Meld's room remained sparsely decorated, giving the impression of hardly being lived in at all. In the corner was a queen sized bed, neatly made. Attached to the far wall was an open closet with a few articles of clothing hanging. On the closet floor was a very obvious table saw. Across from the bed was the only area which looked like it had seen any use recently, which was a desk covered in papers and sketches. There was also a half formed sculpture made of soap stone of what looked vaguely like an arm. Above the desk was a large window covered in black curtains. There were also 2 chairs in the room and an impeccably clean bathroom attached through a door.

Meld sat at her desk with a small knife, carving the soapstone arm. It was to be a prototype for the arm she was going to make out of bone and titanium once she had all of her supplies. She had found soapstone to be a good material for such things mostly because it was cheap and easily carved. It was always important to make a rough draft, since she was working on something that was going to replace her arm. Imperfections were not to be tolerated and it was much easier to replace a piece of soapstone than it was to replace titanium or even bone.

Meld was looking forward to this meeting. Her best and oldest friend, Bear, meeting her newest friend, Aura, although she did worry that Aura's morality might not mesh with Bear's. There was always the hope, however, that it might rub off on him just a little bit. It would be good for him to hear the opinion of someone besides herself on mutants and how he should be proud to be a mutant and not ashamed. She thought he might finally be coming around her her kind of thinking and hearing Aura speak might be just what he needed to tip him over the edge. With a little luck he might finally be able to be proud of what he was instead of ashamed of it. She smiled to herself at the thought. Not nearly as bloody and violent as many of the things that could be done to help mutants, but certainly a good deed nonetheless.

After getting the phone call from Meld, Bear's day was already turning out to be great no matter how it ended. After cleaning up the apartment a bit, Bear headed to the door, grabbing his Coat and leaving the apartment. After Bear got to the Elevator, he pressed the down button, a few moments passed and Bear was on the elevator heading to the ground floor. Upon hitting the ground level, Bear exited the elevator, gave a nod to the doorman and headed out of the apartment onto the New York City streets. At first, Bear was pumping his arms lightly as he walked, before realizing he was in pain from the two wounds on his left shoulder. A glance into the mind of Bear shows him picturing the dream he had with the scars going up his arms before shooting to the way his shoulder currently looks. He shuddered lightly at that thought before slowing the swing of his arm and continuing on towards his destination.

Bear was slightly surprised by how close Sanctuary was to the Apartment yet how far as well, shrugging it out of his head, Bear continued to his destination. After a good long walk, he came to the Great Golden Doors, with a grin at their modesty, Bear pushed his way through the doors before entering Sanctuary himself, only having been inside once before. He smiled at the receptionist, seeing her name on a plate on her desk, "Hey Lisa... I'm here to see Meld..." His smile held true as he waited for her to point him in the right direction despite him already knowing it. After getting the direction pointed to him, Bear smiled again and gave Lisa a wave before heading down the hall and to the room that he knew was his old friends room.

Without a knock, Bear slowly crept the door open and walked into the room, he could see Meld hard at work sculpting something and knew a fright wouldnt be good unless he held the knife hand down. Bear quickly and quietly trodded, because he's not very stealthy, over to Meld and grabbed her knife hand as he placed his other hand on her shoulder. "Boo..." He didnt say it loudly, just loud enough to give her a little jump from the sudden contact and change from silence.

Aura had been in her room, battering the walls with series of practiced moves, the current wall plate she was working on barely had a scratch in it, likely because it was made from steel, which she could not quite penetrate yet, some day though she would be able to shatter the steel. Aura glanced at the clock it was almost time to go, stripping off her clothing which was somewhat damp from her work out. Putting on a silk black shirt and a matching silk skirt. She liked the feeling of the material on her skin more then how it looked. Running a hand through her Hair she gathered it behind her before exiting the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She had wanted her to meet a friend of her's which Aura was fine with, meeting new mutants was something she enjoyed.

Aura moved down the hall way, tossing a stray lock from her face. She knew where Meld was room wise but took her time to get their, she had left a little early. She wondered of Meld's friend thought as they did, how he felt about his power. She knew some Mutants embraced their powers but others, a far bigger share were were scared or even ashamed of their powers. Aura could not imagine such thought in herself. Her Mutation was something she cherished, something that she would only give up in death. As she approached Meld's room she could see the door was still somewhat open and so She let herself in spotting right a way the two people inside it. She looked over bear.

