He needed to get out of that place.

The last few months had proven to be a rough patch in his history. There were few high points, and lots close calls with both the police and death. He really did want a place to call home. A place where he could feel safe. That place, it turned out, was the sanctuary. And although it had indeed given him a place to lay low and get back on his feet, it really just didn’t feel like home. At least not yet.

Regardless, after a month locked up in a room Shane needed to get the sky above him again. One thing he had gained from his time at the Sanctuary was how to deal with being around people. While it’s true that almost everyone there was a mutant, only a few of them outwardly showed it. He’d gotten used to the idea of average looking people. This made walking around actually average people far more tolerable. So he went for a walk, not really sure where he’d end up. His hat was pulled down low, and his jacket was lifted up high, but he was making progress, walking down the crowded streets.

Subconsciously he headed straight for Central Park. Of the whole city, it was the closest thing to what home should feel like that he could find. Once he’d arrived his rushed pace slowed down as he took in the sights and sounds of the park. The weather had turned out to be beautiful and the sun was shining bright. It was a perfect day for a stroll through the park. Without realizing it, he let his protective personality slip away, lifting his hat up and letting his face be exposed for the whole world to see.

The park was far from empty, with joggers and children playing everywhere, but he did manage to spot a section near an open field where a few benches were free. He started making his way towards them, cutting through the field, right through one of those groups of kids.

Today, Gemma brought Chase to the park. Not just any park, but the park-- Central Park. Sure, Xavier's was located in the middle of a park, the school was filled with a wealth of children of a wide variety of ages with whom Chase could play, but there something that just seemed so special about going to a park, and playing with kids you barely knew, and enjoying the warmth of the sun, the light breeze that danced at your feet, shared laughter and a carefree game of tag. Even Chase, as quiet as he was, managed to find his own temporary group of a half-dozen kids that were close to his age, with whom he could play.

They were playing a game of tag, one kid grabbing towards another, when a rather odd man cut directly through their game. The game came to a stand-still as all six children, including Chase, stopped and stared. His skin was jet-black, and his eyes were white. He had something of a looming pressence, and he was very, blatantly mutant.

"Whoa," one of the kids muttered, "Wouldya look at that? It's one of those mutants."

Chase stared openly, but not with the same apprehension as his peers. Rather, he looked absolutely fascinated.

"I'm going back to the playground," one child announced, "My mommy wouldn't like it if I were out here with that man walking around."

"Yeah," another agreed.

The sentiment was shared by all of the human children, thus all of the human children returned to the safety of the metal-and-plastic playstructure. Chase, the lone mutant, remained. He lingered in the field for a moment, watching the other kids retreat, and then he looked towards the guy in the hat and coat. Well... his mommy didn't have problems with mutants, so she wouldn't care what Chase did, would she? Gemma had never set a "flee to the playground at first sight of a mutant" rule... in fact, such a thing would be silly, because Chase was a mutant. And Chase wouldn't wander too far. Thus, Chase opted to follow the odd-looking man, more out of curiosity than much else. He followed at a distance, though. He made no other attempt to conceal the fact that he was pursuing the man, other than following from a distance.

It was hard for him to ignore the murmurs and whispers from the kids in the field (they were far more like stage whispers then anything). Perhaps he’d deserved it, he did cut through they’re game after all. He ignored it though. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with children that had an issue with him. Today he just wanted to enjoy himself and feel at home.

That’s when he noticed he had a strangler. It seemed one of the kids hadn’t been quite as interested in retreating from the sight of him as the others had. He never made more then a passive look out of the corner of his eye as he was walking towards the bench. The kid wasn’t really approaching him, just following him. Harmless so far, but he’d never been afraid to be skeptical.

Once he arrived at the benches he quickly spun around, plopping himself on the bench with a thud. His gaze shot straight to the kid, still a safe distance away from him. He just stared at him for a few moments with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity before finally opening his mouth.

“What do you want, kid?” His voice was deep, but not nearly as hoarse as had been in the past. He’d finally learned to control that in recent months as well. He sat back and relaxed, the curiosity outweighing the concern.

Chase followed the mysterious man, who in no way insinuated that he knew Chase was following him. A few times, Chase thought that the man might turn around, but he didn't. He just beelined for a bench, and when he got there, spun quickly, and plopped down. Chase froze like a deer in the headlights.

>> "What do you want, kid?”

