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The fact that Aura didn't think twice about her being naked was one of the many reasons she loved her sister.  Her knowledge of her sister's past was somewhat spotty, but Aura was often confused by the same sorts of things that she was.  Human convention was often baffling and the things that made sense to people often didn't make a lot of sense to her.  It as the little things, those small politenesses and considerations that just didn't have any place out in the natural world.  Aura understood her uncertainties like no one else seemed to.

"I thought you had abandoned me."  Tears were not often something she felt the need to fight back, but right now she was on the brink of them.  So many emotions going through her mind but the strongest one was joy.  Joy that her sister was back, that she hadn't been abandoned!  With her return, she once again felt like life could not only be lived but, perhaps, truly embraced.  Even if their pack numbered only 2, it was a start.  It meant she was no longer alone.

"I'm sorry I left.  When Abyss disappeared I needed to get away.  I didn't mean to be gone so long and when I came back, you were gone too.  I'm sorry I wasn't there to help save you."  She wanted so badly to run up and hug her sister, but she didn't move.  Neither one of them had ever been much for physical displays of affection.

"I'm good at hunting," Amber offered, in answer to the question from the Asian girl.  That was kind of like pre-cooking, going to acquire the meat before the cooking began.  The gathering part of hunter gatherer left a bit to be desired given that she wasn't fond of herbivorous forms.  She was the hunter, not the hunted.  That made her strong and capable.

"I agree with Chase, more than 3 people at a station could get crowded."  So far, she liked the kid. He was friendly and his anxiety about the whole exercise was obvious, making her feel less anxious about her own mounting anxiety.  Nor did he judge her for her own people eating ways.  Er, not that she actually ate people, of course.  Only the once and that had been a long time ago and it hadn't really been her fault.  Honest.

"I'd love to work together," she answered the boy, feeling relieved.  Two minds were better than one, so to speak.  Together, surely they'd be able to make sense of the things that could be read on the internet and turn them into something edible.  Because the internet knew everything.

“What does that have to do with anything? So, if you’re not normal then it’s okay to eat people? Is that what you’re saying? What kind of crazy mutant logic is that?”

If her eyes had been capable of rolling they would have rolled right out of her head.  "First, its way more fun to be a freak.  Who wants to be normal and boring?"  Obviously.  "Second, I don't actually eat people, ok?  That was a joke?  You do understand jokes, right?"  Obviously she did not.

One thing she could say about the blond, is that as bossy and annoying as she was, at least someone was giving them direction because clearly some direction was needed.  But oh, how tempting it was just to take a big bite of raw chicken just to see her reaction.  Maybe she'd even throw up!  That could be really funny!  It could also possibly fail them and so she refrained.  Barely.

"Chicken.  Got it."  Pre-heating she understood and went about turning the temperature on the oven up to the required temperature but how did one prepare the chicken?  It didn't appear to have feathers on it and she knew grocery store chicken wasn't likely to have organs still within.  So....now what?  She looked over at Chace, mentally imploring him with her eyes to have some kind of an idea on what to do next.

Sparing a glance up at their teacher, Amber wondered what he must be thinking about all this chaos.  Were they doing all right?  Off to a terrible start?  What were the chances of failing, really?  It was all very nerve wracking.

It was a race against time and the nameless attendant to get to her robes, change, and flee with them on her person.  A skitter across the ground in order to find them followed by a painful shift into her human body.  The shift itself took less than a minute, as it always did, the scramble to put on her robes took slightly longer than that.  Her breath was short as she imagined all the terrible things that might happen if the attendant caught her in the museum after hours.  She'd be thrown out for certain, and quite possibly thrown into jail as well.  That wasn't something she'd be able to handle.

Scrambling to clothe herself as quickly as she was able to move, she had scant moments to spare in fleeing to an area of the museum that had all ready been attended too.  Damn her weak human senses anyway, being unable to hear the quiet broom swishes or the patter of footsteps as she had been only moments before.  Having made note of where the employee had and had not all ready cleaned, she made a mad dash along the wall until she was safely behind yet another display.  Once there, she crouched down and prayed to Gods she didn't believe in that she'd done enough to keep herself hidden from too curious eyes.

