The oven... was on fire.

Dancing on her toes, Andrea chewed on the finger tips of her gloves and stared at the little flames licking out at the air from around the edges of the oven door.

She had set the oven.... ON FIRE.

No one had entered the kitchen since she had started baking, which was probably a good thing. Her first batch of cookies had come out as little round charcoal bricks, and she was pretty sure that the tarts she had attempted to make could kill a man where he stood with just a nibble. She wasn't even sure how she had managed to get them to smell like bad eggs...

Muttering fluent curses in Greek, she tugged at the bottom of her borrowed, frilly apron and rushed to the sink. One heavy, full pot of water later she approached the oven like a wary animal, snakes attempting to flee from her scalp at the smell of something burning, and tossed the whole pot of water onto the stove. She figured that it would smother the flames, and she would be free to flee back upstairs to her room before anyone found her... but it did just the opposite. The batter inside the oven, chocolate cupcakes no less, hadn't been mixed together properly before it had been portioned out. Cooking oil had floated to the surface and when the water sloshed in on it the flames reacted violently.

A mini, flaming mushroom of an explosion erupted from the cracked oven door, leaping up to catch a dry dishtowel on the counter on fire. The towel set off a little pile of napkins caught aflame, which set off another flammable object next to it. Andrea watched in disbelief, slightly horrified, as a little chain reaction set off down the counter. A fire trail...

She had set the counter aflame.

Rushing to the counter to get another pot full of water, Andrea filled the air with loud, panicked curses while the smell of burning baked goods leaked out of the kitchen, and the flames reached her plate of poisonous tarts.

...which also caught on fire.

Lydia had been minding her own business, strolling around the Sanctuary, when she got the urge for a snack. She’d only been in the kitchen a few times, seeing as most ate their meals in the dining hall, but it was that annoying time between lunch and dinner. So, snack it was, and she made her way through the hallways, passing the various mutants coming to and fro.

Admittedly, she still had some difficulty accepting the Sanctuary as her home. Sure, it was where she lived, it was the roof over her head every night, but it wasn’t her home, as clichéd as it sounded. And neither was her old place back in California, not anymore. Lyd was homeless. It was really depressing. So wrapped up in her gloomy thoughts was she, that she failed to recognize the acrid stench wafting out of the kitchen doorway, nor did she notice some of the other residents running away in the opposite direction. Even the smoke starting to glide across the ceiling escaped her detection. Woe the self-absorbed teenager.

She continued in that way, until finally it was too late and Lydia arrived at her destination. Her destination was on fire. “Holy s—!” But her cry was interrupted by the crackling of flames and a green-skinned woman freaking out in a strange language. Just back away, back away, the girl thought, This isn’t your problem. But her feet wouldn't cooperate, and instead she found herself moving forward, to help put out the kitchen-devouring fire. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

“What were you doing here?!” She exclaimed as she grabbed a not-on-fire towel and tried batting some of the fire engulfing a plate of what probably used to be some delicious treats. It failed, miserably. She yelped as flames started licking up the towel, and sent it flying across the kitchen. Whoops. “Crap crap crap crap!”

Life, in Amber's opinion, had been much too exciting lately. Or perhaps just the right amount of exciting because, for once, things actually appeared to be going more or less right for her. She had discovered she had friends who actually seemed to care about her, had learned that her new lizard form was nothing short of completely awesome and, best of all, no one had tried to kidnap her nor had any angry mobs tried to kill her. Yes, life had been good lately although in Amber's experience that was usually just a precursor to life turning really really bad again. Still, for as long as life was good she was going to enjoy it and today that enjoyment meant relaxing at home in Sanctuary because not everything could be excitement and adventure.

The best thing to do in the late afternoon, when staying at home relaxing with a good book, was to go into the kitchen and find something sweet to eat. Which is exactly what Amber planned on doing. She should have noticed the faint scent of smoke coming from the end of the hallway as she began meandering her way towards the kitchen, but she didn't. It wasn't until just before actually entering that she noticed anything at all amiss at all and once she did realize there was smoke billowing from the kitchen, her heart caught in her throat and she sprinted the rest of the way there, red robes billowing around her.

It was worse than Amber imagined it could be; everything around her looked to be flaming. "Fire!" Yes it was stating the obvious, but it took her a few moments to really wrap her head around what was actually happening and that was the first slightly panicked word that came to mind.

