First Celestial Shift [Legendseekers]

"Troia! Look! I can stand on two legs!" Pantalaimon stood with two feet firmly planted on the stretched out their arms to their side, wiggling their fingers as they observed themself. They had a lean, flat-chested and androgynous build, just a few inches away from standing at six feet tall. "Incredible, isn't it? I can actually face some Vexyns head-on now! I've always wondered what it was like to see things from their height."

They tried to step forward- and wobbled on their legs to clumsily fall face-first on the ground. 

Troia, also standing on two feet, studied her reflection in front of a nearby standing mirror. She stood at roughly the same height as Pantalaimon, if not an inch or two taller, and shared a similar androgynous build as them. She hesitantly took a few steps, then seeing how easy it was for her, she paced herself in larger strides around Oberon's laboratory, looking idly at the variety of equipment Oberon kept on his shelves. From the way she carried herself so gracefully right from the beginning, it was hard to guess that this was the first time she had ever shifted to her anthroxyn form.

Oberon watched them sternly, crossing his arms. "Please be careful not to break my equipment!"

Pantalaimon winced, bringing one hand to their temple to rub it. They struggled to shove their knees and to right themself upward, using their tail to push up their rear for leverage. "Sorry, I'm seriously trying not to- I don't think it's very fair that Troia gets to walking and talking so easily." They at least managed to sit on the ground, fumbling with their legs to cris-cross them while huddling their wings to their back to prevent them from knocking over the table beside them.

"... this is pointless," Troia said, bluntly. She immediately shifted back to her feral form, sitting down on her haunches. She lifted her claws to comb through her dark purple fur, bringing out her tail to smooth out the long feathers on her shoulder as she groomed herself.

Pantalaimon pouted, bringing their hands to their hips and tapping the spiked ring on the ground. "You're never any fun when you get to try something exciting and new, aren't you?" they said, and stuck out their tongue at her.

Troia continued to groom herself without looking at them. "I don't see what benefit standing on two legs and having 'hands' and 'fingers' will bring me."

"But even in your regular form, you've always had toes, and manual dexterity from those! That must have been sooo useful for you. I didn't even have the joy of that with my toeless paws!"

"Well, now you get to, because you can make ephemeral toes appear on you any time you want." Troia said bluntly- it was not a sarcastic remark. "Stop complaining."

"Whatever!" Pantalaimon huffed. They were about to speak more, but Oberon coughed to catch both of the xyn's attention.

"Have you both forgotten I'm here?" he asked. "I hate to sound rude, but if you'll excuse me; you've both been here long enough when I have urgent matters to attend to!"

"Sorry. Thanks for helping," Troia said. Before Pantalaimon could say anything else, she headbutted Pantalaimon's back to shove them towards the door- the sharp tips of her golden horns pricked them. They yelped, wobbling on their legs as they stumbled out the door and fell flat on their face once out of the room and back on the streets of Moonreach. Oberon followed them, shaking his head and sighing.

"Ow! Are you serious?" They whined, putting a hand to their back to rub the tender area. They managed to smile at Oberon. "And thank you so much again for your help, Oberon. We'll find a use for celestial shifting soon... somehow...!" 

"You had better made it worth my time and effort! Goodbye now." And with that, Oberon shut the door on them. 

Pantalaimon sighed, standing up on both legs and trying to stand up. They had to place a hand on a nearby lighting pole by to steady themself. "Say, Troia, do you think you can shift to your anthroxyn form and show me how you walked around so easily? I'm seriously struggling here!" 

"No." said Troia. Even though her mask halo couldn't emote glared at them, and lashed her tail in displeasure.

Pantalaimon groaned, and together with her, they both walked along the streets that night, discussing what to do next with the vision that Athens had shown them...