It was tempting to once again regain her lizard form in order to make use of its enhanced senses, but this time around she refrained.  Instead, she crouched, silently waiting for the public to start filtering into the museum in order to once again enjoy the pubic displays.  It was, perhaps, an hour before they started arriving and she waited another hour after that to make her departure in order to ensure she did't attract undue attention to herself.  The first sight of daylight upon exiting its doors was among the most beautiful she had ever seen.  She had done it. She had successfully snuck in, acquired a new form, and made her way out all in one piece while maintaining her freedom.  And now she was free to return home to The Mansion, exhausted but pleased by her success.

Amber laughed at his enthusiasm, which was really quite infectious.  How delightful to find enjoyment in something so simple.  In the complicated world of mutants and especially in the place she all too often found herself within it, there wasn't always enough room for fun in her life or enough appreciation of it when it was there.

"I'm afraid I can't change into any of those things."  Hopefully that didn't disappoint him too much.  "I have to find a fossil first and imprint it.  Fossils are hard to find."  And funny thing about fossils is they didn't tend to just let mutant girls go in and play with them.  "But I can't change into a pterasaur, a deinonychus which is kind of like a velociraptor except bigger and a styracosaurus which is the smaller cousin of a triceritops.  You may not want to watch me actually change though.  Its kind of unsettling."

Unsettling was, perhaps, an understatement.  The deinonychus had long been her favourite second form and that was the one she choose to change into now.  A roughly human sized sickle clawed dinosaur, it had excellent senses and was a superb hunter, combining natural weaponry of deadly sickle claws and teeth with above average speed and maneuverability.  To change shape was not a pretty picture nor a painless one.  Bones warped and mutated to take on new configurations, scales and feathers erupted from flesh and teeth and claws exploded from hands and face.  Within a half a minute, a dinosaur stood amidst a pile of robes where once there had stood a woman.  She chirped her greeting at the man, excited to see if he would be able to speak to her like that.

Ambrosia shouldn't offer to have a complete stranger come stay with her.  She knew she shouldn't offer it.  Not only did she not know the young woman, but the woman had been held captive for years, admitted to not having much in the way of real life experience and may or may not be potentially unstable.  So, why was she about to do just that?  Damn her kind hearted nature anyway.  She just couldn't say nothing and feel good about herself.

"I tell you what.  I don't have much myself, but I have a spare room in my apartment and I've been thinking about learning to defend myself for a while.  How about you you teach me some self defense and you can stay with me and I can help you learn about the world.  How does that sound?"  Like a recipe for disaster, of course.  Well, too late to change her mind now.

"First, fire.  Don't worry, it's not actually that dangerous."  Warning out of the way, she picked up a small candle and blew gently upon it.  A small stream of green and purple flame came out and covered the candle, wick and wax all.  She handed the flaming candle over to the other woman.  "Here, you can hold it if you want to.  It doesn't actually burn.  If I ignite a living target, it makes them sick and dizzy.  On an object, it just looks pretty."  If the fire display went over well, then she'd show off the tiny dragon.

"I would be skeptical too if I hadn't seen it myself," Amber agreed, taking another drink of water. "Its like this weird zap of energy goes through you and suddenly you're human again."  Even for one such as she who was mostly at peace with her appearance, it was an exciting prospect.  She could only imagine what it must be like for other mutants with less acceptance of what they were.

She took another bit of her own sandwich which was now almost gone.  "It must be kind of scary for some.  You know, like those who's powers make their senses very different from human.  Or their physiologies.  I'll bet its pretty unnerving for them."  Her own always on mutant traits were a bit more subtle than some.  Maybe if they were out in the arctic or something and an adapted came walking by, then she'd have a problem.

She paused before speaking again.  "Do you...like being a mutant?"  It almost seemed like a taboo question to ask, insinuating that there might even be a chance of disliking the gifts one had been born with.  Aura would probably consider it blasphemy or something.

Amber had yet to be to a desert, but the analogy seemed apt from what she'd heard of them and she nodded.  "It's good to have a sanctuary like this."  It wasn't quite the same as the actual Sanctuary she'd once called home, but it served well enough.  Fewer painful memories.

"That sounds really neat," she answered, meaning it.  I change into dinosaurs."  She was also half dead, but that part was something she still didn't fully understand.  "I wonder, could you communicate with a dinosaur?"  Now that would be something!  She couldn't talk when she was in any of her non-human forms.