After around ten minutes that both Aidan and Mark checked out Aidan´s new dragon body, Mark finally asked: “Are you happy with your new form, Aidan?”
Aidan was indeed happy with it. “Yeah, it was a great idea, Mark. I can´t wait to test this body out. I would really like to try flying. But I don´t know if I fit through the doors like this, so maybe it would help if we come to the shape-shifting.” Aidan looked hopeful at Mark. He had still not asked if Mark did want anything out of this.
Mark smiled at Aidan, happy that Aidan was satisfied with his new form. There was only one thing Mark didn´t like right now, Aidan´s wish to be able to turn back at will. Yes, it could be useful to move around, but for that Mark had planned the size-changing he wanted to add next.
So, he said out loud: “I can understand that, but let´s start with the other option to that problem first. Aidan, you are able to change your size from roughly the size of a mouse up to the triple of your current size. But it will be limited by the available space, so you don´t destroy your surroundings by accident.”
Aidan looked a bit disappointed to not get to the shape-shifting first, but felt also excited about shrinking smaller or growing bigger at will. And Mark was thinking this through more than he himself did, as he wouldn´t have limited it for now. Most likely he would have done so after he squashed something by growing too big. A tingle went through his whole body as the ability was given to him like Mark wanted.
To test out this ability, Aidan willed himself to half his current size. And without any discomfort, he slowly got smaller. Only a little tingle went through him, feeling rather pleasant to him.
Mark watched Aidan shrink smaller with a grin, it was better than he hoped. Aidan moved a bit around in his smaller form. Then he grew back to back to his original size. “Satisfied with that ability, Aidan?”
“Yeah. That it feels rather pleasant to grow or shrink is a nice bonus to being a dragon. It´s a bit to get used to moving around, I´m not used to walking on all fours, even if the size of my legs is fitting. But maybe next we can …” Aidan started.
“You know what, Aidan? You will forget about the idea of shape-shifting now, as well as of ever turning back to human. Instead, you will know how to move your new body, as if you have it for years. But as a bit of an obligingness with the shifting, you will be able to move on only your hind-legs as well, and your front-paws can be altered by your will to be more like hands, so you still can paint like before or write something down.” Mark interrupted him this time. It could be seen as cruel of him, but Aidan´s wish for shape-shifting back was just annoying now.
Aidan´s eyes widened at Mark´s words, but he couldn´t stop him. And as the words sunk in, the turned into the truth for him. As if the shape-shifting idea had been a picture on paper and someone had walked by with some kind of fire, the whole idea went up in smoke, together with his desire to turn back into a human.
Aidan blinked as the new knowledge sunk in, suddenly feeling more confident of his new body. And he just had to test out the other part and pushed himself back with his fore-paws, and remained standing on his hind-legs like he was used to as a human. His tail wiped around a bit and his wings nearly touched the ground next to his hind-paws. With a glance at his fore-paws he willed them hand-shaped, and watched satisfied as the digits shrunk smaller and the claws shortened, while two of them split in half, giving him five scaled fingers with short claw-tips on each “hand”.
Aidan grinned with a muzzle full of sharp teeth at Mark after flexing his fingers a bit. “Thanks Mark, that feels great. I will be able to work with this. Do you think I can test my wings out now?”
Mark grinned as well. Aidan wouldn´t bug him about turning back now. Maybe he would need some final adjustments for what Mark wanted out of this, but right now he was happy that Aidan was happy with his new form and abilities.