Celeste huffed as she began to head towards the bus stop. She was carrying her book bag on one shoulder, which was full of books, binders, paper, and pens and pencils. It was her last semester of high school and she planned on going out with a bang. She had decided to stay late at the Mansion today, mainly to get some studying in for her home economics class and to practice her art for Mr. Holloway's class. Art wasn't something she was good at, so she had set aside some time to actually practice drawing some random things from the internet. 

It was getting a bit more chilly at night as the summer began to slowly fade into autumn. Thankfully, Celeste had worn jeans and a button up blue shirt with a black jacket today. It was the perfect combo to stay warm on a nice, cool night. Celeste was a bit excited for some cooler weather but not too excited about the freezing weather that would follow up shortly. 

She was only about 5 minutes away from the bus stop before she felt a strange, instinctual feeling that she was being watched. A quick glance, though, showed no one was around her. Was it just because it was late? There was surprisingly almost no one else on the street. It made sense, considering the time, but was it really that dead of a night? It was a Thursday, after all, but still, she had expected to see more people out on the streets in this area. Maybe it was like this every night - probably was. This was the first time Celeste had stayed this late as the Mansion. She just really hoped the bus was still running from here towards her place - otherwise, she'd be sleeping with the homeless tonight.

Celeste took a moment to appreciate the nearly cloud free night, although no stars could be seen due to the heavy light pollution of the city. It was something she missed, one of the few things, from Regina. She could always go outside and lay in the grass and watch the stars dazzle in the night sky. But those times were gone and it was time to move on from them. She had a new life, with new friends, new school, and a new future. 

(OOC: Amber Thirsis) 

It wasn't unusual for Amber to be out late at night.  In fact, it was more expected than not.  During the hottest portion of the day she slept and upon awakening spent the next several hours studying at the Mansion in an attempt to earn her GED.  She was still not entirely certain why it was so important to her to earn nor what good it would actually do her in the real world as corpse girl, but it was a goal she'd set for herself and one she intended to achieve.  As a reward for an successful evening, she'd decided to find a place to eat in an actual restaurant.  It was well after dark by the time she left but no so late that places would be closed.  Only because the credit card given to her by her long departed father, Abyss, still worked did she even have the money needed to buy herself food and it was the only sign that he was probably still alive and out there somewhere.  

Given her rather unnatural appearance, it wasn't always easy to find a place willing to serve her.  Fortunately, she'd managed to sniff out a few establishments that were friendly towards mutants and there seemed to be more than average nearby the Mansion, probably due to it's large mutant population.  There was a little mutant run Italian place nearby that she'd eaten at once before and it was there she decided to eat at once again.  Once her meal was finished, it was time to head home.  

Although the temperature was starting to cool from summer to fall, she barely felt it and wore her usual light robes except for the face covering which wasn't needed at night.  The bus was the usual way she traveled around the city given that she'd never bothered to learn to drive.  Well, either the bus or wings but wings came with the disadvantage of not being able to bring clothing with her and, as much as she found the human obsession with nakedness galling and a little confusing, she'd accepted that being clothed was necessary if she wanted to interact with the human world in any meaningful way.  So, the bus it was.  Not the most glamorous way to travel, perhaps, but it would get her back home well enough.

Approaching the bus stop, the street was mostly deserted except for one other young woman she could see approaching from the opposite direction.  She smiled at the other woman although she knew her smile sometimes came across as more unnerving than welcoming.  Something didn't feel quite right.  Looking around, she tried to see if there was anyone else she'd maybe missed at first glance, but saw no one but the other woman.  Still, her instants whispered that there was unseen danger and she'd learned to trust those instincts.  Damn her weak human senses anyway and their inability to give her any useful information at all!

Celeste was enjoying the night. Except for that creepy feeling that something bad might happen, but otherwise, it was enjoyable. The slight chill reminded her of autumn approaching - and that she needed to dust out her wardrobe as soon as she could. She had plenty of cutesy outfits for fall, but Celeste had been intentionally pushing it off. She wasn't really looking forward to digging through her luggage, washing them again, ironing them, and all the other chores that came along with wrinkly, semi-folded clothes. 

Celeste ended up watching her feet, making sure she wasn't stepping on any cracks. Maybe she felt like she was 7 again by doing that, but the walk seemed like it was taking forever to get to the bus stop. Once she looked up again, she saw a woman in the distance - robed clothes, except for her head. She saw a smile on her lips and Celeste gave a smile back. She squinted to see her better in the night - her skin had a yellow tinge to it, did she have liver issues? Once she got a little closer, she saw that she looked kinda like a mummy. Huh. Celeste wondered if she was a mutant. Well, she probably was. They were pretty close to the Mansion and she had learned at the mall with the kid that sometimes people don't always look as they seem. 

