a walking corpse who couldn't stand the direct touch of the sun without burning and blistering painfully.  Mutants, some of the most tolerant ones at least, might be able to accept her as she was, but that was a lot to swallow for most mere humans.  That, however, wasn't the greatest of her problem.  Even many saw her as a monster, she didn't need their approval and, for all her morose and withdrawn nature, she didn't lack in self esteem.  No, her greater struggles revolved around the balancing of her dino and human natures.

Before her most recent foray into the woods, Amber couldn't remember feeling claustrophobic, but after her return she most certainly did.  It wasn't closed in spaces, per say, but rather brick and stone and wood walls and ceilings around her, especially as she slept.  There was just something that felt unnatural and unwanted about it.  What if an enemy approached and she needed to leave quickly?  Living at the Mansion that was likely a foolish and unlikely thought, but she'd learned to always be on guard because sometimes danger came from unexpected places.  Rational or not, it wasn't a feeling easily discarded and sleeping with the window open only went so far in assuaging it.

Beyond that, lately she'd began to feel a claustrophobia of a different sort, a need to get away from the throngs of people always about, not only in the Mansion itself but also in the city as a whole.  More and more she'd left the Mansion grounds to shift and find a park to sleep in and, even when remaining on the property, she'd begun spending ever more time outside.  It felt like the two sides of her were warring with one another an that war was coming to a head.  Instead of waiting for that proverbial explosion and breakdown, she made the choice to leave the city entirely.  Not for months or years at a time like she had last time, but for a few days or a couple of weeks.  Camping, some might call it, except without the need for a tent, food or supplies.  The joys of being a mutant who could transform into creatures that could survive with skill and finesse anywhere she decided to go.

For most, an extended trip out of the city required a fair degree of preparation and gear.  Not so for her.  Planning didn't extend far beyond how to get out of the city and gear didn't extend at all beyond whatever clothing she happened to be wearing at the time.  One of the disadvantages of being a shapeshifter is that nothing shifted with her.  Clothing, money, purse, cell phone, all such things got left behind in a heap.  Maybe she ought to consider sewing herself a custom pack for her most important possessions, at least for her most commonly used deinychus form.  Something to consider for another day.  For today, she choose to go with nothing more than her own self.

To get to the edge of the city, the bus was the most practical method of travel given her general lack of money.  Money wasn't something she often had use of, although part of that was only because the kind souls who ran the Mansion provided her things like clothing and food.  She wasn't above scavenging for whatever else she needed where scavenging occasionally included blatantly stealing necessary goods.  Stealing wasn't something she made a habit of but sometimes survival necessitated less than ideal actions.  If someone couldn't protect their own belongings, they didn't deserve to keep them.

Once to the edge of the city, she changed into a pteradautro, which was a great prehistoric pterasaur.  It wasn't often she got the chance to stretch her wings and now seemed the perfect time to do so.  To feel the wind underneath her scales was a glorious thing and reminded her that this was something she should do much more often.  There was nothing quite like the freedom of taking to the skies and going literally wherever the wind might take you.  Just one more reason to feel sorry for those poor souls who would never know how many joys existed outside the confines of a weak human body.

From the skies, she sought a secluded patch of woods where she might be alone for the time she needed to re-balance her inner nature.  She'd left in the evening while the sun was still in the sky but before full dark.  Always, the sun would be her enemy as much as she might sometimes wish otherwise and it was only in those short periods around dawn and suck that she could co-exist in relative harmony with it.  At least while she was human.  Why that was an issue only with that one form she'd never been able to figure out.

As the sun began to set, it became more pressing to find a suitable location.  Only her boar crock had much skill when it came to seeing in the dark and in the sky it was even more difficult.  Taking one more long glide, she spotted a small clearing and began to make her descent.  Spiraling slowly downward, she landed gracefully upon the ground.  To fly and to land were easy, to lift off into the sky was another matter.  She'd read that back in the Mesozoic era there had been more oxygen and thus lift was easier, as such it was always a challenge to free herself from the shackles of the earth.  Once aloft, however, the currents of the air did most of the work for her.

The clearing itself was small and surrounding her was a young forest.  She would have loved to have been able to experience a proper old growth forest, but those existed in very few places now days.  Even so, this would do nicely.  It took two changes to achieve the form she wanted, one into human and one into a deinychus.  The cold didn't affect her at all, given her undead nature.  While the price she paid for her amazing abilities was sometimes difficult to deal with, between her antithesis the sun and her zombie-like appearance, she could never regret the many gifts she possessed.  

