Jude stopped short when he heard the magic word.

Dinosaur? "No way."

It was just luck that they had stopped near the bus shelter. By the amount of people there, it was clear the bus would be showing up soon. "That iz SO FREAKING COOL!" Heads turned and the little psychic wanna be didn't notice a thing. He was too busy bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.

"Could you be one now? Monsieur Aleksandr iz a snake. If he iz naked snake and gorgeous, no one will blink twice at a dinosaur." His puppy eyes said 'oh please, oh please, oh please.'

The bus sighed and drooped to a stop at the curb. She could turn to a dinosaur on the bus too. No one would mind. He was sure! "Come on, faithful minions!" Jude lead the charge onto the bus.

"Sree tickets!" He dug in his pocket and selected some shiny coins to feed into the machine until three bus passes came out. He passed one to each of his reptilian friends. "Now iz where our adventure begins. Be vigilant." He nodded in all seriousness and found himself a seat with enough room for Amber at least. Jude was sure, being the gentleman he was, Aleksandr would stand. Or slither. Or whatever he did.

"If there is snake form, I can be helping you with learning to move. If is necessary."

"I th-think I would like that very much," Amber agreed, nodding shyly. She hadn't really considered the learning curve when it came to moving around as a snake, although now that she did it made sense. All her other forms were at least somewhat similar to human movement, either four legged or two. Even her pterasaur form had legs just in case she wasn't able to fly for some reason. Flight itself was difficult enough to learn, but the general idea was fairly well understood; you flap your wings and that causes you to rise into the air. It was difficult to even conceive of what the muscles needed for snake movement might feel like. "Have you always looked like that? I mean, did you look human once?" She was genuinely curious now. If he wasn't human in appearance once, then how did he learn to move around?

"That iz SO FREAKING COOL!"

Amber grinned down at the kid. Who was she to disagree with such an obvious statement of fact? There really wasn't much more that could be added.

"Could you be one now? Monsieur Aleksandr iz a snake. If he iz naked snake and gorgeous, no one will blink twice at a dinosaur."

"Um." Now that presented rather more of a problem. A problem having to do with angry human mobs trying to kill her. "I d-don't think that's such a good idea," Amber stuttered. Her mind flashed to one of the first times she had shifted, accidentally, and countless people chasing her and throwing things at her. "I've had b-bad experiences shifting in public." She didn't want to scare the kid with the details but her eyes told the story of the fear she felt. Unless forced to do so, shifting in front of many people in broad daylight was simply not something she was going to do again. "How about when we-re in a bit more of a private area I'll show you?" Less risk of angry mobs that way.

Amber pocketed her ticket and followed Jude onto the bus. She hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed that she couldn't shift right that moment, but if he insisted she would honor her promise. Just as soon as there were fewer people around with the propensity to panic.

Aleksandr certainly didn't miss the compliment that Jude threw out while trying to convince Amber that she should demonstrate her abilities for them. The kid sounded like he could be a regular charmer if he really wanted to be. In any case he seemed to know the right words to use to get on someone's good side. The snake man certainly liked him even more now. Company was so nice to keep when they acknowledged his stunning looks. He would be sure to compliment the tiny twenty-one year old if the chance presented itself during their trip.

He let the other two on the bus ahead of him, offering the small adult his thanks when a ticket was bought for him. Having no pockets, he didn't carry change for himself and likely would have been left behind or left to catch up later on this little adventure had Jude not been such a little gentleman.

Very carefully he wriggled his bulk through the doors and into the interior of the bus. He wouldn't be sitting, of course. For one thing there were ladies and elderly present that his seat could be of better use to, and for another thing more of his body hung off seats than actually on them, so it really didn't make too much sense to occupy more space than was needed.

Instead he occupied most of the standing space between the seats, coiling his bulk in on itself to make himself as small as he could without accidentally resting a section of tail on someone's lap. There would, of course, be disgruntled passengers either way, but most people thought twice about trying to start a fight with a giant serpent.

Situating his more human half near his two companions, he settled himself in for the ride, however long it may be. "I look human once," he replied to Amber, brushing a tangle of tails off one of his shoulders and away from the metal poles and hanging hand grips that they could get wrapped around. "I am mutant for maybe four years. When did you become mutant?"

