Celeste had truly grown to like the old man. There was something warm about him, about his presence that made her feel at home. She honestly didn’t know that was a feeling at all. Her life in the palace was being in a state of constant fear. Fear that some noble would take a liking to her and turn her into a house pet. It was something that kept her up at night, that made her wary of unfamiliar faces, and kept her sullen and quiet.

But not DocProf. He seemed like a genuinely nice man and made this mansion, as suspicious as it was, into someplace she could actually feel comfortable in. Genuinely, Celeste was starting to feel good calling this place home.

After the doctor had finished ensuring that Jude was okay, his attention and questions then turned to Celeste who was still meekly staying near the door. He knew how to speak with her, not demanding any complex answers other than a shake of her head or a smile from her lips. Truly he was a nice man.

Did she have any further issues since they met? She shook her head. No. He knew that her voice box wasn’t the most well-developed and talking was a trial, but she was practicing as much as she dared to.

Did this rascal selflishly enlist her help? She smiled wide. Covering her mouth with her cupped hands, she laughed mutely and nodded her head, Yes. The boy was a rascal.

At this point Celeste turned and spied a whiteboard nearby. Taking up a dry erase marker, she pulled off the cap and wrote in a small, out of the way corner: B Ok? and then looked imploringly at DocProf, glancing also in Jude’s direction.

Jude wheezed and watched the exchange. Her smile, what he could see of it, was endearing: a little too wide, maybe. Just enough teeth. Not worth hiding at all.

The squeaky screech of a marker, however, could go right back to the hell it came from. "Augh. Leave me. I think... I think I'm dying." Jude dramatically reached to the light and pathetically passed out, tongue lolling with his less-than-believable death.

DocProf snorted. "Thank you for your help today. Clearly, this one needs looking after."

"I do not." Jude's head popped up, he glanced at Celeste and then re-died.

Okay. The jig was up. He sat up and wobbled for a moment as the blood rushed wherever it wasn't. He just couldn't stand his legs hanging out of his rolled up jeans. The nerve! "You could have at least rolled down the pants legs, old man."

"Eh. Not my thing."

Jude noticed that somewhere between his dramatic not-quite-death and re-life the lizard folk had scarpered off. All the better. With his pants settled, the copycat turned to the doctor one last time.

"So I'm good to go?"

"Next time bring me present from the city at least."

"What do you like?" Jude swung his legs over the side of the bed and turned to ask Celeste, "Do you know what he likes?" He got his feet under him and shoved off... and crumpled right back down to his hands and knees.

DocProf guffawed from behind his desk and Jude's ears turned pink with embarrassment.

Celeste’s eyes widened when Jude proclaimed that his demise was immenient. She cupped her hands over her mouth, looking between her newfound friend and the doctor. But, they got him here in time! The doctor should have been able to save him! Ugh! As his tongue lolled out from his lips, she felt a pang of sadness deep in her chest. How tragic!

The doctor seemed to be taking it all in stride. He thanked her for her help, referring to the fact that there was a corpse in his office as nonchalantly as possible. This place was utter madness!

Then Jude popped his head back up, arguing with the doctor. That was enough to scare Celeste out of her wits. She jumped, her mouth still covered by her hands. What was happening? There was further exchange between the doctor and Jude and it finally dawned on her that they were having a laugh. Jude pretended. He feigned death. And that, well, that was just cruel.

Her eyes narrowed, she stomped her foot as they continued. DocProf noticed it first and ignored Jude as the boy asked Celeste if she knew what he liked. Anyone looking at her would notice that the once twinkling stars that were trapped in the ebb and flow of her body were not growing brighter, and brighter, merging into blanket of pure light.

DocProf nodded to Jude. “Boy, you best apologize to her,” he said. “Otherwise we’re both in trouble.”

Celeste stomped her foot again, eyeing Jude squarely. Her hoarse, struggling throat barely managed to squeak out the words. ”L-L-Li-ar…b-ad...”

Oh sh*t did not adequately cover Jude's chagrin. He stumbled over himself to both get up off the floor and to hold his hands out between himself and Celeste. DocProf suggested that he apologise. Jude figured that was going to be a mere beginning to the situation.

And, while he floundered, his mutation honed in like a pointer hunting dog that had found something of definite interest. He held his hands between them to try to placate the girl and the invisible hands of his power tried to reach further, and Jude was too conflicted to stop it. If he took hold of her power... if he pulled... then nothing would happen, in the end.

"I'm so sorry. It was a joke. A poor decision. A bad, bad joke. Please don't explode. She's not going to explode is she?" He looked at DocProf who didn't seem terribly worried.

"I dunno, but she might just supernova your face shut."

He'd been relaxing ever so slightly since DocProf wasn't panicking, but that put him right back up to alarm level 10. Jude fixed his eyes on the galactic girl. He'd only managed to get back up to his knees so he may as well be begging.

"It was in bad taste. I was trying to be silly. Please." Please don't make him take her power away. Was what he was thinking, but at the same time he was quite ready and poised to do it. If he was a better person, a nicer person, it wouldn't have come down to "you or me."