Meld was working on something, prolbely another graft and bear seemed to be talking closely to her. She stayed quite for now watching from the doorway for just a few seconds. "Hello, you to" She said flexing her hand a bit as she did, as normal the pink light danced from finger to finger in her exercise in control of the power. She still wonderd if their was a reason meld had contacted her to meet this person however, speaking again she introduced herself. "I ma Aura" she said her voice soft.

Meld startled and tensed slightly when her friend put his hand over hers and called "boo" but relaxed when she realized who it was. "Bear!" Meld exclaimed happily, reaching up to give him a hug. He was the only person she ever did that too, although she was still getting used to calling him by his code name. "Aura should be here shortly," she assured him, offering him use of one of the chairs.

No sooner had Med mentioned that Aura would soon be here, than she was. Meld put down her carving knife and cleaned up some of the soap stone shavings from her desk, dropping them into a small waste basket. She then, carefully, put her carving out of the way, treating it like a small child or a very expansive fragile object. This was soon to be a part of her and it deserved to be treated with the utmost care and respect.

"Aura Bear, Bear Aura." She introduced her two friends to one another. This was likely to prove interesting and she liked interesting as long as it didn't also involve large amounts of personal danger.

Bear instantly gave a smile when Meld hugged him and he returned the hug quickly before allowing her to stand up as she was cleaning her desk up quickly. "Hello, you two.. I'm Aura." With this, Bear quickly spun around to see the young woman standing behind him, he gave a quick smile to her as meld stepped forward and introduced the two as well.

"Aura Bear, Bear Aura" Bear smiled and reached out his hand to shake the girls hand, introducing himself as politely as he could. "Well, as she said, Aura, my name is Bear, it's a pleasure to meet you." Bear smiled politely, waiting for the two young women to take their seats before he found his own and sat in Melds room.

"Well, uhm... I guess I should start or something?" Bear laughed nervously, not really knowing exactly what to say or how to say it even if he could figure out what to say. His mind was full of all of the interesting things he had learned over the past few days. And he knew that something was going to happen today to change the way the rest of his life was going to go. "Well, I uh... Man, I really dont know what to say right now... So I guess I cant really start it... Someone else start.. Heh..." Bear grins lightly, looking at the two girls.

Aura took the man's hand to shake it in greeting, though the action was a bit wierd to her "Hello to you both" She said with a smile as she sat down in the room. "It is good to meet you bear" Aura went on as she looked at him wondering what his power might be. She always enjoyed the beauity of another mutants powers.Aura wonderd whare to start herself, after all their were so many points one could begin with such a broad topic, such as diffrering mutant points of view or even how to deal with the human threat, they were clearly better then.

Aura stood up decided their was an easier way to start things off. Calling forth her Aura, the bright pink energy flared into view suddenly around her whole body, extending about an inch or two from her skin. She then called forth an aura weapon she ahd not used in some time, her aura formed a moving circuler saw just infront of her palm, leting it spin for a few minutes, she then made it smaller, the excess Aura flwoing back into the main body of it like water. Then she let the saw dissolve entirely but before the remaining aura material flowed back into her aura she formed a smaller saw, the same one she used for daveing bones before letting her entire Aura fade back into nothingness.

"May i ask, what your power is?" Aura asked bear trying to be polite. She was very curious though as to what his power was, but also it would provide a good starting point for their talk. Aura was not quite sure what Meld was going for entirely but she had the genral idea. "I like hearing about the beauitful gifts those of our kind have gotten" She continued hoping she was not intruding on anything he found private, but Aura felt a power should never be as such.

Meld could tell that both of her two friends were a little unsure of themselves and to be honest Meld wasn't entirely sure either. She had thought as far as the fact that it might be good for the two of them to meet but beyond that, nothing. It was very much like her to come up with a beginning but not an end, letting things play out as they would. Despite that, however, she had a good feeling about how this would go.

Meld was momentarily distracted from her thoughts at the appearance of Aura's bone saw. "I hadn't realized you could create something like that," Meld said, her voice once again taking on a contemplative tone. She wondered how effective the tool was, how sharp it was. How did an aura saw compare to the saw she had had made not so long ago and that was currently sitting in her closet? She did her best to keep her thoughts to herself. This was about the meeting of of her two friends, not about the merits of an aura saw verses an adamantium saw. Such thoughts could wait until another time.

