Cutting back on her bad habits, Fade found herself exhausted at the end of the night and up and early when the sun rose. OK, so maybe she wasn't up the minute it rose, but usually around 8 or 9, she was out of bed. This morning happened to be 8:30 that she opened her eyes. She could feel the crust around her eyelids urging her to remain asleep, but she rubbed them away and pryed open her eyes only to be blinded by the light from her window. Honestly, she needed better curtains, some that could actually block out the sun and all the heat it carried through the window. She would usually take a shower, but she didn't remember eating that much the night before and her stomach gave a little whimper of hunger.

Pulling herself out of bed, she dragged herself to her dresser and grabbed her comfortable leopard pajama pants. She threw on a plain black cami and put her hair up in a pony tail. Her raptor talons on her toes lightly tapped against the floor as she walked around barefoot. Yawning, she walked towards her door to begin her journey to the kitchen- WHAP! Stunned, she took a step back and realized she had forgotten to phase through her door and happened to walk right into it. Growling lightly, she rubbed the red bump on her forehead and pressed on, phasing through properly this time. The echo of pain in her head slapped her into reality and she felt more alert than she had when she crawled out of bed.

Lazily, she cut a few corners, literally phasing through the corner rather then rounding it. Finally, she reached the kitchen and opened the cabinet to grab some Frosted Flakes. When she first came to the Mansion, she would pour herself some Frosted Flakes and then cover them with sugar, of course, she'd do this when she woke up around noon, but now her body convinced her that too much sugar was not a good thing and she simply used the Frosted Flakes and the milk. She put the milk back in the fridge and pulled out a spoon. The chair made a small skid noise as she pulled it back to sit down and she sat, beginning to eat her tad-bit-more-healthy-than-it-once-was food.

Amber didn't actually have classes until later that morning but, since starting at the Mansion school, she had made a habit of coming early. It was a matter of practicality, more than anything else of course. It was easier to travel during the early hours of the morning than it was to travel during the hot and bright hours of the afternoon. Most days she got to school at around 8, started classes around 9, continued for the next 6 hours until the end of the school day and then took a nap around 3 once her classes were finished. Maya had been nice enough to offer her a place to sleep for a few hours during the afternoon after her classes. She normally left the school around 8, once it was starting to get dark out again. Once it got later in the year things would be easier since the sun would be out less often.

After taking her usual route from Sanctuary to the Mansion, which mostly included the bus, Amber decided on a trip to the kitchen for some well earned breakfast. Actually, that had also become part of her daily routine. She'd get a snack at Sanctuary just before leaving, travel to the Mansion, and have a full meal once she got there. Secretly she thought that Mansion food was better anyway, but she wasn't about to tell anyone at Sanctuary that. Some of them were scary and likely to take offense even if it was just a matter of opinion anyway.

This morning, upon entering the kitchen, there was someone all ready there, presenting eating a bowl of cereal. Pancakes were what Amber was hoping to have and, luckily enough, she was actually not a bad cook. "H-hello," she greeted the stranger. She looked a little old to be a student, but so far everyone she had met at the Mansion had been nothing but nice she she wasn't too worried about the newcomer being antisocial towards her. Besides, even if she was, Amber was used to keeping to herself. Nothing too bad could happen, could it?

A studdered hello broke Fade's focus on her cereal and she looked up to see someone heavily clothed in fabrics. Any where else, she would have been taken aback and taken a bit longer to actually reply, but the Mansion housed so many different mutants, some that she still had yet to meet. With only about two blinks, she ended her silence and smiled. "Good morning," she said after she had managed to swallow the rest of the cereal in her mouth. She felt the cold milk start to slide from between her lips and she caught the drip before it travelled down her chin. Milk drips were the worse, they tended to get sticky afterwards, that and soda. Hoping that the other girl didn't notice her near see-food experience, she reached to the center of the table and pulled out a napkin from the stack to wipe her mouth clean.

Laughing a little from her saved mishap and by a bit of shock, she spoke up again. "I didn't think many people around here woke up this early, not unless they stayed up all night long," she said, glancing around the table to make sure there was another seat in the room. There were about eight other seats, she ended her search after Seat #3. She took another napkin and used it to wipe down her raptor talons. Since they were much thicker than any normal fingernail, she usually didn't realize it when she had something stuck to them and it usually ended up on her clothes or skin. This time, she wiped them down well enough to make sure there was no milk on them.

With a friendly smile at the stranger sitting at the table, Amber went about the kitchen, happily getting out her ingredients and preparing her project. She wasn't the greatest cook ever, most of it took too much time and energy, but for those quick and simple things she was more than competent. Pancakes were one of her specialties, if she was any judge. Even the other children at the orphanage had tolerated her when it came to her making pancakes, being nice to her and welcoming her into their circles, if only for that particular morning. At the Mansion it was different though, she never really had to worry about doing things just to try and fit in for a brief few hours.

