The aroma of the dining hall was quite inviting, but he had little interest in dwelling in the room. He didn’t really foresee himself spending much time in the large crowded room. Sitting at a table and eating with a knife and fork wasn’t really a something he did very often. Aura had presented him with options for the next destination anyways, so Shane was quite interested in moving on. Both of the destinations, however, seemed lackluster to him. He stopped and looked at the girl and asked with genuine curiosity:

“So, what do you do to have fun around here?” He was sure to drop a certain degree of emphasis on the word you. He wanted to make sure these potentially scripted tour guide answers weren’t going to make an appearance.

"I like to train, improve my control over my power and if possible the strength, i also enjoy meeting other mutants and fighting other mutants. Playing with Gang members can be fun as well" she said with a smile. Aura decided not to mention her actual line of work, though fighting was sometimes involved. SHe noted a nice aroma in the air and was sure it was the smell of roasting ham.

"May i ask how you found out you were a mutant?" she asked as she waived him down the hallway a bit. "I found out in a fight with another girl, i accidentally cut her spine in two. Turns out that's fatal" she said with a shrug of her shoulders and a bit of a smile. It was a painful memory for her, but it had been some time as well. With a sudden smile Aura raised her hand and Her aura burst into veiw around it, quickly forming the shape of an ice cream scoop. People had seemed interested and amused by this departure from her normal aura weapons. SHe let the ice cream scoop fade back into her aura and dissopeared entirely.

“Well, there were certain visual cues that helped me figure it out.” He answered with a bit of a smirk, moving an arm crossed in front of his chest up and down to show off his body and it’s distinctive colour. “Playing football in middle school really set it off though. A certain stretchiness to the body when being tackled was a bit of a heads up of what was to come.” He could remember those games pretty well. Most of the early signs managed to go unnoticed, getting lost in a pile of colliding bodies. He wasn’t even sure if he was imagining it himself. It wasn’t until another boy had pointed it out (quite vocally) that he knew it was actually happening. Everything kind of snowballed from that point on.

As the girl stood there in a pink ice cream cone costume, he tried to back track the conversation a bit; one of the things she had mentioned had caught his attention.

“How do you go about strengthening a mutation?” he asked. He’d never really thought about the possibility of a power getting more… powerful, especially in her case. His seemed did vary, but eating didn’t really qualify. In fact, really it was more like he was getting fat and then swinging it at people, quite the opposite of strengthening. But her power was an intangible collection of light around her, how could you make that stronger?

"That would make sense, i cna imagine that may have gotten unpleasant" she said. Aura was assuming the usual anti-mutant crap rose up in the minds of the humans. She had seen and heard the story many times, though it occurred to her suddenly she had no idea what football was. Aura never followed sports or watched tv for that matter. She decided asking about the sport was unneeded as he moved on from the topic.

"You use it, and you push your limits with it. When i first started My Aura could handle a punch maybe two, now i can deflect bullets. In my experience, the more you use your power and the more you experiment with it the more you can do with it. Sometimes though mutations grow stronger as you get older" she said believing she had heard that somewhere. She was much more sure of the things she had tried herself.

"I also find combat helps, since each mutant usually has a different power, fighting mutants means having to use your powers in new ways and learning theirs as well. But i grew up on a battlefield so my enjoyment of that might be unique" she said though she was sure their had to be others out there who simply liked to fight. Aura decided against mentioning her attempted procurement's of wild animals to fight and cook.

Shane stopped to think about that for a minute. He supposed that he’d been doing that for a while when he first managed to escape into the woods, but once he’d found his rhythm there wasn’t much need for him to push himself any further. And despite being thrust into a new environment, he really hadn’t needed to push himself too far out of his comfort zone since he’d arrived in the city. Perhaps he was falling a bit behind on taking care of himself.

“Do you have any sort of sparring area set up for that purpose?” he asked. He really wasn’t much of a fighter. The few situations he’d found himself in recently that involved any sort of conflict hadn’t exactly gone well for him, and if they did an element of surprise or fear was likely a contributing factor. He could certainly use a bit of practice. Strengthening his mutation would only be a bonus.

"Of course, i spend significant amounts of time there myself" she said honestly and with a bit more enthusiasm then before. "I find that being exposed to new situations forces us to use our powers in ways we did not think possible" she said as she lead the boy through some rooms she did not bother to explain, now they had a real destination.She love sanctuarys training area's as they provided such realistic encounters.

"Can i ask how your normally fight? Do you feel pain? Have blood?" [/color]she said though she had no idea if his mutation prevented pain or blood it was good to know to better figure out what he could do. "As you may have noticed, i can turn my aura into shield and a verity of weapons, this means in battle i wont feel much pain or bleed much but when my Aura drains out, im to sick to put up a fight she said in way of explanation. "Knowing this i know i can normally to well in close quarters but my mutation lacks a long range option" she explained trying to show Shana the things he might need to think about in a fight.