"You two wait here, I'll get the fire extinguisher," Amber yelled before running back out of the kitchen to where she knew the fire extinguisher was. If she knew any anti-fire mutants that would be even better, but in those moments of panic her mind couldn't conjure up any. Half a minute later she returned to the kitchen, extinguisher in hand. And my did it look tiny compared to the flames engulfing the kitchen. She turned it on, aiming at the largest of the flames and praying for the best.

Ah... oh god, oh god... fire! What was she supposed to do with fire again?! Glancing around the kitchen, she snatched up an oven mitt and attempted to bet down some of the flames on the counter. She heard a feminine voice behind her and twirled, looking ever the guilty party with her smoldering oven mitt and smoke stained apron. She may as well have been wearing red gloves.

"What?...uh.. Ah!" She watched as the girl joined her in the frantic beating out of flames, and panicked as the towle sh was holding burst into flames like a match- and was quickly tossed across the room. Where it smacked into the wall... and fell into an open garbage can.

...which lit up like it was filled with gasoline.

"Oh god!" Darting to the sink, she reached out and took hold of the hose attachment. Andrea made the mistake of not paying attention as she turned on the faucet, what with nozzle of the hose pointed straight up at her own face. A jet of water shot out and caught her squarely up the nose, which sent her reeling back against the sink, coughing and choking.

The jet of water arched across the room next, first in the girls direction, then over to the oven as she got control. She was drowning from water dripping out of her sinuses... but at least she was going to put the fire out before she died! With a few sneezes and hacks, she cleared her airways in time to see another figure burst into the room, dressed in the reds of a fireman- but without the fancy equipment or skills. The red clothed girl vanished with a shout- something she couldn't hear, but reappeared a moment later... and then the room was blanketed in a thick cloud of white.

"Gah!"

In the next few minutes, several things happened at once. One, the towel Lydia had flung ended up landing in a garbage can, which promptly burst into flames. Oh ****, she thought as the flames from the can travelled up the walls. Two, she had a freezing jet of water sprayed at her by the woman who had started the fire (great thanks for trying to help). Lyd glared, but the other mutant was too engrossed in coughing and trying to hose down the fire. Third, another person clad in red burst into the kitchen, ran out, and then returned clutching a fire extinguisher. She pointed the fire extinguisher and shot at the largest flames, which, unfortunately was very near to where Lydia and the green-skinned woman was standing.

I knew I should’ve walked away when I had the chance! “Hey! Hey, stop the extinguishing for second!” She exclaimed as white fluff flew into her face. But it didn’t stop. And from what she could see there was still fire all around the kitchen. In fact, it was growing, growing at a quicker and quicker pace. The extinguisher didn’t look like it’d hold up against all those flames.

The place was filled with mutants, wasn’t it? Weren’t there any with any powers besides “set kitchens on fire and spray water in people’s faces” and “use of a tiny fire extinguisher?” Where were the water elementals? And how did the fire even get started in the first place? But Lyd saved the latter question for after the fire was set out, if they got out alive. They better get out alive. Or else someone was losing their head. Or rather…heads? In her close proximity to the fire-starter, she could hear a hissing noise, multiple hissing noises. They were coming from snakes. Snakes attached to the woman’s head. “What the hell?!”

Lydia had seen her fair share of strange mutations, but this was certainly…different. Especially coupled with the current situation. The snakes seemed to be panicking, and wriggling every which way, and some were extremely close to her. So close they were almost touching. She squealed and ran to the other girl, the one in red, and stepped behind her so she was between the skin-shifter and the snakes.

Smoke and white stuff from the fire extinguisher was everywhere and Amber found herself coughing and choking. Fire was bad, very very bad and her little fire extinguisher was so completely pitiful when compared to the near raging inferno that the kitchen had become. She felt herself begin to lose control and panic and when she panicked unfortunate things like involuntary shifting tended to happen. Just as the thought crossed her mind she felt the first pricklings of pain that always accompanied a shift sweep across her body. She tried to force back the panic, knowing that becoming a dinosaur was just about the last thing she needed to do in order to combat the fire.

Amber didn't hear the yelled demand to stop the extinguisher, she didn't hear much of anything outside of the crackle of the flames and the panicked beat of her own heart. Why oh why did she have to be born a dinosaur shifter and not a water elemental? Sure, dinosaurs were pretty awesome, but not nearly as useful as water elementals. Especially when it came to fire and the extinguishing there of.

"Does anyone know a water mutant?" Amber yelled as loud as she was able to, unsure if her voice could even be heard over all the other loud sounds going on. Her tiny and inadequate fire extinguisher sputtered and died, leaving the room filled not only with grey smoke, but also with white...whatever it was that came out of fire extinguishers that were supposed to put out flames. Unfortunately it didn't seem to do much of anything useful in order to actually extinguish the flames engulfing the kitchen.

