Instruct

You contemplate the little ancient metal dragon on your finger as you dress yourself in the fake dress, mentally reviewing. “You called it a shell?”

“Hmm? Oh, the hero form… yes,” the ring confirms in your head, “it is a shell that forms from your skin and surrounds you. Safer than actual shape changing, there's no scenario where you can get ‘stuck’ - it will always collapse just for turning off the flow of magic. Additionally, it doesn't care if you're injured or old: The method works exactly as well for a ninety year old geriatric missing both arms as it does for a thirty year old body builder in perfect health. Pretty effective at staunching active wounds as well…”

You interrupt: “I mean why doesn't it just encompass my clothes?”

“Oh, that…” the entity chuckles in your head, “...it's because I'm copying a power, and that's how it worked.” He pauses, “By design: That one was from another artificer, although she mistakenly thought her gear ran on electricity. The idea was it would break any bonds she wore. She called it ‘an alpha product, pending readiness for beta testing’.”

You switch to subvocalizing in preparation for leaving, ‘She wanted it to blow her clothes away?’

“No: Handcuffs, ropes, and duct tape.” The ring chuckles, “The clothing thing was ‘an unfortunate side effect’ - but she had like twenty different outfits ‘coded in’ besides the combat forms. She was always wearing her magic, good exercise for her.”

‘So you can enchant multiple outfits and multiple forms into this?’ At least when subvocalizing, grinding your teeth isn't so obvious.

“Yes it's kind of why I picked that one when you wanted ‘big and strong’, but why…” the ring pauses, “Oh, the nudity thing.” He considers, “You should be able to do that kind of thing yourself soon, if not already: The power supports it from the ground up, so a little focus will do the job. Just picture clearly what you want, hold it in your mind, walk around it mentally to confirm what you want it to look like from every angle, push it onto yourself the same way you do the hero form, then hold it there.”

You blink, considering, and picture the dress you're already wearing, or at least what you remember of it from the mirror. Focus and push… and you feel a draft?

“Heh, you missed the ‘walk around’ step,” the ring chuckles.

You bend around and look… the dress is only on your front. Your backside is bare. 'Well… private room…' you try again, remembering to do the mental walk around this time, and push… and the draft goes away.

You take a bit to examine yourself, and nod, 'Much better.' All the jewelry still seems in place. 'How does the gear stay?'

“Oh, easy. Two things: First, ‘the projector’ knocking itself loose would obviously defeat the purpose,” Ringo begins, “so it leaves anything with a ‘registered signature’ in place. I built it all, so it all has my ‘signature’. It will eventually allow you to just pick and choose what stays.” He takes a breath, “Second, the dress didn't show up beneath any of the gear, so there wasn't any ‘push’ on it.”

Thinking more, you ask, 'And I can do any number of models I like?'

“You’re running them inside yourself, so you're limited to things you understand and can track within the basic pattern, so just what you can remember easily,” the ring pauses, “but you can also make them on the fly, and if you understand things well enough you can add structures to handle various effects. Like… if you read up on how gills work, and the pressure problems of deep water, you could add them and some swimming fins to have an underwater form. A good understanding of the mechanics of flight would let you make functional wings for a flying form. You should also be able to make basic tools if you need a miner's pickaxe or whatever.”

'So I could form a set of wings and couple turboprops,' you consider, 'some controls and surfaces… what would that look like…' you take a bit to picture it, walk around the rig in your head, and _push_….

“Just like that, yes,” the ring laughs, “but I would advise putting it on your hero form, as that will give you some insulation against crashes while you figure out how to fly… and change outside, as we're going to need to walk through the dance floor.”

'Why aren't you handling?' You tilt your head.

“Oh, that… I'm looking at a fun new puzzle,” he answers, “untangling the changes Debbie made to the powers I taught her to track down the one she invented. I'm having loads of fun. You weren't sleeping anyway. Oh, and those drinks were covered by our membership, so no worries on the tab.”

'I see…' you nod. You picture yourself in just the dress, do a mental walk around, and apply it… losing the wings. You then pick up all your stuff (as well as Ringo's), and head out… finding yourself eying a couple women as you go. Huh. Well… he did say that could happen, and it's not a bad feeling.

Outside, you find a secluded spot, and try the flight pack on your hero form. Picture yourself as the hero, add the turboprop, wings, and controls, fo the mental walk around, _push_… and you're an Amazonian with wings. A running start, a jump, and you're in the air, picking up speed…

…and drifting to the right. You try to land, crashing into an open field, which makes you a little dizzy for a bit longer than the bullets, but soon enough you're okay again, and so you try again. And crash. And rest. And adjust. And try again. You manage to land safely back at camp about the time dawn breaks, feeling fatigued but also exhilarated:

You can FLY!