"I'm here for c-class," Amber replied. Actually she had been up most of the night, catching only a brief few hours before coming to the Mansion. That was her usual routine, class in the morning and afternoon, a few hours sleep after class before returning home to Sanctuary. Another few hours sleep would follow at the end of the night, just before she woke up to start it all up again the next day.

"D-do you want some pancakes?" Amber asked. Making pancakes for two was just as easy as making pancakes for one and it was only polite to ask.

The couple studders in the girl's voice sent out an odd message. Though she seemed relaxed, the two studders were symptoms of not being that peaceful. Best way to approach the situation was to keep going about the way she was, don't cause any startling alarm, not as though Fade would have in the first place. She took another spoonful of her cereal, smiling until the spoon broke through her lip barrier. This was a school after all, of course there would be classes offered, but Fade had never known anyone to come to the school for classes and then return home after their classes. Then again, there were some mutants that did not need somewhere like this to live and would rather have classes where they fit in but a place of their own to gather their own thoughts.

Fade would never be able to do that, primarily because she would never go to school if it wasn't down the hall. She was too old for school now, but she did some occasional brush ups that everyone knew from school but she didn't. Even simple math, multiplication and division was hard, she wasn't even ready to learn square roots, at the age of 21. Then again, she was still working on learning how to read, that part was the most troubling, but she was getting the hang of it, slowly. "Oh ok, I gotcha. That sounds like quite the commitment," she smiled, knowing how long the driveway to the Mansion was. It wasn't exactly a few feet long. They had to live where no one else saw a bunch of kids running around and flying in the air and turning into animals and sending out powers and lifting heavy things. No, the Mansion was not made for the city life.

The girl asked if she wanted some pancakes. Pancakes sounded amazing actually. When she was kidnapped, her captor used to make her pancakes with butter and powdered sugar on top, maybe some chocolate chips in the pancake batter roo, but that would be rude, what if the other didn't like chocolate chips? Looking down at her cereal, it suddenly looked unappetizing and she looked up and smiled. "Actually, yeah, I'll have one. If you don't mind, that is," she said, pushing her cereal away. Where had her manners gone?! "By the way, I'm Fade," she said, unsure if she should offer her hand for a handshake. Most didn't enjoy being touched because of their mutation, and most others didn't enjoy being touched by a girl with raptor claws.

As much as Amber liked being in the Mansion and felt more comfortable there than she eve did at home, mainly due to the fact that she didn't have to worry about looking at someone wrong and having them attack her for it, she still couldn't seem to get rid of her stutter. It was something she had had since she was a young child and, try as she might, it just wouldn't go away. Although she was working on it and, ever so slowly, she was pretty sure that she had even started to make a little progress in at least lessening it.

"Its not so b-bad," Amber answered, mixing the batter for the pancakes together and turning on the burner. "I like school so its w-worth it." It wasn't like she was forced to go to school or anything. Her father Abyss had actually been pretty surprised when she asked to go to school. Most teenagers, she knew, didn't like school half as much as she did. In fact, most teenagers tended to skip classes and do everything they could to avoid it. It was just one of the many things that distanced her from her peers.

"I'm Amber and I d-don't mind at all." She put a few more ingredients into the mixing bowl so that she'd have enough for two. "Do you ind b-blueberries?" Fruit was the thing that made her pancakes better than those of most others, in her opinion at least. They just added something extra to them, not only were they healthy but they were also simply delicious. Blueberries were what she was presently craving but she wasn't too picky when it came to fruit. Almost all fruit were worth eating.

The girl still stuttered, maybe she just needed to relax some more. However, it was not fair to act like Fade understood anything about this woman, maybe she had a stuttering problem, some people had those sorts of speech impediments, or maybe it was part of her mutation? She introduced herself as Amber, a fairly human name. Some mutants preferred to be called by a code name, like Fade, who connected their human name to a bad past or to what they have come to make an alter ego, someone who is held responsible for all the things that go wrong instead of blaming herself. Jenny, she's the one who makes big mistakes, or at least thats how it used to be. Lately, she's been realizing that Fade makes just as many mistakes, but she'd rather go by that name than to devise another one, the name sort of grew on her.

Amber asked if she minded blueberries, that was something new. Fade had only used chocolate before, but never any sort of fruit, though she was sure they served it at IHOP, or maybe they just served the chocolate chip pancakes... "Not at all, that sounds a lot more healthy," she smiled. Now that she was getting older, she was becoming a bit more healthy, not by choice. She loved the thought of drowning herself in candy, but after two bars, her body usually told her to knock it off. The chocolate pancakes would do the same, so the blueberries might be a little better of an idea, and she may actually be able to eat the whole thing.