As Amber's mind turned, unwillingly, to the prospect of burning down Sanctuary, the pain in her skin blossomed further. No, no, no she could not shift now, not when she was needed. She knew if anyone could see her through the smoke she would be covered in scales and it was everything she could do not to allow the shift to go any further.

Coughing and choking, Andrea could hardly see what she was shooting at. She was fairly sure she had gotten one of the flames, and rushed to turn the oven off. It was a disaster, but she wasn't going to be able to fight the flames much longer. On top of the kitchen disaster, there were two others battling the fire with her... and she couldn't very well let them remain in danger! She sprayed down another ball of flame, and came to a conclusion. There was only one real option...

"Run away!!"

With that, she dropped the sink hose and fled from the kitchen with her arms flailing in the air. The counter was still smoking, various flammable objects struggling to remain lit, and the garbage can across the room was still burning like a hobo's camp fire. When the air cleared it would look like a mutant powdered donut had rampaged though the burning kitchen, lighting things on fire while setting up for a bake sale. The Greek stopped out in the main hall, bent over and coughing, with white extinguisher dust clinging to her everywhere, her apron bottom charred to a crisp... and she was pretty sure some of her snakes had passed out from fright or smoke inhinaltion. Which was... weird. She hadn't realized that they had lungs...

"Oh my... god... i'm...never.. cooking again..." Gasping, she wiggled out of her apron and turned back to drag the others from the room, if they hadn't fled already.

>> "Does anyone know a water mutant?"

“We’re in the freaking Sanctuary! There’s probably a bunch of water mutants! Hell, there’s probably a fire extinguisher mutant!” But, as Lydia yelled over the crackling flames, the actual fire extinguisher started to sputter and die. The real question was where on earth were they? Why was this continually growing fire being left in the hands of three obviously inept individuals? That was why when the green-skinned woman yelled at them to,

>> "Run away!!"

Lyd did hesitate to follow suit. She tugged the arm of the person wielding the now-useless extinguisher to alert him/her (she couldn’t tell through the smoke and flames) of what was going on, and then turned and sprinted out of the disaster zone. She followed the woman into the main hall, where they both stopped to catch their breath. The teenager couldn’t stop coughing, and her throat felt like it was…on fire. She had soot all over her face and bare arms, and parts of her black t-shirt and jeans were singed.

>> "Oh my... god... i'm...never.. cooking again..."

She narrowed her eyes at the presumed fire-starter and her coughing snakes. Her brows furrowed and her mouth formed a tight frown. “You…were cooking?” She hoped her tone of voice would send the message.

Between horrible coughing because of the ever increasing amount of smoke, panic due to the fact that nothing seemed to be doing a bit of good to help combat the fire and the pain in her body from trying to suppress a shift, Amber was at a complete loss as to what to do next. That was the reason why, when one of the figures yelled that they should leave, she didn't think twice about it. Surely someone would smell the smoke and come running to fix the problem, right? It wasn't really her responsibility, she hadn't even been the one to start the fire.

Amber allowed the other individual (who could tell exactly who that individual was with all the smoke around?) to tug on her arm and lead her out of the kitchen. Really, she only felt just the tiniest bit guilty about fleeing from the burning kitchen, but at least she could say she tried her best to put out the flames. It wasn't really all that realistic that Sanctuary would burn to the ground, right? There wasn't really that much flame, was there? She forced any lingering feelings of guilt deep into herself never to be heard from again.

The moment Amber left the flaming kitchen she felt her body revert back to normal. The pain from a partial shift left just as the scales that had appeared melted back into soft pale skin. It was only then that Amber realized that she recognized the fire-starter, although she had...changed since she had first met the other girl. "Andrea?" The snakes were unusual even for a mutant and for a moment she didn't feel quite so bad about the fact that her own mutation appeared to be slowly transforming her body into something else, even if that something else had the striking resemblance of a disease victim. "Is everyone ok?"

She turned, and came face to face with one of the other kitchen occupants. One who didn't look all that happy.... Andre really couldn't blame her. She saw another figure come rushing out as well, but got hung up on a question flung her way.

“You…were cooking?”

Her bottom lip trembled, but before she could ramble off an excuse, or an apology, she spotted exactly who the other person was. Her name tumbled off the other girls lips and she squealed with delight, and panic. "Amber!! OhmygodIwassoscareforyou!" Of course, she was talking about the awful night the two had had months prior. "I am so happy to see that you are... alright."

