New party, new dress... but in a silly, boring color. She needed something new, a little crazy and made to be the center of attention. She could not allow her employees to see her small act of witchcraft, so she gave they a day off. The only unfortunate employee that did not receive the same treatment, was the driver. He had specific orders to left her there, "get lost" and pick her later in the same place. If she finish soon, she could always call him. What started like a exciting search, became monotonous and boring really soon. All the colors looked the same, there was nothing new to "steal" that could give life to her new party dress.
Her quest began in the best shops in Times Square, needless to say it was unsuccessful. Continuing with some of the quirkiest shops she ever saw, but even there she could not found that special color. Disappointed but not beaten, she walked into every shop just to found nothing.

Tired of searching, and with a growing headache the size of Manhattan, she started walking without apparent direction. Still paying close attention to the shops, and people around her. A part of her, the most cowardly and fearful, wanted not to find the right color. That little part wanted to give up on the search and also in the use of her evil powers. Yet she knew that was not going to happen.
On the other hand, the part of her that dared to perform any task if it took her where she wanted, was willing to commit that sin again and again. That part was the same that enjoyed giving orders and getting every whim fulfilled.

Although her shoes were not designed for long walks, Celeste unwittingly reached Central Park, where she decided to take a deserved rest. She adored her bamboo sandals, and carried them virtually everywhere. The park was much empty than the main avenues, it was a relief to walk without dodging people at each step.
She took the nearest path entering in the park, not far from the entrance she decided it was enough, and sat down on the nearest bench, almost exhausted.
A little rest and relaxation would help with her headache. She would not return until she could find that dreamed color.

It was hot.

Unbelievably hot.

Luckily for her, the fashion sense that Bentley has instilled in her extended to days like this despite them meeting when it was much colder. Short shorts that exposed long, muscular legs and a top that was basically a cloth that revealed her toned sic pack, Ashley found it best to go around in her sandals as opposed to her combat boots. There was something liberating about walking around in the grass barefoot, after all. She lay on the grass and sighed, her elbows propping her up as she surveyed the area while adjusting her giant headphones.

Here she met Bentley, who changed her life in more ways then she could count. The friendship and love they shared with each other was something Ashley would always remember despite the fact they no longer saw each other...or spoke. She still missed the ballerina every day, and her heart ached for her. But she was gone, and despite longings and cravings Ashley knew it was for the better.

Here she met Kealey, who was a wonderful soul that was one of the first people to ever hear her play the guitar. Here she was encouraged to play by the pretty little blond, and Ashley was proud to do so. Here she made her run away after a small kiss, which now that she had time to look back on made the redhead laugh insanely, much to the chagrin of those that were passing by around her. The guitarist almost wished she could see Kealey again someday, just to see her blush ever so cutely.

...and here, Ashley observed with a frown, was where other, darker things happened.

The man exuded weakness from ever pore of his being, and Ashley felt an instant dislike for him. He was leaning on a tree, observing a small girl nearby, with a hand in his pocket that was making quick, jerky motions. Ashley didn't know what he was doing, but the look was something she had encountered far too often in her younger days as a streetrat. His slimy hair and shallow gaze, stubbly beard and baggy clothes...Ashley snorted as she got up and began her trek to him.

He never heard her coming, of course. That was her intention. And she never gave him a warning. A simply jerk of the collar and a hand on the back of the head that slammed his face against the tree was all she needed to get his attention. He cried a bit, bit with a bit of added pressure (her songs were making her stronger) he quieted down quickly, much to Ashley's pleasure.

“Little girls huh?” she snarled after a moment, twirling him around and throwing him to the ground. “Leave. See here again...kill you.”

The man scampered off, tail between his legs and blood down his front. He looked back periodically as he stumbled off, Ashley eying him the whole time. She knew she wasn't the smartest girl in the world, what with her lack of education and all, but that was so bloody obvious she had to check her gag reflex around such a scumbag. Briefly she wondered if Andrew and/or Jorge was rubbing off on her, but she dismissed the idea. She was so much cooler.

The guitarist looked back to the young girl and smiled. Well, maybe she could say hello or something. The young blond wouldn't know what Ashley had done for her, but the very least the redhead could do was make sure she was okay. With that settled, Ashley trotted over to the young woman, stopping a foot away before waving.

“Hello.” she said, her whiskey on the rocks voice rumbling a bit deeper then intended. “You okay?”

Trees were awesome. It was a new reality that Amber had just been made aware of. They weren't even awesome for the usual reasons, such as being green and pretty and providing all sorts of lovely shade, no they were awesome for other reasons too. Other reasons that included climbing and jumping from branch to branch and even tree to tree if one was truly feeling ambitious. Which, of course, she was.