A curious tint of pink replaced an orange of anxiety in Chase's gaze as he hesitantly drew closer. He paused a good couple yards back, rubbing his arm uncertainly. What had he wanted?

"Um..." Chase replied uncertainly, averting his gaze, "I don't know. I was, uh, wondering if you just looked different, or if you could... I dunno... do something cool?"

Chase's curiosity made him bolder, giving him the courage to ask such inquiries of a stranger. He spoke guilelessly, the inquiry offered with no more than a tentative intrigue.

Shane leaned forward in his seat and tilted his head, looking the boy up and down, trying to see if there was a joke he wasn’t getting. Non of the other kids had followed behind, and none were watching him to see if he would do it, so it seemed safe assume this kid hadn’t been dared to approach him.

The kid did look nervous, but he certainly wasn’t afraid. That was comforting, for Shane at least. He wasn’t particularly anxious to “show off” in front of a stranger in a public place, but no one really seemed to be paying them any attention. What harm could it be?

“I have a few tricks up my sleeve” Shane said with a smirk.

His right arm slowly extended out from his jacket sleeve, moving towards the boy. Shane’s grin was pretty wide; he was far more proud of his sleeve comment then he probably should have been. The arm easily covered the space between them, and once it was close enough, reached out to brush some dirt off the kid’s shoulder. Then his arm snapped back into normal like a tape measure.

“What about you? You a mutant too?” He said, his own curiosity getting the better of him.

>> “I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Chase blinked, his mouth opening to ask the next, obvious question. What do you do? On cue, the black-colored man's arm began to snake out of his sleeve towards Chase, and Chases' eyes widened a fraction. Inherently, he stiffened-- the guy was going to touch him, what if he shifted?!-- and yet, the idea excited him. He'd never been turned into another mutant before, only normal people. So Chase also smiled, watching as the arm extended towards him, and lightly brushed his shoulder.

No skin-contact, no worries. Chase grinned and let out a faint laugh of alarm as the man's arm snapped back into place effortlessly.

"Whoa," Chase complimented, still grinning.

>> “What about you? You a mutant too?”

Chase's grin faltered faintly, and he tilted his head to the side as if to shake his head "no". But, the child paused-- it wouldn't be fair to make someone show off, and then lie to them about your own mutation. Chase nodded his head in affirmation. He looked to the left, and to the right, and then hesitantly approached the bench, his eyes churning with a melt of colors and emotions... anxiety, curiosity, anticipation, delight... like an iridescent melt of hues, and tints and shades thereof.

Chase let his gaze flick to the clay man as he stood beside him, before flicking downward. He was close enough to tell a secret now, but he wasn't quite close enough to be touching him.

"I can look like other people," Chase confided in the stranger, again looking around to see if anyone was listening. Nobody besides the clay man seemed to be, "You want to see?"

It was strange for him to admit it to himself, but he was starting to like this kid. It wasn’t often someone showed general interest in his powers, and even less frequently that they had that look of wonderment when he showed off. He could certainly get used to that, that was for sure.

The little boy approached him cautiously. However, it looked as though the hesitation was coming from a mixture of both his stranger status as well as a fear of being overheard. It certainly seemed like he had something to share, but nothing he wanted to go shouting from the rooftops.

>> "I can look like other people"

And there it was, he was a mutant too. A smile creeped on to his face as what he’d already suspected was confirmed. The boy’s face still seemed a little concerned that someone else might have been listening, but there was enough of a smirk that you could tell that he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. The coast was clear though. Just to make sure, Shane made another look around himself. There wasn’t anyone in earshot, and no one was really paying the two of them any attention anyways.

>> "You want to see?"

Shane’s smile widened and he leaned in a bit towards the young boy. “Definitely.”

The man grinned at Chase, and Chase smiled back. But what could he do? It had to be something cool... no small-change display of power, like changing hair color or mimicking voices. That was for humans, that was for mutants who didn't bear their mutation upon their skin. No, this contest of ability required something much more in-depth, more thorough and impressive. Maybe a full-body shift? Yeah...

Then there was the dilemma that Chase wasn't that creative. He didn't know any forms off the top of his head, other than his human one. Chase itched his head in mild embarrassment as the guy leaned in closer. Un-shifting was not an option. He looked at the stretchy mutant man, who wore a hat low upon his brow. The hat! Chase took hold of the hat and removed it carefully, with a murmured, "Pardon me."