She was angry. She didn’t like liars. Liars were the type of people that festered and succeeded in the halls of the Atlantean palace. They were always whispering lies, causing dissention amongst the royals, promising gifts and bringing only torture to her fellow slaves. It was not something that she took lightly. Joking, playing around, those weren’t things that Celeste was familiar with so while her reaction may seem unwarranted, for her, she was dealing with a liar!

She stomped. Her breathing ragged. The anger just washed over her, causing each distant, twinkling star in her body to suddenly grow brighter and brighter, the air practically burning and causing that strange, ozone smell. Quivering her rage, her eyes opened and looked like burning white dwarf stars as she set her gaze on Jude.

He was looking panicked at DocProf about whatever he was saying, she couldn’t hear. The blood pounded in her ears. The world retched and turned as she felt her anger begin to boil over. From what she could tell, he was obviously scared. Good. Liars needed to be scared into telling the truth.

Jude tried to reach out before he inevitably collapsed down onto his knee. Her anger subsided just enough for her to hear him: apologies. He was offering apologies for his actions, saying that he was only being “silly”. Silly she recognized Silly reminded her of the clowns that would be tasked with entertaining the palace royals. So he was trying to be...funny? Lying to be funny?

The concept seemed alien and strange to her. As the words sunk in, she remembered seeing young ones around this mansion, playing “pretend” in similar ways. It began to dawn on her that her reaction really was unwarranted and as she came to this conclusion, the brightness slowly began to dim.

As each twinkling star dimmed more and more, the heat lowered and coolness filled the room again. She was embarrassed. The stars and galaxies that swirled within her body began to shift into a bright, pinkish hue. Stepping away from the spot she had been planted in, she hugged her arms to herself and looked down: two scorch marks from where her feet had been had been burned into the tile. She gulped, her eyes looking from Jude, to DocProf. She gulped and stammered out a very weak and whispered word.

”S-Sor-rryy,” she croaked. She then turned away and covered her embarrassed face.

He felt like he’d just defused a bomb.

”Naw it’s all good. I-I mean. I’m sorry too. Really.”

Jude fell forward onto his hands and knees and sighed a huge sigh of relief as he relaxed. The threat was over. From his vantage point, he could see on the floor where she'd melted footprints through the vinyl and he knew that could have just as easily have been him.

The problem was, Jude relaxed with his power poised to take hers away. Without a close eye, his power hungered. It’s what got him into trouble when he slept or let his guard down. Like now. His power pivoted to doing what it did best: copying.

Jude realized too late. He struggled to fend it off but the change was already overtaking him. His skin darkened and darkened and darkened and his hair changed from near-black to hot pink. Jude sighed again, this time because he was more tired than anything else. It felt like he had diffused the situation in a way that Ghost would have been proud of.

”Are you… okay?” He tried to feel out the power without truly knowing what it did. But, considering the floor, he didn't try anything active.

She truly felt embarrassed. Jude was just acting like a clown. A deceiver but for the sake of humor, not harm. She cursed in her mind. The surface was different. That was a fact that she kept forgetting. They had more nuances up here which blurred areas that directly conflicted with the hard, set-in-stone rules of Atlantis. She would learn, she knew she would, but it was going to take time. Meanwhile, she needed to be more level headed, otherwise innocent people could get hurt.

People like Jude or the kindly DocProf.

Her face covered, she refused to look at Jude, even as he offered an apology and forgave her for her actions. The embarrassment was evident, coloring the galaxies and stars on her cheeks into shadows of pink.

Then she felt something. Not something physical but something more on a spiritual level. It was as if something were being siphoned off from her, just a tiny piece. This sensation made her lift her head, turning curiously back to DocProf and Jude -- when she saw something strange.

Jude. He was eclipsed in dark, inky black and blue shadows. It looked strange upon him, like he had been dipped in ink. Only when she wiped her tears away did she finally realize what was happening. Small pinpoints of light appeared all over his body, then cloudy, multicolored nebulas, and streaking comets of bright light. She gasped. She had seen this before, but only when she looked into a looking glass.

He was like her now. His legs were fine, but now he seemed exactly like her. It was honestly startling to see in another.

He broke the silence, asking if she was okay. Mutely she nodded, advancing on him. Her hands reached out to cup his cheek, wanting to turn his face left and right as she looked him over. Was this an illusion? Another lie so that he could prank her? No, it seemed far too real.

She gulped, her voice croaking as she tried to force herself to talk. ”M-M-Meeee?” she asked. ”L-L-Li...ke...m-m….e?”

"I didn't mean to." Jude let Celeste take his chin in her hand and turn him this way and that. Some people were insulted, others intrigued. He couldn't yet tell which way Celeste felt about Jude copying her power so he remained on his knees in front of her.

There were definite differences. For starters, he remained a man. The stubble growing at his jaw showed just as neon as the hair on his head, more permanent and fixed than the nebulas that drifted behind their skins, but too pigmented and concentrated to be starlight.