Of course, the ambitious nature of Amber's endeavor may have been slightly less impressive when one consider that she was presently little larger than a rat, in the from of a prehistoric Mesozoic gliding lizard. Trees were the natural habitat of such a lizard and, because Amber and the lizard were currently one in the same, they were her natural habitat too. Her lovely green scales blended in perfectly with the lush green leaves of the late spring trees and her tiny little clawed feet were adapted to the small branches of said trees. Even her wings were a true evolutionary marvel. Not allowing her true flight, they nevertheless allowed for gliding across long distances, many times the length of her little lizard body.

In normal circumstances Amber would have been afraid to go outside, with the bright sun shining above her, but it was completely different when she shifted. When shifted, the dangerous rays of the sun were no risk at all her her scaled hide, unlike her pale human skin which burned at the merest rays of sun. This had been a planned outing in which she had arrived in the early dawn hours, stashed her deep purple robes inside a bush, shifted and proceeded to climb up the nearest tree. She had been here ever since, hours now, climbing, running, gliding and eating any insects she could catch. It was turning out to be a truly glorious day, even better considering lizards, unlike dinosaurs, did not tend to attract angry mobs.

Amber tensed her muscles, preparing for another gliding leap from the tree she was presently on to a nearby tree, a thrill if there ever was one. She wasn't paying much attention to the people below her and they weren't paying much attention to her, which is the way she preferred it. A deep breath and she leaped, wings spread, sailing through the air with majestic ease. She should have landed with claws around a branch on the targeted tree. Would have landed on a branch of the targeted tree. Unfortunately, half way through her leap she looked down, recognizing someone she had met only once, in an ally. Rhythm was her name maybe? Having not yet mastered her gliding technique, the momentary distraction was enough to set her off course. Her wings were not quite aligned how they needed to be and instead of gliding onto a tree, she glided onto a nearby head. A head filling with long blond hair. Oops.

Under the shade of the trees, the day was more beautiful than before. She felt the heat appeased by the surrounding nature, making it easier to enjoy this beautiful day. The murmur of the city also came as if in a dream. The city sounded a bit distant, as if that area of ​​nature was a completely different world from the one she walked only fifteen minutes ago.
It felt good to just sit there, resting and breathing in touch with nature.
The only thing that did not improve was her headache, an intruder in that quiet stronghold that Central Park was at that time. The constant throb in her temple reminded her that her mission was still incomplete.

Ready to return to her quest, she lifted his sight from her feet to the surroundings. Just to found something unexpected and shameful, a man was watching intently at her with a sinister gaze. Those eyes paralyzed her. So she quickly sat down again, pretending that she had never moved.
Although she did not want to see him again, the girl looked up again to confirm what she had seen. Unfortunately for her the man was still there. His eyes and his hands said it all. There was not necessary to be a genius to interpret what would happen. Celeste still could not muster the courage to move, not daring to stand and escape. She was so confused she did not know what to do, neither option was correct. She was paralyzed with fear. Her heart was beating wildly in his little chest trying to flee out of his body just to escape her stalker, fortunately it was not going to happen. In her mind her life could end in two ways, the stalker kill her or her little heart failed because of an imaginary illness.

A new factor jumped into the equation. Again. Everything happened so fast that she could not understand what happened. The girl still felt her heart beating wildly in her chest and her hands still shaking but something had changed in the scene. "What happened? Her stalker walked away holding his nose trying to stop the bleeding while her rescuer approached her. "Who did it?" A teenage girl with a fire red hair.
For a moment Celeste forgot the situation to engage in a deep contemplation of that color, it was fantastic. Unfortunately she knew it would not work.
When her knight in shiny armor was close enough, Celeste left the contemplation and started to pretend that she had nothing that would catch her gaze. "Hello." She answered with a practiced tone of indifference. And then her next question. Always trying not to show that inside she was with the nerves to the limit, almost to the brink of hysteria. "Of course I am ..." Someone touched her hair. Instantly she closed her mouth and swallowed saliva. She waited for the feeling to disappear, probably was just the product of her imagination. But the feeling did not disappear. The hand dropped to her shoulder and then all the accumulated stress was released. "I'm not ok, I'm not ok." She shout shaking her shoulders running to the arms of her rescuer with eyes full of tears.

