A/N: CS is barebones for a reason.

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The audience filed out of the club where they'd just been entertained by the spectacle that was the latest Master EffeX Show.

Man: "Now that was a show! Just like Birthday parties of yore-"

Woman: "Really? Don't you think Master EffeX is like, a Birthday party graduate x times over?"

Man: "Well yeah! That goes without saying I just mean - good wholesome en'ertainment! Do you remember that mutie circus that tried to set up in Central Park 5 months ago?"

Woman: "Forget that! The other day I found two of them camping out in the empty lot by my place. One was doing something like instant portraits? The other offered to keep all our lawns managed if we let them be. Right! I didn't waste time reporting them - they'll get us comfortable and before long expect to be paid. Could you imagine?!"

'If they knew what they just walked out of..' Master EffeX thought, as the two went past him without catching on. On stage, Master EffeX was a showman. Off stage, drew very little attention to himself. Even the more magician-esque wardrobe he sported on stage vanished when he got off - it was part of the illusion.

Now, sporting a dark purple could-be-mistaken-for-black jacket, currently open, overtop a black and dark teal raglan shirt, black pants with the same teal accenting the pockets, and dark athletic sneakers with light blue accents, Master Effex was leaning against the building, near the mouth of an alleyway, looking through a drawstring bag for something.

Well actually what he was doing was counting his cash which he kept rolled up with rubber bands, though since he wasn't lifting any of the rolls out of the bag it could've been mistaken for rummaging. Even if someone came up lookin' for what he had inside, Master Effex wasn't concened - he'd just make an illusion to disguise his cash as junk.

He had the presence of mind to save most of his earnings, though for what he didn't know. Especially since.....
'Was it just five months ago?' he asked himself, playing over what that man had said about the Mutant circus. Or coming up on a year... Master Effex had lost sense of time. Even seasons didn't serve as reliable time markers - he'd remember something in relation but then couldn't pin down if that was recent or further back. Just another part of the strangeness...

Master Effex had paused in his actions, taking on a lost look.
He sighed as he made himself shift his mind.

It was about 9 o'clock at night.
Presently he wound his way through the New York pedestrian traffic on his way to the grand symphony hall.

When he arrived there though, he didn't go inside. At least, not properly.
He took a back way, exterior staircases, until he was on the roof where he slipped into the open windows of an attic space.

He never knew if it was long since forgotten or what. It was home to old instruments -although some still seemed in beautiful working condition- old stuff n' junk. Ha - he had seen this space in a movie once and wondered if it was real or movie magic. It delighted him when he discovered it was the former. That discovery was made when he was about the age of the star. Master Effex had snuck out one night, took a bus and the subway...

His parents had not been impressed when they found him.

Would they be impressed by what he did, now?
Master Effex would've welcomed their disapproval.

At least it would've meant they were there to give it.

A slight gasp suddenly escaped Master Effex's mouth as something became apparent to him.
He wasn't alone.

He trained his eyes on the shadows where he'd just seen movement, just heard a sound.
He had no idea if what was over there was looking his way, which meant they may or may not yet know that he knew they were there.

Was it safer to alert them to this fact, or to try and hide, himself?
He decided to go with both.

"I know you're there. What I don't know is who are you?" He stated and asked, using his powers to make himself appear invisible -rather, make himself not appear at all.

Just some disembodied voice.
Or so he should be....

Mimoza didn't overstay their welcome at the shelter that had taken them in for the last week...or was it month? They couldn't remember honestly; time had been strange lately with days blurring together into a tangled mess. Mim tried piecing them together however it was a puzzle with multiple parts missing so the full picture wasn't seen. It didn't matter now. Besides, they've survived this long right?

But it always wasn't like this. They could feel it. It started when they woke up in Westminister with no recollection of how or why they were there. All Mim had to their name was a backpack filled with spare clothes, their phone, and a wallet filled with allowance money. Wait, allowance? How did they even have an allowance if they didn't have a place to call home?

Whenever they slept faces and voices of people appeared in their dreams; despite the odd familiarity they knew they'd never seen those people before. Even trying to change their face into those who plagued their dreams only resulted in something straight from the uncanny valley. They stopped after a while, deciding to leave that puzzle alone.

Besides, they had to keep up the appearance of a normal human being. Normal...something Mim was not. People would run or call the police if they saw their true form; dark purple skin with scale like patterns, eyes a mix of lavender and sky blue, and moss green hair. The only things never changed in their more acceptable form were their eyes and hair.