Chase then set the hat atop his own head, and waited as the change took hold. For a moment, he just sat there, juvenile head dwarfed by the hat-- but his body percieved the foreign essence, which was strong upon the borrowed hat, and the tendrils that composed his flesh began to stretch taller and expand. Chase stepped back, his legs wobbling awkwardly with the growing height, and he looked down at his body in a bemused fashion. His skin was bleeding black and growing less taught, his structure becoming solid. Chase's attire was consumed by the expanding tendrils, and replaced by the man's outfit, including a duplicate coat, ratty boots and mangled jeans. Chase kept his gaze averted until the shift was complete, before shifting his white-eyed gaze towards the original elastic-man.

"Ta-da," the deep, sonorous voice of faux-Clay Man boomed, causing the Doppelganger to raise a hand to its mouth in mild alarm, before speculating over its hands in wonder. It poked at its own arm, humming to itself.

Shane snapped back, but not fast enough to avoid the little boy grabbing his hat right from his head. He wasn’t pleased with that, not at all. His smile crumpled into a sour expression and he popped the collar of his jacket up to cover his head again, looking back and forth to make sure no one had decided to start paying attention all of a sudden. They weren’t. He resisted the urge to take his hat back from the kid. He’d assumed it was somehow part of his big reveal, otherwise he probably would have taken off with it by now.

Then, all at once, Shane’s attention shifted from everyone else in the world to the kid, and just the kid. Or maybe himself? He wasn’t really sure how to describe it, but it was like looking into a mirror. It wasn’t an immediate change, but it was fast enough that he knew what was going on right away.

He was speechless.

The kid (it felt strange to think of him that way now) wasn’t though. He seemed genuinely surprised by the sound of his own; or rather Shane’s own voice. The gravel took some getting used to. He examined the boy top to bottom while he explored the new body himself, the two of them equally intrigued until finally words managed to escape his mouth.

“Can… can you control your body like I can, with my power?” He wanted to know just how exact this copy was, and just how weird this afternoon was going to be.

>> “Can… can you control your body like I can, with my power?”

"Um," the doppelganger rumbled uncertainly, maintaining a tendency of Chase's in its speech. The thought of skin suddenly oozing with any sudden motions led the duplicate to freeze in-place. There was that technicality. He'd never turned into another mutant before. The doppelganger flexed its hand, and continued touching its arm.

[/color]"To be honest, I've never tried turning into another mutant before,"[/color] the doppelganger confessed. The doppelganger extended his arm. How did one make their arm extend beyond a length that was natural? It attempted to reach its arm out farther than usual, and nothing happened, at first.

"How does it work?" Chase murmured, more to himself than the other mutant. His curiosity had made him overzealous, and now that he'd been given an open avenue of exploration, Chase's new endeavor was to investigate this form. Starting with mutational capacities. He attempted again, and the arm extended beyond what was "normal", but only for a few feet. The doppelganger gasped and the arm snapped back before barely kissing to feet beyond the typical limit. There was some minor squirming of alarm, and a hasty removal of the hat.

The doppelganger quickly handed the hat back to its original owner, and as soon as the hat left its hands, the mimic began to shrink and its skin paled back to Caucasian. Hair returned, eyes reverted, height diminished, and the typical ensemble of clothes was revealed as tendrils receded and returned to their rightful places. A very human Chase staggered at the head-rush of shifting so rapidly, his eyes wide with alarm.

"My hand just... I mean your hand... my arm..." Chase held out a humanoid arm and showed his rendition of what had happened, sticking his arm out as far as it would go, and leaning forward slightly, "It was like Play-Doh or something."

The world was reeling now, and Chase sat on the bench a touch dizzily, but went on ranting and raving, "Just wooo-" he stuck his arm out, the first "woo" representing the sound his arm made when it grew, "-and then woo. Just like that." a lower toned "woo", representing his arm returning back to normal. Chase looked like he'd just stepped off of a rollercoaster, or performed before a crowd without messing up. All grins and excitement and wide eyes... up until he realized that he was acting like a kid on Christmas Day, over something that could have been typical, nay, even a burden on the "original" mutant.

"Um..." Chase's fidgetted, "I'm Chase. And, uh... that's what I do."

