Day 22: Transformation

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Universe:  QuickSilver
Rating: PG / TW: None
 

“Be careful in your dealings with Shifters.
While the Fae may be chaotic and the Mage unpredictable, Shifters are often driven by their
emotions, harnessing their anger and fear to transform into their animalistic shapes.”

- Excerpt from A Primer for Young Huntsmin

"The transformation from human to beast can be tricky. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like the most gruesome of experiences; one might expect the grind of meat on the bone, the crack of gristle, the groan of organs moving in unusual ways. It is also a persistent stereotype that all Shifters depend on negative emotions to start the change. Both of these takes are woefully unaware. I have witnessed some of the most graceful, beautiful Shifts by the calmest of individuals. It is a hard skill to master, I’m told, but one that is quite worthwhile.”

- Excerpt from Dr. Wyatt Barlow’s
The Velanthropoi I Have Known: Personal Stories and Greater Truths

     Cole and William sat across from each other on the couch, their arms extended and hands clasped together between them. Cole tried to steady her breath as anxiety nipped at her sensibilities. “I’m not sure if I can do this.”

     William squeezed her hands reassuringly. It had taken months of encouragement to convince Cole that practicing her shifting was a good idea. She had never embraced her wolf shape abilities as a positive thing in her life, which William understood was derived from how often shifting had been intertwined with fear and anger. He felt that was no way to live, but Cole couldn’t shake that it was possible for it to be any other way.

     “Think of a positive memory to connect to it,” he encouraged.

     “We’re using Peter Pan logic now?” Cole cracked open one eye. “Gonna teach me how to fly next?”

     “I’m actually quite serious,” he replied, rolling his shoulders to relax them. “This is how Willow taught me to shift properly.”

     “You’re so lucky to have had a cousin to teach you,” Cole muttered.

     William smiled apologetically. “Well, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for me. Remember that I still tore up a pawnshop’s basement the first time I shifted.”

     “Among other things,” Cole sighed before squeezing her eyes shut again. “Okay, okay, okay. A happy memory. A happy memory.”

     “Yes, and let your body relax as best it can.” William kept his own breaths steady, hoping the subtle guidance would help his girlfriend along. He watched her silently struggle for a few minutes before chiming in again. “A suggestion, if you allow.”

     “Hit me.”

     William couldn’t keep away the smile that turned up the corners of his mouth. “Well. You could use the memory of one of our more… enticing… endeavors.”

     Cole felt a pink lighten on her cheeks and opened her eyes again. “You mean…?”

     William raised his eyebrows with a gentle smirk. Cole’s pink turned to red as she pushed forward on their interlocked hands and chided her boyfriend’s nerve to suggest such a thing. “You perv!” She would be lying if she said things had never gotten a bit more… wild… in their bedroom activities, but she had never done anything near to a full shift in such a situation.

     William playfully pushed back. “I was merely suggesting a time you may have found pleasant.”

     "William." She tried to sound angry, but William could hear the laugh under her tone.

     "William, what?" he joked back.

     Cole didn’t reply, but lifted her chin and pressed her lips into a tight line. William studied the way she tensed, thinking at first that he might have read her wrong and committed a faux pas, which in turn caused the suddenness of which she leapt onto him to catch him completely off-guard. He yelped aloud as her clever fingertips went straight for his sensitive ribs, tickling him mercilessly.

     “Oh! Oh, hahaha! This! This is not!! Hahahahaha! Part of the lesson!!” he managed to gasp out.  

     “I’m making a happy memory!” Cole went deeper, looking for his most ticklish spots.

     “Clever!! Girl!! Hahaha!” William squirmed, trying to wiggle his frame out from underneath her onslaught. Through his tears, he managed to catch a glimpse of fur that had started to grow on Cole’s features. “It! It’s working! Haha! Your nose has gone silver!”

     Cole sat up, stopping her attack to curiously touch her nose. “What!”

     William used the opportunity to flip the tables, springing his wiry frame over her and going for her stomach. “Perhaps we can keep it going!”

     “Gah! Hahahahah!!” Cole’s laugh was music to him as she tried to escape. “Noooo! Hahaha!!”

     “I think I see your ears changing shape! I’m sure a muzzle will be next!”

     “Noooononoooo this was not the plaaaaan!”

     “Necessity is the mother of invention, Cole!” Out of breath, William slumped down, pinning her to the couch. “Shifting is also about adapting, you know.”

     “You’re impossible.” Cole tried to catch her breath. “And also heavy.”

     “I’m quite comfortable, actually.” William snuggled down tighter against her, causing Cole to gently rap at his back with her fists with no success, as he only smiled. “Ah, new lesson, darling. You will have to shift to remove me.”

     “Wiiiiilliaaaam!!!”