Being it was getting late, around 8:30, Mim looked around for shelter. They knew a rooftop might work, however the cold weather was a problem. Nevertheless, they took the chance. Upon the roof, they glanced around, taking in the scenery before noticing an open window leading inside. Mim smiled before carefully falling through the window, listening for any signs of life.

Nothing so far. Good. Mim placed down the backpack and looked around the space, noticing old instruments and what seemed to be a sort of shelter. Someone had already claimed this space. A yelp escaped from Mim as they heard a male voice call out, unintentionally turning into their true self with a scaly ripple effect.

Mim looked towards where the voice came from and blinked. It was strange; the boy was standing there before them yet...not at the same time, like a hologram. "You're...you're a mutant...like me." They realized, coming closer to where he was, forgetting about their appearance which thankfully was clothed.

Master Effex heard a yelp and saw more movement, though he couldn't make out the kind.
The wordless exclamation at least took the edge off - somebody lying in wait for him would've been on the lookout for him coming in, would've known, wouldn't have--"

His thoughts were interrupted when they actually spoke to him and walked out.
Their form, eyes especially, were something to captivate. But he was more taken by the fact that those eyes were focused directly on him.

He let down his apparently faulty charade. "Yeah.." He answered, debating asking the question that was foremost on his mind. But why not? It was better to know these things. "Do you have psychic powers as well?" He meant "as well as" their obvious mutation. "You shouldn't have been able to see me."

Was he tired? Did that even matter?
He'd had more run down days but that never seemed to affect his performances - they gave him a jolt of energy, in fact.

Maybe it did matter, then....maybe he was tired and as this "performance" wasn't of the entertaining variety...I should've known they were here before I came in, he thought to himself in a little reprimand. Now that he thought it, even if this person in front of him were psychic, should he have picked up on it? The other psychics he'd "known"...if he'd had any sense they were in the room, was that from his powers or theirs? Or an unseen spatial interaction of the two...If he even had known what he thought he did... Maybe he only knew them from a familiarity of recurring dreams.

Master Effex refocused his mind.
He should've felt the presence of somebody before seeing them, he decided. Mutant powers or not.
He was getting too comfortable here.

His eyes, striking in their own way for the clarity of blue, were trained on the mutant in front of him.
In a strange contrast to how Master Effex actually felt -not or as least less threatened by them than he'd felt a minute ago- his guard was up more concretely than before.

"No, I'm not psychic. I'm a shifter." Mim replied, scales rippling as they made themselves look like the boy before changing back. "The only drawback is I can't shift into someone I've never seen before. As for seeing you...I don't understand it myself. For me you were both there yet not, like you were halfway through being invisible."

They tilted their head at him slightly. "You're not surprised by...this? Afraid even?" They asked, gesturing to their purple skin. A wave of deja vu came over them; the words were the same but they could remember who they spoke to. Only an amused, warm chuckle and a male voice saying nothing really surprised him lately. Mim shook their head to clear it.

"I'm sorry for crashing at your place. I didn't know anyone else was here and was looking for somewhere to stay for the night. I can find somewhere else to go."

Master Effex furrowed his brow at the knowledge they weren't a psychic - his brows raised soon after as he briefly found himself staring at, well, himself.

But it was more the way the shifting took place...He was positive he had never seen this individual before, but their shifting was familiar..though not highly. Perhaps he had caught a glimpse at some other time, like on the street out of the corner of his eye - who could say for sure with shifters.

Master Effex's mind was brought back to how they could partially see him, but then they caught his attention with a question. "No," he answered, "what's there to be afraid of." It was a statement not a question. His attention was on their reaction - not to him, but something seemed to strike them at their own words.

A new curiosity was just forming in his mind, when it was interrupted by them excusing themselves for crashing his place.

Master Effex considered..then answered: "I mean..it's alright. It's not really mine," he sort of gestured towards all the junk. True, he had made a little living space for himself with a makeshift bed, he had a lamp, a few provisions in an instrument case. But it wasn't like he owned the place. "And it's not exactly close quarters," he added. It was cluttered, but a comfortable size of space if one could look past that.

"Where did you stay last night?" he asked, more to gain information on this person than to be conversational. He felt he was going against his instincts in behaving as though suspicious, but, he wasn't assured he could trust his own instincts. Maybe they were still wrapped up in the world of his memories.