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The young man sitting in the room looked human, as far as Amber could see, except for what appeared to be a very faint glow to his eyes.   There had been a time when her only visible mutation had also been her eyes, full black as night, but that was before they twisted and she became a walking corpse.  He was a stranger, but at least he was alone and as much as, on some level, she wanted to run she didn't.  One step at a time, one tiny step at a time to re-learn what it was to be human.

“You can come in if you want, I’m not going to bite, well, not unless you ask.”

Well that was certainly a strange comment to make.  Amber didn't register the fact that it was probably meant to be flirtatious as; not only did her deathly appearance mean flirting pretty much never happened but she was also asexual and aromantic.  The relationships and dalliances of humans were something of a mystery to her. Still, she tentatively came towards him and proceeded to also sit.

"You wouldn't want to bite me.  I bite back and my teeth are usually much sharper than yours."  Her tone of voice did not imply flirtation nor anger.  It was matter of fact, as if stating something that was with no emotive message at all to accompany it.  She didn't want to attack and bit him, but she could if she had to.  

Amber hadn't been back at the Mansion for long.  It felt...uncomfortable.  For the past three years she had spent all her time outdoors in the woods, sleeping under the stars, hunting for herself and surviving in solitude.  To sleep indoors, with a roof over her head felt claustrophobic and vaguely suffocating.  Opening the window helped and, during the chilly spring nights, anyone coming into her room might be inclined to comment on just how cold it was.  Cold rarely bothered her.  

Then there was the bed itself.  During her self-imposed solitude she had made herself a cozy little den, half burrowed into the ground and covered in a warm, soft insulating layer of leaves and grasses.  It was safe, warm and completely hers.  After her first night there and trying to force herself to sleep like a normal human, she instead opted to change into a compsognathus and turn to blankets into a makeshift den.  A definite improvement.

Finally, and most frustratingly, were the people.  She felt lost among the bustling hallways, even knowing the other residents were mutants.  She wasn't like them, not anymore.  She wasn't entirely human and wasn't entirely alive.  Never strong in small talk to begin with, now she barely remembered how to do it let alone the point of it all.  Talking at all, for that matter, felt clumsy after years of communicating with nothing more than chirps and trills.  

Yet, this was where she knew she needed to be and the things she knew she needed to re-learn how to do if she was to ever re-integrate into human society.  It was likely to get harder before it got any easier but there was no other choice if she didn't want to be alone forever.  And she didn't.  Want to be alone.  Not anymore.

Late at night was the time when it was easiest to leave her rooms.  Most of the students tended to sleep early but Amber had always been nocturnal by nature.  While shifted, the sunlight didn't damage her but while in her human body it burned her very easily.  She knew she couldn't hide in her room forever and, well past midnight, she made sure she was properly dressed before leaving her room and heading towards the living room.  She stopped at the doorway when an unexpected sight greeted her: Another person sitting there.  She froze in place, suddenly unsure what to do.  The urge to flee right back to her room was hard to ignore.

"Grilled cheese is fine." Amber did, in fact, have dietary restrictions but bread and cheese were not among them. When her powers had first gone crazy and she had started looking like something long dead, it had been a very unpleasant discovery to realize that she couldn't eat certain things. Painful and messy trail and error brought her to the understanding that long as food wasn't too heavily processed, she was fine. If it came out of a box pre-formed or unnaturally coloured, it was definitely out. If it was an ingredient used to cook with or otherwise mostly unprocessed, she was usually good.

It didn't talk her long to get changed and, if modesty was something she had left behind long ago, there was something nice about the feeling of wearing proper clothing again. The things you didn't realize you had been missing until you had them again. It was another small step towards reintigrating into human life.

Once changed, Amber left the restroom and proceeded to follow Ghost. "Aura and Abyss left me so I went to live in the woods on my own. I think I was gone for a long time." Time was hard to measure in that sort of life, except by the passing of the seasons. "But then I got really lonely so I had to come back." There was a deep sorrow in her words. Deinonychuses and humans alike needed companionship; maybe if she had attached herself to a different chosen true form it might have been different and she might have been content living in solitude forever, but she hadn't and now here she was.

Whoever this woman was, she was very efficient at what she did.  The second thug barely had a moment to react before he too was lying on the ground in a heap. Whoever these thugs were and whatever assumptions of supremacy they might have had, this woman had just very handedly divested them of those fond illusions.  They would be hurting for a very long time to come.  

