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xp_logs2023-11-15 11:40 am
xp_catseye) wrote in xp_logs2023-11-15 11:40 am
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[Sharon, Kevin] First Session
Sharon has her first shapeshifting lesson with Kevin, or attempts to do so. Shapeshifting, as it turns out, is not an exact science, although it is a deeply weird one.
She had been in the ballroom before, though it had seen no more use now than it had since her initial exploration. It hadn't been much interest to her: just a space, empty but for stacks of tables and chairs arranged by the sideboard. No doubt the chandeliers were expensive, and they did throw the light prettily when struck in the right way, but Sharon had no particular appreciation for things like early 20th century moldings or Beaux-Arts architecture. Still, the varnished floors were well-swept, and a table and set of chairs had been retrieved and set up for use. If you were looking for an unremarkable open space with few distractions it certainly excelled in that area.
"Have brought snacks," she declared as she set two pieces of tupperware onto the table. She turned to Kevin, tail flicking from beneath the hem of her loose smock dress. "Shifting requires energy still. Terry has prepared corned beef sandwiches. You do eat? Excluding times spent wrapped in chicken wire beneath large body of water."
"You're oddly fixated on the chicken wire years." Kevin said, coming over to check the sandwiches. He could immediately recognize Zane's corned beef from Sol's. "Sandwiches will do. I have my own snacks, without any justifiable excuse." He nodded over to the bottle and the single glass on the table. "Do you need to eat first or can we get started?"
"Of course I took note of those years. Description was so very graphic." Sharon resealed the tupperware with a decisive pssh and turned to the older man. "You have some experience with organs changing size when contents do not, maybe? Ate a few hours ago. We may start."
"Yes and no. I tend not to shed enough mass to make it an issue. I can just re-arrange things to fit when I'm dropping a foot or so and a couple of hundred pounds." Kevin said, pausing only to fill his glass from the bottle of top shelf bourbon he most certainly had not been the one to pay for. "What do you want to see first?"
"Everything," Sharon said immediately. "But it is unknown where our overlaps lie. Should I not first show you my range? Expect it is much more limited."
"If you want. Let's see what you're bringing to the table." Kevin sat down and motioned with his glass. "Impress me."
Preening a little, Sharon dropped into a crouch and shifted into her hybrid form.
"Is my base form. Speech is possible. Possess hands also, as you can see," she added as she used them to pull the smock dress over her head. Freed from the garment, Kevin could see the almost-human shoulders and prominent collarbone that hampered her ability to squeeze through narrow spaces. Sharon gave herself a little shake before continuing. "Cannot speak in next two forms, but is self-explanatory. I shall show you."
Sharon stretched her hands in front of her, and her body changed again. Her shoulders narrowed as her neck broadened, and her muzzle pushed forward to accommodate new ropes of muscles along her jaw. She yawned, and when she opened her mouth she displayed exceptionally long canines even for a big cat. The hands were gone, replaced with huge, blunt paws. The great cat paced in a lazy circle so he could get a good look at her, then changed again.
The previous two forms had maintained the same mass. The third change, though, was like watching a pile of sand flow into a crack. Sharon's mass flowed inward, her form contracting until she was the size of a twelve pound cat -- less than a tenth of her original weight. In this form her purple coat was closer to that of a medium-haired breed like a ragdoll than the sleek pelt of her larger self. She played a little for the look of it, assuming a defensive crouch before skittering backwards and rolling onto the floor.
When she was sure he must have had the information he needed, Sharon pushed herself back into her human form. Ensuring she'd eaten well the previous day and night made the still-difficult transition less taxing. The effect of a small housecat expanding into a human woman was disconcertingly close to the unfurling of a novelty bath sponge.
"Length and quality of fur varies per time of year," Sharon explained, emphasizing the point by looping her long tail across her front and over her shoulder like a fur stole. "In winter months it is longer, for warmth. Fur on my tail as well. Situational adaptation, maybe. These four shapes have been mine for as long as I remember, but this is why I think maybe they are not fixed."
