[Sharon, Nora] The Second Lesson
Dec. 13th, 2023 01:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAfter Sharon's failure to utilize their previous lesson, Kevin takes a different tact.
There was a stranger in the study.
Sharon paused. The stranger was apparently in the process of pouring a drink, back to the door. Another person, specifically a person with manners, might have awkwardly announced their presence. Instead Sharon lifted her nose and moved her head slightly, trying to catch a scent. Ah.
"Kevin Sydney," she said, smug. "I smell the lack of you. Dress is quite becoming, however."
"Sharon. Have a seat." She said, her voice so different from Kevin's and yet, the cadence and tone, revealing what he felt like revealing. "Unless, you have the Siamese tail we talked about last time to show me." She gestured with her drink at her for a moment before taking a sip.
Sharon's nose wrinkled at the reminder. "Many other matters have required my attention," she said stiffly as she climbed into a chair and pulled her legs beneath her. Her yellow eyes flicked across Kevin's current form. It was, objectively, an attractive one, though Sharon considered this wasted on her. The choice couldn't have been arbitrary, nor was it spur of the moment. Not unless Kevin had been given a suit of unstable molecules that would change into an immaculately fitted blouse and pencil skirt on demand, anyway.
"What is the purpose of this form?" Sharon inquired, tilting her head. "It is a demonstration of personal versatility? Professional corsetry, also?"
"Training. You've failed the powers training. And you've skipped out on any personal training I've seen." She said, with a click of her teeth at the end. "Something that stuck with me from our first meeting. You told me that you admired Felicia. Because she could change her shape with paints."
Nora tapped the mirror on the table in front of her. "So you can't change your real shape. You can't pretend to be anything but a child personally. So I'm going to show you how Felicia does it. Maybe that will be something you can do."
The girl bristled, both figuratively and literally. It was difficult to hide personal offense with a tail hooked directly to one's mood.
"I did not fail," she insisted. "Is only that I do not yet understand the technique."
"You didn't fail. You just couldn't figure out how to do it." Nora paused. "I'm sure someone that likes you would pat you on the head and tell you there's a difference." She took a seat beside her, and flipped open the top of a well stocked makeup case in front of her. "I bet you'll tell me you don't understand any of this."
Sharon glowered at the woman. She decided it was a great personal victory that she managed to bite her own tongue rather than Nora's.
"I understand," she said, choosing not to acknowledge the first statement. "Is simple. Disguise imperfections, enhance positive attributes. Played a little with my mother, but is of little use for myself. Such things do not last through a shift."
"So you're only useful if you can shift." Nora shrugged. "Sounds like you're only useful as a cat or as a child. Is that all you are? A cat or a child? If so, I have better things to do with my time."
This time it was a hiss Sharon had to bite back. It remained trapped in the back of her throat as a low, strangled growl while she wrestled with the unfamiliar necessity of choosing her words with care.
"I can learn." The words came out tight, but they were words, not a feline spit. Sharon clenched her fingers against her knees, claws extending and retracting. "I am willing. It is only that I do not understand why you ask this of me, or how it is useful. Explain to me, please."
"Shapeshifting isn't just about powers. It is about understanding perceptions and subverting them." Nora sat down beside her. "With a hat and a change of position, I can completely change how people see or don't see me. With tools like this-" She tapped the case. "I can be an entirely new person without even touching my powers. If you're going to understand your shapeshifting, you need to understand the human side of perception."
Sharon studied Nora for a long moment. Then, slowly, the fur on her tail began to smoothe.
"Yes. I understand this, I think." The girl untensed, one muscle at a time. She dropped her eyes to her hands briefly before turning her yellow gaze back on Nora. "Obedience without understanding, this is of no use. To reproduce without comprehension is only regurgitation. I am not satisfied with this. Thank you for explaining to me."
"You asked to teach you how to be better at shapeshifting. I will ask you to do things, to learn things, because I believe it will get you closer to your goal. Period." Kevin said. "I have no other objective, especially since I promised someone that I wouldn't turn you into the apex predator you could be. So, either you trust what I tell you to be relevant or you don't. If not, let's make life easier for both of us and end this."
"Assessment is correct in some ways. I am a child. A cat also. But I am not a sheep. Yours is a mind that moves sideways, so I think you would not be content to teach one who is." The girl met Nora's eyes with a hint of nervous determination. "I know is not only shapeshifting I must learn. I will trust and respect, because you are deserving of both, but if I do not understand I will ask. If I am to make my own way this too is knowledge I must acquire. This is permitted?"
"Not if you're a child or a cat." Nora said. "Neither can make an informed decision. Neither has the capacity for self determination. So, if you want explanations and input, it is time to put both of those identities away when you're in here with me. Are you capable of that." She took another sip and her eyes narrowed. "This is permitted?"
There were few things more futile than trying to out-stare a man who was coming up on his own centennial, although Sharon still made the attempt. It didn't work. For the first time in her life, she found herself against someone with a gaze more unflinching than her own. At last she dropped her eyes.
"This is permitted," Sharon said, grudgingly.