As for the third thug, he was burning away in glorious greens and purples.  Perhaps one might have assumed, being on fire as he was, that there would have been a lot of screaming as his flesh burned to a char.  Instead of screaming, however, the was only a look of confusion and neither flesh nor clothing appeared to be unduly affected.

"On the ground before I put you on the ground!"

A very unsteady step was taken as the man tried to follow the woman's command.  A second step proved too much for the poor soul, however, as he proceeded to collapse in a crumpled heap followed by all the contents of his stomach being emptied half on the street and half upon his own body and clothing.  

There!  That would teach them all!  "That was brilliant!  Amazing, even!"  Adrenaline was still coursing through her body even in the face of the defeat of her would-be assailants.

Crap, crap, crap!  Despite a deep breath and efforts to stay calm. Ambrosia felt panic rise in her chest.  What did they want?  Why did they hate her so?  What caused them to come all this way to stalk and attack her?  Of course, the answer to all of those questions was obvious and flittered through her head almost as soon as they questions had left her thoughts: She was a mutant and some people hated mutants for no other reason than because they were different.

"I'm not the freak, you are!"  Not exactly the most clever response and probably about the worst response she could have made, given the circumstances.  It sure didn't seem to make the thugs appear any more friendly towards her, that was for sure.  Double crap!  "Can we, uh, maybe talk this out?  Like civilized folk?"  She wanted to back away, but there was nowhere to back away to.

"NYPD, drop your weapons and get on the ground."

Well, that was certainly unexpected.  One assailant downed by the newcomer, the remaining two assailants were momentarily distracted, pausing for a moment to glance at the newcomer.  No one moved to get on the ground.  Taking advantage of the distraction offered, Amrbosia acted almost by instinct breathing purple and green fire on the nearest target and most of his upper body lit up in brightly coloured flames.  


"Hah!  Take that!" One of his friends charged with his pipe in the air and she quickly realized that any celebration was deeply premature.

Amber offered a weak smile and nodded in ascent of her name being correct.  A warm welcome was...unexpected.  But good.  "I would like a room.  Or I could sleep out here, if there isn't one."  Her inflections weren't quite right, as if she wasn't used to exibiting emotion.  She wasn't.  Emotions didn't have a place in the world of predators and prey.

Amber followed Ghost as she entered and nodded her agreement that she would like to be shown the room.  It had been a long time since she'd been indoors and the moment there was a roof over her head, she felt slightly claustrophobic.  She did her best to suppress her discomfort.  In time, she'd get used to it again and no longer feel such discomfort.  Hopefully.

"I need clothing too.  If you have something."  In re-joining the human world, she'd have to find appropriate robes and veils to cover her sensitive skin.  That would require money, which she had no way to acquire.  Problems for another day.

Mutant human relations left a lot to be desired. The right way to address such problems differed depending on who you asked.  Some believed that dangerous mutants needed to be controlled and policed in order to help facilitate getting along with humanity by less dangerous mutants.  Others believed that mutants needed to be tagged and tracked so that law enforcement knew where any potentially dangerous mutant was at any one time.  Still others believed in isolation, that the only way to have positive relations between mutants and humans was to keep them separate but equal.  

Then there were those who didn't believe the attempt should even be made to have the two peoples get along.  Whether the belief was in mutant or human supremacy, the basic tenant was the same: One was better than the other and the 'lesser than' should be exterminated at worst and controlled under the heel of the superior race at best.  Members of both sides of that coin were often dangerous and unstable.

Ambrosia was a mutant and not of the supremacist type.  Facilitating the friendship and understanding between mutants and humans was a laudable goal and one which she had dedicated her life to.  Violence, however, was never the answer.  No, what was needed was a combination of talking, the hand of understanding and the positive energy of the Earth mother.  Love, acceptance and positive thinking, these were the strongest weapons in the fight to unite two peoples.  If only more people knew it.

To that purpose, Ambrosia found made her way to a drum circle dedicated to channeling the energies of the earth towards the purpose of bridging the gap between two disparate peoples.  The circle took place in the early afternoon at a small park.  Getting out of her smartcar, the walk to find a small group of a couple dozen people, drums and other instruments in hand.  Some were obvious mutants while others could be human or mutant.  Long skirt swishing in the gentle breeze, she waved upon her arrive.

"It's such a pleasure to see all of you again. We're going to do some good work here today."