The dark-haired boy's eyebrows tried to high five his protruding, pouty lower lip. Jude was the face of sullen. He really wanted to see a dinosaur. A real dinosaur. These people and their stupid way of acting was... well it was stupid.

"People are dumb, Ambersaur. How can zey ever get used to you if you hide your best parts?" Hmm. That came out wrong. Jude looked to the snakeman for help. He was, after all, all snake, all the time. Aleksander had no chance of hiding what he was.

After that, Jude contented himself to look out the window. At every stop he checked for newspaper stands or vending boxes.

As Aleksandr made his way onto the bus, it struck Amber that in some ways she really didn't have it that bad. After all, she didn't stand out nearly as much as the snake mutant did nor did she have to worry about whether or not she would fit into certain areas. There must be all sorts of disadvantages to having a giant tail instead of legs and here she was constantly moping about her own sorry state of affairs. Sure she couldn't easily go out in the sunlight, but at least she could go most places that all other humans could go. She could go on roller coasters if she wanted to, for example, and she wasn't so certain that Aleksandr could.

"I look human once. I am mutant for maybe four years. When did you become mutant?"

"I b-became a mutant only a year ago," Amber answered. "B-but I haven't been able to go outside in the sunlight for my whole life so I g-guess I've always been one." Her voice held a hint of sadness at the loss of the one thing that she had never fully been able to experience. Sure she could stand the sunlight while shifted, but it was different feeling the sun on scale and feather rather than on smooth flesh. "B-but I guess I shouldn't complain. I probably have a more normal life than you do." As glorious as she found the snake man to be, she could only imagine how difficult his life must have become.

"People are dumb, Ambersaur. How can zey ever get used to you if you hide your best parts?"

Amber nodded, smiling at the kid's words. It was refreshing to hear someone speak so frankly. "So they are. Maybe one day they'll b-be accepting of dinosaur mutants running around the city." Wouldn't that just be a dream come true.

Aleksandr looked rather surprised at the explanation that Amber couldn't sit out in the sun. How awful. He could hardly sit inside away from the sun during the colder months without going crazy. But to have to avoid such a luxury for an entire lifetime had to be unbearable. He had to repress a shudder at the thought. At least now they knew why she wore so many layers.

He couldn't help but smile a bit at her comment about normality. It was true, bipeds certainly had it easier than he did in some situations, but walking through revolving doors and squeezing into cars wasn't all that important in life. "Is difficult at times, but is not that bad. If I had choice, I would choose mutation every time. I have pride in being mutant." No point in lamenting over the possession of such beautiful scales.

The snake man appreciated the smaller adult's enthusiasm in trying to get Amber to come out of her shell a bit. He seemed to be the kind of person who would fully embrace his mutation as well as those of others. That was always refreshing. "If you have desire to change, I will provide for you some cover," he offered to the dinosaur mutant. "Very few people will bother giant snake."

He did his best to keep out of the way and shift his weight for anyone getting on or off the bus. There seemed to be more people doing the latter, though that fact didn't particularly bother him. It just meant he had a little more space to occupy. From the sound of the announcements given by the driver, they were getting close to their destination. Hopefully they could find what Jude was looking for without too much difficulty.

"Ah-HAH!" The dark-haired boy stood and jumped up and down on his seat as he pointed to a newspaper stand. They had found one! When the bus slowed, he had to take a step back to steady himself when it lurched to a stop. Except there was no step back. Jude found himself very suddenly on the ground.

The bus driver turned in his seat. "Stupid, kid! Don't stand on the- uh. Oh." Jude collected himself and looked between the driver and where the driver was looking. Apparently he hadn't been awake enough to notice when Aleksander got on his bus. But he sure noticed now. He muttered something about how he was too old for this and turned around in his seat before punching the button to let open the door.

The boy turned to grin at the dinogirl. "See? Nobody mess withs ze snake man."

Jude brushed off his arms and pulled something sticky off of his sleeve and flicked it away. "Yes. Zis is our stop anyways." He stopped to pick up a nickle and then they were on their way to the news stand.

The man tending the news stand was a very tan man with a thick accent that Jude did not recognize, but he guessed was some kind of asian based on the way his eyes were shaped. Jude grabbed the remaining coins from his pocket and put them all up on the counter, on top of a stack of O magazines. The asian had to lean over to see where the disembodied hand had come from.