In a way it was surprising that Amber actually prided herself on being healthy. Growing up, as she had, among other children in an orphanage, there hadn't been a lot of fruits and vegatables around. It was always fast food, chips and other junk foods. She had always felt that it was important to try and eat well, however, and that followed her now that she lived in Sanctuary. She knew she was the odd one in comparison to the other children in that respect as many others, rather than the other way around.

"B-blueberries it is then," Amber agreed, pouring in a genrous amount into the mix. Once the batter was sufficiently mixed she put the first few pancakes onto the frying pan. It would only take a few minutes for each one to be finished and then they would have a delious and healthy meal to share between the two of them.

"How l-long have you been here?" Amber asked, making small talk. It was a skill she was gradually starting to get better at, even though other people still had a tendency to make her a little nervous. At least now she knew she had a little something extra up her sleeve is it should prove necessary. That did wonders for confidence.

Amber put in the blueberries and the smell from the batter hitting the hot surface. As it gently sizzled and cooked, Fade pushed her cereal even further from her face, her mind was directed to the pancakes along with her appetite. Her companion then asked how long Fade had been at the Mansion, that was always quite the complicated question. It was like asking a nomad where they were from. While Fade found her home at the Mansion, in her younger years, she could not settle down and it took her a while to realize that the Mansion was her home and there was no place like it.

"I came here maybe four and a half years ago, looking for a home. I stayed for quite a while, even fellow mutant to start a relationship with. After a while, he disappeared and I left the Mansion searching for him. I returned a while later for a bit and left again, this time simply because I wanted to continue my search. I returned a few months back and have been here ever since. This time, I will not leave, the Mansion is my home," she smiled. Her mind wandered back to Raph, to those good old days, but those days were over and her days were only getting better.

"So I've basically been here for about three years, I'd say, total. But I've called this place my home for the past nearly five years," she said, standing up to rinse out her bowl of cereal. It was time to make room for the pancakes but the wait was getting to her. She dumped the bowl out in the sink and ran the water to turn on the disposal drain. When everything was down the drain, she turned it off and put the bowl in the dishwasher, it needed a lot more dishes to be full enough to wash, but maybe that could happen after they were finished with the plates for the pancakes, cups, and the pancake grill.

The first pan-full of of pancakes finished and Amber put them on a plate. "D-do you want maple syrup with those? Or maybe brown sugar?" Once the second batch was put onto the pan she got out a fork and knife as well as any toppings Fade wanted and put the plate, cutlery and extras on the table in front of her. Only a few more minutes and her own pancakes would also be finished and she'd join the older woman.

Amber listed with interest as Fade told her story about the Mansion. It was a rather interesting story and more than she expected to get. "It's n-nice to have a home. I l-lived at an orphanage for years but it never really f-felt like home to me. Then I w-was finally adopted so I've only really had a home for a f-few months." It was a little bitter sweet for her, but at least the bitter parts were in the past and the sweet parts were in the present and, with a little luck, the future.

"Wh-what can you d-do, if you don't mind my asking? I m-mean you're power." Amber still wasn't entirely positive that it was polite to ask about another mutant's powers but others had asked about hers so she figured it couldn't be consider too rude. Could it?

What was the difference? Brown Maple Syrup was darker? She set down the pancakes and Fade pulled out a plate and took two from the first batch. Setting them on top of each other, she found herself at the decision of brown maple or just maple? Finally, she grabbed the maple syrup and put it next to her plate. Scooping a little butter on her knife, she layered it on top of her pancake and then poured on the syrup. It was all looking so delicious and she took a bite before scouring the rest of what she could top it with.

Amber spoke up, still with the studder, but Fade was getting used to it by now. Orphanages were always depressing and so were foster parents, especially for a mutant. The mutant population seemed to be the highest amount of foster and orphaned children. Though Fade's parents did not give her up like some other children who went into foster care like herself. The thought had always been on Fade's mind: what would her parents have said if they lived to see her turn into a mutant? The little that she could remember about her parents never allowed her to even come up with a scenario. She hoped they would have accepted her.

"It's good you were adopted," she smiled, focusing on the positive. Her days of being a pessimist were soon to end. Amber asked about her mutation, a bit timidly, but Fade did not mind much. "Stealth, really. I mean, invisibility and phasing. My power is really aimed towards defense than anything else," she shrugged. Sure, she wished she could be a bit more offensive and sometimes, her powers could do that, but only with her claws. Her power was well directed towards the perfect opportunity to run away if need be. "What about you?" she asked in turn. It had to be something with heat since she was wearing that full ensemble, but there could be different reasons.

Amber finished the second batch of pancakes, putting them onto a plate she would have for herself. Before sitting she put all her dishes into the sink, running water onto them to make sure they wouldn't be too hard to clean when she got around to it. That done, she took her place at the table, putting some maple syrup onto her pancakes before cutting off a piece and taking a bite.