So with that, she gave a tiny wave as they both approached the bus stop. Celeste was an outgoing person, anyways, until she heard some footsteps coming from an alley way. Sounded like they were running, which made Celeste fairly nervous. She turned and stared towards the alley where she heard the feet suddenly running. With an arched brow, she muttered, "I'm pretty sure that was a dead end alley..." Celeste was more on the mindset of someone may be needing help - unable to scream but were making a run for it than anything. She hated her optimism sometimes - well, was that really optimism? 

But then about 3 guys were running towards them from where the woman was walking from. Celeste's optimism of a damsel in distress quickly faded as she slowly began to realize what probably was going to happen. 

Something was out there, she felt sure of it.  Years of living on her own in the wild has honed her instincts and even with her weak human senses, something had triggered that almost preternatural awareness of danger.  She felt vulnerable and that was a feeling she hated.  In an ideal world she could simply change shapes into a much more dangerous dinosaur and in so doing defend both herself and anyone else who might be in danger as well, but the world was rarely ideal.  While she would never count herself among the heroes of the world, she wasn't about to stand by and allow innocents to be hurt or worse if she was there to stop it.  The difference between a hero and a everyone else was that a hero went searching for those who needed saving and that wasn't her.

Was it appropriate to warn the other woman about a danger she didn't actually know for sure even existed?  Poised for action, whether that action was to run or to fight, she turned to the woman and prepared to speak; better she be aware of a threat that might be mistaken and have a chance to defend herself than to be taken unaware and thereby be vulnerable.  That's when she heard the footsteps coming from an alley she knew to be a dead end.  While her knowledge of the city's dark alleyways and corners wasn't nearly the equal of her sister Aura's it was still extensive especially in the area around the Mansion.  Only bad things could be coming from that direction.

Moments after hearing the first set of footsteps, she turned to see three guys emerge from the alley and, even in the dim light of the night, she could see the cruel expressions upon their faces.  "Looks like we've found ourselves a couple of playthings," the leader spoke in sneering tones to the others who laughed along with them in glee.  Gripping the small knife she always kept on her person in case of dangers where she was stuck in her human body, Amber glanced towards the other woman at the bus-stop, trying to gauge her reaction.  Was she likely to be someone who could help or a liability?  Heroics only went so far and she wasn't about protect innocents at the expense of her own life.

She stared at the guys running towards them. Was it only them or was there more? She felt like there might have been more but she wasn't entirely sure. She squinted to try to see their faces better but they were still too far away. She glanced over to the other woman, unsure of what she might do - was she a mutant? Celeste felt confident she was. What would her mutation be? Actually, she probably didn't even know if she was a mutant or human. With that in mind, Celeste quickly began to charge her arms as they lit up, sparkling in the light of the street lamp. She glanced over to the woman, "I can shoot them with radiation. It'll make them pretty sick." She was ready for a fight if need be. Celeste was really glad she had chosen sneakers for the day.

The men were quickly closing in on them - and she heard more footsteps from behind her. It looked like about 2 more were heading their way from the way Amber had come and 2 more were coming from the street across from them. This wasn't good - they were pretty much cornered. Celeste bit her lip. Even with her powers, she wouldn't be able to take 7 guys. She could probably get enough to knock down a few of them before they got too close to them.

Celeste rolled her eyes at his comment. Playthings? Was that really the best thing they could come up with against the two of them? Radiation girl and... Well, whatever powers the woman beside her had? A few moments later, the leader pulled out what looked like  machete, he called out, "A couple sick muties from the mansion, eh?" As the rest of the men got closer, it looked like most had knives - except one had a shotgun. Celeste couldn't believe he'd actually brought a shotgun to a knife fight. How did he expect to not his friends when they were trying to shank her and the mysterious woman near her? Celeste aimed carefully and shot a single flare towards the man, hoping to whatever deity was there, that it'd hit him. They could fight a knife fight but a shotgun bullet isn't going to be good for her, the woman, or any of the bigots coming towards them. 

And luckily, she hit him. He went down in fits of vomit with the shotgun hitting the ground quick. The other men apparently didn't seem too interested in the shot gun, but they definitely sped up. Celeste needed to recharge & fast. She looked over to the woman. Hopefully she had more combat experience than Celeste did - the only thing Celeste really knew how to do was whack people with rad flares.  

 "I can shoot them with radiation. It'll make them pretty sick." 