Everyone had their own way of fighting and some were indirect, but many could be sued easily in hand to hand combat.

The girl started leading them towards what he could only assume was the training area they were discussing. As the two of them made their way through the hallways, the tour guide art of Aura’s personality seemed to be melting away and the conversation slipped more to a more relaxed conversation.

>> "Can I ask how your normally fight? Do you feel pain? Have blood?"

He had to think about his answer for a moment. “I don’t really have much of a technique.” He admitted with a hint of disappointment in his tone. “But I do feel pain, and I definitely bleed.” He could remember a few occasions when he’d had fleshed ripped from him. He was lucky it seemed that the growth in size he experienced when he ate also lead to a burst in healing effects as well. If that wasn’t the case, he was pretty sure he’d be dead by now from some of his injuries.

“Really, I would say it comes down to how big I am at the time…” He trailed off, realizing why the girl had been a little familiar to him when he’d first seen her. “Actually, really the last time I’ve fought with anyone was at an underground fight club.” Although he didn’t have many fond memories of that night, he certainly did seem to run into people from that arena more often then he would have thought.

"Well i can't help with technique" she admitted as she rounded another corridor until they came to a room which slid open as she walked in. "My own style relies heavily on my Aura, so well very effective in combat it is limited to myself" she said which was true. Some people she met could change their body shapes to match her Aura shapes, but her Aura also protected her from the damage many of her attacks would do to herself if unprotected.

"I organized that fight club" Aura said with a smile. Most who attended knew that already but still it had been fun till the end. "Unfortunately events like that attract way to much attention in city's like this" she said shaking her head. It was true, the location needed and the amount of noise it made had forced the location to a mostly isolated underground area that was hard to run from.

"well i find fighting other Mutant's to be very helpful, theirs just way more unexpected things people can do with their powers that forces you to think" Aura said describing her reason to enjoy fighting other mutants. The room they were in had a large open space and at the far end were robots of various sizes and shapes. "The computer can replicate locations and people to fight"[/color Aura said hitting a few buttons and one of the man sized robots took on the appearance of a scruffy biker.

The two of them entered a large room filled with various items he’d imagined were standard fare in a gym environment. He’d never really experienced a gym before, and truth be told he didn’t really know if this counted as one. At the far end was some kind of robots, or at least some kind of humanoid shaped machines. They sat motionless, staring at them with their blank faces. Shane was moderately intimidated by the clunkers.

>>"The computer can replicate locations and people to fight”

Aura wandered over to some kind of control panel and began typing in commands without much of a second thought. Experience pays off in circumstances like that. With a final click of the panel, one of the machines at the end of the room popped to life and changed in appearance to a rough looking, leather clad thug. Shane flinched for a moment, he didn’t like being caught off guard like that, but once he realized the biker wasn’t approaching them, he calmed down. From the distance they were the disguise was seamless. He was impressed.

He took a moment to examine it, the biker’s eyes very real, but still emotionless. Then he remembered what else Aura had said.

“You can do locations too?”

"yes, its an illusion of course but" She said stopping as with a few more strokes, a bar appeared complete with pool table, a bar with bottles of booze and such, The leather clad thug now stood next to the men's room, looking silly as he had not moved. With a few more strokes the room shifted to a tall rooftop, the thug now stood on the fire escape. "Unarmed humans are not much of a threat to me of course the armed ones do a littile better" she said with a shrug. Aura could do some cruel thing's to a man trying to punch her, but she usually chose not to bother and just the person with whatever weapon she had.

"The system has a list of security protocols to prevent death, but she can be injured in here. she said honestly. She had been wounded in this room a few times and it had not helped she had quickly learned how to disable the security to make the fights more realistic. In reality Aura just despised the idea of a fight without the risk of death. She found it was a great motivator for herself and others alike. "I could spend and have spent hours in this room, Do you care to try it out? she asked with a smile.

Shane sat back and scratched his head in amazement as he watched the room change from location to location before his eyes. He’d never seen anything quite like it, and he was stunned by how convincing the images were. Aura had commented that they were just illusions, but it was hard to believe that while faced with something so impressive. Lost in a bit of a daze, he started to wander out into the very familiar looking rooftop setting, looking out onto the horizon trying to determine where in the city he was actually located.

He was only half listening to her as she started talking about safety and dangers. One sentence did cut through the distractions though.

“Do you care to try it out?“

Shane turned around and the two of them shared a smile. He nodded in her direction. “I’d like that.” He answered. He turned back around to meet eyes with the emotionless dummy as he stood still on the fire escape across from him. He was excited, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but ask himself what he was getting himself into.

