Technically Amber had no reason to be at the Mansion since her classes didn't start for another week but she was just so excited to finally be registered that she couldn't help herself! All those lovely mutants and books and classrooms, it was like a dream come true. That and Amber really didn't have anything else to do so she figured she may as well go and lurk the Mansion.

Amber's trip to the Mansion wasn't exactly planned out to the best of her abilities. She had arrived there just before sunrise and, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how one looked at it) it had turned out to be a rather bright and sunny day, thus stranding her there until the sun once again set and she was able to return to her home in Sanctuary. And, since she was stranded anyway, she figured it would be the perfect opportunity to learn her way around. After all, she would have to be able to find her classes soon.

The Mansion, however, was proving to live up to its name, being not only large but also rather confusing and it didn't take long for Amber to become completely and hopefully lost. She frowned, trying to figure out where she had ended up and hoping that someone, anyone, might show up and help her out.

It is no fun skipping classes when you really don't have any.

Maya wandered along the corridors aimlessly, in the kind of 'whatever' state of mind that usually leads one person back to bed, or into some serious trouble. Of course, in the mirrorwalker's case, it was usually the latter.

Only a few days without classes, and it was already starting to show. Maya even started to carry books around just to feel like she was in a school. Not textbooks, mind you. Just... books.

Heck I seriously need a break from this place.

Entertaining ideas and daydreams about sunny beaches, quiet houses in the forest, cocktails and a certain blonde mutant girl, Maya continued her walk, this time leaving the mirrors alone.

The problem with actually walking in the real dimensions is that you might bump into someone else. Much less traffic on the other side of the looking glass...

And bump she did. Into some girl dressed in blue robes, and with a face, skin and eyes that gave away the X-gene at once. Maya landed on her butt, dropping the books, and grunted.

"Ow. Watch where ya're... eh, nevermind." she sighed looking at the girl "You new around here?"

Amber was lost, confused and not paying nearly as much attention to where she was going and what was around her as she should be. Was that statue over there familiar or was it new? It looked kind of like another statue she had seen only a short while ago but she couldn't quite tell if it was exactly the same one or just one in the same style.

"OOOF"

Suddenly Amber found herself sprawled out on the ground, something having run into her. She blinked in confusion a moment before her eyes settled upon form of a girl, also sprawled out on the ground. Apparently her something was actually a someone, possibly a mutant someone with very dangerous powers.

"I'm s-so s-sorry," Amber stuttered, making her way to her feet. At least all her parts seemed to still be in good working order. She picked up one of the discarded books and handed it to the girl. "I'm n-new and k-kind of lost, she admitted, hoping the woman wouldn't suddenly start breathing fire on her or something equally unpleasant.

>>"I'm s-so s-sorry. I'm n-new and k-kind of lost..."

Yup, she was new. New and lost. Man did a lot of those wander around the Mansion these days. Maya shuddered at the thought of summer classes.

"'tis okay" she sighed, getting back to her feet and collecting her books "It's easy to get lost around here."

Maya looked at the girl. She was one of those with a visible mutation, or a very strange sense of stile, for her age. The white hair, fair skin and black eyes was kind of cool though. She looked like something out of a fantasy movie.
Mutations. They don't cease to be fascinating. Aura had a point.

Maya smiled at the girl.

"Are you looking for someone?"

Well at least the woman she had accidentally run into didn't yell at her or make any violent gestures. In fact, she seemed to be pretty understanding all things considered. People were just nicer in the Mansion than they were in Sanctuary, Amber decided. She loved Sanctuary and her family there, but some of the people could probably learn a few manners.

"N-no one in p-particular,"Amber answered. Sometimes she really hated her stutter but she just didn't know how to get rid of it. It never went away completely, but when talking to strangers it always seemed to get worse, even if those strangers appeared to actually be nice.

"I w-was j-just looking around and k-kind of g-got lost. D-do you know if th-there's a c-cafeteria?" Amber had been wandering around for a couple of hours and was starting to get hungry. All the schools she'd ever heard of had cafeterias and Abyss made sure she was never short on money.

>>"I w-was j-just looking around and k-kind of g-got lost. D-do you know if th-there's a c-cafeteria?"

"Nah, there isn't" Maya smirked "But we do have a kitchen, and it's free for all students to use. I'll show you."

