Okay, so the freakout was coming to an end. Gawain still felt on edge and ready to run, but the adrenaline was slowly giving way to embarrassment and awkwardness. Not his favorite type of mood, but better than other situations he'd been in. Like Rupert's bathroom floor...

>>"I-I mean you said you didn't mean to..."

"I didn't." The last thing he wanted was to end up in someone's apartment by accident. As if he did not have enough on his plate. Gawain shivered.

>>"Is it um, weird being in an anime like that? Er... Sorry if power questions are weird."

"Believe me, you can't ask anything weirder than I have been asked before" Gawain chuckled, shaking his head "And yeah, anime ar weird. Cartoons are weird in general. Like, how all of those skirts move strategically from all angles? Weird."

Shay slowly edged just a little closer while they spoke. "Ok. S-sorry for freaking out like that." Shay definitely felt embarrassed for the freak-out. Social anxiety was bad enough to deal with normally, this situation was just something else. Maybe it would help Shay next time they were feeling overwhelmed in public.

A timid smile crept onto Shay's lips. "I've never thought of it that way, I pay a lot of attention to the costumes too." She gestured to the mostly done costume on the table with the sewing supplies. Power questions were weird. "I've heard all kinds of weird power questions, I think I get it." Shay blurted.

There was a small smile on Shay's face now as they edged closer. Gawain sighed, smiling a bit too. The whole situation was going to sound funny, looking back a few days from now.

>>"I've never thought of it that way, I pay a lot of attention to the costumes too."

Gawain glanced around the room. There were costumes of all kinds. Maybe Shay was a designer or tailor of some sort? That would have explained a lot.

>>"I've heard all kinds of weird power questions, I think I get it."

"You have?" Gawain arched an eyebrow. Shay did not seem to have a visible mutation, but that did not mean they didn't have a strange power. Gawain shivered again, his skin breaking out in goosebumps. He blinked, as realization sank in. "Actually, hold that thought. Um... what time is it?"

Midnight. He'd forgotten about midnight.

Shay nodded quickly, being a streamer with an open power was good for some reasons, but it did also leave you open and viable to trolling from the chat... so much trolling. "A lot of er... Inappropriate questions too." Why did people always get sexual when it was involved.

Suddenly Gawain seemed uncomfortable. What had Shay said wrong? They didn't step into any obvious taboo topics. This was part of why Shay dreaded socialising, they never knew when t hey were about to say the completely wrong thing and make every on in the room uncomfortable. It was too easy.

Time? Shay glanced around, not having realised how dark it was while they were engrossed, the light of the T.V and the sewing light having been all they really needed. "I.." Shay pondered for a moment.

"I've watched like, 6 episodes and I finished stream around 10, so... 12ish?" Oops. Time really got away from you.

>>"A lot of er... Inappropriate questions too."

Ooh, people were just full of inappropriate questions. Especially when it came to mutant powers. Gawain knew that from experience. It was nice to know he shared at least that much with Shay. Common ground was helpful.

Especially because things were about to get a whole lot more awkward.

>>"I... I've watched like, 6 episodes and I finished stream around 10, so... 12ish?"

"Sh*t." Gawain fished his phone out to look, even though his body was already telling him it was shifting time. "Midnight. Okay, so... Shay, please don't freak out, but... uh, I'm about to change into a girl."

Shay blinked slowly. Why was midnight bad? Well, other than for kids, and people that got up early for work, any people that had somewhere to be shortly after midnight, and people that worked nights. Okay, Shay could maybe see why unexpected midnight might provoke a harsh reaction.

... What.

"Er-I-" Shay blinked slowly. "Are-are you messing with me?" Shay asked, raising an eyebrow. That was very weird. Had Mirror been sent here by someone to mess with Shay?

There was really no good way to explain this, and there was also no time. Gawain huffed. He hated shifting awake. And Becca was going to have his ass for not being home for the midnight shift.

>>"Er-I- Are-are you messing with me?"