Aura smiled, her fingers typing in a series of commands. The room shifted to that of a bar, which looked out of a fifties movie. Despite this, a half Dozen rough looking bikers, stood at the other end of the room, looking like they wanted to go postal at any moment. In fact they had been programmed to do just about that. The program was a simulation of an anti mutant bar fight. The bar was somewhat dimly lit at the bartender kept wiping the table as if nothing bad was about to happen.

She had no idea what Shane could take, for herself this was a warm up at best, but Aura was all but immune to the common punch, brass knuckled or not. Still Aura had planned for that and her first Alterations came, when two of the men, drew swords. Aura herself had Acquired a sword she kept in the room. Aura would see how well he dealt with the four humans, one of which drew a knife, but seemed apt to let his 2 3 cohorts advance on shane instead.

Aura hit one last button and walked about twenty feet from shane. her Aura was a flicker above her skin, it held no shape and simply clung to her body, enough to protect herself while letting her know where she had left herself open. As the robots advanced on her Aura resisted simply forming a sword with her Aura, instead she willed it around the handle to make it harder to lose hold of. Her first opponents strike, missed her and struck the side a juke box, which started playing 80's music. Aura parried the other man's blow but her counter attack, went wide and bit deeply into a pool table.

Clearly he had no idea what he’d gotten himself into. The aesthetic of the bar was quite nice. He hadn’t been to many before, but this was the first one that hadn’t left him feeling dirty just from being inside it. Unfortunately he couldn’t say the same of its patrons. The robots had taken on the form of leather-clad bikers. He’d see worse looking thugs before, but it was a rare occurrence that he encountered one that carried a sword with him. More to the point, he’d never actually encountered a sword before (at least not in someone’s hands as they advanced on him).

He tossed his oversized jacket to the ground beside him, leaving him naked as the thugs approached him. Aura popped up beside him wielding her own blade, leaving him feeling inadequate. He was really starting to feel a little unprepared for this fight.

As soon as the jacket had left his body, his skin started to warp itself free of it’s human shape, becoming more blobish and far less defined. One arm disappeared into the mass while the other extended out from his body in a flail shape. As his ally engaged one of the bikers to her side, the other swordsmen charged towards him. In reflex he slid to the right to dodge the downward strike of the sword, then swung his flail into the back of the head of the drone, sending it toppling forward. He took a moment to realize he was already starting to enjoy himself before noticing that a second of the bikers was already advancing towards him.

Aura Dodged low under another swing and pulled her blade free from the table and she felt the other swordsmen glance a blow off her shoulder. With a loud Japanese series of swear words inappropriate even for old sailors. Aura thrust her own blade and struck home. The robot lacking the defense her aura provided, could only look stupid as the blade emerged out of it's back. It's programming failed and the robotic shell underneath came into view as it collapsed, pulling her blade from her hand.

Looking over she smiled to see Shane in action, but a glance was all she spared as she dove over the bar to avoid a low swing from her opponent. She rolled into the shelf's and dozens of illusionary bottles fell to the ground in a shower of breaking glass, a human would have been dead from a thousand tiny cuts, instead the glass merely fell onto her aura and rolled off. Standing she threw a broken bottle at her sword wielding opponent, and struck him in the side of the head, dropping him as well.

Aura climbed up onto the bar and surveyed the area, A moment later she felt something glance off her aura, and a moment later heard a tv sputter and let loose a shower of sparks which fell toward the carpeted floor. The three dead bikers twitched as a green gas emerged from the three and seemed to blown toward the Bikers Leader who kept his ground. Aura moved on the Man, who cracked his knuckles, his brass knuckels were different, these were black and seemed to shimmer in the light.

Fortunately for him, Aura had managed to steal away the attention of the 2nd assailant heading his way long enough for him to turn his gaze back on the winded and now unarmed thug. Without much time to think it through he lunged at the man on the ground, slamming his giant fists down onto its head. An action that proved quite painful when it became clear that his mechanical reality had far less give then a person would. He shook his hand off and his eyes buzzed around the room to track down the remaining biker.

He was larger then the others, and definitely larger then Shane was currently standing in human shape. He wasn’t in the same rush to get into the thick of it that others had been in. Instead, he seemed perfectly content tossing various kinds of projectiles to keep the two of them at bay. It seemed as though he likely wasn’t a very good shot, judging by the damage behind where aura currently resided, a missed shot had destroyed a TV. That would certainly make the conflict easier, but he was in no position to underestimate his opponents.

Really, Aura seemed to be the one in control of the situation, and she seemed like she would be able to handle him just fine, but he wanted to make it easy for her. Grabbing hold of a table, he lifted the wobbly surface into the air and tossed it toward the drone with about as much accuracy and he expected in return. Really though, he just wanted to make a distraction. He kept grabbing chairs and other large objects around him and began tossing them in the thugs direction, only rarely making physical contact, but never breaking eye contact.