"Good. Now," Nora turned and shifted her chair closer to Sharon's, aligning them both so they could both be seen in the mirror. "-to battle."
There was a stranger in the study.
Sharon paused. The stranger was apparently in the process of pouring a drink, back to the door. Another person, specifically a person with manners, might have awkwardly announced their presence. Instead Sharon lifted her nose and moved her head slightly, trying to catch a scent. Ah.
"Kevin Sydney," she said, smug. "I smell the lack of you. Dress is quite becoming, however."
"Sharon. Have a seat." She said, her voice so different from Kevin's and yet, the cadence and tone, revealing what he felt like revealing. "Unless, you have the Siamese tail we talked about last time to show me." She gestured with her drink at her for a moment before taking a sip.
Sharon's nose wrinkled at the reminder. "Many other matters have required my attention," she said stiffly as she climbed into a chair and pulled her legs beneath her. Her yellow eyes flicked across Kevin's current form. It was, objectively, an attractive one, though Sharon considered this wasted on her. The choice couldn't have been arbitrary, nor was it spur of the moment. Not unless Kevin had been given a suit of unstable molecules that would change into an immaculately fitted blouse and pencil skirt on demand, anyway.
"What is the purpose of this form?" Sharon inquired, tilting her head. "It is a demonstration of personal versatility? Professional corsetry, also?"
"Training. You've failed the powers training. And you've skipped out on any personal training I've seen." She said, with a click of her teeth at the end. "Something that stuck with me from our first meeting. You told me that you admired Felicia. Because she could change her shape with paints."
Nora tapped the mirror on the table in front of her. "So you can't change your real shape. You can't pretend to be anything but a child personally. So I'm going to show you how Felicia does it. Maybe that will be something you can do."
The girl bristled, both figuratively and literally. It was difficult to hide personal offense with a tail hooked directly to one's mood.
"I did not fail," she insisted. "Is only that I do not yet understand the technique."
"You didn't fail. You just couldn't figure out how to do it." Nora paused. "I'm sure someone that likes you would pat you on the head and tell you there's a difference." She took a seat beside her, and flipped open the top of a well stocked makeup case in front of her. "I bet you'll tell me you don't understand any of this."
Sharon glowered at the woman. She decided it was a great personal victory that she managed to bite her own tongue rather than Nora's.
"I understand," she said, choosing not to acknowledge the first statement. "Is simple. Disguise imperfections, enhance positive attributes. Played a little with my mother, but is of little use for myself. Such things do not last through a shift."
"So you're only useful if you can shift." Nora shrugged. "Sounds like you're only useful as a cat or as a child. Is that all you are? A cat or a child? If so, I have better things to do with my time."
This time it was a hiss Sharon had to bite back. It remained trapped in the back of her throat as a low, strangled growl while she wrestled with the unfamiliar necessity of choosing her words with care.
"I can learn." The words came out tight, but they were words, not a feline spit. Sharon clenched her fingers against her knees, claws extending and retracting. "I am willing. It is only that I do not understand why you ask this of me, or how it is useful. Explain to me, please."
"Shapeshifting isn't just about powers. It is about understanding perceptions and subverting them." Nora sat down beside her. "With a hat and a change of position, I can completely change how people see or don't see me. With tools like this-" She tapped the case. "I can be an entirely new person without even touching my powers. If you're going to understand your shapeshifting, you need to understand the human side of perception."
Sharon studied Nora for a long moment. Then, slowly, the fur on her tail began to smoothe.
"Yes. I understand this, I think." The girl untensed, one muscle at a time. She dropped her eyes to her hands briefly before turning her yellow gaze back on Nora. "Obedience without understanding, this is of no use. To reproduce without comprehension is only regurgitation. I am not satisfied with this. Thank you for explaining to me."
"You asked to teach you how to be better at shapeshifting. I will ask you to do things, to learn things, because I believe it will get you closer to your goal. Period." Kevin said. "I have no other objective, especially since I promised someone that I wouldn't turn you into the apex predator you could be. So, either you trust what I tell you to be relevant or you don't. If not, let's make life easier for both of us and end this."
"Assessment is correct in some ways. I am a child. A cat also. But I am not a sheep. Yours is a mind that moves sideways, so I think you would not be content to teach one who is." The girl met Nora's eyes with a hint of nervous determination. "I know is not only shapeshifting I must learn. I will trust and respect, because you are deserving of both, but if I do not understand I will ask. If I am to make my own way this too is knowledge I must acquire. This is permitted?"
"Not if you're a child or a cat." Nora said. "Neither can make an informed decision. Neither has the capacity for self determination. So, if you want explanations and input, it is time to put both of those identities away when you're in here with me. Are you capable of that." She took another sip and her eyes narrowed. "This is permitted?"
There were few things more futile than trying to out-stare a man who was coming up on his own centennial, although Sharon still made the attempt. It didn't work. For the first time in her life, she found herself against someone with a gaze more unflinching than her own. At last she dropped her eyes.
"This is permitted," Sharon said, grudgingly.
"Good. Now," Nora turned and shifted her chair closer to Sharon's, aligning them both so they could both be seen in the mirror. "-to battle."
