Painted in bars of light, the kitchen at night looked a very different place from the daytime kitchen. It was always homey because, well, for a while now this had been her home. Now it was like coming home to visit the parents which not an entirely inappropriate idea since her father lived and taught at the Mansion full time now.

Maya puttered around the kitchen. With so many cooks around nothing ever seemed to end up in the same place twice. "Take a seat." There were plenty of tables and chairs around. Even couches further back.

Soon enough she had two mugs and a bowl just in case the dino couldn't handle a mug. A pot was on the stove warming some milk and Maya's head was in a cabinet poking around for hot cocoa packets... which, of course, were at the veeeeery back since it was now summer and they were out of season.

She hummed as she poured the milk into the mugs and it swirled brown a white until the packets were entirely mixed. Maya placed the mug in front of the dinosaur. "Here. Try this, but be careful. It's hot." She would stand by with the bowl if the mug failed.

From her position near the floor, Amber could tell that the kitchen seemed nice. Well, as nice as any kitchen really could seem. She wasn't really the sort of person to notice all the little personal touches that people put in their houses, kitchen or otherwise. But it seemed clean, which was good.

At the suggestion that Amber take a seat, she realized that she hadn't really tried jumping before, at least not jumping as high (relative to her current height) as a chair was. Deciding this was an excellent opportunity to try, she spent a good half minute gauging the distance between herself and the chair she currently desired to be atop before leaping at it. The leap was glorious and her aim close to perfect. She laned atop the chair although she had to scramble and dig her little claws in to ensure that she didn't fall off the other side of the chair right then and there. Now that would certainly be embarrasing.

When the hot chocolate was put in front of Amber she realized that she really didn't want to be a dinosaur any more. Hot chocolate was best enjoyed with human hands and human lips. the only problem was she had no idea how, exactly, to accomplish her human desire. Just as she thought that, however, she felt the telltale prickling across her skin of an impending change. She let out a painfilled chirp as the prickling swiftly turned to agony as her limbs began to lengthen, her scales retreated back into soft, pale white skin and her claws and death returned to normal teeth and nails. A minute later she was left, shivering, naked and horribly embarresed to be seen as such. She curled herself into a little ball, her cheeks reddening.

When he first started moving, when the skin started stretching... what was she supposed to do? It looked like it hurt.

"I'll go get Doc Prof." Maya took a few steps and looked back to be sure it was still happening. That's when she noticed it. Pale skin. Paler than her own and that was a real feat. It spread across the child like water and when it was over there was a child sitting at the bar at the back of the kitchen sink.

A girl child.

"Clothes first, I think." She made a bee line for the donation closet. Students were always outgrowing, ripping or losing clothes. They had a great, disorganized store room full of emergency backups. Maya didn't look for matching clothes since it was sort of an emergency. She looked mostly for size. It wouldn't do to give her something too large to be held up or too small for her to squeeze into, but anything she grabbed was a guess.

"Here." She set the clothes on the edge of the bar and the closed her eyes and turned around.

"My name is Maya. I haven't seen you around here before." Not that she knew every face, but she was starting to relearn who belonged here with her weekends in.

Amber shook her head when the woman mentioned getting Doc Prof. Not that she knew who Doc Prof was, but she really didn't want anyone to see her like this. She panted as the pain finally dissipated and the shift completed itself. Maybe one day she would get used to the agony it caused her.

Amber was grateful when the woman offered her clothes and even turned around to allow her some privacy to put them on. They were a little big but at that exact moment she didn't care. At least she wasn't naked anymore and that was a marked improvement. Of course, now she was probably about to get into all sorts of trouble for breaking into the Mansion.

"I'm A-Amber," Amber answered. It didn't seem to be the best time to lie. "And I'm s-so s-sorry. I j-just w-wanted to come here to s-see the M-Mansion again because K-Koga showed it t-too me a c-couple weeks ago and I r-really want t-to be a s-student b-but I'm n-not one b-because my f-father hasn't r-registered me yet and I j-just wanted to c-come visit." She looked down at the ground, embarrassed, ashamed and fearful about what the consequences might be.

Once the girl was comfortable enough to speak, Maya figured it was alright to turn around. She took a seat next to the girl and reached over the counter to claim her own mug of hot chocolate.

"Where is your dad, Amber? Wouldn't he be worried about you out alone at night?" Maya could register the girl, but if her father didn't want her to then there was no point in it. It was good that she had mentioned Koga, one of the students that she already knew. It made it clear that the girl had been here before, but... really? What was she thinking sneaking around all alone at night? "If you were my daughter I would be very worried about you right now. What's your dad's name? Can we call him?"

"M-my dad's A-Abyss," Amber answered. She was so ashamed of herself for having snuck onto Mansion grounds when she had no right at all to be there. "And he s-said I c-could go wherever I w-wanted too. I c-can't really g-go out d-during the day so I go out at n-night."

Amber didn't really think that maybe she shouldn't mention that Abyss was her father. After all, he had agreed to register and even said he'd have Pluto around too, in case she needed her uncle. "He s-said he'd register m-me. He j-just hasn't yet. Y-you can call him if you w-want."