"Aura has such a refreshing view of mutant powers," Meld stated. "She doesn't even shy away from my rather, uh, morbid gifts." She grinned, eyes sparkling with good humour. "If only more people could view the powers of themselves and others in the same manner the world would be a much better place." She was pretty sure Bear would get the hint. Just like she had been telling him since he got to the city, his mutant powers were something to be proud of, something to embrace, not something to be ashamed of.

Bear sighs lightly as the girl shows off her ability, it was quite an interesting thing to see someone so willingly showing what they are. Meld didnt really have a choice and Bear could hide and so could Aura, but why wasnt she, what made HER decide she was proud of her ability? Bear could understand almost for Meld, considering her ability almost causes her to NEED to be willing to accept what she is, because she could look at her hand and find out any day that she isnt normal. Bear could look at his hands and see regular flesh, but looking up his arm he could see 2 wounds, 1 almost healed, and an almost healed, un-properly, wound on his ribcage.

"Well, I guess... I get stronger..." Bear stood up out of his chair and looked around the room to make sure there were no cameras or anybody he didnt know watching. "Uhm... If I get hurt, my body reacts by making me stronger as well as, after a certain point, making it so I cant feel any pain." Bear thought about jamming his thumb into his wound but he decided it might be best simply to make another wound to kinda add to the show. "Meld, mind if I use your knife?" Bear glanced at the carving knife from before before reaching for it.

"Actually...." He paused a moment before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small, rather sharp, pocket knife. "I forgot I had bought this just in case I needed to defend myself." And defending himself could come in any form the two girls could think of, but to Bear it was simply what it looked like, a knife so he could fend off any would be attackers, not so he could cut himself, at least.... Not yet... "Alright... You wont be able to tell otherwise so first..." Bear sighs and moves over to the bed and tries to lift it, able to get one side off the ground with veritable ease but he couldnt get it much further than that.

"And now..." Bear drops his jacket onto the chair he was sitting in and pulls his sleeve up before placing the knife to his flesh and ripping back hard and fast, forcing a gash wide open on his shoulder, he lets out a groan of pain. Fighting off his urge to place his hand on the wound, the pain slowly fades and Bear looks around the room, finally able to see straight again, blood running down his arm quickly from the open wound. "Watch..." He leans down to the bed and grabs onto it, lifting it off the ground and over his head with a light smirk on his face. He then quickly puts the bed back down and sheepishly moves back to his chair and sits down, forgetting about the wound on his bicep as blood runs down his arm, coating it in a crimson color.

"Yes it is what i use to make my furnature, so they screw in easier"It had been one of the harder effects to master with her aura. She had to use it normally in small spaces, in which she dould not see, so it was the hardest part of making it to. Aura ahd never used anything else and making the furnature had been a way for miracle to teach her control, though not as hard as many saws commonly bought on the markit, Aura could control her aura far better then she could a machine.

Aura silently nodded as he tried to lift the bed and failed to lift in completely off the floor .Aura watched as Bear tore a gash in his arm, she neather flinched or turned a way instead her focus was on the wound and his words. Bear then easily lifted the bed over his head which caused Aura to become curious on the power, so the more he was wounded the stronger he became. It was awsome, though Aura had noticed a slight delay in his cut to the moving of the bed, either the power had a delay of some sort, or he was just unsued to the pain. "That's awsome bear, a wonderful gift of nature. How strong can you get before you reach your maximum' She asked curious ta just how powerful he could get. Aura was facinated with the power. "It does not look like it, but if you need help improving the ability i can help, after all the more you use the power the better you can use it when you need to." she offerd trying to be helpful completley missing out on the still open wound.

"The diffrences in our powers is whats makes them so bauitful, we have our powers so that we can use them to improve our lifes and make our world better, nature would not have given us gifts we were not meant to use. No mutant should ever be ashamed of their powers. I know many Mutants whose powers are not visable like to hide theirs, but i never saw a reason to do so, my powers are apart of me and thus a part of who i am and so i use them much like a human uses their arm or a tool." She xplained with a shrug, when she had first come to the city she did not think open power use was an issue but it was, and Aura had trouble seeing just why.

