Amber was feeling distressed. Ever since the incident at the pet shop that had ended up badly, to say the least, she had been having nightmares. Nightmares about mobs of humans attacking her and trying to kill her, things being thrown at her and not being able to escape. She'd slept hardly at all for the past week which was saying something since she all ready didn't sleep as much as most other she knew. Now it was finally starting to catch up to her. She had dark circles under both eyes and she was starting to look decidedly malnourished and ill. Despite her sleep problems, however, she was having no issues with eating and had been eating just as much as she always had.

Because of the nightmares and because of the emerging signs of ill health, Amber didn't feel like going back to Sanctuary. Normally after class she'd take a nap for a few hours and leave around sunset, but not tonight. Tonight she wanted to comfort that only the Mansion could offer. Sure here adopted sister and father were great, but there were times when she just wanted to be around people her own age, people that understood the fear and stress of being a young mutant in a world that hated and feared them. That, and she was beginning to think that it might be a good idea to go see the Doc Prof just in case her health issues were more than just lack of sleep. Maybe he could even help with the nightmares.

It was presently well after midnight and Amber found herself wandering and feeling restless. She didn't see anyone else at this hour of the night, which didn't surprise her at all. Few people were nocturnal as she was and those that were normally stayed within their rooms, playing video games or watching TV. The kitchen was another place nocturnal inhabitants sometimes tended to go, but she didn't feel like going there. She wanted to be around people at the moment, something of an unusual feeling, but there weren't any people around. What she wanted was for someone to tell her that everything was going to be all right and she had nothing to fear, even though she knew that was a lie. Still, sometimes she wished she could live with such a delusion, if only for a little while.

Kyle wondered the hall's of the mansion, occasionally knocking on doors getting kids to quieten down and let others sleep, and every so often finding students wandering the halls and sending them to bed.

As he absent-mindedly picked at the sling over his left arm he noticed another student ahead of him. That she was completely covered by clothes was unusual in the well heated mansion, but considering the odd mutations present not really that odd at all. Although he was slightly startled by the young girl's pure black eyes he was more worried about the deep bags under her eyes.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" He asked softly. "You look like you could use some sleep." It didn't occur to Kyle that the reason for her obvious lack of sleep was probably that she was having troubles sleeping, not having slept himself in about seven years.

"Shouldn't you be in bed? You look like you could use some sleep."

Amber jumped at hearing the unexpected voice behind her, her heart hammering in her chest. She took a whole 30 seconds to calm it down and convince herself that she was safe inside the Mansion and no one here was going to hurt her. There were no mutant hating humans to chase her down, no mobs to throw hard objects at her. There was no one around to yell at her and berate her for being a freak because everyone here were freaks just like her. Or at least, everyone here were mutants and thus didn't have any right to throw figurative stones at her. Or literal stones, for that matter.

"I'm s-sorry," Amber apologized, finally turning around. The man standing before her was fairly young, probably not much more than a few years older than she, herself was. She didn't stop to wonder if he was a mutant, being in The Mansion she simply assumed that he was. While there were some humans around, most of the students and teachers alike were mutants.

"I d-didn't meant to disturb you, I just c-couldn't sleep." Amber looked nervously at the ground. "I'm not even usually still here at th-this time of night. B-but I just..." Her words tapered off. Why was she still here anyway? Because of some misguided thought that someone might be around to comfort her? As if that would ever happen to someone like her. Even her own family, as much as she had come to care for them in the short time she had known them, weren't the comforting type. Aura wouldn't even understand why she was so distraught.

Kyle felt sorry for scaring the young teen who seemed terrified at his sudden appearance. He waited patiently for the girl to calm down enough to speak. "Hey, it's alright. You didn't disturb me at all. I'm part of mansion security, though I only work the night shift. I was just wondering why you were wandering around so late at night." Something about what she'd said caused Kyle to pause for a while.

She seemed not only nervous about his presence, at least until she'd calmed down, but after she spoke she seemed incredibly confused. She'd stopped talking, almost as if she didn't really know what she was going to say and even her eyes seemed to give of an air off confusion. He felt even worse about startling confused the young girl.

