Caleb Tate, channeler extraordinaire (synergistic) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2013-01-02 15:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, ! plot: kidnapping, caleb tate, leona turner |
WHO: Caleb Tate & Leona Turner
WHAT: Caleb learns Leona's powers
WHEN: morning of Wednesday, January 2
WHERE: European safehouse
WARNINGS: none
STATUS: complete
Work on animals which could be used as recon, they had told her. So that’s what Leona had been doing, and now with Caleb in tow. She was a bit nervous about it, especially since her transitions sometimes had the byproduct of her ending up in her birthday suit, but at least it was Caleb, the perennial boy next door type, and in the greater scope of things, popping up naked was just something she’d have to get over, she had decided. Though in a way, working with Caleb was a distraction she could use. Her sometimes bossiness as a prefect during her second last year at Saint Paul’s couched a natural tendency towards being a teacher, and as she prepared for their training session, she found herself mentally reviewing what some of the first things she had been able to master as a shapeshifter, and what would therefore be the easiest for Caleb to learn. “So when you channel someone else’s power, you think you have about 50 to 75 percent of their control, right?” she reviewed. “It will probably be easiest to start off with another mammal that’s pretty close to the size of a human. Like a large dog or a primate.” “Okay,” Caleb said agreeably, both a little excited about trying a new power, and anxious at the pressure that came with this particular power and the role they wanted him to play with it. “Is a primate easier than a dog, since we’re more similar to them in general? Or is it really just more of a size thing? And once you’re the animal, are you still mostly human in how you think? Or do you end up thinking like the animal?” He paused for a moment, and then gave her a sheepish look. “Sorry, I always have a million questions.” “Don’t worry about it,” Leona said with a wave of her hand. “I still don’t understand absolutely everything about my power, like most people, but from what I do understand, it’s more like Doria’s in that it’s purely a physical power. So I take on the physical characteristics of the animal, including their muscle memory, and once I get used to the new form, I can move as well as an actual animal of that species. I also know stuff innately from that species. Like if I’m a bird I know how to fish or find water or which way to fly north.” “It’s both size, and build,” she continued, warming to the subject. “The very first thing I shifted into was a spider monkey, although a chimpanzee would have been easier. But familiarity with the animal’s build also helps a lot. At first I was shifting into dogs a lot more because I knew more about what they looked like than the different primate species. I spend a lot of time studying nature documentaries and reading biology books. And I do keep my own mind, like I know that I’m really a human called Leona, but I get more animal-like instincts. Like if I’m a cat, I might start to chase after a mouse before I stop myself. The more experienced you are with that species though, the less that happens.” “Also powers that normally work on you in human form won’t actually affect you while you’re an animal. Jonas is a strength leecher, but his power doesn’t work on me when I’ve shifted. That’s a physical power though; I don’t know about Allegra’s power or anything like that. Probably I’ve missed something out, but that’s all I can think of for now,” she said finally. “So. I need to start using my power first, right? Is there anything else?” Caleb listened to everything, nodding, curious as always as to how it worked. He wondered if he had to switch into the same animal she did, and he figured that while he might not need to eventually, it would probably be a good idea at first. It was interesting, though, the possibilities with this power, and he again wondered what it would be like to just have one that he could master, as opposed to only getting surface-deep with multiples. “I don’t think so? Oh, just,” he said, holding out his hand for hers. “At first I need to be in physical contact, and once I have a handle on it I still need to be close, until I’ve had a lot of practice. So, give me a few moments before you change, and then I’ll reach down and touch you for a few more before I do. And don’t run off too far, or else I’ll lose you and switch back.” “Got it. Here we go.” She grasped his hand, furrowing her brow in concentration as she brought the image of a chimpanzee to mind. Next to other animals she had shifted into, transforming into a chimpanzee was child’s play, but she slowed the process down some, giving Caleb an opportunity to catch up and being careful not to crush his hand with her stronger grip as she morphed into the primate. Seconds later an adult female chimp stood blinking up at him. Leona raised her free hand in a solemn wave. Hello. Had she remembered to tell him that shifting would feel a little strange? At least it didn’t hurt, considering that her bones were either compressing or elongating, depending on what she was turning into. Having a chimp standing in front of him helped him actually think of one, but he closed his eyes anyways, picturing it in his mind’s eye. He felt an odd stretching sensation, as well as something similar to goosebumps prickling up all over his arms and legs. Caleb opened his eyes, and studied his hands, now the hands of a chimpanzee. “Holy crap,” he said in something that wasn’t English, but he could still understand. He