As much as she was a nocturnal creature who generally preferred the night, it was better to wait until dawn to hunt.  Her boar crock was the only form she currently possessed who was natural a creature of darkness, more akin to a giant reptilian cat than the modern crocodile who was it's present day relative.  Due to it's large size, however, it was difficult to properly hunt in a forest such as this.  She always researched the forms she went after before adding them to her collection, and that particular creature was one who hunted on the plains in a fashion similar to that of a lion although without a pack.  Her own experiences with it reinforced the scientific theories about it.

By this point, only a few hours before dawn remained and for those few hours she slept better than she had in many weeks.  The peace and openness of the forest was all ready doing her psyche well and it wasn't until that moment she truly realized just how disrupted her sleep had become, sleeping under a hard, wooden roof.  This was how she was meant to sleep, outside and under the stars.  Perhaps when she returned she might be able to find herself other accommodations.  A room with access to the roof, perhaps?  If such a thing existed, it might even afford her the ability to fly at night when she felt the need to be away from everyone inside.

When dawn finally came, she awoke feeling refreshed and energetic.  In the city it was almost impossible to enjoy the sunlit summer days due her human form being the only one she could safely wander in with so many people around.  She'd found ways to help mitigate the sun's damage by carrying an umbrella with her to provide a perpetual pocket of shade, but even that protection only lasted so long before she had to retreat.  Out here, she had no such worries and found herself a pocket of sun to bask in before hunger eventually drove her to seek prey.

It was with some reluctance that she eventually got up, stretched her muscles and prepared to hunt.  Once committed, however, the usual thrill shot through her.  Hunting was a game of skill, her skills and senses against the skills and senses of her prey.  They were adapted for survival, many possessing superior speed, agility and senses especially hearing and smell.  She was also well adapted, possessing superior hearing and smell of her own, not to mention a pair of vicious sickle claws and a razor sharp snout of ripping and tearing teeth.  She had the added advantage of being something that hadn't been seen upon the earth for millions of years.

The first part of the game was finding a trail and that was done mainly through smell.  This part couldn't be rushed.  Keeping her ears open for any sounds of movement and her eyes on the ground for signs of a recent path, she wandered for some time with nothing but bird calls above for company.  Eventually she caught a scent of deer, one of the most common wild creatures of these woods.  Deer, along with wild coyotes, raccoons and the occasional escaped domestic cat or dog made up the majority of her diet when she was playing at being non-human and deer were among her favourite.  

For a time, she slowly followed the trail, careful keep silent lest the sounds of her pursuit scare her prey away.  She was good at silence.  Eventually she sighted her target with her powerful eyes, a young stag judging by the small antlers jutting out of it's head.  Now things got fun.  Creeping as close as she dared without risking discovery, she shot forward, initiating a proper pursuit.  Predictably it ran from her, jutting in and out frantically between trees.  Animals often didn't know what to make of her based upon scent alone given how foreign she smelled.  The pursuit, however, was universal.  

Gradually, she gained on her and, letting out a growl, she leaped from the ground several feet into the air and landed upon its back, claws digging into soft flesh.  A moment later, she bit down into it's neck and just that easy, the creature was dead and she had her feast.  Death was a part of the cycle of life and she felt no guilt at taking the life of the other.  It was, after all, a matter of survival.

If she was a natural creature, she might have gorged herself until she literally couldn't eat anymore.  In so many ways, however, she was not.  Instead, she ate until she was comfortable before tearing the corpse apart with her teeth and claws and dragging what she could back to the little temporary den she'd created for herself.  The parts of the creature she had little desire to eat herself, she left for the crows and other scavengers.  She'd always had a soft spot in her heart for crows, perhaps because they were the modern day ancestors of the dinosaurs which were a part of her nature.

Once sated she slept again.  For the next several days, she followed very similar steps as her first night.  This was why she had come out here, to be alone, to gather her thoughts and to return to the natural world which she would always be a part of.  Forever, she would have one foot here and one foot within the human realm of technology and buildings and cars.  Instincts and solitude would always be at war with intellect and communal-ism.  There would always be a constant struggle to balance the sides of herself into one cohesive form and one cohesive being.  This was the way she helped balance her nature, escaping the human world if only for a short while, in order to visit the world of the wild.  This was how she found peace within herself.

It was on the fourth night that she caught wind of the unusual scent, a mix of human and bear and ye not quite each.  The scent intrigued her because it was not something she expected out here, so far from the city.  Human mingled with house cat, perhaps, would have have been so unusual but there was something more to it, something she couldn't place.  Then she found the footsteps which only served to reinforce her impression of something strange.  They looked almost human although whoever had left them had no shoes and the ends of the feet were clearly clawed.  Curious, she followed.