Xaviers!

Shane stood before Will's mirror, studying it.

"Hey there old man," he said uncertainly.

Shane's reflection was perhaps the least changed of everyone's -- dude already had a green thing going on, so there wasn't that much for the mirror to change.

His reflection smiling and waving back at him after a moment's pause, however, was a bit more unsettling -- that's not how mirrors work.

"Yeah, please don't do that. It's bloody creepy."

With a bit of a pout and a shrug, Shane's reflection returned to...well, reflecting Shane.

"You going to come out or do I have to put a coin in or whatever?"

After a moment's wait, a Will popped his head out of the mirror, pushing a pair of glasses back into place.

"Something up, Shane? What's going on?"

"Nothing to worry about, at least. I'm trying to put a band together for that competition thing and I was wondering if you wanted in. I could really use a drummer."

"Hrm? Competition thing? News to me. Could be fun, though -- what kind of band are you looking for?"

"You know me. Retro hard rock mostly. But with Shari involved and insisting on playing a bloody saxophone, I'm having to be a little experimental. So there's wiggle room. "

"Well, I mean, I'm made of wriggle room. You just need a drum machine, or you looking for something with a little more style?"

"Hah! If I showed up with a drum machine, I'd get laughed off the stage. So, yeah, more style."

"Or just be a you who can play drums. I can get drums. Rich kid, remember?" he added with a smirk.

"So, just a generic drummer guy? Alright, if that's what you need, I can do that," Will nodded.

"You're gonna be with a humanoid plant, space alien in disguise, and a bloody frakking dragon I convinced to be a keyboardist. Generic is the last thing you need to be."

"Well, then, again -- what do you want," Will enunciated. "You didn't tell me any of that. Do you guys have, like, a theme or a style or anything?"

"Oh yeah, right, I'm thinking we play what we've got and either go with a Nordic thing... Yggdrasil and Nidhogg and such, but that might be too metal band... or a Middle Earth thing... because, hey, it was good enough for Zeppelin."

"Granted, a lot of Tolkien is Norse myth anyway."

"So...something fantasy-esque? Intimidating, maybe?"

"Nah. Not going for metal. Maybe... oh! Or just use being mutants as a theme. Dress as superheroes. Not our X-suits, comic book style. And a name to match..." he said, growing thoughtful.

"So, what...cosplay as the Fantastic Four or the Avengers or something? Yeah, I could see that -- something realistic and down to earth, if you're not going for fantasy."

"Like, buy some Fantastic Four-esque jumpsuits and slap the initials of whatever name we come up with on them?"

"So, back to the generic drummery dude. I can do that! Let me know where and when, and I'll be there."

"Again, don't be generic, be Captain Clay or something. But yeah, I'll keep you in the loop."

"Captain Clay, got it. See you then."

On another day...

Shane stepped before the mirror once more.

"About the band..."

"About the band?" a chorus of voices answered from the mirror.

"First of all, I've done some soul searching and I want to apologize for being a selfish, indecisive nob. I need more than generic background players that are only there to prop me up. What I really need from you is a side-man to shore up my weaknesses. My voice doesn't work for everything. You would probably fit that role better as the bass player. And Drake prefers drums anyway."

"Apologize?" Shane's reflection said back at him, his head tilting, part of the chorus speaking up. "You have done nothing to apologize for?"

"Only what I just said about being a git."

"So you up for being my musical wingman, or wingwoman if you want. I could really use help figuring out what to do with a bloody sax player."

"...You have a sax player in your band? I thought you were kind of a hard rock guy?" the Shane in the mirror asked, confused.

"I am, but Shari showed up all enthusiastic and I'm not exactly swimming in interested parties. So I said I'd figure it out."

"Wait, Shari?"

The mirror rippled, and a Will stepped out -- a bit of feathered, Robert Plant hair over jeans and a black T-Shirt.

"Skrulls don't have music. Well, OK, they do, but it's not really about harmony. As far as I could ever tell, it's chaotic noise.

She jammed with us -- uh, with me -- once, but she was still, uh, learning how the buttons worked. And then we got distracted and went to get stoned."

He paused. "Actually, that sounds about right for a rock band."

"She's trying some Skrull trick to take a crash course in music. For that, I pretty much have to give her a shot."

"Also... I wonder if weed even works on me? Alcohol doesn't anymore."

"Doesn't work on me either. No matter; we found a workaround," Will laughed.

"Wait, what did you get high on?"

"Glitter. And a bunch of used paint."

A pause.

"In my defense, I'm very stupid."

"Not sure that's a defense, mate," he smirked.

"Anyway... if we've got a sax we've gotta have at least one slower song it can stand out in. And if you say Careless Whisper, you're out."

"Well, that depends on how fast she can blow. A sax solo can fill in for a guitar plenty, if she's actually learned to play her horn. Has she?"

"She has, but we'll have to wait to hear how well until she's done Skrulling it into herself."

"In the meantime, for less of a sax showpiece I've considered Bad to the Bone or Paint it Black but with a sax standing in for the sitar. Or go with Brown Sugar since it's supposed to be there. And on that note, I only want two classic covers, tops."

"You have any songs of your own to work with?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. There's one I've done an acoustic version of at over the summer at the Rose and Crown that I'm bloody dying to give the full band treatment to. It started forming in my head after that Hollydale business made me a traveling bard, so it's got this neat medieval fantasy flourish to it."

"Well, let's go get some instruments and see if we can flesh it out before our alien horn-ets net comes in."