Bella's words startled Avi, badly. He had fallen into a half-asleep state, and so didn't hear her approach. The handcuffs fell from his hands as he slapped a hand over the left side of his face, covering not only his tattoo but the shards well. he had no issues with someone seeing his tattoo, but he was uneasy about the star shards. He jerked forward almost automatically so that his hair could fall forward to cover whatever his hand wasn't covering, along with providing a cover for his eyes.

"I've got nothing against it." Avi answered, his free hand picking the handcuffs back up and reclipping them to his belt loop.

"If you're hiding the shards or the tattoos, I've already seen them....So you're being a little silly. I figured you'd have shards somewhere anyway. Most of the survivors do that weren't saved when the government tried to move in, maybe the plant can kill those without to easy. Mine is in my belly button, when my armor decides to withdraw anyway. I don't know where Miria or damon's are but they were changed and have powers too so they must have at least one somewhere. Anyway I'm glad you have no objections..." Bella said with an air of practicality. She raised an eyebrow a moment and just looked at him, curious at his behavior. Did he not realize that others had them too? Or was he ashamed they were in his face?

She shook her head and started to leave when the shard near her belly on her armor flashed that same dark blue light. It appeared black in the darkness, however, as the blue was so dark. The strange energy seemed to cover her body and slowly the diamond covered armor disappeared into the shard stuck in her belly button, leaving her jeans and a sleeve-less T shirt that was cropped to show her belly. She knew the shortened top made her look like she was trying to show off her belly and the strange shard, like the gem in some belly dancer's outfit, but it had just been easier then having her shirt rip from the power escaping the gem when she 'grew' her armor.

"And so it leaves...... must have decided there's no danger..." She sighed, seeming a little annoyed. Clearly she didn't like the shard seeming to have a personality of it's own in that it seemed to make it's own choices. In honesty it was less annoyance and more fear, what if it decided it didn't like her anymore? Could it unfuse with her? She doubted it for some reason she couldn't name but that didn't make it less scary considering her main controllable ability was flight....

"I know it's silly. But it's just personal insecurities that lead to me hiding all the time." Avi mumbled. He leaned back slightly and pushed his bangs out of his face, letting his other hand drop from his face hesitatingly. he took a deep breath and let it out slowly once again and refrained from pulling his hood up.

He watched with slight interest as Bella's clothes changed. "Do...all shards do that?" he asked slowly, running his fingertips over the shards lining his jaw once again, the cool smoothness of the shards contrasting with the slight warmth from his own skin. Besides that one event with the steel wall...he hadn't noticed much difference since getting the shards.

"I have no idea... I know one other girl has armor but I don't know if it comes off and she has no memories so I don't think she knows either. Honestly Mine seems a little schizophrenic..." She admitted quietly as she pulled out a hair tie from her pocket. She began to absently braid her hair that went past her waist, her fingers working in such a way that made it seem likely she wore her hair in a braid often. She smiled slightly as he let his hand fall. She did wonder at where the gems seemed to fuse. There seemed no particular rhyme or reason to it... or what powers they gave. Did it have something to do with who they fused with?

"Do you have any powers you think? I mean the star shards all seem to give powers so far but..." Bella shrugged and trailed off. She did know alot from what she had observed but she didn't know everything. She didn't know the cougar's powers either, though she assumed some likely had to do with feline abilities and maybe shapeshifting. She figured she'd find out in time, not wanting to ask yet since Damon seemed confused enough already.

Avi thought back. Powers...

"I...think I made a steel wall appear before." he mumbled. "I accidentally stepped on this vine and it tried killing me..." He chuckled softly, clasping his hands together and staring at the interlocked fingers. He moved again, this time slowly getting up, stretching his muscles.

"I suppose we should be getting back?" he wondered aloud. He bent at the waist to pick up his supply bag and then hesitated slightly before reaching back to pull his hood up again.

"Yeah... it's kinda picky about it's vines..." Bella said with a smile and shrugged, though she wondered about his chuckle. Was he that amused by it or just covering up his uncertainty. She didn't have much time to try and figure it out as he stood. She nodded in agreement when he spoke, though she rolled her eyes as he put his hood up again. She had never understood really, such self consciousness... then again maybe that was just because she was rather average looking and always had been. Pretty, healthy, strong but not so outrageously so in any respect that she'd actually stick out in a crowd so that was probably why.

"So lets see, you have metal....Miria has earth...and I have gravity. Kinda an elemental theme." she muttered to herself as she put her hands in her pockets. She wondered if everyone's powers were that way or if there were more spiritual or strange powers out there.... other then animals being turned human anyway. Were there limits to what kind of powers the shards could produce? did it have to do with elements they came into contact with at one time? It was all so strange and surreal...

Avi nodded in understanding. "Che strano..." He saw Bella roll her eyes but he didn't make a move to remove his hood. He'd already taken a big step in not reacting even worse when Bella had seen his face. But he still wasn't quite ready to not hide around other people.

He'd always had insecurities even before the star fall. Bullying and such, his parents hadn't been much help either, so it was natural for him to want to hide. The whole tattoo thing had been an attempt to stop hiding, it worked for about a week before he went back to hiding again. Even as he got older...it wasn't as bad anymore, but it wasn't completely going away anytime soon.

hmm? did you say something?" Bella asked as he muttered something. It sounded almost like the word strange but not. She didn't really know any other language then English so really could only hazard a guess. It reminded her of her Spanish speaking neighbors language as they spoke back and forth in the yard, but something wasn't quite the same in the way it rolled off his tongue. She couldn't really put her finger on why she knew, precisely, but it wasn't Spanish, that much she knew.