Ashley didn't know what startled her more; the little lizard thing that had fallen into the blond's hair or the little blond throwing herself into Ashley's arms. But it was all instinct from here, and Ashley gathered up the little girl in her arms and held her tight. She didn't see the little lizard thing, though she did make an effort to look around for it. Whatever it was it didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before. Then again, Ashley wasn't an expert in much, much less animal biology.

The more pressing matter for the redhead was the girl in her arms. She smiled a bit, knowing that before she had run into the guitarist's arms she had put up a pretty forceful display of strength, one that even Ashley believed for a moment until it was broken a moment later. But now that she had her, Ashley really didn't know what to do. She pursed her lips, moving them from side to side for a moment before pulling the blond away and giving her the brightest smile she could, hoping to comfort the little girl.

“I'm Rhythm.” she said softly, her voice a tad lighter then before but still deeper them most females. “Your name?”

Amber wasn't aware of what had happened to her blond haired perch before landing on the unfortunate person's head. When one was a lizard one was much more likely to pay attention to lizard things rather than the human things going on far below. She had been paying attention to a very appetizing looking beetle just before her unfortunate landing which seemed rather regrettable now that she was on a more human level now and there was, apparently, something rather serious that had just taken place.

The woman who had first distracted Amber in her death defying leap, Rhythm she confirmed her name to be, approached her living stool. Then the girl started running and it was everything Amber could do, to grab a hold of the blond's hair with her tiny lizard claws so as to not be accidentally thrown off. She chirped in high pitched distress but somehow managed to maintain her grip.

Once her ride was a bit more stable, Amber chirped again and even managed an ambitious hop, in an attempt to get Rhythm's attention. Maybe if she could catch the other woman's eye, she might just notice her own pitch black eyes and recognize her from before. After all, how many lizards had eyes as black as night? Besides, it was the one trait of hers that remain constant from every shift and she was pretty sure that a lizard, unlike a couple of her other dinosaur forms that actually had front limbs resembling hands, could not text or write very effectively if at all.

"Pick up the pieces and behave yourself." Wise words from her father. It was almost as if he was there in front of her, giving one of his famous a sermon on how a member of Manfrella family should act. "Do not give your enemies the satisfaction of seeing you defeated." That was very true... She just remembered where she was and who she was. Unwittingly she was riding a dramatic spectacle in a public place, that was not her style. The girl released her instantly and quickly walked away a few steps, still looking at her.
Even with tears on her cheeks and eyes cloudy, she managed to restrain her emotions. The appearance was everything. With her mask of indifference and superiority concealing her tears.

"Cute name. You are the music, I am the color. My name is Celeste."
The child presented herself with kindness, without giving her last name or more data. She was still a little paranoid about what happened. Discreetly she was still looking for her attacker in the bushes or behind trees, but he was not in sight. The feeling was fleeting, but she was sure that someone or something touched her shoulder from behind ... How could it have gone so fast?

Using all her skills as a detective, which were few and almost non-existent, the girl began to reconstruct the crime scene. They were two people working together, one was scared by her ( she looked briefly to the teenager who was in front of her.), and the other one escaped after trying to take her from behind. That meant was in the bushes behind the bench...

"I´m thirsty, buy me something." Celeste stared at her seriously while speaking in a friendly tone and irresistible tone. Iron fist in velvet glove. She needed enough time to review the bushes, and find more clues. She did not wait for her answer, there was something in the bushes.

Her quick glances failed to find the second attacker, who surely was far away at that moment. But there was something else in the bushes nearby... she saw it. That day, all her senses were willing to give her just small doses, but nothing concrete. Quick and incomplete sensations. She managed to see something, but she was not sure where.
The girl concentrated all her attention in the bushes behind the bench, completely ignoring her new "friend. " She waited patiently for a few seconds. Nothing. Another couple of seconds. Nothing. When she was about to give up and accept that her mind was playing with her, she found what she wanted. The wind shook the bushes one more time, leaving a small space in them. The object was of a bright purple, the color was not unusual itself, but the hue and brightness were quite rare. In a short time she had become an expert in color. Even when she did not wanted to use her ability... "it" tempted her constantly.

The girl began to get closer, stalking her prey, as she imagined what it could be. A wrap? A piece of cloth? When she was close enough, she jumped over the bushes, moving aside branches with her arms, until she found the object. It was a robe. With delight she tried the robe, covering any incautious reptile. Triumphant she returned to the main road with a smile from ear to ear, wearing the purple robe. "I changed my mind, now I want something to eat."

Almost as fast as the child had thrown herself into Ashley's arms she was gone again, stepping back and taking an air of maturity that only children can try and duplicate from what they see of adults. In fact, the girl still looked very much immature to Ashley, but she said nothing on this. She didn't have very much experience with children after all, and she couldn't very well focus on the child when her attention was split between the blond and a hopping lizard.