Her words wound down in excitement, and her bottom lip started trembling again like crazy. They had gotten out of one horrible situation, only for her to put them in another! "Oh! What have i done?!" Clasping her cheeks in her hands, she sniffled and cried, while the Serpents in her hair went positively nuts. They weren't exactly used to overwhelming grief... fear? Sure. Their mistress was a mighty fearful person. Guilt? Absolute confusion. Ira flared in anger, not liking being attached to her for the moment, and Lust wiggled pathetically on her shoulder. Sloth simply yawned massively, and curled himself tighter around the woman keeping him alive.

She moaned and pitied herself for a moment, before sniffling again and wiping tears away from her eyes. "I am so.. so dreadfully sorry... I never meant for this to happen. I was just trying to get better at making cookies, for my new home... when ...when..." She sighed, and hung her head. "I have put you put in terrible danger... whatever can I do to make it up to you?"

So it appeared the fire-starter and the extinguisher-girl knew each other. Whoop dee diddly doo, that still didn’t change the fact that all of them had almost died two seconds ago, and that there was still a fire raging in the kitchen. Lydia continued to scowl as Andrea (the snake-haired woman) continued on being glad about the other girl (Amber) being alright and whatever. Yeah, glad she’s okay…what about me? She thought bitterly.

Then Andrea started crying and blubbering. And her snakes started to spaz again. Oh ****. Lydia brought a hand up to her temple and started massaging it, a migraine blossoming in her skull.

>> "I am so.. so dreadfully sorry... I never meant for this to happen. I was just trying to get better at making cookies, for my new home... when ...when..."

“Hey…it’s okay. It’s not your fault,” she said through slightly gritted teeth, “Accidents happen. Just…next time, use a little more precaution. And look up a recipe online or something beforehand.” She sighed. She couldn’t stay angry at someone who looked so regretful. And Andrea said the Sanctuary was her new home, she was new. Lydia knew how hard it was to move homes, since she herself had done it several times.

>> "I have put you put in terrible danger... whatever can I do to make it up to you?"

Lydia shrugged. If anything, the new kid shouldn’t be doing anything. Even if she had set the kitchen aflame. But then again…the teenager’s throat was awfully dry from the smoke, and she wouldn’t mind something cold to offset the heat she had just endured. And it wasn’t like the kitchen was accessible at the moment (not to mention any frozen goods were definitely melted). “Ice cream,” Lydia said, nodding, “Ice cream sounds pretty nice right now.”

It was a relief to get out of the burning kitchen and actually be able to breathe again. For a long minute Amber just stood there, enjoying the delicious pure air that didn't cause her to choke or gasp in the slightest. Oh how glorious it was, something that never seemed so glorious before she had almost had it taken away due to awful black clouds of choking smoke. Maybe in the future she wouldn't take clean air for granted any longer.

"Amber!! OhmygodIwassoscareforyou! I am so happy to see that you are... alright."

Amber wanted to hug Andrea and make her feel better. She almost did walk up and hug her friend, stopping only because of the unhappy snakes hissing and writhing on top of her head. Getting bitten by a potentially poisonous snake just didn't sound like the best course of action and an even worse way to end a day that really wasn't going well at all. Instead she settled for words instead of hugs. "I'm all right. J-just try to be more careful in the future."

"I am so.. so dreadfully sorry... I never meant for this to happen. I was just trying to get better at making cookies, for my new home... when ...when... I have put you put in terrible danger... whatever can I do to make it up to you?"

Once again Amber felt the impulse to hug the girl and once again angry hissing snakes dissuaded her of that particular plan of action. Maybe if she had nice tough scales it might be different, but human flesh was just so easily punctured. She shot another glance at the burning kitchen, forcing down any lingering feelings of guilt for abandoning that particular problem.

When the other girl, who's name she still wasn't sure of, suggested ice cream, Amber immediately approved of the idea. "I th-think its dark enough for me to go out safely," she added, hating the fact that it was something she had to constantly worry about. At least she wasn't the only one that looked strange, however. Her skin and eyes, such an obvious mark of being a mutant, wouldn't cause anyone to think twice when next to Andrea and her head full of snakes. She felt another immediate pang of guilt for even thinking such an inconsiderate thought.

It was agreed upon. Ice cream would happen, and she would be buying it for the two people she had put in danger. Danger from the fire that was still flickering about in the kitchen. The gorgon cringed, and shifted on her feet. Amber was willing to come along, and this new girl was the one who had suggested it. All that left was for her to go retrieve her wallet, and take off her apron.