Meld was curious how Bear would react to Aura's questioning of his power. In the past he wouldn't have said anything, wouldn't even have admitted that he was a mutant. Of course, he knew that Aura knew he was a mutant now so that was sort of a moot point, but even so he was never very open about his powers. Even to her, his best friend, he was uncomfortable really discussing them or showing them off. When he actually cut his arm in order to activate his power, Meld was surprised at the progress he had made recently. Not only was he showing off what he could do, but he actively triggered his power. She had never known him to do that before and couldn't help but smile, although it was a little disconcerting to see him actively wounding himself. She didn't like to see her friends hurt, although perhaps it would be a little strange coming from her, the one who cut of entire limbs in order to trigger her mutation. "Make sure you clean and disinfect that when we're finished here," she said, concern evident in her voice. "You wouldn't want to get an infection."

Meld nodded at Aura in agreement. "Our powers are our gifts and its up to us how we decide to use them. I choose to use mine to help my people, as I know Aura does as well. So that no mutant needs live in fear or loathing any longer. Be proud of your gifts, its as much a part of your as an arm or a leg and its what makes you superior to them. Its what makes you a mutant and that is something to embrace, not feel shame about." She knew she had said all this to her friend before but couldn't help but repeat it, especially with Aura here and considering the progress he had all ready plainly main in coming to terms with what he was. She felt as if he only needed one more little nudge in the right direction in order to truly embrace his nature, and when that happened anything would be possible. They had all ready discussed her plans with The Order and he had vowed to support her, though up until now she hadn't come out and asked him to join. He simply hadn't been ready for that, hadn't even been ready to admit what he was to anyone other than her. But perhaps that time was coming soon and she couldn't help but look forward to the prospect of fighting alongside her best friend for the rights of their people.

"And Aura's not the only one willing to help you improve your ability," Meld agreed, putting a hand on Bear's shoulder. She frowned slightly as a thought occurred to her. If he was going to help The Order sometime in the near future, perhaps he would need to learn to fight properly. Strength was good in a fight, but skill could oftentimes overcome raw strength if there was no discipline behind it. "I can also teach you to fight, if you want. You could learn to defend yourself even in times where you were unable to activate your power." And it was always good to be prepared for such eventualities. Life was unpredictable, especially where enemies were concerned. Unlike the formal competitions of her youth, real fights didn't follow specific rules and didn't occur at specific times and in specific places. Real fights happened when they happened, whether you were prepared for them or not. They were often chaotic, fast and dirty and you had to be prepared at all times. One lapse in attention could end a real fight and there were no referees to stop things from getting out of hand.

Bear shifted in his seat a moment, not really knowing how to respond to everything going on and not realizing what he had just done, he had just mutilated his own body to show someone he didnt know, his power. He then listened to Meld and Aura both go on and on about how you should be proud of your abilities and how it's a gift from nature and it's a god given then, he saw it that way. Bear didnt really know what to think anymore, his mind was racing, trying to force thoughts of being ashamed of what he was out of his head as well as trying to kill the urges to kick those thoughts out. He didnt know what to think anymore, then the talk of training, and Bear could feel his eyes light up like a kid at candy store.

"Alright..." Bear paused a moment, surprised with himself. He then quickly searched his thoughts, trying to find if he was still ashamed of himself and he heard his mother talking about the mutant problem. 'Shut up mom! You're the problem! You're the reason I am the way I am... You wouldnt be proud of me right now if you knew what I am, so I'm tired of being fake just to get your approval! I'M DONE!' Bear listened intently, waiting for a response before grinning lightly. "Alright, I want to train... I wanna learn how to fight..." Bear smiled lightly looking back and forth between the two young women before his eyes lit up again. An idea shot into his mind and he quickly pulled out his cell phone before looking up to the two young women and holding his finger up to prevent them from saying anything if they were going to.

A few numbers punched in and a send button pressed, the phone began ringing and on the other end a female voice, older, answered. "Hello?"

"Mom?" Bear spoke into the phone lightly before pressing a couple more buttons and putting the phone on speaker. He didnt know why he did it aside from the fact that he wanted Meld to know for sure who he was talking to.

"Hey sweetie! Hey Rick, it's-"

"Mom... Hold on... I got something to tell you..."

"What is it sweetie?"

"I'm a mutant..."

"....... What?"

"I'm a mutant mom... A mutant. One of those problems of yours."

"Oh honey, I'm sorry... We can get you looked at, find a way to get rid of it... We'll do whatever w-"

"Mom, it's not a problem.. And it isnt something I want gone... Goodbye mom..." And with that the phone call was ended and Bear felt ten times better about himself, yet still embarassed about calling his mother. "Now... I'm ready..."

