Ah. This has become a difficult situation.

It's not that this isn't, y'know, nice and all but. Uh. Um.

She's reaching out for that like--you know, the little pinch, that little nexus, the little pit of fire that'll blossom out and--

Small, that's the ticket. Small, get out of the pinch, hope that. 

D'you know, she has the weirdest mental image of like, a beartrap being sprung around something small and squeaky? Fire, chipmunk, a metallic [i]twang?[/i]

And it's [i]not working[/i] is the thing, right

It's not working oh crap why isn't it working

Is it girls?

Are girls her secret weakness?

Why are girls her secret weakness?

She can't transform around girls! No, no, that's dumb, she transforms around herself all the time! And Rain! And Hsien! And Izi, now that she thinks about it!

Girls would be a terrible secret weakness! Like that one movie Mr. Chan doesn't know she watched about the aliens who were weak to water, or something!

But it's not working and she can't transform and she's being squeezed and she's pushing, pushing, rising like Godzilla from the ocean, sloughing off desk and monitor and cables and girl like water, because she [i]can't transform[/i] and [i]isn't safe[/i] and--