Sharon looked at him expectantly, demonstration concluded. She had not bothered to step back into her dress.
"Hmm..." Sydney didn't say anything for a long moment, eyes tracking her but his expression giving away nothing, as always. "Define always. As in, as long as you can remember you've shifted between all four forms?"
"To both my memory and my mother's testimony. Infancy was nightmarishly protean. Born in intermediate form, began to slide across spectrum within a day. Personal theory: Imprinted on shapes I was first exposed to. Mother, yes, but also housecats. Advantages to either shape. Felines are born deaf and blind, but human infants are less mobile. Big cat shape seems to have come later, toddler years, maybe. Mother unsure as differences between the two shapes were initially minimal. But nature documentaries were frequent babysitter."
"So the forms weren't deliberate but imprinted? That's correct?" He took a long sip, turning things over in his mind. Something didn't make sense. "But how can you imprint in the womb? If you were born in the intermediate form, that's before a cat was ever involved in any kind of preceptorial sense. Even instinctive ones would not have been in play yet." He nodded at her dress. "If you're staying human you can put that back on for now. If one of the busybodies comes in, my only explanation is going to be we were about to have sex, and that would make Hardy angry at me."
It barely even qualified as a rebuke, but Sharon's pale face blotched. "Did not take another shapeshifter for precious," she said, covering her embarrassment with disdain as she pulled the smock over her head with deliberate slowness. She could feel her heartbeat in her cheeks. This wasn't like making a mistake with Liam; Felicia had trusted Sharon enough to send her to this man she clearly respected, and Sharon had already missed some vital social cue.
"Calm down. That's why we're in a room with a locked door. But when you're human and we're not working on something specific, best to put your clothes back on just in case. You won't embarrass or bother me, but someone else... for a place full of non-conventional relationships, polycules and FWB pride to the point of an obnoxious tattoo, they're ridiculous prudes sometimes." Kevin said lightly as she pulled on her dress. "That also didn't answer my question. Why a cat?"
Sharon studied him carefully, looking for a hint of anger or disappointment, but Kevin's lack of concern seemed authentic. The man's affect was reassuringly bland. Relieved she had neither caused offense nor reflected poorly on Felicia, Sharon nodded. "Yes. Others may misread situation. I will remember." She straightened her dress with great dignity and turned her thoughts to the question at hand.
"As for the rest, I have only hypothesis. I emerged from the womb as feline heteromorph. This was predicted by sonogram. As you say, this development would happen before exposure to external influences. Thus question is not 'why a cat', as I have always been cat, but 'why these types of cat'. If I was not exposed to housecat during a certain window, would that shape have become mine? Would the larger cat shape have been attainable if I did not have early examples? These are questions I have." The girl paused, chewing thoughtfully at her lip. "These questions, and one more. If I can introduce variations across feline forms, can I do so with human? I have never tried."
"Which is why I'm here. So, you have already said you modify the tail but the tail is present in every human form. Is that accurate?" Kevin said, draining and then refilling his glass.
"I have only this human form, but yes. My tail is my balance." Sharon swung the appendage forward, curling it in a way more similar to a lemur than a cat. Its purple winter-coat was thick and fluffy. "It is prehensile also. Not strong enough for brachiation, but useful for gripping."
"So you said you already change it. So change it now. Give me... I don't know, a Siamese cat tail."
Sharon looked uncertain. "Such adjustment is not intentional," she said dubiously, winding her tail loosely around her left wrist. She glanced back at him. "When you initiate a change, a specific adjustment, how do you do so?"
"Intent. I have control over the whole process. Do you?" He replied. "Can you will it?"
"To one of my established shapes, yes. To specific adjustments, no. Had not thought to try until I saw what you can do." Sharon stared at her tail with a look of intense concentration that yielded no obvious result. She frowned. "You can show me? Is fur within your capabilities?"
