Actually, this is not really as contrived a plot device at it may seem: the only thing that has changed, is her base form. From the first time we saw her, when she was in siren form, her chest was relatively small, but proportional to her taller-than-Katherine body. When she reverted to normal human size/form, the proportions were kept, in her now-shorter-than-Katherine size/form. So while there was an increase in absolute size, there was none to speak of, in relative size.Nimrod wrote:I feel sad for the Atsali character as Paul has deliberately made her this way and yet purposefully stripped her ability to shape shift her boobs to a more manageable size - on purpose and in an after-the-fact manner. Oh yeah, my shape shifter can change everything except the one physical attribute that will cause her perpetual conflict with her peers, social stigmatization, and plot points for the next year or so...
In the same manner, when she was at the island with everyone else, her proportions were the same in her taller form, as they are in her normal human size/form, now that she has been hit by puberty (yes, the word order is deliberate). You'll notice that, while she stated earlier (see previous link) that she was seven feet tall in her siren-sized human form, she is now slightly shorter than Katherine, but sports the same proportions. This is simply the new base form/shape. She cannot change that. Absolute size will increase when she grows to siren form, but will only decrease to her new standard busty persona, when she returns to human form. Nothing unusual about that, however embarrassing she may find the situation to be.
And this is not unheard of, either. Take a look at Shelly: she of the demi-bras, she of the bandanna top (which, if I'm not mistaken, precludes the wearing of a bra altogether), who is, I would guess, an A size in her human form (or perhaps a B size, at the most...) In her sphinx form, her proportions are just about the same.
Read the arc where Shelly 1 is in the time forest with Shelly 57, and you can see what I mean. In fact, that is the best comparison possible, as you can see both the human form and the sphinx form at the same time. Again, we see an increase in absolute size, but the proportions hardly change at all.
All this to say that we should not be surprised to see that Atsali can't shrink her chest when in human form. That's just not how it works with shapeshifters who maintain a similar form throughout (albeit with extra appendages and so on, like Atsali's wings, talons, face markings and at times bird legs), with size increase/decrease between form. The exception to the rule being, of course, the ursamorphs, since they are not limited to shifting between similar shapes. They can do whatever form shifting they want. Again, given the parameters, that would be par for the course.