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He was at an in-between. There was really no other way to put it. Chase was too old to roll with the kids, but too small to be included with the teenagers. Even if he was almost fourteen, he still felt like a "tween". What was worse was that Toby was busy with God-knew-what. Probably his culture class. Even though he'd been at the Mansion forever, and was adapting well, the adults were insistent that he continue with his studies. Studies that Chase was... not included in. As such, he was very, very bored.

The boy heaved a theatrical sigh, as if there was anyone there to hear him. It'd been dead quiet. The weather was nice so the "kids" were outside. The older teens were studying for finals. If Chase were any wiser, he'd be studying too. Instead he was surveying a box of Lego's with a deadpan expression.

Listlessly the shapeshifter began to arrange the bricks into a small square. When that square was complete, he would start another square atop that, though slightly smaller. It would be clear to any onlooker that the boy was building a pyramid. Another theatrical sigh. What else could he do, with Toby gone?

The human shifter stood in front of their mirror, skirt clutched in their knobby hands. Their brother… well, their doppelganger… laid on his bed with a comic book open in his lap.

“I don't think I can do this,” Chase protested to their recumbent brother.

“Then don't?” was the distracted reply.

Chase stomped their foot, eyes rolling, “Ugh, forget it. You're not helping.”

They had bought this skirt ages ago, when Mari had been their chaperone on the mall field trip, but Chase hadn't the guts to wear it beyond the confines of the room, not even around Mama. They did want Mama to see though.

“What if people tease me?” Chase murmured.

“We're shapeshifters… just make yourself look like a girl,” Toby sighed, matching Chase's exasperation from earlier. Chase sighed. But then Mama wouldn't see them, she'd just see some girl. With a groan, Chase pulled off their t-shirt. Now or never. They wriggled into their skirt-- a black, above-the-knee thing with a lace underlay. Given their slenderness, the skirt seemed more flowy than it would have perhaps seemed on a curvier individual.

Chase swayed cheerfully, letting the skirt fan as they did so.

“What shirt should I wear?”

“One of Mari's?”

They weren't really Mari's anymore, she'd outgrown them-- either in size or style-- and passed them along to her cousin. Chase has stashed these shirts in the same place the skirt had been stashed: in the bottom corner of their closet, in a ball. Chase stooped down, digging through the stash and fishing out a wrinkled v-neck tee with black pinstripes. Mari's style was a little more staid than the budding adolescent would have preferred, but they wouldn't turn down free clothes.

Chase pulled the shirt over their head, flattening it with their palms. They cast a crooked smile at their reflection. There was a momentary pause, and Chase's hair began to lengthen and straighten. By the time that the curtain of hair reached the small of their back, it was a dark, warm brown. They kept their usual human skintone.

“Make your eyes a little bigger,” Toby remarked. Chase shifted their attention from the mirror to just over their shoulder, to where Toby sat in the reflected world, “You know. Girlier.”

Chase nodded, their eye shape warbled.

“How about that?”

“Hm.” Toby said approvingly.

“Wish me luck.”

With that, Chase was gone through the door. They hadn't even taken the time to put on shoes.



Chase was all smiles. Where should they go first? Maybe they could show Kalos! She'd enjoy this new face. Or maybe Mari! They couldn't swallow their giddiness, knowing how cute they must look… they couldn't even decide where to go, they just… wanted to be seen! Would anyone figure it out? Of course not! The Mansion was always getting new kids, and they just looked like a new kid. What could they... could she... do for fun around here? What did girls do for fun?

The apparent girl flitted down the hall, unable to find a voice with which to reach out to another girl or group of girls.

Nim, welcome back! I love her!

Toby ponderously squished the apathetic egg again-- a few times for safe measure-- as Marisol explained its purpose. It was a really silly looking thing. A rare smile barely surfaced on his face. It wasn't shaped like a ball. But it was fun to squish.

"I like it," he announced, replacing the egg so that he could dig for more squishy things. How fun was this?! Maybe he'd buy a "stress ball" rather than... whatever Chase was looking for.

