Xaviers!

Shari bursts out of the Med Center, disregarding complaints from people she pushes past in her rush. She leaps down the couple of stairs out front and in mid-air her body stretches. Faster. Longer limbs. Green skin fades into pale, almost white color, red anger blooming to the surface here and there. Her skin fans out into strange tendrils, not quite hair, not quite plant fibers, almost a little ephemeral like insect scales that trail after her as she runs. The long limbs almost turn into more of a stride as she hurries nowhere in particular. Just away. She should have known that having somebody truly understand was a pipe-dream. These people are aliens, strange and inflexible for the most part. Incapable and unwilling to change!

With limbs too long to be human, ending in three fingers, she starts climbing up the wall of the mansion, clambering to the roof and pausing for the first time. She doesn't have to catch her breath if she doesn't want to, other biological systems can do that much more effectively. No need to try for something so human, right? She stares up at the sky. She's alone. Even this place doesn't really change that. She doesn't belong anywhere. Not really. She feels tears welling up in her eyes and she can't really stop them.

Such a mood calls for a solemn, contemplative attitude.


"WOAH-OH! LIVING ON A PRAY-YAH!

TAKE MY HAND, YA DA DA DA DA DA,

WOAH-OH! LEMON ON A PAI-YAH!"


A clearly inebriated Will Stanton was not helping matters.

Shari crawls to the edge of the roof on all fours like some kind of humanoid insect as she stares down at the offending drunk, blinking the tears from her eyes with a glower. She let's out an annoyed hiss to try and shush Will as well as try to lean into the anger to plaster over her sadness.

"Eh? Whoozat. Whoozat on the roof?"

"Keep it down, people are trying to sulk up here." she informs him bluntly in mostly her own voice. The fact that it's breaking up a little is surely just because of the strange shape she's in.

"Oh, well, maybe people are trying to sulk down here! Ya ever think of that?"

"Who sulks out loud, yelling music at everyone?"

"It's called singing and it's what you do when you're pissed!"

"What do you have to be angry about?"

"The fact that I'm a fucking jackass loser? That a good enough start for ya? The fact that my true colors have shown, and they're yellow?"

She should feel some amount of vindication over Will admitting he's not all that, but somehow she doesn't. He's obviously upset, even if she doesn't really follow what he's saying at all. Yellow? What does that mean?

"I thought you liked the Green."

Will waved his hand dismissively -- and wobbly. "'Ts a saying. It means I think I'm so damn hot shit, but when tested, I wilt. A slap in the face, izwhatitis."

"Who slapped you?" she frowns. "Was it that floating girl?"

"I'mma gonna buy you a book of idioms," Will mumbled, kicking a rock. "You gots idioms on Skrulloousia Prime?"

"I know what idioms are. I just don't know what your idioms are." she pouts as she climbs down the front of the mansion.

"...'ts fair enough. Eh, you're arright, Shari, for an alien invader. You know that? Yer arright," he said, plopping down onto the ground.

"Yeah, cause I suck at it. Like I suck at everything else. At least when I was bad at being a conqueror I was messing things up for people who deserved it."

"Oh, please, you think YOU suck? Good lord, look at the king of suck over here. I should spend more time as a vacuum cleaner, I suck so much at being a person."

"Being people is stupid." Shari concurs, although that begs the question of what her definition of 'people' is here.

"Nah, it's not stupid, it's hard, and I've lost the knack."

"Whatever. It's too hard then." she says, sliding down against the wall until she's sitting on the ground.

"Yeah.

What's got your goat?"

"Natalie. I don't think she ever like-liked me. She just... thought it was easier to pretend or something..."

"Ah, fuck. I'm sorry to hear that," Will said, sympathetically resting a hand on Shari's shoulders. "She's got...well, she's got issues."

"And she wants to acknowledge exactly not a single one and now she's a robot, but apparently that's not an issue either and I tried to help but she just got angry at me cause she didn't really want to try and I knew it was stupid to expect a human to understand any of it anyway." she rambles.

"Whazzis about helping?" Will said, having a hard time following along with Shari's rants. "How'd you help?"

"You know, makin' sure she doesn't get too spooked by looking like Miss Minamida now, too confused."

"People get strangely attached to their look, so that was a good impulse.

People get strangely pissed form telling them what to do, so that was a bad impulse."

"I just wanted to help. Now we've done the breaking up."

"Well, we here on Earth have a tradition for this kind of thing," Will nodded, sagely.

"A tradition? What kind of tradition?"

"A very important and sacred tradition," he said, attempting to nod his head straight up and down, and failing.

"It involves getting absolutely smashed on alcohol and venting."

"I think I can up with a shape that's capable of that." she says, perking up a little.

"Right. And, as your roomate and guide to all things Earth, I will chaperone you for...for a night on the town!" he said, standing up...and immediately falling over again.

"Maybe you need some sturdier legs?" she offers as she gets up herself.

"Nah, I'll just...just need to get my bearings," Will said, waving his hand. "Bigger legs look weird on people."

"Yeah but you don't have to be people." she points out the obvious.

"They're likely not going to serve a minotaur or somethin' somethin', something something prejudice, and they definitely won't serve non-sentient beasts or inanimate objects. So, walkin' it is."

"Rude." she says as she slowly shrinks back to human shape.

"I know, right? That's why I guess I gotta keep trying this human thing; because people don't, ya know. Care about you otherwise," he said, taking one of Shari's arms to guide her (and not, of course, to lean on. No siree bob.)