"Turning invisible s-sounds pretty useful," Amber stated. Everyone seemed to have such interesting and varied powers. She had yet to hear of one that she would want instead of her own, but invisibility had to be pretty high up there as far as a second choice went. If there was, in fact, the option for a second choice but if so Amber had yet to hear of it.

"I c-can change into dinosaurs." Amber didn't even try to keep the pride out of her voice. Abyss had taught her early on that she should be proud of being a mutant and she had taken that advice in its entirety. "S-some of them are pretty small s-so I can be pretty stealthy t-too sometimes." Maybe that was something she should practice. How to be stealthy. It sounded pretty useful to her.

Dinosaurs?! Fade attempted to keep the admiring sparkle in her eyes to a minimum, but that was on her top list of cool powers. Fade's power had always been defensive, but a dinosaur morpher could be offensive and defensive. From watching Land Before Time and Jurassic Park, she knew there were quite a lot of dinosaurs. There were those tiny little ones that were about the size of a squirrel, then there were those giant T-Rexes. There were offensive and defensive dinosaurs, big and small, swimmers and flyers, the land ones, ones with long necks and some with spike tails. The list was limitless.

"Wow, that's one hell of a power," she smiled. If only her power could be so offensive and defensive bound. Still, she enjoyed her power. "Though I do share these with ya," she said, putting down her fork and showing Amber her talons. Since they needed to be strong enough for her to climb with, they were a little big and dark and their curled. Everyone said they bore the closest significance to raptor talons, which was her biggest offense. Typically, since she used to only use them to climb walls, they would remain in a phased state until she needed them. It helped her out a lot, actually. If you can imagine balling a fist with those sharp talons on your fingertips? Without her phasing power, she could hurt herself everytime she put her hair up in a pony tail.

She clicked them on the table to produce that little rattling noise and then phased them through. "Since I evolved, I've had these raptor talons and they've always been able to phase, it helps me climb walls and ceilings. It wasn't until maybe two years ago when I learned how to expand that phasing to the rest of my body," she said, pulling them out of the table and grabbing her spoon. While she lived on the streets, she kept them invisible to hide them from everyone who suspected she would do something bad if she were a mutant. Well, she would still steal from them ,but it made her more approachable if she did not have giant talons on her hands.

"Thanks," Amber answered Fade's compliment of her power. While she wasn't egotistical or superior feeling about her power (except maybe a little in comparison to mere humans) she knew knew its worth and saw no reason to be modest about it. Every mutant, so she had been taught, should be proud of what he or she could do. Every power had its potential uses in different situations and it was important to feel pride in that. Any modesty that might have been displayed would have been false modesty anyway.

"Those are really cool," Amber stated, admiring the older woman's clawed hands openly. "Sometimes I w-wish I could have something like that in human f-form." While she could imagine that invisibility wasn't much of a power when it came to head on combat, having claws just in case had to be very useful. Although thinking of it, she could well imagine that an invisible warrior would be useful all on its own.

"I've never climbed a w-wall." Amber took another bite of her pancakes thoughtfully. "I d-don't have any forms that can climb things yet. Maybe I n-need to find one." Actually, the idea of climbing fascinated her. She had a pretty good variety of forms so far, a tiny form for stealth, a human sized form for dangerous speed, a large form charging things and a flight form. She really should find a climbing form, however, and maybe one that could swim.

Fade nodded. Climbing with her claws was probably her favorite thing. It was hard enough to be agile on the floor, but it made it so much easier when she could round a corner by sinking her claws into the corner wall and slingshotting her legs around or when she it was crowded in a hallway and she could climb onto the ceiling to pass through the crowds with ease. Climbing a giant building was also a lot of fun as well as jumping off one to another's roof. If she ever fell short, she could just dig her claws into the wall and catch herself before she fell all the way. Her favorite move would have been the time she was in the Danger Room with Sam and Luke, when she ran towards a building and phased through the wall to land on the floor directly under the roof.

"But aren't there flyer dinosaurs?" she asked. Honestly, she had no clue what they were called, but they called Petri from Land Before Time a flier. She had heard the name used in Jurassic Park before. Pteradactyll? Something along those lines of confusing letters put together that don't make any sense next to each other. She wondered just how big Amber could get, long neck sized?! T-Rex sized!? "Can't you just read up on some of the dinosaurs to become them?" she asked. Now that would be cool. Just read about something and you could become it.

"Do you become what they really look like or how archaeologists reconstructed them? Like who's to say T-Rex's had earth toned skin? If they really had purple skin, would you have purple skin? Or any traits you have as a dinosaur that archaeologists have yet to discover?" If that were the case and that was Fade's power, chances are, she would be an archaeologist. Then again, archaeology required school, something she had never really attended, so it was good she had her power and did not have to do much reading with it.