She takes the water and shakily sips at it. "How do you do that without puking? It felt like the worst case of the flu I've ever had."
"Yeah, I hear first shifts can be like that, especially for the larger forms, like bears. When you get better at it, it will happen quickly enough that you'll just feel a rush."
"I hope so, because that was....ugh. Awful. It felt so....weird."
"Well, I guess I'll take your word for it. I have to try it again if I ever want to master it after all. I'm just not so sure I want to anymore," she said with a grimace.
"I'm sorry. I really had it easy." he confesses
"I was in the middle of training...and I uh. Sneezed. Next thing I know, the room is bigger, everyone is bigger and they're all staring at me. Then my uncle came and picked me up and dismissed the class. Talk about awkward. After everyone left, he shifted, and told me what was going on. Then he started laughing. For a few minutes at least. Not everyone in my clan can shift. We're usually tested as teens, I had done it at 10.
Then my training and everything changed...." he stares off, remembering.
"Any way, I remember the training I had to under go to control it, which is what I'm using to help you. I didn't know it would be that bad. But as first tries go, it's the best I've seen."
"All the other lycans I know have been shifting back and forth since they were small. Wow. I guess there are more variations than I realized. It does feel better knowing I'm not the only one who's had trouble with learning to shift."
She set down the water. "Okay. I think I can handle trying again."
She closed her eyes tightly and concentrated as hard as she could. And for some reason she didn't fully understand stopped and took a deep breath which did help the nausea dissipate. This time she actually finished the transformation and held it for a full twenty seconds before panicking and reverting back to her initial form too quickly.
Sits with a stack of books around him, looking and cross referencing passages about the founding of agartha, and as much as he can about Amythyst dragons. Everything he's found up to this point has been either mired in vaguery or bogged down with myth and allegory. He just wanted the truth. He shut the book he was currently reading, and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. AS he was about to dive into the books again, he saw a turn at the bookshelf he had not noticed before. He got up, and returned these books to their proper place, and then headed to look at the ones he had apparently missed. He walked, seeing more of the same as he had seen, then realized his books were making the familiar sounds of walking accross metal decking. The shelves had become metal and neat and orderly. He continued, till a small number plate caught his eye. He knew from the prefix, this was a restricted area. He looked around, expecting a guard to come upon him. There were no guards, here, no other noises he could hear. He could not believe where he was, but he was here. So, he began to look for imperial records regarding the amythyst rebellion or anything related to the secession of their kind from the empire...
"There! You did it! Oh...! That was great! Why did you switch back? Was the form hard to hold?"
"There! You did it! Oh...! That was great! Why did you switch back? Was the form hard to hold?"
She curled up, trying to control the shaking. "F-f-felt strange. It scared me," she said, crying a little.
He takes a seat next to her again."Oh, Nala." he says quietly. "You shouldn't be scared! You're just taking the strength I know you have inside you and giving it form."
Ghalen finds a file marked Ianthe, the name of the amethyst dragon's home world according to Jiminy.
** spoiler omitted **
"I'm not used to thinking of myself as strong," she said quietly, wiping away the tears.
"Okay. I was startled, but I can do this. I just....I just need to stay calm."
"Would...would you mind very much shifting right now? I really want to hug you, but I still can't help but panic when I try to hug you when you're human. It's a process, I guess."
He shifts to mole form, big enough to hug.
He will try to find out more about the assassins, who they were, why they were chosen. More about the emporer that made the decision. Seems very...a-typical for a gold...
He shifts to mole form, big enough to hug.
Nala hugs him tightly, burying her face against his fur. It was only when he was like this that she could feel comfortable enough to be close to him. Messed up, but that's how things were for now.
Nuzzles her back, with quiet squeaks of contentment.
Nala's shaking stopped and the tension eased out of her. She had needed this. He probably had too.
"Your fur is so soft," she sighed.
He makes a sqeak that sounds like a giggle, then a 'thank you'.
Nala closed her eyes and relaxed, half dozing. She was totally unaware when she shifted this time.
Ghalen sits and boggles at his discovery. A gold had acted out of character and ordered genocide. It's not the first time in the Empire's history, nor probably the last. But a gold? He could find no other mention of any assassins. Why was that? They would have to be exemplarly to be used in such a fashion. Who willingly hunts dragons? Who would train such people in an empire full of...? Dragons. He begins to look for evidence of clandestine training programs with a bent on dragon hunting, empire sponsored.
Shifts into his hybrid form to handle the weight, but doesn't make a sound.
Realizing that was a dead end, he went back to what he had learned, and tried to find as close to the whole truth as he could, piecing parts from the Impirial records and the books here at Avalon.
Shifts into his hybrid form to handle the weight, but doesn't make a sound.
Looks up sleepily and realizes that things are different. She tries to speak and only a roar comes out. She tilts her head, unsure what to do now.
A clone appears holding a mirror, so she can see herself as a polar bear.
A clone appears holding a mirror, so she can see herself as a polar bear.
She looks at the mirror, startled. She tries to stand up, which succeeds, but trying to take a step didn't work out as well since she couldn't quite manage walking on two legs this way. She dropped back down to all fours and examined her front paws quizzically. She walked forward until her nose was touching the mirror and blinked at her reflection. She turned her head one way and then the other. Yes, it was definitely her. It felt very strange. The room seemed much smaller than before, but she supposed that it was just because she was larger.
