"Hello, Strahan," Asar-Suti said when he came by the next time. He wondered why Strahan was doing this in an out-of-way corner of the bar, not the library.
On the other hand, a candle in the library would probably inflame the Seker as well.
"Yes, you see," Asar-Suti smiled. "The way we think of ourselves limits the choice of shapes more than out actual abilities. I can turn myself into a car as well, for example. That's mechanical horseless carriage many people on the most popular worlds here use. An inanimate object; don't know if you've seen one yet."
"Just was catches my fancy or seems useful at the moment," Asar-Suti said. "I never did that systematically, you know. Okay - car? The I'm a car. Penguin? So I turn into a penguin. Tigers are too large? I turn into a cat."
"Oh yes, I can - otherwise, I would keep scaring and overawing people with fiery displays," Asar-Suti said, shaking his head. "I just snap from one morphogenetic field to the other."
Milliways doesn't need that sort of thing. Even with its panache for the bizarre some things are just too much for some people.
He strokes his chin with long finger and thumb. Why should he stay as he is? Why not vary himself? Why not be whatever he wanted? He could literally be a new man every day of the week.
Or year.
"And yet you still remember this form and return to it with ease."
Asar-Suti nodded. "That's where the morphogenetic fields come in - I remember it, and I fill it with my energy, so I'm immediately the same shape as before."
On the other hand, a candle in the library would probably inflame the Seker as well.
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Or one of those stone creatures that once dotted the tourney fields of Valgaard.
Then remembers seeing something on the TV.
"No. I have, but not up close. Only on that television set."
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Seamlessly, he shifted again - there were sometimes cars inside Milliways, so there was no problem with space for him.
"Nice, huh?"
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"I can only wonder what the appeal of being loud is," he snarks. It did not look like something he'd want to be.
And a motorcycle is even less appealling, being a lot louder than a car.
"But it is ... different."
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If Strahan ever assumes a shape that is not human or animal he's going to make sure its organic or at least natural.
That car certainly doesn't fit into the "organic" or "natural" category.
"What else have you learned to become?"
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"What other things are there to try? There are plants, rocks, even things made by the hands of man."
In other words, where should one begin so as to start small and work one's way up.
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He'd always reverted back to his human form once he was done with his animal.
That is how Cheysuli do it. But I am not Cheysuli. I am Ihlini. And dead. Such rules no longer apply so long as I remember my original form.
"To think, I was doing it the way those accursed Cheysuli did it."
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He strokes his chin with long finger and thumb. Why should he stay as he is? Why not vary himself? Why not be whatever he wanted? He could literally be a new man every day of the week.
Or year.
"And yet you still remember this form and return to it with ease."
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"Interesting. Morphogenetic fields are a discipline more involved than I thought, and decidedly worth an experiment or two with."
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