"God, I wish. I mean... no. Not that I'd mess with you on purpose. It's just... ugh." Gawain shivered again. The whole thing was awfully embarrassing, shifting like this in front of a complete stranger, without an explanation. God, Shay had all the reasons in the world to freak the hell out. Gawain curled up, wrapping his arms around his knees. The shifting only took a minute, maybe, but it felt like an eternity. Finally, Maya lifted her head and peered at Shay. "Sorry. I don't... really have control over it."

Shay blinked slowly and timidly moved over to the side, away from the front door "A-are you okay?" Shay's jaw fell open pretty wide as Mirror transformed over the course of the next minute. "Uhm. Okay. So you weren't messing with me" Shay muttered mostly to themself idly. It definitely looked very different to Shay's transformations.

"I-look" Shay approached a bit closer, completely forgetting the social situation for a moment, and all the awkwardness, mildly in awe. "Don't apologise, seriously it's fine. That didn't look fun." Shay blinked, realising they could probably set this situation at ease pretty easily.

"I-Er, I'm a shape shifter, so please don't worry, I change a couple of times a day sometimes, it's not freaky or anything to me." Shay admitted, suppressing the urge to bring up the character editor and start fiddling.

Shifting awake sucked. It always left Mirror a bit dizzy and drained, even though it was getting to be more comfortable now that it happened every night alongside Becca's shift. For safety reasons. Maya sighed, running a hand through her suddenly longer hair.

>>"A-are you okay? Uhm. Okay. So you weren't messing with me"

"Nope." she blushed. Damn, she just fell into someone's room and then shifted in front of them. Shifting always felt sort of intimate. Shay looked more curious than freaked out, though.

>>"I-look. Don't apologise, seriously it's fine. That didn't look fun."

"Yeah, it kinda sucks." she admitted with a sigh, wrapping her arms around her knees. She just needed to take a breath, and then get out of here...

>>"I-Er, I'm a shape shifter, so please don't worry, I change a couple of times a day sometimes, it's not freaky or anything to me."

"Wait... what?" Maya blinked, her jaw dropping as she looked up. Shay did just admit they had powers and got questions about them, but... "You're a shifter too?!"

The girl-super hero, whatever, was blushing. Shay felt kind of odd, like an intruder. Which was strange, because technically Mirror was the intruder in Shay's apartment. But the shifting thing seemed kind of private. Shay's shifts were not remotely uncomfortable, it wasn't like they were... pleasurable or anything, but Shay had been dealing with it since birth and it was just so normal.

"I-uh-" Shay blinked. It was lame that powers could be no fun. "I'm sorry, that's kind of lame." Shay was suddenly very glad for the way that their own power worked, people were always kind of wowed by the way it worked, or didn't believe Shay.

The disbelief did sort of bring a smile to Shay's lips. "I know right? What're the odds that you randomly fall into my apartment and we can both do that." Shay pondered Mirror's power for a moment. "So I take it you don't have any control over..." She murmured and tried to summon some words for a moment, floundering. "I mean, how you look when you change, if it happens every day?" Shay was fiddling with their fingers, just behind their back, resisting the urge to pull up the customisation menu.

Maya took some deep breaths, adjusting to her newly shifted body while also trying to carry a conversation without freaking Shay out.

>>"I-uh- I'm sorry, that's kind of lame."

At this point, she was mostly used to it. As long as it did not weird out whoever got to witness the change, the dizziness would go away in a few minutes. She'd been spending midnights awake recently anyway, because of Becca.

Shay was definitely not weirded out. Quite the opposite, actually.
She was a shifter too.

>>"I know right? What're the odds that you randomly fall into my apartment and we can both do that."

"Yeah, what are the odds?" Maya grinned. This evening had definitely taken an unexpected turn. Another shapeshifter? She'd assumed there were more of them, probably even inside New York City, but it was not one of those powers that were very easy to spot without being an adapted.

>>"So I take it you don't have any control over... I mean, how you look when you change, if it happens every day?"

"Every day at midnight" Maya nodded "I only have the two settings. Always had. How about you?... Can you do it just... any time?"