Shim's Circle 2: Hypothetically

[packbat]

Pine eyed the ring dubiously, trying to imagine being a dragon and fitting within the circle.

"It's what I have", Shim said apologetically. "I didn't know a lot of alters before this, so I wasn't thinking about the range of scale." The kobold paused. "And I'm not sure I could have gotten a license for a larger one anyway."

"I guess I'll try to be compact", Pine replied. "Okay, I'll give it a try."

---

To be fair, it wasn't hard for Pine to be compact. He'd actually found it a little disconcerting to be taller than someone he was speaking to - if, well, also an experience that would be quite nice in less formal circumstances - and levitating gently with his eyes closed in the center of the ring, he probably couldn't have reached out to touch the edge even while leaning forwards.

His wingspan would probably be an issue, though, if he were a dragon right now. He wasn't - he was the same human shape that had walked into the ring - but he habitually thought about how his shape would have interacted with chairs or doorways or buses, if he were a dragon, and if he were, he'd want to be holding his wings in close around his torso and his tail curled around him as he sat.

Pine breathed slowly, in and out.

It wasn't a large ring. He could sense the limits of them around him - a narrow circle, farther across than his human length but close enough that he should probably stand hind-legged, if he were a dragon in here, claws set a little space apart and tail ... winding around them, in the small amount of space.

And crouching slightly - Pine unconsciously bent his human legs in imitation of that pose, tilted his head forward a little so his horns would clear the ceiling beam, if he were a dragon.

It was very small. Pine tensed, concentrating on maintaining his human form as he became increasingly aware of just how little space there was in this column of air, floor to ceiling across the width of a painted ring - imagined as a chime sounded somewhere his dragon form holding itself tightly squeezed to avoid breaking the circle--

--and then he felt his human feet touching down and the wall evaporate around him.

Pine opened his eyes and looked around. He'd have to balance carefully to stand here without knocking things over, but the room was large enough to shift, if he needed to.

And Shim was staring at him from behind eir computer.

Pine blushed immediately. Damnit.

"I would normally be talking about filling out the post-transformation checklist, but you look exactly the same", Shim said.

Pine blushed harder and looked down. This is not the time, mister, he scolded himself ineffectually.

"...are you okay?" Shim said.

"I, uh", Pine replied, "probably shouldn't shift in here. It's bigger than the circle but it's not that much room." He looked around the room - he could probably step over the various cables and stay clear of the desks, although the door might be a challenge. He was flexible, though - he might be able to get through.

He snuck a glance at Shim, who had fortunately (damnit...) stopped staring at him to look back at eir computer screen.

"I can, if you need me to", Pine failed to say calmly. "For diagnostic purposes." Shim looked back at him and he quickly looked down at his (temporarily human) feet again.

"You can shapeshift." Shim said, and Pine nodded. There was a pause.

"...would it help if I stepped outside for a minute?" Shim asked. "You look really uncomfortable."

"Uh", Pine said eloquently. He couldn't meet Shim's eyes.

"It's okay - I just need to know it worked before I turn things off." The kobold hopped off eir stool. "Take your time - I'll just be in the hall."

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Originally posted 2020-11-18