"I will be right back, I promise!"

She hurried away, off toward her room as fast as she possibly could... without looking too suspicious. (As if being in a charred apron with smoke residue wasn't suspicious enough...) Andrea abandoned the evidence in her room, opting for a baggy-but-clean sweater, and snatched up her wallet. She attempted to wipe her face off on the way out, grabbing up her handkerchief as well as she shut her door. The quick jog back out to where they waited left her a little winded, and she didn't wait to be polite and talk again, instead choosing to hurry past and wave them out with her.

The outside air felt good on her skin, and her serpents calmed down instantly once the smell of smoke and burning cookies was gone. The Greek paused on the steps outside, holding the door open for the other two, and chewed on her bottom lip shamefully. "...Sorry... again, for all of this. I am Andrea.. Andrea Gordon." Nothing more came to mind right at the moment. Just a looping chat of imsorryimsorryimsorryimsorry that she couldn't seem to stop from playing. "...I am afraid I do not know many places around this area that serve ice cream... I am fairly new. I do know where the mall is though, and I believe they sell that confection there." After they passed, she went ahead and shut the door, slowly and carefully... as if it would break under her touch, then descended the stairs to stand on the sidewalk.

"Oh... wait, I do believe I know of one place around here... but it is up to you two. I think I have made enough bad decisions for one evening..."

Lydia watched the woman with the snake hair jog off, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. What if she never came back? What if she was running away, intending on pinning the fire crime on the two girls? What if the crying and blubbering was just a CON?!

…she would give the woman the benefit of a doubt. But if her paranoid ideas were true, she was a damn good actress.

While she waited, she attempted to wipe her face off with the back of hands and forearms, black smudges smearing all over the place. She sighed, it was pointless. She needed soap and a loofa if she wanted to get rid of the smoke and fire residue, but they were going out for (free) ice cream, there was no time. She’d have to go out looking all singed and gross.

“So you’re name’s Amber, eh?” She asked the girl in red, attempting to make the situation less awkward, “I’m Lyd—.” But she was interrupted by the return of the green-skinned woman, who quickly waved them along. She was carrying a handkerchief. Perfect. Lydia started following her, holding off on introductions for the moment.

>> "...Sorry... again, for all of this. I am Andrea.. Andrea Gordon. ..I am afraid I do not know many places around this area that serve ice cream... I am fairly new. I do know where the mall is though, and I believe they sell that confection there."

“Quit apologizing, will ya? Starting to sound like a broken record.” The fire was behind them, mostly, and it wasn’t like there weren’t a dozen mutants who could put it out in seconds. She didn’t need to be so stressed out about it. Although Lyd didn’t explicitly say that Andrea was forgiven. That would depend on the quality of the ice cream. “As I was just telling Amber over here, my name’s Lydia. And the mall’s fine with me.” The girl shot the woman a small smile.

>> "Oh... wait, I do believe I know of one place around here... but it is up to you two. I think I have made enough bad decisions for one evening..."

She shook her head. Seriously, Andrea could stop with the self-deprecation. “I’m cool with whatever. What do you think?” She asked Amber, shrugging her shoulders to indicate she really had no preference.

Ice cream was the one thing that everyone seemed to agree was the cure for everything bad, from common everyday stress to life threatening situations. Or if not the cure than at least a nice little band aid that was sufficient to make everyone feel just a little bit better. Or at least, that's how Amber viewed the situation and even if the others happened to disagree, she was still glad that there would soon be ice cream. Maybe that would make her feel a little less guilty about leaving the kitchen to burn until someone else happened to deal with it even if that someone else was better equipped to do so than any of the three of them.

Amber waited for Andrea to come back with the other girl, feeling a little bit awkward. She was a stranger, after all, and it wasn't as if Amber had managed to help the situation with the fire any after she had shown up. It caused some relief when Andrea came back and the awkwardness was broken, although she couldn't be certain that the awkwardness wasn't just within her own head.

"N-nice to meet you Lydia. And the mall is fine with me also." Mall's weren't Amber's favourite place in the world given the close quarters and the tendency for people to freak out when around her. However, given that she was with two other mutants, one of which was more visible than even she was, she felt the risk wasn't too high. Humans might pick on a single mutant that they perceive as being vulnerable, but they weren't nearly as likely to pick on a trio of mutants. Were they? Surely not, especially since one of them happened to have living snakes on her head.