"Not like that. I can generate the tail but only observationally. However, we've proved yours isn't just observation. There's something intrinsic to it." Kevin said. "Don't think too much. Just try and shift into something different. Not specific. Just not your norm."
The girl tilted her head. "Observational? Form, but not function?"
"Form. What you can conceptualize. At any amount. A different hair colour, for example."
Sharon shook her head in a flurry of purple hair, keen for clarification. "No, you. Said you can generate a tail, but observationally only. Demonstration, please? Did ask what I wanted to see first," she pointed out.
"Oh that? Shit-" Kevin drained the glass and stood up. He unbuttoned his pants. "If anyone comes in, you and I are in love." He said archly before dropping his pants and underwear. In a moment, a tail was curled by his leg, with the cream and brown of a Siamese.
"Decline. Match would cry. Meaningless sex is more believable." Unfazed, Sharon circled him so she could see where it joined the base of his spine. Her own tail stretched out behind her, moving in short, curious flicks as she knelt to better inspect the appendage.
"I will touch?" she said, then paused. "That is too weird with your pants down, maybe."
"Feel free to touch the tail." Kevin stopped from making a joke she was utterly incapable of getting. The tail only made vague flicks compared to the animation of hers.
Sharon was about to do so when she remembered what Liam had said about certain kinds of touch having different implications as a human. Thinking perhaps this might be one of those situations she shifted to her hybrid shape, although it was possible any onlookers would have found this the opposite of an improvement.
"Have assumed a less erotic form. I shall now inspect." She took a length of tail between her clawed hands and palpated it gently to feel the underlying musculature. "It has sensation? Control?"
"Sensation but little control. There's a factor in the x-gene for control of certain non-human forms that I can replicate but not control. But you can, which is already a difference." Kevin pointed to the end of the tail. "I have nerve responses but nothing close to your responses."
Sharon made a rumbling noise deep in her throat and released the tail. She took advantage of her current shape to give her ear a quick scratch with a hind leg. "Had not considered this aspect. This is interesting. Tail is as much a part of me as arm or leg. You can subsume a limb if you wish? This is possible?"
"Like all things, to an extent. Human variants, I have full control. Non human but replicable, there's limits."
"And I am myself non-human to start. Must surely affect my proprioception if nothing else. Implications are fascinating." Sharon stretched herself backwards across the varnished floor, back arched, and nodded at the trousers around Kevin's ankles. "Am done with inspection now, by the way, though of course how you conduct remainder of our session is your choice."
Kevin sighed. "You're taking too many lessons from Hardy." He said, although the tail disappeared immediately as he redressed himself.
"Felicia is best teacher. She is beautiful and wise. She is able to change her shape with paint and cloth alone. But you shall do too, perhaps." Sharon curled into a crouch, transitioned back into human form, and rose to her feet. Her lips thinned as she brought her tail up to her hands, holding it as she had held Kevin's. "Okay. You have shown me your technique. I shall try again."
She stared at her tail, willing the thick fur to change. Kevin had made it look so effortless; surely if he could accomplish cream and brown she could at least darken the shade.
Several minutes later, frustrated, she declared, "It is not working."
"It isn't. So that is where we start next time." Kevin said.
Sharon dropped her tail, disappointed that she had not gotten the immediate gratification she craved. It was probably best to stop, however; that had been the most shifting she'd done in such a short period of time since she'd left home. It had been too much. She was more than hungry, she was exhausted.
Not that Kevin needed to know that.
"Next time," she agreed sullenly. With a heavy sigh she slumped into a chair and pulled a sandwich from the tupperware. "Shall eat and reflect. Much to think about."
"There's something to learn there." Kevin reached over and took his sandwich. "Proper corned beef has a long history. It is one of the most honest American inventions."
Sandwich just inches from her open mouth, Sharon gazed at Kevin. Even her limited experience with human society allowed her to recognize the signs of a man gearing up for a lecture on one of his special interests. Which, apparently, included the history of corned beef.