She led the girl down the hall towards the kitchen, and she tried to remember how her first days were in the Mansion.
Well, the feeling of being totally and utterly lost was kind of given. But then again, she spent those first few days mainly in the mirrors and other reflections instead of actually walking around; she'd seen much more of rooms and private lives than the hallways. Knowledge of those came later, together with the respect towards other students' privacy. She was still working on that one.

"Soo..." she turned back to the white-haired girl "My name's Maya. What's yours?"

Might as well start a conversation. She had been greeting quite a few people lately. She just hoped this would go better than last time...

"Th-thank you," Amber replied, following Maya. "I'm Amber." Oh, how she wished she could get rid of her natural nervousness. Why couldn't she be a smooth social talker like so many around her? Even Aura, who didn't exactly come across as a social butterfly, was more confident around others than she was. It wasn't like Maya seemed scary or anything, though it was hard to tell with mutants sometimes.

"So, what's your p-power?" Amber asked. She still wasn't quite certain if that was a rude question or not but she did know she was curious. She hadn't gotten in trouble so far for asking people although, apparently, some liked to keep their powers hidden. Maybe they were ashamed of being mutants or something and Abyss had told her that she should never be ashamed of being a mutant, she should be proud. And she was.

As Amber was led to the kitchen she tried to pay extra attention to exactly where she was going. It wouldn't do to get lost a second time just as soon as she was alone again.

>>"So, what's your p-power?"

"I'm a mirrorwalker" Maya answered with a slight smirk "It's a form of teleportation, sort of..."

The kitchen was deserted at this time of the day, but there were glasses and plates left around showing that students had been there recently, having breakfast/lunch/dinner, and didn't bother to clean up after themselves. Quite a common sight. Maya frowned, and cleared some space on the table.

"Here we are. As I said, ya're free to raid the fridge and the cupboards, and eat whatever ya'd like." she walked over to the fridge, opening it, and poured herself some milk, turning back to the girl "So, what's your power?"

"D-does that mean you can w-walk through mirrors?" Amber asked, fascinated. She wondered what it must feel like to walk inside a mirror. Or, for that matter, what a mirror world was like. Mirrors were flat, so did that mean the mirror world was in 2D? Or was it more like on tv, where everything was opposite and the people in the mirror world were the moral as well as physical reflections of their real world selves.

"Are there e-evil people inside the m-mirrors?" Amber asked. Maybe her imagination was just overactive, but she was really starting to freak herself out. She couldn't' imagine why anyone would want to enter a mirror world if it meant dealing with homicidal reflections.

Following Maya into the kitchen, Amber hesitantly opened a cubbord, finding herself a box of crackers. "I c-can change into dinosaurs." Now that was something that did not freak her out, even if it possibly should have. At least she didn't have to worry about murderous opposites trying to kill her.

>>"D-does that mean you can w-walk through mirrors?"

"Yup, it does."

>>"Are there e-evil people inside the m-mirrors?"

Maya raised an eyebrow. People usualy thought a lot of things about mirrorwalking - weird, strange, awesome, not fair etc. - but few people ever found the idea scary. Judging from the signs, this girl did.

"Nah, 'tis just me in there. Unless someone else shows up who can mirrorwalk too, but I haven't met anyone else yet. The reflections are not real."

>>"I c-can change into dinosaurs."

"Whoa." Maya's inner child woke up with a start, and demanded to experience that new level of awesomeness "Just... niiice." she grinned "What kinda dinosaurs?... Can you show me?"

Hey. It was worth a try.

Well, good to know that the reflections weren't real nor were they monstrous versions of the things that existed in reality. Amber made a vow to remember that, just in case it ever came up though she couldn't imagine how or why it might.

"I th-think any dinosaurs I t-touch," Amber answered, grinning. How could one not grin when talking about dinosaurs anyway? "Or rather, any d-dinosaur b-bones that I touch." Because as far as she was aware, she was the only living dinosaur.

"I, uh, don't exactly know h-how to change b-back," Amber addmitted, her cheeks reddening at the prospect of giving a demonstration. "And I c-can't talk, unless you h-happen to have a cell phone." Oh, wonderful text messages. "B-but maybe if you g-give me a demonstration of y-your power I can g-give you a demonstration of mine?" As long as she didn't mind text messaging, chirping dinosaurs, that was.

>>"I th-think any dinosaurs I t-touch. Or rather, any d-dinosaur b-bones that I touch."

Her power sounded more and more awesome with every detail she gave about it. Maya listened with a wide grin. So the kid had to, what, sneak into museums and touch some bones to turn into a one-girl show of Jurassic Park?
Genes. They are awesome like that.