It was all very confusing.

>>"Cute name. You are the music, I am the color. My name is Celeste."

The redhead nodded, standing up to full height and crossing her arms. She was the the music, huh? She'd never been called that, not really. People around New York that she'd introduced her just kinda took her chosen name in stride and rarely commented on it. Only Charlie had ever really said anything about it, if she remembered correctly, but that was Charlie so it was only to be expected.

>>"I'm thirsty, buy me something."

“Ummm...”

Ashley didn't know how to admit she had little money, but even before she could voice this thought, the tiny girl was wandering off in search of...something. The tomboy watched as Celeste seemed to stalk around randomly for awhile, and Ashley could almost see the clockworks in the girl's head going. All she needed was a pipe in her mouth and a funny hat and she could be like one of those funny detectives she'd seen in an anime once. Ashley had to admit, though, that the little blond looked rather cute doing whatever she was doing, and the little smirk that appeared on her face was a result of that. She would have pointed out the little lizard that was on Celeste, but something told her the little girl wouldn't react well to it, and the fact that a moment later the lizard was covered up by a purple robe made Ashley wondered what had happened to it.

Purple robe...

The thought brought Ashley back to a long time ago, back near last Christmas when she'd met someone who wore robes just like that. Her memory wasn't the greatest, she knew, but you didn't meet very many people that dressed as such when it was that cold out. She thought back to the lizard, with it's black eyes and chirping...and tapped her temple again, trying to think.

...Amber?

That was her name, right? The pretty girl with the white skin and black eyes. Ashley narrowed her eyes. She hadn't seen her in forever. She gave Celeste a sideways look and wondered if the lizard the blond had covered up with Amber's own purple robes was the very same mutant she met that could turn into dinosaurs. Wouldn't that be something?

>>"I changed my mind, now I want something to eat."

“Uhhh...”

Well, wasn't she going to be a handful?

What was one supposed to do when one was a lizard on top of the head of a blond stranger? The answer was to simply sit back and enjoy the ride, which is exactly what she intended on doing. Surely since the blond was talking to someone she actually knew, if only vaguely, there wasn't any real danger in doing so, right? Who knew, maybe she'd actually learn something about one or both of them in the process because sometimes people were more inclined to talk openly when around four legged critters rather than two legged mutants.

Amber's plan of attack changed when her blond ride apparently found her purple robe stashed in a nearby bush. Hadn't she hidden it better than that? Apparently not. With an indignant chirp, she leaped off the head of her perch, wings outstretched, and glided down to the robe, just missing it as the woman picked it up, leaving Amber on the ground.

Amber looked way up from her new spot on the ground, glancing between one woman and the other. She chirped unhappily at the both of them, a long string of clicks and squeaks coming out of her mouth. How did one without speech tell someone that it was her robe and to put it down this instant because that would be stealing? She looked towards Rhythm, imploring her to understand what she was psychically trying to get across. Her robe an the blond couldn't have it. Unfortunately, given her complete lack of any psychic abilities, she wasn't entirely sure how well it would come across.

Despite her recent discovery, she was still with the symptoms of perfectionism. It would lessen in a while. She knew it , but meanwhile her muscles were tense, her shoulders felt hard as rocks and almost insensitive. She need a good massage to feel good again. And as if that were not enough, she was hungry and felt her head as in a orange juicer. It was not easy to disguise her ailments, but she did it pretty well.
Concerned as she was about herself she did notice when the reptile leap from her head to the ground. In her micro universe, there was no place for little lizards. The girl did not felt it in her head. Its legs may well have been one of the many stitches product of the migraine.

She would not admit she owe something to that girl. It was impossible to fail to appreciate what she did for her, and in a disinterested way... She would thanks her while keeping her style. The least she could do would be to invite / force her to lunch together. It was a way to say thank you without saying it.
Celeste was getting ready to leave, she started to walk in the opposite direction she had come. (Waiting for her friend to follow.) When she notice a small animal near them. It was looking at her. For a moment, she decided that it was not worth wasting time, but just out of curiosity she turned her head to see the little animal. At first she just stopped, she keep thinking for a while. Then she turned quickly and crouched next to the animal watch him closely for a few seconds. She nodded vigorously several times without saying a word. Then she made her suspicions clear. "It is a rare specimen, I never seen it." Having received no positive response from her friend, she keep going. "It must be worth a fortune." Now that would call her attention. As she considered the fact that nobody knew that animal, she came with something far better. Celeste could not contain her excitement and said it aloud. "I may even put my name in it. I would be famous. " With a serious look and firm voice she shot another order for her companion, despite she still did not managed to fulfill the previous two. "Catch him."