Melds words made Aura consider how she might do without her powers, she had fought without them before but it had been a long time, the only time she was denied their use is when her body was spent useing them, still Aura guessed it might be possible to take a way a mutants powers with technoligy. If that were to be the case, Learning to fight with various weapons was going to be vital. Aura could think of several she would like to hone, including the whip. Aura liked the look of the sword better, but her Aura sword and a real sword were diffrent, her Aura weighed nothing a sword was a few pounds and was less easier to conceal then a whip which could go around her waist.

She was glad Meld was enchurgeing the boy to, his power was good, it meant that if somone tried to hurt him we could grow strong enough to defend himself. So she hoped it worked liek that anyway, he had to have a maximum and the sooner he knew what that was the better he would be able to look at situation and defend himself apropriately. Even if the violent path Meld and her had chosen, Humans were a threat none the less. Aura ahrdly considerd that hus mutation wa smsotly invisable.

Aura was quite surprised when bear suddenly calle dhis Mom and had a breif very direct conversation Aura did not think bear could do. She was proud of him and considerd offering to help him deal with his mother ina more permanent manner, but decided against it, it would be somthing for a later date and should be of his chooseing. "Mom not exactly a fan of what we are? Well if they every try and fix whats wrong with you we will not alow it to happon, not that they could handle you anyway" she said with a smile.

"Good, youl be happier not having to hide who and what you are." She said thinking about her own Mother, whose face kept being replaceed by Miracles face. her parents features were fuzzzy, tough to make out easily, from years of not considering them and of far more importent things. "Parents can suck, mine let them keep me in a cell" She said a bit darkly, Aura had gained a dislike for holding centors in her breif time in one. She ahd been seperated from the main population of the jouvenile hall becuse of her power, they were afraid she would kill again.

AN idea came to Aura, though she was unsure how they could put it into action. "Do you know if their has to be actual physsicle damage to make you stronger, or could a painful event trigger it, becuse i was wondering if their was not somthing that could be made, to give you enough damage to trigger your ability ina more controlled way" She said more thinking in terms of reserveing his strength in case a battile took longer then He thought, the idea of not leaveing thousends of scars all ove rhis body was a silent angel who had not enterd the vacinity of Aura's mind.

Meld was shocked when Bear called up his mother and said the things that he did. Not even she had done that to her parents and she had long ago accepted and embraced the fact that the was a mutant. She smiled, almost giddy with the level of her pleasure at his latest act. "I'm so proud of you Bear!" Her enthusiasm was plainly evident in her voice. All the progress he had made recently. Finally it had all paid off, finally he was no longer ashamed of what he was, his mother and father no longer controlled his every thought and action. He was not his own person and although it had taken many hears, she was sure that he would find it to be worth it in the end. "You did the right thing." She knew it was true and she hoped he knew it was true as well.

"Both our parents thought the same way," Meld explained to Aura. "I told you a little about mine before but the two of us grew up together, constantly bombarded with the same hateful propaganda. They never locked us up but that's probably because they didn't know. In the case of Bear he hid it from all but me. In my case I ran away as soon as I found out and haven't talked to them since." When she stopped to really think about it, which was rarely, it still hurt knowing that she could never go back to her parents and be accepted back into their lives. They might have been able to accept the death of her sister, Meld couldn't have done anything about that had she wanted to, but the would never have been able accept the fact that she was a mutant. Like Bear's parents they would probably try to "fix" her but of course there was nothing to fix.

Meld couldn't help but wonder at the same questions Aura was asking of her friend. She remembered the dream he had told her about only recently and how much it had scared him. And yet, now he was actively triggering his power, cutting and scarring himself and in so doing making the dream a reality. How interesting that the dream was turning out to be more of a premonition. But then, in discovering her power also, she had known subconsciously what to do, even if it didn't appear to make the slightest bit of sense consciously so perhaps this was yet more proof that nature not only gave them their powers, but also the knowledge of how to use them.

"I've thought about the same thing, Bear. It could be dangerous for you, not being able to activate your power instantly. You may need to consider what can be done to activate it faster and keep it activated longer." She had seen first hand how the deactivation of his power tended to affect him and knew approximately how long it lasted. He would be in trouble if he were ever in a prolonged fight with a bit of time between one part of the fight and another. "Learning exactly how and why your power works might help with these problems."