Xaviers!

"That's probably true no matter what is going on but it hella jives with what he said to me. How it felt like the closest thing to heaven and now that's been taken away..."

"Yeah, but that's a bit of a one-way trip, isn't it?"

"At least under normal circumstances. Damn, Aunt Nailah would have thoughts on this, I bet..."

"Why would... oh right, your Nailah isn't a caffeinated ball of punching things."

"Yeah, she's way more into pretending she isn't being the smuggest person in the room. But you can't argue with the fact she knows stuff. Ah fuck, she probably probably does know something about this but never told anybody because reasons. She does that a lot."

"And I understand she basically... was your dad, for awhile?"

"He was possessed by her spirit, according to him. Which, I mean, I don't know why they'd all agree to pull a decade-long prank on me, so it's probably true?"

"A precog probably could pull off a decade-long prank."

Robin chuckles. "You know what, if I fall for that then it's bloody well earned."

"So... aye. Sorry if I kind of went hard mode on your first stream, there."

"Don't sweat it. It'll be a while till there's really people watching anyway. And this is some serious stuff. You planning on going after Nega-Sam?"

"I... don't know, really. On her way out she warned me, somewhat. And I don't mean warned me about her."

"About what then?"

"There's more things that can reach that tree. I don't know if they're all versions of me, but it seems like more than just her and I are."

"And this one's... worse than her. Older. More broken. Power, but without a body."

"Always a bigger fish, huh? Very convenient for Miss Murder Morrigan."

"Maybe, but she seemed honestly... scared?"

"Well, maybe they can keep each other busy for a while."

"Might take both of us to take care of it, sad to say."

Robin nods. "Classic team-up with the villain stuff. Just remember she's probably gonna try to stab you in the back the moment you're clear. Happens every time." From the stupid grin on her face it's clear Robin is enjoying it immensely to give superhero tips to the a Samantha McManus.

"Of course," she snorts, "old hat for you, I suppose."

"I've never actually run into an Evil Me... Legion's bad enough, Anti-Robin would just be obnoxious." she chuckles.

"Ah, yes. The opposite of you," she deadpans.

"Oof!" Robin winces. "Samantha. Don't murder me like that on stream." she laughs.

"Anyway, I'll... try to be a bit more open about things, aye?"

"Yes! Open is good. Sooo... you wanna do a proper interview?" she grins, waggling her eyebrows encouragingly.

"Alright, alright, it's the least I can do after unloading on you there."

"Yusss! Alright everybody - or all three of you - this is Sam, first interviewee on... what should we call this. Robin's Breakfast Corner or something? Eh, I'll figure it out later. But anyway! Your powers are shapeshifting and telepathy, right? How's that affect your day to day life?"

"They're pretty linked together for me, so it used to be a real nightmare. I mean, literally. I turned into one of my sister's nightmares the first time my powers came out. For awhile after that I had a tendency to shift based on what people around me were thinking, and as it got better I still reflected what they thought of me for awhile."

"Now I've got more personal control over what I look like day to day, but that's kind of just shifted the focus a bit, aye? Like it's still a bit of a moving target, depending on what's on my mind some days."

"It's body language, if you think about it. Just to an extreme degree, which is great for expressing yourself but it does leave you kinda exposed. Which is a lot even without other peoples' thoughts getting a say in it. So you'd say a lot of telepathy is not having outside thoughts in your head? People always worry a telepath could or would ~unearth their darkest secrets~." she says in an overly spooky voice. "Have you ever actually done anything like that?"

"Well, a big part of them teaching me to control it was, like, unending telepathic ethics classes."

"Right, ethics, that's probably a big concern. But also, you didn't answer the question." she says with bit of a smirk.

"Very few people's heads are open books. There's a lot of metaphor and dream-logic to sort through and you can't really brute-force your way through without endangering what you're looking for."

"So you end up having to play by the 'rules' of someone's personal perspective. It's work, and it's not something you'd do lightly even if you wanted to."

"Right, yeah, there's a lot of work and effort that goes into things. S'easy for me to forget that myself cause it's second nature by now. I got lucky being born with powers so I don't really notice anymore but for most it's like having to walk all over again. That's why you spend time at Muir, right?"

"Right, I wasn't really coping all that well at first."

"Even the best mutations can be rough. It's a lot and it flips your whole world upside down." Robin nods. "Ooh! Ooh! We actually got a viewer question! Amity93 wants to know what it feels like to shapeshift. I can take this one, but I think Sam's answer might be different?"

"Well for me it's like... getting into a role. Even if I'm copying someone I'm not really sweating specific details. I don't have to know how to make a bone, or where blood vessels go. So it's more getting the concept in my head and my body sorts out the rest. Getting into the mindset of an animal to shift into one, but taking care not to go too deep."

"See, she's all... method acting and getting the overall... vibe right. I'm much more improv. You just kinda get all limber and droopy like you're letting all your muscles go and you just feel smooooth so you can clench your imaginary muscles differently and the whole of you adjusts to how you want it to be. I think it's much more kinetic than how Sam does it."

"And I mean sensation-wise it's always just... you, you know? It's just 'you' is a broader term than you think."

"Spoken like someone who's never been a car." Robin chuckles.

"Yes, yes, I'm doomed to be forever meat."