>>"Catch him."

Ashley nearly threw up her hands at the order but refrained. She liked the little tyke, despite her rather bossy attitude, and merely gave a small smile and an exasperated sigh. Sure, she had little to no money but that wouldn't stop her from trying to get the child a drink and some food. How could she refuse, after all? She thought back to the time her and Charlie Fletcher were out and about and smiled at the thought of getting that hot dog for free, simple because she looked nice (if not a little ridiculous) in a sundress. Maybe she could do something like that?

The redhead looked back to the ground where Celeste was and spotted the lizard that was scampering around. Indeed, it was...different, that much was sure. She walked to the blond's location and nodded along with her, as if she too were examining something she'd never seen before. Her previous thoughts of being dumb when it came reptiles came back and Ashley mentally sighed. One of these days she was going to have to ask Andrew to teach her more then just speech. She wanted to know more, if not for moments like these.

She reached down and picked up the lizard, gently, and set it on her palm. The black eyes and the rob set off her suspicions earlier, and so there was really only one more test to do before she confirmed that this was indeed Amber, one of the first mutants she had met in her first few months in New York City. And how was she going to prove this?

Ask, of course.

“Amber?” Ashley said, extending a finger and poking the lizard on the nose. “That you?”

Amber felt a moment of panic when the blond stranger pointed at her demanding of Rhythm to 'catch her'. It wasn't that she was afraid of Rhythm, in that one brief meeting they had had previously, the older woman didn't really seem all that frightening, but she didn't know what to expect of the blond and her current form wasn't really one that would be very useful when it came to defending itself. What could she do, leave a few teeth marks in an unprotected hand? She chittered unhappily at the blond, not quite prepared to run away and yet wanting to get across her unhappiness at the entire situation. Yet again, she mentally cursed the fact that she coudln't speak while shifted and all the difficulties that created.

When Rhythm reached down to pick her up, however, Amber decided to allow it. After all, it was the blond that was the unpredictable factor, not Rhythm. Hopefully, in any case. When she was asked for confirmation about her identity, Amber nodded her little lizard head. She then pointed with a little lizard clawed hand at her robe and once again chirped and chittered unhappily. Yes, she was amber and yes, that was her robe.

Identity now given to the others, Amber wondered how, exactly, she might go about shifting back. Maybe if they went inside and her robe was brought into a nice private bathroom or something, that might work. But how to get across that she desired to shift and also desired someplace private and hopefully less bright and sunshiny to do so? Psychic mind speak, that's what she needed. Unfortunately, that was one talent she had yet to develop.

Celeste carefully observed the animal while it was held prisoner at Rhythm´s hand. It had a somewhat strange behavior... she was not an expert but she could tell for sure that something was not quite natural in that animal. Maybe it was just freaking scared... but something in its gaze looked malicious. Judging by all the noise coming from it, the reptile did not seem happy with an abduction from its natural environment. It was kind of bad to take it from its home... but it was for a greater cause.
"Excellent." She muttered to herself without caring who could heard, while mentally going over the steps of her master plan. When she finished the list, she cheerfully informed her subordinate. "It's your lucky day, as I am very kind to share the credit for the discovery." "Because I am not going to touch that thing." She added mentally, without any break in the physical plane. "Now we just have to take it to the nearest zoo, which fortunately is here in Central Park." Celeste was excited, she was just a few steps away from fame and recognition.

Ashley nodded at the little dino in her hand and then looked back to Celeste. She watched as the little blond got what Ashley could only call a “Plotting Face” on her countenance as she muttered to herself about fame and fortune. For a moment, a lopsided smile came to the redhead's face as she regarded the young girl. Clearly she was a goal oriented little thing, and Ashley couldn't hold that against her. But she really couldn't let her take Amber away to a zoo.

Quick as she could while Celeste wasn't looking, Ashley stuffed the tiny lizard down her shirt and patted Amber gently, hoping she would be quiet enough so the blond girl couldn't hear her, and stay still enough so she wouldn't do something to disrupt her bosom filled hiding place, like tickle Ashley. Already the musician felt the slight tingling of laughter on her lips due to Amber's tiny claws...paws...whatevers.

“Oh.” Ashley let out an unconvincing cry. “It's gone.” She twirled a bit, holding her hand to her forehead as if scanning the area. “It somewhere. Gimmie robe. I catch, wrap it up. Then we take to zoo, okay?”