He doesn't understand the call for genocide, but he does understand the need to put down rebellion. He switches his searchign to try to find out as much abtou amythyst dragons as possible.
Takes his human form as she moves about.
"Very good. You are quite the beautiful bear. Nice even lines, clean and clear fur, you kept your eye color! Powerful build, too. I'd say that's a very complete shift. Try trotting or running around a bit."
Takes his human form as she moves about.
"Very good. You are quite the beautiful bear. Nice even lines, clean and clear fur, you kept your eye color! Powerful build, too. I'd say that's a very complete shift. Try trotting or running around a bit."
She ducks her head in pleased embarrassment when he compliments her.
She tries to run, but gets tangled up a bit and tumbles as she isn't quite used to using four legs instead of two. She gets up and tries again this time with better luck.
"That's good! Try not to think of yourself in a bear form. That is you. The bear is part of you, just as much as your fey side. Don't think about trying to walk like a bear, just trust your instincts, and go with it."
She tried to relax and not think about how she was moving as much. That seemed to work better. Until she got close to the wall and wanted to turn. Her claws scrabbled on the stone and she realized too late that she had too much mass to stop so quickly. She slammed into the wall and tumbled over.
"They are going well," Zren said solemnly. "But it would be nice if our fellow students would take us more seriously."
"We are hoping that learning better manners will help," Rikken added.
"Are things going well for you? I know it can be difficult adjusting to new things.
"Avalon is so amazing. I've only been here a few weeks, but still, I have friends and... and a new family. And every day I'm learning more and I have more control over myself. It's so amazing." Vai says solemnly, "My studies are going very well though, to answer your question."
He runs over.
"You alright?"
He runs over.
"You alright?"
She blinked and groaned and shifted back to her human appearance. "Ouch."
And then blushed furiously as she realized that she was completely naked. She tried to cover the relevant areas, but hands were woefully inadequate and she was so upset she couldn't make the shift back.
"Uhh..."
Ryuzo blushes, then shifts into his hybrid form, and removes his gi and hands it to Nala.
"Can't really see anything with all this fur..." he says as he turns his back to Nala so she can dress.
The gi transformed into a beautiful silk robe as she put it on.
"H-how do you keep your clothes with you when you transform?" she asked, her voice trembling as she tries to keep control of herself.
Vai looks at the half-ogres confusedly. "I thought we were already friends?" she says, surreptitiously reaching for another cookie. Her 6th or 7th at this point.
"There's a word in giant for what they're trying to say. Roughly translated it means cave-mates. Close friends that you can rely on in times of trouble and who you have fun with when things are going well. Someone you share everything with. In a tribe of ogres there is the group as a whole, but within the tribe there are family groups and even more important than that there are cave-mates. There are many such groups within one tribe. They don't really do romance so they don't have a word for that. Anyways, what they're trying to say is that to them right now you are like a member of the same tribe. But they would like to have a closer friendship with you in the future ."
The gi transformed into a beautiful silk robe as she put it on.
"H-how do you keep your clothes with you when you transform?" she asked, her voice trembling as she tries to keep control of herself.
"Umm. Mine just do. Yours should have also. Just remember to imagine your clothed self when changing back?" he's still blushing
"R-right. Ummm....I'll be right back," she said, and teleported to her room. She had only intended to change her clothes so she could give him back his gi, but as soon as she got there she couldn't quite resist the urge to throw herself across the bed and have a good cry.
"Wow..." he says to himself after she leaves, not quite able to get her naked image out of his head. The sheer beauty was mind boggling. He kicked himself mentaly, and utters "I probably could have handled that better..."
He sits and awaits her return...
Eventually she stopped crying, exhausted. She got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face and blow her nose. She was lucky that her eyes didn't get red when she cried, so at least she didn't have to worry about looking like she'd been crying.
She took off the gi, which changed back to its normal appearance when she took it off. Interesting. Must save on clothes if your outfit can look different depending on your mood. She put on some comfortable clothes, jeans and a white off-the-shoulder cashmere sweater with some moccasin boots, and brushed her hair. There. She looked neat and collected and not at all like she'd been crying hysterically just a couple minutes before.
She picked up the gi and teleported back to the practice room. "Okay, I'm doing better now. I brought back your gi. Well, at least I got that embarrassing incident out of the way during practice," she said, still having trouble looking him in the eye.
He stands up and walks over to her...and tips her chin up to look him in the eye, gently.
"I...you are...the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life. I had to say that. I didn't want you to think I was disappointed with what I saw. Not at all! I don't think I handled that as well as I could have...and I'm sorry. I should have thought about the change and how it affects your possesions. I'm so sorry."
"I wasn't upset because of your reaction. The situation....it brought back a lot of painful memories of times when I was forcibly stripped. I know that I can trust you even if I do have moments of panic in spite of that. And this certainly helps reinforce that. Although it is nice to know you liked what you saw," she said with a small smile.
"From what you said before, you had a pretty easy time learning how to shift. It's not too surprising that you wouldn't think of the complications that can happen for those of us getting a later start at it. I'm not mad."