>>"I, uh, don't exactly know h-how to change b-back. And I c-can't talk, unless you h-happen to have a cell phone."

Maya blinked.

"What, ya can't talk, but you can text?" she chuckled "Nah, I don' have a cellphone at the moment. Sorry."

>>"B-but maybe if you g-give me a demonstration of y-your power I can g-give you a demonstration of mine?"

"Sure, why not." the mirrorwalker shrugged, nodding towards the living room "Follow me."

Walking up to the living room mirror, Maya put her palm against the glass, merging with her own reflection, and beaming at the dino girl.

"'Tis really no big deal" she concluded, walking into the nearby window, waving at her "I can go from one reflection to the other."

She mpved around for a while, and then returned to the living room mirror.

"Oh. An' I can do this." and with that, she took over Amber's reflection, waving at her with her own hands this time.

Amber followed Maya eagerly, all thoughts of trying to remember where she was going for future reference lost and forgotten. Powers were among the most fascinating things ever, complete with their endless variety.

"H-how can you say that's n-not a big deal?" Amber asked, completely dumbfounded. She watched in awe as first the other woman walked from one mirror right into another and then took control of her own reflection and starting making it wave its arms around. "Y-you should be p-proud of your powers." Abyss had taught her that. Never be ashamed of what you were and what you could do, always be proud of them because they were what made you special.

Once Maya finished her little (amazing) demonstration Amber took a deep breath and removed her shoes. As much as she loved the ability to transform, it was a horribly painful experience that she sometimes wished she could do without. "P-please hold onto my stuff for me," Amber requested. Who knew, maybe this time she'd be able to change back at will. She had, after all, done it for the first time (sort of) only a few days prior when she had registered at the school.

Actually triggering her change was easy this time, possibly easier than it ever had been in the past. She was getting good at doing so now and almost immediately after bringing up her usual images of blood and violence felt the tell tale signs of a shift begin. Her skin began burning which swiftly turned to agony. Feathers erupted from on top of it, limbs and claws elongated and eyes and teeth subtly changed position. In under a minute a Deinonychus stood in the place where the human Amber previously was. She chirped happily at Maya, her robes in a little heap below her.

>>"Y-you should be p-proud of your powers."

Maya smiled. "Believe me, I am. Comes in handy every once in a while..."

She was more than curious to dee the demonstartion of the dinosaur powers. She opened her mouth to warn Amber and ask her if they should move outside before she shifts... then she closed her mouth again without saying anything. Duh. Not all dinosaurs were gigantic monsters, right? For example, there were those little ones that hunted people down in hordes, according to the creators of Jurassic Park.
Right.

Even though her thoughs had been filled with ideas about dinosaur shifting ever since Amber told her what her power was, Maya relaized she had not been prepared for the sight of a girl changing into a live dinosaur in the middle of the living room. That was... amazing, even by Mansion standards.

"Wow." she grinned, admiring the Ambersaur "That's... very cool."

She reached out autimatically to pet the creture - it was her first live dinosaur, after all -, but her hand stopped in mid-air. However cute and awesome, she was still a mansion student, and not a pet. It was polite to ask first.

"Um. Can I touch you?" she asked hesitantly. Not like she looked particularly cuddly or anything. Especially with those big claws she had. But hey, she was a live dinosaur... kind of... sort of... and they were much cooler with claws. As long as they didn't use them on Maya...

Very briefly Amber wished that her own powers would allow her some sort of teleportation which, it seemed, Mirror walking was of a sort. How much easier would it have been to break into the research rooms of the museum in order to find some nice fossils if she had simply been able to walk through a mirror. But maybe half the challenge of it was the breaking in part. Besides, its not like she stole anything and no one really got hurt.

There was just something satisfying about the way that people reacted to Amber when she was shifted. Well, the way mutants reacted to her anyway, since humans had the unfortunate tendency to panic and throw stuff at her, which was very much unpleasant. Maya, however, seemed enthralled and she liked enthralled. She grinned a toothy (and probably rather frightening) dinosaur grin at the teen.

"Um. Can I touch you?"

Amber nodded her long neck and chirped her ascent. Just because she had pointy claws and teeth didn't mean she was just going to go out and rip someone to shreds. In fact, she hadn't had any need to even use her claws thus far and with any luck it would remain that way. Hiding was much better than fighting, if it came down to it, anyway.