Xaviers!

"But batteries do not have speakers."

"No but they could have. Stereos have both."

"Well, that works great when I'm a stereo."

"So why can't you be a blanket or a table or a fork that also has a miniature speaker?"

"Because that's not how those things work. They're not right."

"So? People said that about reading minds. Hell, they still do."

"That's different."

"How? You turn into things at will, as far as I can tell."

"Oh, no. I turn into very specific things."

"So if a table with a built-in speaker existed you could turn into it?"

"Oh, probably not. I only really do the one table."

"How do you pick up new shapes then?"

"Mostly manually--the girl form I made for Sam, for example, needed Alex to help mould me."

"The girl form you made for Sam?" she asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I'd show you but, you know. Chrome."

"I don't mind the chrome." she shrugs. "How did Sam like the shape you made for her?" she says, trying not to sound amused at Will's innocence about having a crush.

"She hasn't complained," Will said, after thinking for a bit.

"Seems like kind of an underwhelming response for something like that..."

"What would be a whelming response?"

"Well, did she appreciate it?"

"I mean, I guess? Sort of? She kind of didn't say much one way or another, but, to be fair, she was depressed after her date with Nailah didn't work."

"Ah, I see... Sounds like she wasn't really in the right mood to, hmm." she says, frowning a little.

"The right mood to...?"

"Appreciate the effort."

"Oh, I'm not looking to be appreciated, per se. If it makes it more comfortable to be around me, then it's good."

"Does she know that you have a crush on her?" she asks bluntly.

"I don't think so. I mean, she's a telepath, so I can't be sure."

"No, she doesn't seem the type to casually read someone's mind like that..."

"So, then, I'm going with no."

"Well as long as she's not stringing you along. I could talk to her if you want."

"Oh, I'm not sure that would be a good idea. I mean, it might make things weird, yes?"

"That's always the risk, I suppose."

"Plus...I don't want her to see me like this."

"I can understand that. Do you want me to take a look and see if it's a subconscious things?" she says, tapping her temple.

"I mean, if you think it would help..."

"Well you're a shapeshifter who is having trouble getting the shape right. It could very well be psychosomatic. It might be worth the try."

"Well, I trust you."

Miriam smiles. "I'll just take a quick look then." She reaches out to Will with her mind...

Once again, entering Will's mind offered little to no resistance--any telepath worth their salt could waltz right in.

Hey, her repaired building was still there! That's nice. That's probably a promising start.

Still, very very odd no one else was here.

Miriam once again hovers above the sea of clay, only this time she's looking for any signs that things might be different. Metaphorical chrome among the ruins, maybe. She really hopes she won't have to dig through the mud to find anything. As conveniently adaptive most of Will's mind was, it also made it difficult to determine what everything was without any activity from which to glean meaning.

Maybe a metal detector would work. She reaches down into the clay and enforces her will on it to create the tool she's looking for.