He covered his thoughts up by shifting his sling slightly before he continued. Trying to speak softly so as not to seem antagonistic he asked. "What do you mean you're not usually here? Don't you live here?" Kyle could have sworn he'd seen the girl around the mansion before and assumed she must have been a student.

"Its ok I'm j-just a little j-jumpy is all," Amber apologized to the security guard. It was actually kind of embarrassing how she had reacted to his presence. She knew he wasn't going to harm her, not in The Mansion, but it wasn't her fault that she had dealt with some pretty traumatic stuff recently, was it? How many people had to deal with angry mobs trying to run you off, or people shooting at you? Not many, that was for sure.

"I live at Sanctuary," Amber answered, even though she knew there was some sort of rivalry going on between those in The Mansion and those in Sanctuary. It hadn't been a problem for her yet, but she was just waiting for the day when someone would call her out on it and accuse her of some horrible act. She couldn't help but feel loyal to her home and the people in it though. "I'm j-just a student here. D-did you want me to leave?"

Amber peered up at the man, feeling much more vulnerable than she was really comfortable with. Normally she was a strong person, able to deal with whatever life threw at her. Her life had been hard at times and she had been forced to become strong, but on this particular night she just didn't have it in her.

The overwhelming sadness Kyle felt at the girl's tone hit him like a brick. "No, no, you don't have to leave. I just thought you lived here, didn't know students could live elsewhere, though I guess there's no reason they couldn't." Realisng he was rambling Kyle indicated they should sit down, whish he did so quickly, siting on a nearby bench.

"So uh, you live at the Sanctuary? Is that the mutant protection place? What's it like living there?" Almost as soon as he'd asked Kyle wished he hadn't. The girl was obviously distressed and it was entirely possible that the reason she was here so late was because she didn't want to go back. Fearing he'd brought up bad memories he tried to think up something else to say, but in the end decided not to botch things up even more.

Who knows, maybe talking about it would help her settle down. With that reasuring thought in mind Kyle relaxed and waited for a response. He hoped it wasn't too personal a question to ask,.

Amber was grateful that she was going to be allowed to stay. There wasn't anything wrong with Sanctuary, of course, its just that The Mansion was a much better choice for her current mood. Sanctuary simply wasn't the most comforting of locations and there was nothing wrong with that. Their inhabitants weren't the type to either offer it or need it. Amber, unfortunately, sometimes was.

"I l-live in Sanctuary," Amber agreed, nervously changing her weight from one foot to the other. "Its all right. Its th-the only real home I've known." Because the orphanage wasn't much of a home. "Its all right. I j-just, I don't know, sometimes they d-don't understand me." Her cheeks reddened as she realized just how much of a nieve and emo teen that must have made her out to be.

"Do you ever have problems? I mean because you're a mutant?" Amber rose her pitch black eyes to meet those of the security guard. Maybe the question was a little vague, but she just needed to talk, just for a little while. Until she could manage to go back to sleep.

Did he ever have problems because he was a mutant? Kyle thought a bit before responding. It appeared that the girl had had problems of some sort and that was what was troubling her now. "Well, not specifically due to my mutation... I can push and pull things without touching them, not something most people would get upset about. On the other hand, being a mutant I've done some things I probably wouldn't have done if I was a regular human."

Kyle frowned slightly, tugging at his sling again. "I got this," he gestured at his shoulder, where the bandages where wrapped tightest. "When I investigated gunshots and found a mutant fighting some thugs. The mutant won and we had a little... chat, I guess you could say, about mutant-human relations. She made a few good points, especially that most mutants are innocent and yet prejudiced against." He waved his hand towards one of the hallways to indicate the students at the Mansion.

"Although, she seemed to think she was some sort of freedom fighter or something, stopping humans from hurting mutants. All she really does is provoke more violence. A never ending circle of death, and she promotes the negative image of mutants by using human body parts as decoration!'

Kyle suddenly realized he'd not only gotten very far off topic, he'd started to say things that undoubtedly would upset the already emotional teen. "Uh, sorry for getting of topic there... I guess the wounds still fresh huh?" he said, tilting his head to the side. "You haven't had troubles like that, have you?" He asked, a worried tone in his voice. If one so young had been exposed to the same violence Aura propagated... Well, he didn't know what he'd do, but it made him all the more determined to stop the crazy teenager before she killed even more humans, or worse, started going after the mutants who protected them.

