"...Let yourself flicker, like, er...like a candle flame," Teige said quietly. "Like the shadow on the wall..."

He trailed off. Yoshi opened her eyes after a moment of silence and looked sideways at him. The sun was shining down hotly into the room; Yoshi sat apparently unaffected by it, but Teige had stripped down to his binder and pants, and still appeared to be overheating.

"Is it my hair again?" she asked. Teige smiled ruefully.

"Yea."

Yoshi's hair, at least, had gone indistinct at the ends, and was now flowing up towards the ceiling like silent pitch-black flames. As Teige spoke, though, it abruptly became corporeal again, and fell down haphazardly over Yoshi's face. She sighed.

"Why is my hair the only part I can make change?"

Teige scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I've been wondering that myself," he admitted. "Question for ya: do you like your hair?"

Yoshi gave him a somewhat puzzled look as she pulled her hair back and over her shoulder, attempting to smooth it out.

"Serious question, now."

"Well, it is..." Yoshi paused. "It is the only feature I have that I really like."

"I thought you might say something like that," Teige murmured, and grimaced, fanning himself with one hand. "See, I couldn't tolerate shapeshifting after I...you know, er. Started menstruating. So after that, and until I'd started testosterone, and been on it long enough that my body felt tolerable to be in, I just couldn't stand to change shape too much. Maybe it'll be the same for you, and this'll get easier after you've been on estrogen a good while."

Yoshi didn't answer. Seeing the look on her face, Teige added quickly, "But hey now, keep your chin up! You're making progress in any case! Right?"