Her attention remained on the threats as the other woman spoke.  So, she was a mutant.  That was good.  That meant they maybe had a chance.  She nodded her head curtly in acknowledgement.  "I can change into dinosaurs."  Of course, to implement such a change required the space and the time to do it and at the moment, it was unlikely she'd have either one of those things.  Not for the first time and likely far from the last, she cursed her nearly defenseless human body.  It was weak and fleshly, lacking in natural armor, weapons and senses that all her other forms possessed in one form or another.  How could people stand it?  To be trapped in such a shell all the time?  Likely, they just didn't know anything else.

"Can you distract them?"  Even as she spoke the words, two more guys approached from behind and she knew even the best distraction would be useless.  How could one person distract all 7 assailants and give her the time she needed to shift?  The attempt would surely end in failure and she knew it.  Gripping the little pocket knife in her hand, she felt a stronger sense of fear than she'd felt in a long time.  Fighting didn't frighten her; she'd been in many fights in her life and was more than capable of holding her own.  Death didn't bother her, not really and not when she was half there all ready.  It was the sense of helplessness, the sense that no matter what she did there was no way to win that bothered her.  

At least most of their assailants seemed to be only armed with knives, except the leader with his machete and one other with a shotgun.  Before the thugs had a chance to coordinate an attack, the woman shot out some kind of energy bolt and the man with the shotgun fell to the ground, vomiting.  If she had been a different sort of person and if their state of remaining danger had been any less, she might have let out a cheer.  As it was, the threat to both their lives was still very much real.

"Get them!" Their leader called out, with a glance at his fallen comrade.  Just like that, the relative calm tension of the circle broke into chaos as.  All at once, there was movement and danger and it felt like the threat of knives everywhere from every direction.  Aura had prepared her for just this situation, not only giving her the knife but also making sure she knew something about how to use it.  A wild lunch struck flesh, plunging deep into the man's shoulder and coming out with a stream of blood.  The man let out a pained scream.  If nothing else, at least they had managed to draw first blood.

Celeste was nervous - they didn't have that much space and she didn't know how they would fight off 7 people. Well, 6 now. 6 was better than 7 but still, they weren't in the favorable position.

She perked a brow to her, she could turn into a dinosaur? That was... Freaking awesome, actually. If they weren't in a life or death situation, she'd probably have a lot of questions and curiosities regarding the girl's mutation. What kinda dinosaurs could she turn into, actually? Celeste used to play with dinosaur dolls when she was younger and it was pretty darn fun.

They had a more serious situation going on them reminiscing about her childhood. Could she provide some type of distraction? Probably not, at least not now that there were two others running towards them. This did not look good, it did not look good at all. She saw the woman's knife. Celeste herself had a taser and some throwing knives in her purse but had limited to barely any training in using them. She pulled her taser out. This was going to get close combat sooner than later and she'd probably miss throwing little daggers at the bigots.

She had been recharging her powers. The next major target to take out was the leader, with the Machete. It'd be a lot harder to dodge a machete than the smaller knives the other men had. At least she took out the shotgun guy, which was probably the most dangerous of them all. She glanced at the girl, "I mean, I might could do a large flare that would make them like the shotgun guy. It'd hit you, though, and it'd only keep them at bay for a couple minutes. Are you tolerant to radiation?" Some people had good genes, or a good mutation, that could protect them from radiation. Could she shift her skin or something? She doubted she'd do much damage to someone whose skin was as thick as a dinosaur. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure. 

She waited for an answer as she prepared to release another flare, this time to the man with the machete. A couple of the other guys were already on them and she heard one scream, she jumped to the side, barely missing a knife into her chest. She touched the taser onto the dude and turned it on as the electricity shocked through his body. Two more down? Or was the guy the woman Amber stabbed still trying to go? She turned to look towards them.

Please have a plan, lady, please have a plan. 

The scream coming from the man who's shoulder her knife struck was a gratifying sound but not nearly as reassuring as it otherwise might have been if there weren't 6 (5 if you didn't count the man on the ground) otherwise unwounded assailants.  While not the bloodthirsty type, years spent living in the wild and hunting and killing her own prey had desensitized her to blood. Besides, they started this fight and thus deserved anything that came their way.  If they were destined to win this fight, she'd be damned if she didn't take a few of them down with her.

Not for the first time and, likely, not for the last time before the night was over, she wished there was time to change.  As a dinosaur, almost any dinosaur within her repertoire, she could take on any mere human with a knife. Hell, she could take on more than one without any great fear for her life.  With a fellow mutant at her side, especially one clearly equipped with the range she lacked, the little gang of thugs wouldn't stand a chance.  The thought, however, was both fleeting and entirely without point.  No matter how much she might wish otherwise, she was trapped in her weak human body and would have to make the best of it.