Kyle paused as he realized what he'd just thought. He'd placed the lives of mutants above those of humans, something he never thought he'd do. Shaking his head he looked back up at the black-eyed teen, who hadn't sat down with him yet. "You don't have to answer that, if it's too personal..."

Amber hadn't expected the amount of detail in his speech that the security guard gave, but perhaps such a conversation was exactly what she needed. He was showing vulnerability, something that so few in Sanctuary were actually willing to show. Something she felt within herself and it was comforting to know that she wasn't the only one.

"I t-turn into dinosaurs so m-my power isn't dangerous either. I've never actually hurt anyone w-with it." At least not accidentally. And the one person Amber had hurt with it really did have it coming due to the fact that he was trying to stab her and she hadn't hurt him that bad anyway. A handful of stitches and she was sure he would have been fine, though he had probably deserved a fate much worse.

As the security guard continued his explanation, Amber was struck by the fact that what he was saying sounded very much like her sister Aura's philosophy. But that couldn't have possibly been Aura, could it? Besides, she wasn't the only one to think that way, there were many mutants in Sanctuary that weren't exactly friendly towards humans.

"The only t-troubles I've had were with humans t-trying to hurt me," Amber responded, her voice sad. "B-because of my eyes they know I'm a mutant. Sometimes th-they just ignore me and I p-prefer those one. Sometimes they t-try to attack me. I've had two d-different mobs come after me." She shuddered visibly, remembering the last mob that had tried to assault her and Elizabeth. That had almost ended very very badly, if not for the giant mutant coming to save them both.

"It's OK, I think I need to t-talk to someone. What's your name?" Because referring to him as 'security guard' was just silly. "I'm Amber." Amber extended a hand for shaking. Pulling and pushing things didn't sound like his touch would be dangerous.

Turning into dinosaur's sounded awesome, though a little vague. "Can you turn into any dinosaur?" He asked, wondering if the little girl in front of him could turn into an Supersaurus or a pterodactyl. Or maybe even the thing most think of when they think dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. "Could you turn into a Stegosaurus or Triceratops?"

Kyle was horrified to hear that the young girl before him had been attacked by a mob. To learn she'd had two mobs attack her was... It just wasn't right. "Are you... Are you alright? They didn't hurt you did they?" Kyle felt a protective urge come over him. For one so young to have to deal with the hatred against mutants rubbed him the wrong way. He sincerely hoped her ability to turn into dinosaur's was enough protection, as seeing a real-live dino in front of you would probably be enough to stop most haters.

>>"What's your name?"

Kyle blinked at the question. He was surprised neither of them had inquired about the other's name already. "I'm Kyle. Kyle Gordon." He reached out and shook her- Amber's - hand. "Nice to meet you Amber." He said with a wry grin.

Amber shook her head at the triceratops question. "I c-can't turn into one right now. I have t-to touch a fossil then I can t-turn into it. I can turn into a Styracosaurus though, which is similar but smaller and w-with more horns." She was used to these kinds of questions and also used to the fact that people tended to think her power rather cool and who was she to disagree with such a statement? For all the troubles being a mutant had brought her, it wasn't her power that bothered her, in fact she loved her power.

"I'm ok," Amber answered, though her voice was sorrowful. Physically she was all right, that was true, but mentally? She wasn't certain she'd ever fully recover, that she'd ever be quite the same person that she was before the attacks. Especially the pet shop. "There are s-some good p-people in the city. People that s-saved me." Mutants that had saved her and mutants that were good people.

"Nice to meet you too," Amber replied, offering up a sad smile. "You're lucky. You can p-pass for one of them. You don't have to worry, unless you use your power." Sure, it was easy to say that she was proud of the way her eyes looked, just like she was proud of being a mutant, but it was more difficult when she actually had to face the wrath of the city because of it. She was proud of being a mutant, truly, but sometimes she just didn't want to be confronted by it every day of her life.