"I copy. Like a mirror." It was hard not to fall into a simplistic way of speaking since she seemed to have such trouble with ispeaking. He wasn't sure if that was insulting or if it helped her understand. Another glance to DocProf, but the man only shrugged.

Jude didn't know exactly what he looked like, but he was pretty sure he and Celeste could now pass for twins if they wanted to trick someone into believing it. Uh. Not that Celeste was all that into tricking people.

"Can I get up?" He was pretty sure he could, but he also didn't want to startle her. His dang knees were killing him on this tile floor.

Celeste continued to stare at Jude in awe. Save for a mirror, she had never seen anyone with her abilities. It had always been just her and her celestial, goddess-like appearance. She never understood the attention that she got because to her, she just looked like this. She lived with it like a curse and didn’t see any of the beauty. But when she looked upon her new friend, she could certainly see where someone would be inspired.

There was a poet once. A young boy around her age, another royal, that had taken a liking to her. Secretly he would meet with her, try to talk to her. And though she refuted him because it was against the rules, he didn’t stop trying to be her friend. Often times he would call her his muse and recite poetry. Really it wasn’t the best, not that she knew any better, but over time she understood just how sweet it was.

And now, looking upon Jude as he copied her completely, she could see where some of that inspiration would come from.

Jude seemed embarrassed and stated he didn’t mean to, that he could copy abilities. Celeste tilted her head, curious as she looked him over. When he described his powers like “a mirror” paused, thought it over, and nodded her head. She understood and looked over to the kindly doctor, pointing at her doppleganger.

DocProf nodded. “Yes. He mirrors abilities. But it isn’t permanent. He’ll be okay.”

Celeste turned, tilted her head at Jude again and then smiled softly when he asked if he could get up. She offered her hand to him, or her shoulder, whatever he needed to help him stand. Drawing closer, she peered into that endless void across his skin, the neon pink hairs, and the bright, star-like eyes.

”P-P-Pree...tt...y…” she said in as teasing a tone as she could muster. They were friends again. She could tease him.

She was quiet a long time, but that didn't mean she wasn't processing, watching, touching, and learning. She was gentle with him, at least. She also looked to the doctor with a question in her eyes. Either he understood her intent easier or he’d just not cared to help Jude any.

Why didn’t she just ask Jude?

Unless she still thought of him as a liar… Jude frowned up at Celeste as the doctor explained that he was alright. Her questions were always so… elementary? So many more steps backward than he thought she might be asking.

She smiled, eyes roving over his features before she declared him pretty.

”A pale imitation, I assure you.” But she did offer her hand in peace. Jude took her hand, but did his best to not actually use it. His legs held, though he didn’t feel the most stable. Even so, on his feet was a more comfortable place to be.

Jude pointed to the melty spot on the floor. ”And dangerous? I don’t know what you can do.”

”I suggest you take it outside rather than melting more of my office?” A gentle, if timely reminder.

It was odd looking at what was essentially herself. She had only seen her reflection a few times in dirty, metallic mirrors down when she was in Atlantis, but now that she was topside, she had been to a few bathing chambers and was astounded by how many reflective surfaces there were. Of all vary sizes and shapes, Celeste would stare at herself in wonder before forcing herself to move away, feeling that her beauty was often more a curse than a blessing.

This, however, was different. This wasn’t some flat doppleganger mimicking her movements, this was a living, breathing entity, the same as herself. Celeste had never seen someone with abilities like her’s, therefore she was all-together shocked to see it reflected in Jude at the moment. There was a slight fear that it was a trick of the light, or some strange illusion, but no, she could feel that cold, empty space that existed within his skin. It was a feeling she knew well enough to identify it upon sight alone.

While Celeste was surprised, Jude didn’t seem all that taken aback. Rather he just shook it off, as if this were something that occurred to him all the time. Strange. This was a far cry from the weakened, shaky-legged malformation she saw before. Interesting.

Though Jude seemed very cavalier about his newfound powers, he did seem to recognize that there was a dangerous side to them. She called him “pretty” (which accurately described those twinkling stars and swirling galaxies streaking slowly across his skin) but he was smart to point out that there was more than just appearance when it came to her particular gifts.

He pointed out the melted, burned spots in the ground where she had been standing moments ago. After seeing what he was pointing at, Celeste blushed. How embarrassing. The world up here was different, confusing, but also so simple. It was just a jest, a joke, that he had pulled on her and yet she had gotten so infuriated with him for “lying”. And anger was one of those things that affected her in more ways than one.

She looked up at DocProf when he suggested that they take this discussion outside. Apologetically she nodded her head. That was a good idea. Quietly she mouthed an “I’m sorry” to him before moving towards the door, waiting for Jude to follow her. Walking past, she grabbed a notepad and pen that sat upon a nearby table and sheepishly looking to the kindly old man before exiting.

Pen scratching on the pad of blank paper, she waited until June arrived before finishing and lifting it up to show him.

Angry = Hot. Sad = Cold. Sorry. Be careful.