"Is true, then," she said, as if to herself.
"You really are old."
She had been in the ballroom before, though it had seen no more use now than it had since her initial exploration. It hadn't been much interest to her: just a space, empty but for stacks of tables and chairs arranged by the sideboard. No doubt the chandeliers were expensive, and they did throw the light prettily when struck in the right way, but Sharon had no particular appreciation for things like early 20th century moldings or Beaux-Arts architecture. Still, the varnished floors were well-swept, and a table and set of chairs had been retrieved and set up for use. If you were looking for an unremarkable open space with few distractions it certainly excelled in that area.
"Have brought snacks," she declared as she set two pieces of tupperware onto the table. She turned to Kevin, tail flicking from beneath the hem of her loose smock dress. "Shifting requires energy still. Terry has prepared corned beef sandwiches. You do eat? Excluding times spent wrapped in chicken wire beneath large body of water."
"You're oddly fixated on the chicken wire years." Kevin said, coming over to check the sandwiches. He could immediately recognize Zane's corned beef from Sol's. "Sandwiches will do. I have my own snacks, without any justifiable excuse." He nodded over to the bottle and the single glass on the table. "Do you need to eat first or can we get started?"
"Of course I took note of those years. Description was so very graphic." Sharon resealed the tupperware with a decisive pssh and turned to the older man. "You have some experience with organs changing size when contents do not, maybe? Ate a few hours ago. We may start."
"Yes and no. I tend not to shed enough mass to make it an issue. I can just re-arrange things to fit when I'm dropping a foot or so and a couple of hundred pounds." Kevin said, pausing only to fill his glass from the bottle of top shelf bourbon he most certainly had not been the one to pay for. "What do you want to see first?"
"Everything," Sharon said immediately. "But it is unknown where our overlaps lie. Should I not first show you my range? Expect it is much more limited."
"If you want. Let's see what you're bringing to the table." Kevin sat down and motioned with his glass. "Impress me."
Preening a little, Sharon dropped into a crouch and shifted into her hybrid form.
"Is my base form. Speech is possible. Possess hands also, as you can see," she added as she used them to pull the smock dress over her head. Freed from the garment, Kevin could see the almost-human shoulders and prominent collarbone that hampered her ability to squeeze through narrow spaces. Sharon gave herself a little shake before continuing. "Cannot speak in next two forms, but is self-explanatory. I shall show you."
Sharon stretched her hands in front of her, and her body changed again. Her shoulders narrowed as her neck broadened, and her muzzle pushed forward to accommodate new ropes of muscles along her jaw. She yawned, and when she opened her mouth she displayed exceptionally long canines even for a big cat. The hands were gone, replaced with huge, blunt paws. The great cat paced in a lazy circle so he could get a good look at her, then changed again.
The previous two forms had maintained the same mass. The third change, though, was like watching a pile of sand flow into a crack. Sharon's mass flowed inward, her form contracting until she was the size of a twelve pound cat -- less than a tenth of her original weight. In this form her purple coat was closer to that of a medium-haired breed like a ragdoll than the sleek pelt of her larger self. She played a little for the look of it, assuming a defensive crouch before skittering backwards and rolling onto the floor.
When she was sure he must have had the information he needed, Sharon pushed herself back into her human form. Ensuring she'd eaten well the previous day and night made the still-difficult transition less taxing. The effect of a small housecat expanding into a human woman was disconcertingly close to the unfurling of a novelty bath sponge.
"Length and quality of fur varies per time of year," Sharon explained, emphasizing the point by looping her long tail across her front and over her shoulder like a fur stole. "In winter months it is longer, for warmth. Fur on my tail as well. Situational adaptation, maybe. These four shapes have been mine for as long as I remember, but this is why I think maybe they are not fixed."
Sharon looked at him expectantly, demonstration concluded. She had not bothered to step back into her dress.
