The Planewalkers' Journies

[Shinigori V2]

"Okay then. Show me."

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"...You want me to change into everything?"

[Shinigori V2]

"No, just something else."

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"Oh. Well, that's easy." The edges of the marble shift and it loses its color, fading to a translucent red, as the being changes into a ruby about the size of Shawn. "Now what?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Well, now you're a ruby." Shawn says, matter of factly.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"...Hmph. Really? Well, that's just one thing, I bet."

[Shinigori V2]

"So you're saying you can only be the one thing?"

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"No! I'm saying that I bet there aren't words for other things."

[Shinigori V2]

"Okay, try it."

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"I will!" The ruby melts and changes color, until in its place floats an undulating mass of green, opaque liquid, its surface rippling from an unseen breeze. "I bet this doesn't have a word."

[Shinigori V2]

"That's Frank." she says, almost bored.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Changing more rapidly, the being takes the form of a collection of whirling shards of metal, a giant brick of granite, and what can only be described as an explosion frozen at the peak of its eruption, one after another. "Well?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Ben, Joe, Izzy."

[Idran1701]

Limbo

With a strangled grunt of frustration, the being begins shifting more often, jumping from form to form for merely an instant before moving on. It's hard for her to pick out every change, but she can pull out a few - a mass of straw or hair, a ring of molten gold, a massive horned skull, a blue rubber ball - but it continues for at least half a minute, with dozens of forms shown. When done, settled in the shape of a limbless, leafless tree, it speaks up with exasperation. "What about those? You can't have words for all those!"

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn finally looks impressed. She nods, and asks- "How do you do that?"

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Losing all trace of irritation from its voice, it replies with its own interest. "I just do I guess. How do you not do it?"

[Shinigori V2]

"You have to be doing something." Shawn says.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"I do? Why? It's just something that is for me."

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn thinks for a moment, then turns to her teacher. "You might want to stand back; I wanna try something."

With that, she'll reform the cave around her teacher, but let herself float free.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Concentrating, Shawn tries to let herself go as she floats in front of the being. Her own shape now changing, she does her best to take on the form she wants, and though she can't do it exactly as she hoped, she finds the next-best equivalent. Her outer layer of armor and clothing slipping off and floating around her in the chaos, Shawn is now in the shape of a floating ball of fiery, invisible smoke, her edges flicker heatlessly against the roiling chaos.

Now rotating around her, Shawn gets the feeling she's being very closely observed. "Oh, you can do it too? I thought you couldn't. When did you do that, you said you were always the same, didn't you?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Only if I want to be."

Shawn herself was fairly giddy; she hadn't expected it to work, but being a ball of light (Or close enough) was...Certainly not bad at all.

"I want you to teach me. Teach me to become like you."

In the meantime, she'll close the cave around herself again, floating to her teacher. "What do you think?"

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Watching her, Thilqua seems quite surprised by her change, searching for something to say. "...This explains your talents, I assume. But you certainly must not be a petitioner as this one. What are you?"

Once she finishes speaking, the being cuts in, floating still in front of her. "I don't know how to teach you, but you could follow me around I guess. It's like trying to teach someone to talk, it just happens. You say stuff and then it means something."

[Shinigori V2]

"I..Don't know." Shawn says, ever so sadly. "But..WOuld you mind if we continued this later?"

[Idran1701]

Limbo

After a pause, she nods. "If that is what you wish. When you desire to begin again, you know where we may meet." Turning back towards the city, Thilqua conjures up another pathway and begins the walk back, leaving Shawn and the being to their discussion.

Meanwhile, Shawn's starting to feel an exhaustion keeping up such a strange form; she doesn't think she'll be able to hold it for very much longer.

[Shinigori V2]

No, that wouldn't do at all. She'll bristle with irritation, and redouble- No, triple her efforts to stay in this form. She let's the energies of the realm flow around, and even through her, and convince her body that she had transformed wholey, and had no need to change back until she damn well said so.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

As Shawn focuses all her willpower on holding her form, the being floats silently in the form of a spindly, abstract copper sculpture. "So...you still want to follow me around? I was starting to get bored here anyway."

[Shinigori V2]

"Y..Yes...Give me...Just a second..."

Shawn continues to try and complete her transformation, so as to be able to hold it effortlessly.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

With a burst of willpower, Shawn stabilizes herself as best she can. It's not permanent, but she can hold on for a few minutes, at least.

[Shinigori V2]

A few minutes? That wasn't good enough. She needed to find a way to do more.

"...I can't stay this way; I'm gonna get tired. Do you have any ideas?"

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"...Uh...not really. I don't get tired. Is that bad for you?"

[Shinigori V2]

"It means I go back to how I normally look, and can't change for a bit, but I don't want that."

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"Oh, you mean how you looked before? Oh. Well...I don't know what to do about that. If I don't want to change then I just don't. Did you try that?"

[Shinigori V2]

"No, I..."

...

She'll relax herself fully, and just say no.

No, she won't change back.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Shawn tries her best to follow its advice, and it seems to work to a degree. Relaxing doesn't seem to do it, but she's able to order her body to keep this form so long as she holds full concentration on it. She can't do much else but that - she can talk, and move, but not both - but it's something. It's nowhere near as easy as she might hope, but at least it works.

But while Shawn struggles, the being replies. "What's it matter what you look like anyway? It's just shape, it's not important stuff."

[Shinigori V2]

"I don't want to change unless...I want to change. If that makes sense."

After a minute of holding it, she'll just let herself go, returning to normal form.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

"Oh. Well, yeah, who would?"

Letting her efforts drop after a bit, Shawn shifts back to her normal form, still in her jumpsuit floating alongside the being.

"Hey, I can be that thing instead if you want. That way one of us is."

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn shakes her head, and tries something a little less extreme, but still more than she normally has.

She recalls stories she read, about a creature she wished she would run across at some point, and tries to reform into that, instead.

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Focusing her mind again, she shifts her form. Her legs fade away, her lower body replaced with a cloud of fog trailing off from her torso. It's not precisely the form of the creature she wished to mimic, but it's fairly close.

"All right, if you don't want me to. I'm going to go, you can follow me if you want."

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn looked herself over, grinning a bit. She'd try to alter her clothes a bit, bringing up the bottom of the suit to fit a little more with her theme now, and pulling the sleeves in.

Though Jack's question would snap her out of it. "...Yes! Yes. Yes, I'm coming. Yeah. Okay, let's go."

[Idran1701]

Limbo

Darting off through the plane, Shawn follows closely behind "Jack". It doesn't seem inclined to do anything in particular, just whatever pops into its mind at the time. The two curve around the occasional bubble of matter that forms in their path while avoiding the short-lived pops of liquid flame, churning whirlwinds of dust, or other natural hazards that form with little warning and disappear just as quickly. Shifting from form to form, the being's attention for now still seems to be on talking with its companion.

"So what do you do, anyway? Do you have any interesting stories? That lorraine I met before had some."