"I need a paper."

"Whicha one? New York Time? Wall Street Journal? We have Los Angeles, USA Today, Washington Post. Only thing I don't have is Hawaii."

Jude grimaced and looked between the dinogirl hiding under the bed sheets and the snake man before turning back to the newspaper man. "Is zere one withs local jobs for New York listing?"

In the end, the dark haired boy bought a New York Times paper and spread it out on a nearby planter so they could all look through the tiny print. "See anysing for a mutant like me?"

When Aleksandr spoke about his mutation, Amber couldn't help but feel just a little bit guilty. Of course she loved her mutation as well and wouldn't' give it up for anything, but here she was moping about her own problems of not being able to go outside and having black eyes that marked her as a mutant and she didn't have nearly the same problems as he had. And yet, the snake man seemed to be almost entirely content with his lot in life. Why couldn't' she simply learn to be happy with what she had and not agonize over it so very much all the time? It wasn't like her life was all that bad really, was it?

"How about I change once we're off the crowded b-bus," Amber answered, after some thought. The two of them had a point in saying that between a dinosaur and a giant snake man they probably wouldn't have too much of a problem with people bothering them. Hopefully. She forced her mind out of the direction of thinking about all the potentially horrible things that might happen due to her possibly ill-thought out decision. "If you w-want, I could even offer you a ride," she offered Jude. After all, he seemed rather excited about the whole dinosaur thing. She grinned down at him.

Amber followed the other two off of the bus, giving the bus driver a nod of her head as she did so, secretly amused at his reaction to Aleksandr. "J-just help me find a secluded corner and I'll change for you," Amber informed Jude. Maybe this would be a fun adventure after all. Surely nothing too horrible could come of it, could it?

Aleksandr felt a bit bad that he hadn't been quite fast enough to help Jude stay on his feet. Wasn't that one of the reasons he'd accompanied the young man and woman, to help see them safely to and from their destination? However, Jude didn't seem to be too upset about it and was instead rather amused at the reaction the snake man had gained from the grouchy driver. The reptilian mutant gave a bit of a smirk as he passed the driver's seat and slid down the steps onto the street. That's right. You don't mess with the snake man.

He waited patiently as Jude purchased his paper, being of little help himself in deciding which one was best to use. He didn't really know much about local news, and while he could read English rather well, the variety of reading material in and of itself would be enough to confuse him. The young adult, however, seemed to be able to make the appropriate exchange with a little help from the vendor.

He smiled rather brightly as Amber seemed to come around to the idea of shifting while Jude skimmed the paper. She didn't have to, of course, but it would be very interesting to see. He'd never seen a dinosaur shifter before, and here was a chance to get better acquainted with one. "I will make sure to let no one bother you for change," he offered. He could very easily fill up a section of alleyway or somewhere equally as cramped. No one would get past him until she had slipped into her scaly skin.

Turning back to the young man who posed the question, he glanced briefly at the paper. There was a lot of small print to read. He suddenly wished he'd though to pose the idea of bringing a pen or a marker for crossing out ads that were no good and circling potentials. "I think first is to be sure there is no thing in ad like 'Mutants need not Apply' or something more friendly for mutants," he offered.

Secluded area? Hmm. Jude walked and flapped his newspaper in front of him to keep it straight. The paper hid his entire body except his legs. "Want ze sports section?" He was kidding. Kind of. Hmm. Secluded place, secluded place... It was hard to look with his nose in the paper. Bah. He lowered the fine print and looked up.

Well, there looked to be an opening between buildings that was rather narrow. On one side was a trashy looking restaurant that didn't look to get much custom and the other side was some kind of fortune telling shop. Neither looked to gather much foot traffic.

"Try zis one? We can guard ze entrance and read ze paper while you do your thing." Jude motioned to the alley he had chosen and looked down to his paper. And looked up to the fortune teller's shop: "Future Sight."

"Whoah." All thought of dinosaurs briefly fled from his mind. What better place for a psychic to ask for a job than a psychic's shop? "Are you a dinosaur yet? Jude peeked. This really was his lucky day. He was going to ride in to his future job in dino-back! Or so he daydreamed.