Speaking of Chase... the crown of his head had vanished behind numerous racks and displays, and he was hunched over in order to comb through various skirts that were hung on the rack. Oooh, that one was galaxy print. What size was he, even? Did it matter? Chase tucked one into his arms, furtive eyes glancing over his shoulder, as if he expected Marisol to come around the corner at any minute. Well-- he kind of did, and with good reason. Chase returned to scouring the skirts. This one had mesh with stars on it, over a black underskirt. Cute! He grabbed that one, too. Ooh, and the lavender circle skirt!

If Toby upheld his end of the deal, Chase could probably even sneak into the dressing room to try these skirts on. Only if Toby kept Marisol distracted, though. Chase stood back up on tiptoes, sweeping the room for his cousin. She'd caught him trying-on her clothes before, but... this was different. This skirt would be his and his alone.

"Which do you think is the best?" Toby asked Marisol, having amassed a collection of four different super-deformed squishy characters, food, and the likes.

Both boys were, unbeknownst to them, fulfilling the same roles with Mama and Jorge. While Chase was excitedly running to the dress bag to unzip the white, billowing monstrosity from its container, Toby was similarly venturing towards the small bag. The former was practically uncontainable with his excitement—a big, beautiful wedding dress! Chase hadn’t gotten to see the dress when Mama had bought it, so it was very new and exciting for him. The latter—Toby—seemed politely intrigued by the process of dressing for one’s wedding.

Toby passed the bag to Jorge with both hands, solemn. He was familiar with ties, but not-so-much cufflinks. Weddings already seemed really complicated.

“When Ms. … Mama… marries you, will she take your last name…?” Toby asked Jorge. Chase had been explaining to Toby what it meant, that Mama and Papa were getting married, so Toby was trying to fit their marriage into his poorly constructed schema.

Chase, all the while, was sizing the wedding dress up—he carefully took hold of the hanger, and tucked one arm under the skirt. It was so sparkly. The dress only stung a little with the remnants of alternators and fitters, so Chase as able to carry the gown to his Mama without much trouble.

“I love the sparkles,” Chase advised his mother, beaming.

Chase was practically reverberating with impatience when his cousin and his doppelganger finally arrived at the door to Pop Subject, fidgeting impatiently. When his two relatives finally joined him, he was all but ready to bolt before Mari halted them to lay some ground-rules. Okay, okay. Stay in Mari's line of sight, don't run off, she was there for whatever. Okay, trouble.

"Mari, we're thirteen!" Chase reminded his cousin. As if that precluded Chase and Toby from finding trouble, "We know how to act in a store!" At least, in a group as small as this. Chase didn't need to prove how cool he was to Toby, so there was no need to act like a peacock or a fool.

Chase tugged at his doppelganger's wrist, gesturing for him to follow him past the wall of shelving that hosted t-shirts, and the siren call of accessories on the rotating displays. The eager human-shifter cut towards the back of the store, plunging into the thrumming punk music. Toby did not follow, distracted by the pins, toys, and sundry of crap by the registers. He'd never seen such multicolored and pointless things.

Chase's eyes seemed to illuminate with excitment when he spied the wall of dresses and strappy skirts. He glanced over his shoulder, spying Mari. She didn't seem to be looking his way at that moment. The shapehsifter ran his hand over a dress, clutching at the hem of its skirt and fanning it. It was black, with a "T" neckline and a mesh back. Too fancy. He moved down the rack. This is why he was here.

Toby, all the while, found a lethargic looking fried egg which, when squeezed, deflated-- but, when he opened his hand, it resumed its previous shape.

"Mari?" Toby asked, turning to face her with the strange squishy egg in his palm, "What's the purpose of this?"

Chase gladly took the cell phone into his hand, the device stinging in his palm. The tendrils of his hand swelled around the phone, course grey furs surging out like timelapsed blades of growing grass. His limbs lengthened, face shifted-- belatedly, Chase realized he should hop out of the tree. Luke was big and he might break the branch. But the shift (which occupied all of a few seconds), left him discombobulated, and Luke's doppelganger landed on his butt. The doppelganger looked up at the original with amused, green eyes.

"I'm you!" the duplicate announced, smiling from ear-to-ear. One pointed ear flicked, and faux-Luke ran a padded hand over a pointed ear. A twitch of delight crept into his tail. His head had stopped reeling, so faux-Luke got carefully to his feet, steadying himself with a hand upon the tree-trunk. More hesitant tail wags ensued.

"You're tall," faux-Luke observed.