The Chained Watcher

Secret Seekers Seeking Secrets

~~~

Watching through a scry-orb, Grian frowns as the 'Secret Seekers' start gathering towards their meeting place, donning their decorative masks and cloaks as they close in on it. Looks like they're going to try to puzzle out what his secret could be again, try to make a new deduction or two.

He wants to sneak in, obviously. Why wouldn't he? It's fun! But where would he hide? There's always his last spot, perched on top of a flaming hopper, but Tango knows about that spot. And sure, there's no guarantee that Tango spilled the beans on that, but is that a risk he's willing to take? No, it's not. They've refined their questions way too much for comfort.

But then where should he hide? Even invisible and in zero-gravity, there's only so many places you can put a wide-winged avian like himself. He's just too big to... dodge the sticks...

...

...So the problem is being too big?

His transformation spell is... flexible. He can choose how many pairs of wings he leaves out, the sound of his voice, the shape of his eyes... And the size of his body. But is it good enough to make him as small as he wants to get right now?

Half his usual transformation size is something he feels confident in achieving. A quarter, doable, though it'll probably be uncomfortable. But can he get smaller than that?

His eyes fall on Scar. A grin slowly grows on his face. Oh he's totally going to get a kick out of this.

"Hey Scar," he calls out.

Scar looks up from his current distraction. "Hmm? What's up?"

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

"Ooookay? Why though?" Despite questioning him, Scar still obeys, closing his eyes and cupping his hands into a shallow bowl in front of him.

"You'll see." He takes a deep breath, and pulls his transformation spell around himself.

Even after he reaches the point he normally stops, he keeps pulling it tighter, forcing himself into a smaller form than he's ever tried to hold before. The discomfort of the spell, normally barely that of a tensed muscle, starts growing at an exponential rate. Just a bit smaller... Okay, nevermind, that's small enough!

Now standing at just shy of an eighth of his normal height, a mere fourth of a block tall, Grian flits over to where Scar is just barely keeping his curiosity in check and his eyes closed, alighting upon his extended hands. Scar's eyes snap open wide.

Scar's jaw drops, eyes sparkling. "Oh my god you're so tiny!"

Grian strikes a pose, chest puffed out proudly, fists on his hips, a smug smirk on his face. "Cool, right? It's the same transformation spell, but pushed to its current limits."

"That's so cool!" A slight oversight on his part is very quickly revealed as Scar gives him a tight hug, squeezing the air out of his lungs and making his ribs creak worryingly.

Voice strained, he squeaks out, "Too tight, too tight!"

Scar nearly drops him in his alarm. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!"

He flits up to his shoulder, running a brief pulse of magic through his body to heal any damage done. "Yeah, I'm okay, but be careful when I'm this small." Landing, he has to fight to keep his balance as his feathers brush against the side of Scar's neck and make him twitch. "Tiny body means tiny bones, and tiny bones are easy to break if you're not careful. Plus, I can't use much magic without warping the transformation when it's pushed this far." And with the designated breakpoint being the part suppressing his wings, much more than a thin trickle will reveal a second pair of wings. Not ideal.