"Hmm..." Sydney didn't say anything for a long moment, eyes tracking her but his expression giving away nothing, as always. "Define always. As in, as long as you can remember you've shifted between all four forms?"
"To both my memory and my mother's testimony. Infancy was nightmarishly protean. Born in intermediate form, began to slide across spectrum within a day. Personal theory: Imprinted on shapes I was first exposed to. Mother, yes, but also housecats. Advantages to either shape. Felines are born deaf and blind, but human infants are less mobile. Big cat shape seems to have come later, toddler years, maybe. Mother unsure as differences between the two shapes were initially minimal. But nature documentaries were frequent babysitter."
"So the forms weren't deliberate but imprinted? That's correct?" He took a long sip, turning things over in his mind. Something didn't make sense. "But how can you imprint in the womb? If you were born in the intermediate form, that's before a cat was ever involved in any kind of preceptorial sense. Even instinctive ones would not have been in play yet." He nodded at her dress. "If you're staying human you can put that back on for now. If one of the busybodies comes in, my only explanation is going to be we were about to have sex, and that would make Hardy angry at me."
It barely even qualified as a rebuke, but Sharon's pale face blotched. "Did not take another shapeshifter for precious," she said, covering her embarrassment with disdain as she pulled the smock over her head with deliberate slowness. She could feel her heartbeat in her cheeks. This wasn't like making a mistake with Liam; Felicia had trusted Sharon enough to send her to this man she clearly respected, and Sharon had already missed some vital social cue.
"Calm down. That's why we're in a room with a locked door. But when you're human and we're not working on something specific, best to put your clothes back on just in case. You won't embarrass or bother me, but someone else... for a place full of non-conventional relationships, polycules and FWB pride to the point of an obnoxious tattoo, they're ridiculous prudes sometimes." Kevin said lightly as she pulled on her dress. "That also didn't answer my question. Why a cat?"
Sharon studied him carefully, looking for a hint of anger or disappointment, but Kevin's lack of concern seemed authentic. The man's affect was reassuringly bland. Relieved she had neither caused offense nor reflected poorly on Felicia, Sharon nodded. "Yes. Others may misread situation. I will remember." She straightened her dress with great dignity and turned her thoughts to the question at hand.
"As for the rest, I have only hypothesis. I emerged from the womb as feline heteromorph. This was predicted by sonogram. As you say, this development would happen before exposure to external influences. Thus question is not 'why a cat', as I have always been cat, but 'why these types of cat'. If I was not exposed to housecat during a certain window, would that shape have become mine? Would the larger cat shape have been attainable if I did not have early examples? These are questions I have." The girl paused, chewing thoughtfully at her lip. "These questions, and one more. If I can introduce variations across feline forms, can I do so with human? I have never tried."
"Which is why I'm here. So, you have already said you modify the tail but the tail is present in every human form. Is that accurate?" Kevin said, draining and then refilling his glass.
"I have only this human form, but yes. My tail is my balance." Sharon swung the appendage forward, curling it in a way more similar to a lemur than a cat. Its purple winter-coat was thick and fluffy. "It is prehensile also. Not strong enough for brachiation, but useful for gripping."
"So you said you already change it. So change it now. Give me... I don't know, a Siamese cat tail."
Sharon looked uncertain. "Such adjustment is not intentional," she said dubiously, winding her tail loosely around her left wrist. She glanced back at him. "When you initiate a change, a specific adjustment, how do you do so?"
"Intent. I have control over the whole process. Do you?" He replied. "Can you will it?"
"To one of my established shapes, yes. To specific adjustments, no. Had not thought to try until I saw what you can do." Sharon stared at her tail with a look of intense concentration that yielded no obvious result. She frowned. "You can show me? Is fur within your capabilities?"
"Not like that. I can generate the tail but only observationally. However, we've proved yours isn't just observation. There's something intrinsic to it." Kevin said. "Don't think too much. Just try and shift into something different. Not specific. Just not your norm."
