It was late, sometime well after midnight and, as per usual at this time of hour, the living room was deserted save for her.  For a number of reasons, this was Amber's preferred time to read.  For one, she was normally asleep during the brightest and hottest portions of the day due to the sun being the constant enemy of her sensitive albino skin.  For another, she had an uneasy relationship of rooms full of people at best and an outright social phobia at worst.  This was the time when she didn't have to worry about too many people triggering claustrophobic feelings.

Only in recent days had she begun spending more time in the common room of the Mansion and only as she'd begun to feel more comfortable in the new life she was creating for herself.  It wasn't easy for one such as her to fit in, in part due to her corpse-like appearance and in part due to her somewhat spotty understanding of human social rules.  It was so much simpler in so many ways to live as a dinosaur in the woods and doing the right things at the right times was a constant struggle for her when so many of those things didn't make a damn bit of sense on a practical level.  Tone of voice, how you carried your body, how close you stood, laughing at appropriate times, not laughing at inappropriate times; the list of social rules was endless and confusing.

In more recent days she'd re-discovered an enjoyment of reading, something she'd thought long forgotten during her many months spent in solitude in the woods.  To read about the crafted lives of fictional characters proved a delightful way to spend an evening.  Who knew, maybe she might even learn some things about how to properly interact with other people?  So tonight, as with the 3 nights prior, she found herself stretched out across a couch with book in hand quietly and pleasantly reading.

The human-shifter rolled over in bed, peeling his lips apart to inhale. His mouth was dry. Totally dry. Chase reached for his water bottle, popped the lid off… empty. Darn it. He couldn't fall back to sleep when his mouth felt like sandpaper. The child rolled out of bed, water bottle in hand, and padded towards the door his bedroom.

Half-asleep and eyes mostly closed, the boy followed the familiar path down the hall to the kitchenette. He was too groggy to even notice the person in the living room. Water… he needed water.

The tile was cool against the soles of his feet. The human-shifter padded to the sink, fumbled with knob, and held the open mouth of the bottle under the spigot of the sink. He filled the bottle and took a thirsty swig. Shutting off the sink, Chase took another sip of water. He drank until his chest hurt, and then he gasped.

Good stuff. He topped the bottle off, and began wandering back to his room. It was then that he noticed the figure on the couch. Chase stared for a moment, the gears of recognition churning in his brain.

He blinked, slowly, and then his brain provided him with a name.

“Amber?”

His voice rasped out before he could stop it. Chase, who was wearing his natural face and not his human disguise. Chase who was too tired to conjure up his human face. The timid child froze, standing there in his baggy t-shirt and flannel pj pants.

Comfortably sitting as she was and immersed in all manner of literary adventure, she wasn't certain how long she'd been reading.  Hungry but not starving, that gave some indication that at least an hour or two had passed since she'd settled down for the night.  At that late hour, it wasn't unexpected that she'd mostly be left alone.  Of course, there were so many living at the Mansion that there was always someone doing something, but those someones were few and far between in the early hours of the morning.

The pitter patter of feet walking along the floor brought her back to awareness of the world around her.  Looking up from her book, she spotted an unusual looking mutant she'd never seen around before.  Perhaps he was new?  It seemed unlikely that she'd forget such a bizarre looking person.  Of course, given he own less than human appearance, she wasn't one to judge the looks of others but such looks were impossible to overlook.

She was about to introduce herself when the mutant spoke her name?  Did she know him after all?  It didn't seem likely she'd forget someone like that so perhaps it had something to do with his powers?  "Hello.  I'm sorry but I don't recognize you.  You appear to know me, though?"  Tone was calm, imparting no judgement.

Amber handled being addressed by an unfamiliar face like a champ. Of course she would. She looked weird, too. Chase still fidgeted uncomfortably, his eyes an anxious orange.

"Chase," he offered, "Mr. Turner's cooking class."

As a means of explanation, he pointed to his hair (which was probably the only thing he could muster shifting right now, with how tired he was). On cue, his hair contorted into a ginger rendition of the natural black-to-white look. He held the guise for a moment, and then let his hair revert, letting it slide.

"I usually wear my human face to class," he murmured, padding over with his water, " 's probably why you didn't recognize me... but I'm too tired to shift at night..."

The twelve-year-old clambered into a neighboring chair, and sipped his water.

"Chase?  Oh.  Are you a shifter too?"  If her voice suggested surprise, it did not suggest judgement.  How could she possibly judge given not only her own powers but also her own less than savory appearance.  If anything, it was exciting to meet another shapeshifter.

"Do you just shift into, um, Chase?  Or do you change into other things too?"  Yup, definitely exciting.  She had a barrage of other questions just waiting to come out but it was awfully late at night and that meant he was probably half asleep.  It was probably considered bad manners to interrogate at this time of night, right?  Or something.  Still, it wasn't every day she had the opportunity to meet another shapeshift.  Well, maybe 'meet' was the wrong word.  Discover maybe?

"It's hard for me to shift when I'm tired too.  I usually just stay in whatever form I'm in at the time when going to sleep."  It didn't take any energy to maintain a form, just to change from one to another and that wasn't something she'd ever spent much time actually thinking about.  It was just how things were.  Slipping her bookmark into place, she closed the book she was reading as the younger boy took the nearby chair.

The child nodded, moving the cup of water to his lips. The cup slipped slightly, and he dribbled water onto his shirt. Shoot. The boy squinted in frustration at his own shirt.

"I look can look like other people," he replied, a smile quirking at his lips, "And my human face, too. Both things."

Chase took another sip of water, this time managing not to spill.

"What do you shift into?" he returned the question, "Are you a people-shifter, too?"

Did her other people-forms look so pale? Always have black eyes? Or not?