Oh, how could she have possibly done something so irresponsibly stupid? Apparently her new found mutant status was interfering with her common sense, which told her rather clearly that she should not sneak into any areas she didn't rightfully belong.

"Abyss?" Abyss-Abyss? Big red angry skull crushing fight blocking Abyss? Hmm. That presented an interesting challenge. Maya blew on her hot cocoa as she tumbled her thoughts around in her head. "I'm sure he did tell you that." He seemed an irresponsible type of fellow. Wait... he had a child this old?

Honey eyes flicked over the girl again.

"I'm sure he's sleeping now. It's pretty late. Let's call him in the morning at a more respectable hour. Until then, I can help you register. After that, you can come stay with me in my room for the night. My husband is staying at our apartment anyway so I would appreciate the company." And she would appreciate the peace of mind knowing that a child wasn't left out to wander the streets alone.

"Maybe you can even see Koga tomorrow morning."

She sipped the warm liquid and nudged Amber's cup toward her. "Stay right here. I'll be back with the right paperwork." Even if Abyss had lied to Amber and really didn't want her learning here at the Mansion, the girl was here now. Maya didn't intend on letting her run loose and wild. She could get her set up and they could teach her to be kind and good to everyone. She would have teachers and peers and a much healthier living environment here at the Mansion.

Amber nodded as Maya spoke. Abyss probably was asleep. Most people seemed to be asleep at that hour, it was the story of Amber's life. Her life was forced to exist mostly at night, due to her skin condition, which put it rather opposite of nearly everyone else in the world. She took a sip of her hot chocolate, finding it to be surprisingly good and, despite her continued nervousness, smiled.

"Oh I d-don't need to s-stay here," Amber assured Maya, suddenly terrified at the prospect of being forced to sleep in a strange bed. As much as she liked the Mansion, she certainly didn't want to sleep here. She had a home waiting for her back at Sanctuary. "I c-can make my way out. R-really."

In short order Maya was back with a manilla folder full of questions for Amber. Height, defining features, parents/guardians, mutation and mutational weaknesses. They kept a lot of these things on file for the children's safety as well as identification purposes. It was always an enlightening process to go through student registration with one of the Mansion's new students. Everyone's gifts were always so unique. Like... dinosaur shifting. That was definitely a new one for Maya.

"I would feel a lot better if you stayed here, Amber. I would hate for your dad to come here tomorrow if something happened to you and ask why we hadn't offered you a place to stay.... please?" A fine line appeared between Maya's eyebrows. She would worry about letting a young girl out at night alone. Not that dinosaurs weren't capable of helping themselves...

Amber answered all the paperwork as honestly as she could. Her mutation involved changing into dinosaurs, not only one but several. She even listed off all of her current forms, although hopefully those would increase eventually. Yes, she mentioned her skin condition, although she wasn't sure that had anything to do with her mutation. She even mentioned her father and place or residence, though there were no questions about other family members such as siblings. It was a lot of paperwork but it felt good to finally have it completed.

"B-but how would I get home if I s-stay here?" Amber asked. She still really wanted to just go home. "I c-can't really go out in the s-sun too easily. And my s-stuff is still o-outside." Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay with Maya for the night, it would just make things difficult in the morning. Sunlight was her eternal enemy.

"We'll find a way." An umbrella or they could even call an escort from the Sanctuary. "We have a whole house full of very gifted students and teachers. If anyone can get you home safely, it's the people here." She obviously wasn't used to being surrounded by people with so many varied powers.

"I'll get your stuff. Point it out for me?" It never took an air elemental long to get anywhere and since she knew where the traps were and how they were triggered they weren't an issue. Soon enough she back with a cell phone and a wad of clothes. She even remembered the shoes.

"This stuff, right?" She put the things on the counter near Amber.

"I would feel a lot better if you stayed in for the night." Letting her wander alone was not something she could bear on her conscience.

It seemed that Amber just wasn't going to get to go home tonight. She thought about the possibility of sneaking out just like she had snuck in, but that didn't seem smart given the traps outside. Besides, Maya actually seemed to be pretty nice, it wasn't really her fault that she didn't realize that Amber went out at this time of night all the time. She was a dinosaur (sort of anyway) wasn't she? She could take care of herself.

Amber told Maya exactly where to find her pile of clothes hidden in a bush just outside the Mansion gates and, a few minutes later, she returned with them. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

"I g-guess I could stay here then." It was said with more than a little reluctance but she had never been the kind to argue or become confrontational. Besides, Maya had been nice enough to actually register her, even after she had broken onto the property. It was the least she could do to make the older woman feel more assured. "Wh-where will I b-be staying?"

"Upstairs. We walked pretty close when we came down from the attic. People are sleeping, though so let's be as quiet as we can to respect their resting time."

Maya took the stairs two or three at a time, light as a feather. She waited for Amber at the top before guiding her toward the adult hall. Jude had his own room in the boy's hall so there was no worry there. It'd be just girls in the room tonight assuming it was close enough to dawn for Maya to quit guard duty.

"In here." She whispered and opened the door to a little room not too far down the hall. The bed was still made since Sebastian was at the clinic. Only one little light was on dim at the bedside table. "Do you need water or anything? You think you can settle in here? We can call the Sanctuary in the morning."