was still wearing his clothes, which was weird, to see a chimpanzee wearing clothes, but his pants had fallen down around his chip-knees, which made sense since he was smaller than he was as a human. Automatically he reached down to pull them up, trying to figure out how to use his new body, and looked at Leona. “This is so weird.” And after a moment, “But pretty cool.” “Yeah, that tends to be most people’s reaction.” Leona was still wearing her tunic, but it now brushed the floor. “My powers seem to really polarise opinions; like people either think they’re exceptionally weird, even for Vol standards, or really cool. Especially guys - I think they like the idea of being able to turn into tertiary predators.” “So as a chimpanzee, you’re actually pretty strong now,” she continued, similar sounds which would have seemed nothing more than gibberish for anyone other than the two of them, and Kyungmi. “Even though they’re not the biggest animals, an adult chimpanzee can rip a person’s arm clean out of its socket. And of course there’s their canines. They always have to sedate them with a stun gun at the Wellington Zoo, whenever a vet examines them.” “I don’t really think anything’s too weird for Vol standards,” Caleb said, still examining his hand, arm, pulling back the neck of his shirt to look at his chest. That this was his body took a little bit of getting used to, and was definitely bizarre, but he liked it, and his mind was already wondering what other animals he’d be able to change to, and what they’d be like. Would sprouting feathers be different than growing primate hair? Would shrinking to a small animal feel differently? Or growing into a bigger one? “So, the new abilities - like, I don’t know, ripping someone’s arm out of their socket, or flying, things like that, do they come automatically? And can you control it? Like, can you shake a person’s hand without ripping it out of their socket?” Control was a big thing for him, and he know that he’d get some of what Leona had developed, but there was still a gap there that he wanted to make sure he was prepared for. “It depends on the animal,” Leona replied. “Chimpanzees can be very gentle, and even tigers too. They have to carry their cubs about without hurting them. But something like a rhinoceros, well, those will always be clumsy. I think the biggest problem is reacting instinctively to something while in animal form, or bumping into someone without realising how much bigger you are. So really the worry is more accidental than anything else. You won’t deliberately hurt another person.” Not unless you want to, she added mentally, thinking of the kidnappers. “Like you won’t see another human while you’re a carnivore and think ‘ooh, prey.’ It’s more about spending time in the animal’s form and getting a sense of its spacial awareness.” “That makes sense,” Caleb said, looking more thoughtful than one would expect a chimpanzee to. “Though I’d guess just to be safe someone probably shouldn’t wave a red flag around me if I turn into a bull.” He’d had the potential to hurt people before with some of the powers he’d channeled, though really, most of them had been benign. “Anything else I should know, or be keeping in mind?” he asked, trying to keep everything straight. “Bulls are actually colour blind,” said Leona reflexively, then her features twisted into something close to an apologetic grimace. “Sorry. I don’t mean to sound like a know-it-all. Generally it’s easier to change into quadruped mammals than anything else. You could change into a bird eventually-” she glanced down at the copy of Wild Animals of Britain and Europe that a staff member had procured for her “-but it will take practice.” “Also sometimes I panic and get stuck as an animal. It’s something that’s happening less and less,” she added quickly. It was at least the truth, she realised. She hadn’t shifted unintentionally throughout this whole experience. “The trick is just to calm down and you’ll be able to shift back, but since you need proximity for your powers, I’ll just move away from you if that happens.” “So,” she asked, “do you feel ready to try something smaller?” “Yeah, let’s,” he said, eager to try something different. He knew that the idea was to use the powers as recon, and a primate wasn’t exactly subtle, so the more practice he got, the more likely he’d be to be useful in this process. And if he was going to risk his life again, he wanted it to be for something really damn useful. “Really, training with you is my priority right now, because I’d like to be able to do whatever they want us to. So feel free to push me as far as you think I can handle - if it’s too much, we’ll back up a bit.” Training with you is my priority right now. It wasn’t so much that Caleb himself thought that her power was important, but that someone higher up, someone who knew more about these operations than she likely did of animal physiology had perhaps suggested that the power channeler, who could in theory learn any power, should concentrate on hers. She wondered just how helpless her former kidnappers would consider her to be now, and something rather close to an expression of glee stole across her adopted features. “All right!” she said, taking Caleb’s hand once more and slowly shifting back to resemble an eighteen year old girl once more. Typically Leona tended towards a hate-hate relationship with her powers, but Caleb’s enthusiasm had rubbed off on her, along with a drive to get her own back on the kidnappers - the killers now - in whatever small way she could. “Let’s look at some pictures of a red fox; they’re native to Europe. Or a hare if you think you can go that small...” |