He watched in awe as the boy tried to figure out how his newfound power worked. By this point the rest of the world had disappeared in Shane’s eyes; there wasn’t anyone else but him, and the other him. He mimed the basic actions of extending his arm out, but he really had no way of explaining it. It was really just how he moved. It would have been like explaining walking to another person who claimed they didn’t know how. “You know, just put one foot in front of the other…” He didn’t know how to put it without sounding patronizing.

Then the boy seemed to figure it out all on his own. It wasn’t much of a maneuver, but it was impressive none the less. He (not surprisingly) was mildly frightened by the experience of a stretching hand and immediately snapped it back to normal. All the way back to normal. Before Shane knew what had happened the two of them had slipped back to reality and were just a man and boy in the park again.

They both had a moment of realization that they could have picked up prying eyes during the experiment, but it appeared as though they were still being ignored by everyone else. The boy handed him back his hat, and after a moment of speechlessness and stuttering he offered up his name as well.

>> "I'm Chase. And, uh... that's what I do."

“Shane.” He responded, sliding a hand out of his sleeve and offering a shake. “I imagine a power like that could get you into all sorts of trouble,” he said with a grin. He didn’t really know how to deal with kids. He figured smiling was a good strategy though.

>> “Shane. I imagine a power like that could get you into all sorts of trouble.”

Chase reflected the man's smile, and shook his hand. He did so briefly, before releasing the man's hand, and tucking his own hand under his leg. The man's name was Shane, and he thought that a power like Chase's could get a kid into a lot of trouble. This was true, so Chase smiled as well, though a touch impishly.

"Oh, yes," he agreed, nodding his head adamently, "People don't like it when you copy their voices. They think it's annoying."

Which only made Chase copy their voices more. There was also the aspect of people not liking mutants who wore what they were upon their skin, a sentiment that the child was certain that the clay man could share, but it was an observation that was left unspoken. No need to reiterate the obvious.

"But it can be useful, too," the eight-year-old explained, letting his legs swing back-and-forth over the edge of the bench, as they were too short to reach the ground.

>> "But it can be useful, too"

“I don’t doubt it.” He said to little guy. He had to admit to himself that he was more then a little jealous of the kid’s ability. He had quite literally a limitless supply of options that he could exploit for any number of uses. For the time being though, it certainly seemed as though he didn’t know that yet, though. He seemed perfectly content being a regular kid, and that was something that Shane could respect.

Of course, he was curious if the little shape shifter had ever done anything interesting with the power before. There was no rule that said he couldn’t live vicariously though a kid.

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do with your power then?” He said with a smile. He was actually starting to feel a little proud of himself. He’d never imagined himself capable of holding the attention of a nine year old, but he seemed to be doing alright.

>> “I don’t doubt it.”

Chase grinned in reply, though not boastfully. Just in proud acknowledgement of the fact that he had a useful power. Chase didn't know full well the implications of having such a capacity. His young mind didn't even wander in a criminal direction-- he just knew that sometimes, shapeshifting served some purpose.

>> “What’s the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do with your power then?”

Chase mused, picking at his sneakers in contemplation, before realization dawned on him, and his delight could be seen touching his face.

"This one time," Chase confided in Shane, tilting closer, "I pretended to be an older boy, and drove a car."

Yep, that was probably the coolest thing he'd done while looking like someone else. That day that he hung out with Hokee and drove his car. He quelled a laugh. If Miss Gemma knew, she'd freak out.

"I bet being all-" Chase didn't know how to describe Shane, so he wiggled his arms to replicate the elasticity, "-has its uses too. I bet you could do all sorts of neat things."

The boy was trying to keep a straight face, but a pretty big smirk was spreading across his face. What kid didn’t love a little mischief? He nodded. “It’s got some pretty nice perks to it.” He wasn’t sure how he was convincing. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if really felt like his power was much of a blessing lately. It was reassuring to see a kid with some interest though. It made him feel a little special.

Some of the kids had started filling in the section of the park where the soccer game Chase had come from took place. A few of them had soccer balls of their own, and it looked like a new game would likely be starting up in the near future. The kids that were closer to them eyed the pair with suspicious looks, but only really in passing; their toys were far more interesting. It was interesting to Shane that Chase seemed to have the exact opposite reaction to him that all these other kids were having.

“Are your parent’s mutants, too?” He asked the boy, but keeping his gaze set out on the crowd rapidly populating the small field. “I get the impression you’re pretty used to… our kind.”