"No tolerance to radiation that I know of," she answered, voice even despite the adrenaline and fear racing through her system.  Her eyes didn't waver from the men in front of her.  It wasn't something she'd ever had the opportunity to test but now was definitely not the best time for such a test.  Did the dead have resistance to radiation?  How the hell was she supposed to have the answer to that question?  Maybe, if they managed to survive the night, there might be time to test the answer to that question.

Not about to wait to see if the woman was going to let loose another ray of energy, movement erupted and suddenly 2 of the men were upon Amber, knives out.  For the moment, the man she first struck continued to grasp at his wound, but she knew he wasn't yet out of the fight.She felt the bite of one of the across her ribs and only the agony she'd learned to live with that came every time she changed shape saved her from crying out.  Later, there would be time to concern herself with her injuries.  Ducking, she managed to avoid the bite of the second blade.  First blood might have been theirs, but that wasn't nearly enough to scare their assailants away; if anything it only made them more angry and more determined.  

Celeste grumbled as she watched the scene continue to unfold. She had stabbed the guy in the shoulder. That was good, but he probably would be back up and ready to go again soon. That wasn’t so good. Celeste wasn’t sure what to do but she immediately turned her taser on and was ready to jab anyone who got near her.

Slice! A knife blade went against her left shoulder blade as she let out a small scream and spun around to try to tase the guy. She missed, but the stinging in her shoulder meant he got a good slice of her. At least he didn’t stab her. She stepped back and immediately began recharging a flare in her hand, glancing over to Amber.

She had no tolerance? Great… And she definitely didn’t have a plan. Celeste didn’t have a plan either but the woman seemed like she knew what she was doing a lot more than what she knew. She bit her lip as she started in a defense dance with the guy in front of her. She wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to get him without him stabbing her. 

Her arm had fully charged, but she glanced over at the woman. Did the guy get her? "F**k." She closed her eyes, screamed and ran towards the guy in front of her with the taser as far out as possible. Maybe she’d manage to get him… Maybe. 

The scream her fighting partner let out was not a good sign.  Not a good sign at all. That meant she was struggling at least as much as Amber herself.  She would probably never the the fighter her sister was and wasn't the best in determining relative levels of skill, but a glance at the other woman suggested that she likely didn't have a lot of experience in this type of situation.  By the fact that more rays weren't forthcoming, she could only guess that the other woman's power probably had some kind of recharge time before it could be used again.  Damn.

For the second time, she felt her blade cut into flesh although the wound was both glancing and short lived as she felt a second wound opened upon her shoulder almost simultaneously.  Barely, she was managed to remain above water against her two foes and only that because their assailants, for all their pent of rage, weren't especially skilled themselves.  Shudder to think how well they would have faired against challengers who actually had a little skill.  When her originally wounded target rejoined the fray against her, all of lost.

All should have been lost.  3 against 1 was almost impossible odds even if you dedicated your life to fighting.  To someone who had barely graduated from the basics?  Impossible.  And that didn't even account for the same odds that the other woman faced.  

A sharp pain erupted from around the sides of her head and the front of her face and she felt the impact of a knife collide with her face.  What she didn't feel was the bite of the blade or the flow of blood down her face.  What she saw was an utterly bewildered expression on her attacker's face as he stared at her, mouth open.  What she didn't see was the crest of bone that grew up and around her head and face like a crest, the horns that grew out of the crest of bone or the horn that grew out of her nose.  

"What the f*ck!"  This, from one of her attackers.  Still not sure exactly what was going on, she let out her best challenging yell.  Her human vocal chords weren't exactly the most effective for calls of challenge, but those who had noticed her change were clearly shaken.

Celeste wasn't sure what to do. She had managed to hit the guy with the taser and he seemed to double over. God, what if she tased him too long? She didn't notice the small knife wound in her upper shoulder until after the fact - and the pain shooting through her shoulder was terrible.

They were screwed - why even fight at this point? They were both going to go down. Celeste took a deep breath and finally was able to get both of her arms charged. It wouldn't be as strong as just one but it would still do the trick. Granted, she wasn't even sure who to shoot at next.

She heard a piercing scream, a curse from one of the fighters, and Celeste attention was fully over towards the strange woman. What was going on over there? She wanted to see what she could do to help the woman but she had several men converging on her at this point. She released one flare into one of the guys closest. He crippled over in his own vomit. 

It seemed like most people were beginning to pay more attention to the woman who let out a yell. It was... Different. And what was going on with her face? Celeste wasn't freaked out - she knew the woman could transform into a dinosaur. Could she transform into pieces of one? Celeste couldn't really tell.