Meteor Effect

In Her Image

"You're a frog," Joe chuffs softly, "Shapeshifting magic, you can turn into any animal."

"Joe," Gem slowly starts, "Can I go back to being a person."

"You can," Joe hums, setting her down in front of a mirror. She's a pretty blueish frog, she looks normal, aside from her antlers, "But i can't help you, you will have to learn."

Nodding Gem attempts to turn back, by creating the mental image of her human form in her mind. It works and she grins to Joe, "Magic in the empires," She offers as an explanation.

Joe nods to her, "Can you shift for me?"

"Into what?" Gem grins up at Joe.

"Try a rabbit," Joe smiles back as he whips his tails around himself.

Gem flawlessly turns into a rabbit, still maintaining her antlers. Then she tries a cat, the antlers stay. Every animal she turns into keeps the antlers.

"Are the antlers staying bad?" She asks as she turns back from a horse.

"Not at all," Joe hums, "You know the old stories of the Vex?"

"Uh, yes," Gem nods, "Heard them as a kid, then from you guys."

"Vex's magic matches closely to yours. antlers were a permanent part of her form, so they are for you as well."

"But why did I get stuff relating to her?"

"Your magic feels the same, plants and overworld focused," Joe does his best to explain, "The meteor must have seen the connection and accidentally strengthened it."

"Is that going to do something?"

"No," Joe smiles softly, "You just got shapeshifting and plant powers."

"That's not too bad..." Gem hums.

Joe nods, "And if you need help with anything just ask me," He grins, flicking his tails.

"Not sure if I trust that," Gem giggles, "But, I'll let you know if I need anything."

Joe nods, lowering his antlers, Gem nods back.

As she starts to pick her head up she Freezes, "Ow Ow ow," She attempts to pull back.

Joe winces, "Ok stop moving," their antlers are caught on each other, "Been a while since this happened."

"What do we do?" Gem gasps standing as still as possible.

"Call a hermit," Joe murmurs."I can't reach my comm."

Gem hums softly and pulls her communicator out of her pocket.

GeminiTay: Can someone come to my base

GeminiTay: I got my antlers stuck in joe's

FalseSymmetry: Iol i'll be right over

Once False arrives she bursts out laughing, "How did you even do this?"

"I don't know," Joe sighs.

"Joe, move your head right, Gem move back a little," False instructs as she starts to untangle the antlers. It's slow work, and bit by bit the two hermits are separated. The moment Joe is free he turns back to human.

"Sorry about that," He grins, "Friendship's are an interesting hazard of this world."

________

Gem leans back and looks up at the clouds drifting across the sky. She's been practicing her shape shifting and doing it repetitively is exhausting. Sitting up she fixes her hair and inspects her antlers to make sure she hasn't caught any stray leaves. As she combs through the soft velvety antlers she finds some small plants growing, small vines crawling up. With tiny purple flowers.

She can easily pull them off, and they look cute, so she leaves them alone for now. After asking Joe and a few other hermits, she decides to keep them.

_______

"Aww thank you," Gem hums gently, petting the lama in a boat.

The lama huffs something back and Gem giggles, "That almost sounded like words."

Giving the lama one last pat Gem wanders off towards Keralis' base, he made something he wants to show her.

"Hi Keralis," Gem grins.

Keralis Buzzes and grins widely, "Hi sweet face... follow me."

Walking behind Keralis, Gem gasps when she spots it, a giant beautiful, birch tree.

"It's beautiful," She gasps as she walks over.

One of Keralis' dogs runs up to her barking happily.

"Aww, well hello to you too," Gem coos petting the dog's head, "You're such a good girl," Frowning softly she looks up at Keralis, "Did you say something?"

"No?" He buzzes sofly.

Colata barks again and Gem looks up at Keralis, "I can talk to animals..."

"What?" Keralis asks, blinking confused.

"I Can Talk To Animals..." Gem whispers, "Oh my goodness."