Still with a shrug she began to make an evening meal for the group, even as she waited for his answer. It was simple fair, beans and tortillas mainly. It wasn't quite burritos but it would taste similarly and be filling. She would also give each person a water bottle, absently wondering if Avi would add his supplies to the groups. She was starting to wonder about his role as a team player, but it wasn't her nature to leave him out of the cold either. For now the supplies would hold out, and hopefully by the time they ran out the forest would have settled into a normal pattern and they could hunt or even fish...and her rain catchers would hopefully gather enough water to sustain them if the river proved untrustworthy

Avi followed bella back to the main camp and entered the tent meant for the males to leave his pack before exiting to watch Bella prepare the meal.

"Che strano...It means 'how strange' in Italian." Avi clarified for Bella at her question. His parents had both spoken Italian with him at home, and he had naturally grown up speaking it as well. It slipped into his everyday speech all the time, and his friends eventually picked up on bits and pieces of the language...especially the curse words.

He took a seat on the ground again, absently reaching under his hood to run his hand through his hair. His parents...huh. he hadn't thought about them in a while. he almost laughed again at the thought, but managed to keep from suddenly bursting into laughter which might have made Bella and the others question his sanity.

The green haired woman sat there on the stump and noticed that Bella went off after Avi. Miria smiled as she buried her feet in the dirt before she felt a bit of pain in her back. Her eyes closed as she arched her back before her armor dissipated into her back. A light glowed from her back as a white sundress took it's place even though the back was open and barely stayed on her developed form. She looked at the dirty and tattered dress that clung to her form before wondering what the heck happened to her armor.

"Bella...Bella?" Her eyes went to the direction that her female companion went. Miria's voice was cracking with fear as she tried to her body covered. She sat back down on the tree stump near her bag and closed her eyes. A shard was visible on her back but it had melded with her skin.

"Hmm makes sense." Bella answered with a nod and sent him a smile. She might have said more but she heard Miria. It only took a second for her to realize what had happened. So the armor was removable for everyone? Well she supposed that made sense, logically bathing and the like kinda required it. She didn't have time to think about it to long, however, as the other woman was clearly afraid. Had this been the first time her armor had winked out on her? It looked like it. Bella began to quickly lead the other woman into their shared tent.

"The armor does that. It tends to only rip right around the stone so if we give you something backless it'll be alright. It just means that the stone, or our unconscious, or whatever controls the armor feels we're safe. It's okay." She tried to reassure the other woman. She pulled out her bag that had what clothing she took from her own home in it and began to look for something backless. Once she found something she would hand it to the other girl to get changed. She thought a moment as she politely turned her back before she spoke again.

"If a threat comes the armor will appear but it should leave those clothes untouched... It'll feel funny and often has a light or energy that's a little blinding come out of the stone but it won't hurt."

Damon’s ears twitched at the sound of noises coming from the camp. His silver eyes opened slowly and he looked around. It didn’t seem to be as warm as it had been when he first stretched out on the rock. He stretched like a cat, his red cloak sliding off of his body. The shards in his right shoulder glistened lightly as they reflected the evening light. He yawned, which sounded somewhat like a cross between a meow and a growl. After he was finished with stretching his muscles he pounced to the ground by his cloak. He picked it up and pulled back around himself, rubbing his check against the fur trim with a soft purr. Oh how he missed his beautiful golden fur.

Quietly he reentered the camp. Everyone seemed to be getting settled. Sniffing the air he followed the smell of what Bella was fixing. He looked at it curiously. “What is it?” He asked, looking at Avi with his head tilted to the side.

Miria let Bella lead her into the tent but held onto the dress that had been left by the armor. Her fingers ran over the small details of dress the dress itself, like the ribbon around the waist matched the one that was now around her wrist. She looked at the flower pattern of the bodice and noticed the initials MNP stitched near the flowers. They were barely noticeable amongst the flowers but Miria could tell they were there. "Oh...thank you, Bella. I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble today." Miria whispered to the female as the other female looked through her clothes. Her eyes went to the outfit in her hands before letting the dress fall to her feet. She put on the teal backless top and brown pants before looking at Bella. "How do I look?" The shy girl asked as she stood there in the form fitting clothes.

Her green eyes went to the torn dress before picking it up and packing it in her duffel. Miria wanted to keep to find out who MNP was and if they would know who she was. She nodded at Bella as she started to understand her abilities a bit more. The crystal in her back was responsible for her powers and maybe for her memory loss as well but it may come in handy.

"I believe it is beans and...tortillas?" Avi answered Damon, after watching the cougar peer at what Bella was making. Now that he thought about it...would Damon even like the food?

"If you would like something else to eat...I can try to make it for you...if you like." he offered slowly. He had been rather rude earlier. He wouldn't mind making friends with these people if possible. And anyway...it was nice being nice to others. Then he remembered what Damon had been eating earlier. "Though it'll have to be something to cook, since humans don't really eat raw meats."

"You look cute, as always." Bella responded with a shrug as she turned, briefly smirking at an inner thought. Being bisexual she could probably appreciate the other woman's attractiveness in ways she probably wouldn't like. Still, she'd keep that to herself. It just seemed to make others more comfortable and Bella really wasn't very good with the whole romance mess anyway. Besides, in this case she doubted Miria particularly wanted a more....detailed opinion then if the clothing suited her well enough. She'd always been a bit of a tomboy so didn't really get asked for fashion advice generally but she had just enough female friends to know what was expected of her.

And you're fine, you have nothing to apologize for. The food should be ready if you are." She added, saying the first in reference to Miria's apology. She reached forward to ruffle the other woman's hair in an almost teasing fashion. She always preferred being people's buddy to anything else anyway. It was just...easier. Being an enemy or a lover were both just too much trouble to be worth the effort to her generally.