Caine huffs, shifting closer to Jamie and eyeing the (nudist?) Elf more seriously. 

Erin side-eyes the boys, then returns to staring at the elf, "Um," she says, and then stalls. 

She tries again, "I think... anyone can be naked in public? They'd just be arrested for public indecency if they were?" 

The (nudist?) elf (?) turns his gaze at Erin and nods after a long moment.

He is wearing a mix of normal clothes and fantasy-style leather armor. Like a cosplayer half way done through the costume.

"That was a serious question, and not an invitation," he clarifies, "would you say that you or your friends have experienced... a change of opinions recently?"

Caine relaxes a bit, eyeing the other boys as they blink innocently (Jamie) and flush (Robin). He notes that Erin is looking down at her scanner to see if it has anything to say about the new arrival. 

Observations complete, he looks back up at the elf?, "About elf nudity?" He asks, dry. 

"About opinions in general." He looks around. "We shouldn't talk this in here."

The scanner identifies him as a human/elf hybrid. Elves, the scanner says, are a mysterious species native to Earth.

What.

Erin stares at the scanner. 

Then she recalls that she is actually a lizard person, tucks this revelation in among the 'this is my life now' set of files, and carries on. 

Robin recovers from his embarrassment, glances from the unconscious shapeshifter to the Mercury Synthesis building, and then to Caine, who he can tell is not inclined to agree with the stranger's suggestion. 

He nudges Caine, "Come on," he says, "We weren't sure how to get in there without being found - which we didn't manage anyway..." he trails off, "Maybe this guy has some idea what's going on?"

Caine gives in, grudingly, and the four of them follow the half-elf.  

Wordlessly Fenris pushes not-Samuel to a corner then he says. "Camouflage." And not-Samuel appears disappears. "I do know what's going on, to a degree. Follow me." He starts moving. "How long since you noticed things?"

"Well," Jamie tells him, squinting at the spot where Not-Samuel had been as he passes it, "If you mean 'when did things start getting weird', I'd say yesterday morning." 

He nods over at Erin, "At first it was Erin, and then Robin, and then Caine's dad turned out to be some kind of secret agent, and now apparently I have psychometry?" 

An astute sort would notice that the only secrets he's revealed are his own and the one that was already somewhat obvious due to what the Samuel imposter was wearing. 

"At least we managed to find you fairly quick. First of everything, there is... a force - one could say it's magical - that has been changing places. They go from normal to having supernatural things of various sorts."

Robin frowns, "But. Mr. Atten - the guy that shapeshifter was copying - he seemed to have fought shapeshifters before? And we found all these files, about the last invasion, 20 years ago or something." 

And, the presence of Sam's mind reminds him, "And Sam said he'd always been giant," he adds, a statement which night not make any sense depending on whether their rescuer can see the giant invisible lizard. 

"The phenomena alters memories, objects and even places. All my childhood pictures have pointy-ears now and no one remembers otherwise." Pause. "At least in the affected areas. If you go outside range there is a layer over changed things and they sort look normal again and people remember things as they were."

Fenris does not appear to be specially bothered by the giant lizard comment.

Erin is struck by curiosity over whether any of her childhood photos depict her lizard form now. Not that there's a whole lot of them, mostly school photos and formal family ones. Maybe not, then. 

Something else occurs to her, though, "My parents were out of town," she says, "They were supposed to get back early yesterday morning, but I haven't been home to check since before they would have gotten home. What happens if they were outside when the... change happened?"

"Oh, I am sorry, but if they step back in town they are going to be changed to fit in."

Jamie's not going to say anything, but considering the way Erin's parents treat her he wouldn't be surprised to find out they'd been lizard people all along, never mind this 'force'. 

"So if everyone is supposed to forget that it wasn't always like this, why do we remember? Why do you?"

"I want to go somewhere safer before I go into all details. But the force that causes this picks a group of people. The changes are extrapolated from them. In my case, it was me and my D&D group. I gather that you got something more sci-fi ish?"

"Yeah," Robin agrees, "Alien invasions, pseudo-science space magic, futuristic gadgets- the works." 

"Is it just you here? Are you taking us someplace in particular, or should we be going to one of our places, or?" 

"I was looking for a city park, but one of your places should work just as well. There are others, we split up to cover more ground."

"My place is closest," Robin offers, the he shakes his head, "But we're actually, kinda, skipping class right now, so we should probably go to Caine or Erin's instead." 

Caine nods, and moves to take the lead of the group, though of course his friends all know how to get to his place as well. 

"Will your group be able to find you?" Robin asks.

"Once I have directions to give them. I do have a phone, but given the sci-finess I figure it's better to use a communication spell once we are somewhere secure."

"A spell?" Robin repeats, "You said it was your D&D group, so, what, you're all D&D characters now?" 

They reach the edge of the industrial zone and begin walking down a low-class residential street. The apartment is a good 20 minute walk further. 

"Yeah. It isn't a direct translation and I didn't become my own character, but it's pretty obviously based on D&D tropes and the like. What's your theme?"

Robin shrugs, "We seem to have a generic Sci-fi theme," he says, "You know, sci-fi not-magic and psychic powers, hologram disguises, shapeshifters, tricorders, mysterious medical tech, apparently shapeshifters are vulnerable to a certain kind of plastic? That sort of thing."

"Huh, and are you star trek or star wars fans?"