All of these lines across my face... tell you the story of who I am..

[uphillbothwayz]

There is an elephant in the middle of the park. It's late at night so one would have to be out in the park late to see it, but it's there. See kids when shape shifters get old, as Dick Johnson has become old, they occassionally lose the ability to control their random shift changes, again, as they often did as a young shape shifter

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[hereigomumbling]

Billy has been pointedly avoiding Penny since he got her to the Gauche, because... well, it's just... awkward. Confusing. He really doesn't know how to handle it. But he's been feeling bad and worrying that she'd be lonely, so he's looking for her.

He finds her and his heart starts racing, and he breaks out in a cold sweat. This is going to be hard.

"Uh, P-Penny! Hi! Fancy, um... seeing you. Here."

[wots_her_name]

Penny looks up at the familiar voice and smiles, brightly. She missed seeing a familiar face. She missed seeing Billy, and was, yes, sort of off put that he was so hard to find.

Didn't he live here, too?

"Billy! I really love it here. It's... pretty. Good place to think and write. Do you want to sit? I haven't seen you since I came here... was starting to get a little... worried."

[hereigomumbling]

"Yeah, no, I was... busy."

Sit. Talk. Oh god.

He can do this. He really can.

Except that as he gets closer, he gets more and more nervous. And what with being nervous already.

He swallows hard, opens his mouth to say something...

And disappears. Not really, actually, there's a moment where you can see his face starting to shift a bit, then he's lost inside the fabric of his clothing.

Still nervous. But not panicky. Dark is safe. He'll just... stay here.

[wots_her_name]

Penny squeaks and jumps up to her feet when he disappears.

"Billy?" Her eyes are wide as she just stares at the clothes, not sure how to process this at all.

The pheromones drop rapidly at her shock. There is some trigger in her mind that does it and apparently the surprise of him disappearing, turned it off. Her heart flutters rapidly with worry.

"Oh, God..." She walks over to his clothes, fingers shaking. "Oh... my God, I don't- I think I need help?"

Of course, there's no one around to hear her call.

"Disappearing. Maybe that's his... Rift given... ability thing. Course it sucks to go somewhere without your clothes, but..."

[prophetsdoppel]

Here, Dickaphant. Have a Cecifox. She's not really able to control her shifting either, namely because this is the first time it's ever happened. Well, a couple days ago. Still hasn't managed to turn back.

She's got a nice little nest going under Des and Martha's couch, though.

Anyway, elephant, have a nice little arctic fox wondering if she's maybe not the only person who turns into non-Chicago-native animals. She'll peek out from behind a tree, if you don't mind. She's a little afraid of being stepped on.

[uphillbothwayz]

It might take the elephant a while to notice the tiny fox. He is huge, after all, and it's dark, but he does notice her after a moment. An hour is long enough in this form to successfully meld elephant and human personalities. Dick is so much nicer in this form.

He lifts his trunk up into the dark sky and waves.

[prophetsdoppel]

Once he's noticed her, there's less chance he'll step on her, and she creeps out from behind the tree, cautiously sniffing the air and tilting her head at him.

Are you a person? she seems to say in the universal language of animals.

[uphillbothwayz]

The elephant nods his big head.

Yep. I'm a person, alright.

He takes a few steps away from the tree, stretching his trunk toward her, curiously.

You new to the shape shifter gig? The twist of the trunk seems to imply, new.