Worldbuilding with Dragon!Price (Patreon)

using price as an example to explain how monsters can hide their wings while around civilians (and also how he copes physically with the weight imbalance of only having one).

-wings (and other features) can be retracted and regrown at will, but the process is always gruelling and painful. the process also begins to leave more pressing residual effects when the monster gets older, like lingering muscle pain or weakened bone structure. this is why the 141 relish being around each other - government contract work is one of the few opportunities where monsters can be openly comfortable with their bodies with other monsters outside of their immediate herds/packs/flocks etc.

-price's tail (as well as most of the other shifters) is a permanent fixture of his body. in civilian mode, he straps it down to his leg to keep it from moving around.

-the loss of one wing means that price's weight is almost always leaning towards his left side, even when his remaining wing is retracted. to offset it, he tends to wear a weighted shoulder brace on that side of his body.