The girl tilted her head. "Observational? Form, but not function?"
"Form. What you can conceptualize. At any amount. A different hair colour, for example."
Sharon shook her head in a flurry of purple hair, keen for clarification. "No, you. Said you can generate a tail, but observationally only. Demonstration, please? Did ask what I wanted to see first," she pointed out.
"Oh that? Shit-" Kevin drained the glass and stood up. He unbuttoned his pants. "If anyone comes in, you and I are in love." He said archly before dropping his pants and underwear. In a moment, a tail was curled by his leg, with the cream and brown of a Siamese.
"Decline. Match would cry. Meaningless sex is more believable." Unfazed, Sharon circled him so she could see where it joined the base of his spine. Her own tail stretched out behind her, moving in short, curious flicks as she knelt to better inspect the appendage.
"I will touch?" she said, then paused. "That is too weird with your pants down, maybe."
"Feel free to touch the tail." Kevin stopped from making a joke she was utterly incapable of getting. The tail only made vague flicks compared to the animation of hers.
Sharon was about to do so when she remembered what Liam had said about certain kinds of touch having different implications as a human. Thinking perhaps this might be one of those situations she shifted to her hybrid shape, although it was possible any onlookers would have found this the opposite of an improvement.
"Have assumed a less erotic form. I shall now inspect." She took a length of tail between her clawed hands and palpated it gently to feel the underlying musculature. "It has sensation? Control?"
"Sensation but little control. There's a factor in the x-gene for control of certain non-human forms that I can replicate but not control. But you can, which is already a difference." Kevin pointed to the end of the tail. "I have nerve responses but nothing close to your responses."
Sharon made a rumbling noise deep in her throat and released the tail. She took advantage of her current shape to give her ear a quick scratch with a hind leg. "Had not considered this aspect. This is interesting. Tail is as much a part of me as arm or leg. You can subsume a limb if you wish? This is possible?"
"Like all things, to an extent. Human variants, I have full control. Non human but replicable, there's limits."
"And I am myself non-human to start. Must surely affect my proprioception if nothing else. Implications are fascinating." Sharon stretched herself backwards across the varnished floor, back arched, and nodded at the trousers around Kevin's ankles. "Am done with inspection now, by the way, though of course how you conduct remainder of our session is your choice."
Kevin sighed. "You're taking too many lessons from Hardy." He said, although the tail disappeared immediately as he redressed himself.
"Felicia is best teacher. She is beautiful and wise. She is able to change her shape with paint and cloth alone. But you shall do too, perhaps." Sharon curled into a crouch, transitioned back into human form, and rose to her feet. Her lips thinned as she brought her tail up to her hands, holding it as she had held Kevin's. "Okay. You have shown me your technique. I shall try again."
She stared at her tail, willing the thick fur to change. Kevin had made it look so effortless; surely if he could accomplish cream and brown she could at least darken the shade.
Several minutes later, frustrated, she declared, "It is not working."
"It isn't. So that is where we start next time." Kevin said.
Sharon dropped her tail, disappointed that she had not gotten the immediate gratification she craved. It was probably best to stop, however; that had been the most shifting she'd done in such a short period of time since she'd left home. It had been too much. She was more than hungry, she was exhausted.
Not that Kevin needed to know that.
"Next time," she agreed sullenly. With a heavy sigh she slumped into a chair and pulled a sandwich from the tupperware. "Shall eat and reflect. Much to think about."
"There's something to learn there." Kevin reached over and took his sandwich. "Proper corned beef has a long history. It is one of the most honest American inventions."
Sandwich just inches from her open mouth, Sharon gazed at Kevin. Even her limited experience with human society allowed her to recognize the signs of a man gearing up for a lecture on one of his special interests. Which, apparently, included the history of corned beef.
"Is true, then," she said, as if to herself.
"You really are old."