Worldbuilding- A Day Off (Part One)

"So I just drink this potion and... what? Do I rub the dog's tail or something?" Dane asked, swishing the tail sewn to the back of the fur belt tied around his waist.

Nick smirked. "First of all, that's a wolf's pelt and tail. Not a dog. Second, I'm thinking not, but I'm not sure. I don't need a spell to shift so I've never actually done this myself."

"Well, is there anything else I might need to know before I do this?"

"Shifting can be a doozy the first time. It should be painless, but it's still quite the experience to get through."

"So reassuring," Dane jested nervously. He eyed the small vial of greenish lavender liquid, then downed it in one gulp.

The potion began its work almost immediately. His violet eyes lightened to liquid gold. His ears pulled up and foward. Gray and white fur itched and scratched its way up through his skin. Then the bones started their shift. Some lengthened and grew; others shrank and contracted. The sound of it was always the worst part to Nick. Joints popped and bones ground together or squeaked as they slipped through rubbery muscle.

The last thing to change was the elongating of Dane's jaws. Another weird moment, in Nick's opinion. But Dane took the whole thing like a champ. He didn't say anything throughout the entire process. Only shook himself at the end, settling everything into its final place.

Dane glanced up at Nick with a quizzical look. Nick waited to hear his thoughts, but realized he was never going to while still in his yeben form. "Hold on," he said. Then began his own shift into wolf form. He didn't take nearly as much time to change as Dane did. Mere seconds, rather than the minute or so. That was one of the advantages of being born a shifter: the years of experience.

"Can you hear me now?" A voice chimed in Nick's head the moment he was done. It was a bit hazy and far away, but Nick knew the fog would clear with his next breath.

"I can hear you. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. You were right. There wasn't any pain, but it was quite a doozy. I don't see why you choose to do this as often as you do." Dane flicked his now mobile ears back and forth, side to side, and up and down. Then he wagged his tail. His TAIL. He smiled wolfishly. "Nevermind. This is kind of fun."

"One of many perks."

"I don't think I shifted all the way, though, Nick. There's something wrong with my vision. The world looks so strange. Like it's faded or something."

"No, no; that's normal. That's your wolf's vision. Wolves are half colorblind. So there's colors you can't see now."

Dane laughed. "That's certainly not a perk. It's creepy. I feel like that's something you should have told me about." He took a few shaky steps toward Nick. "Hm. It's been years since I've been this low to the ground. And it's so weird to walk on four legs--my goodness."

"Don't think too hard on it." Nick grinned. "Just let your brain move you. The magic should settle the rest."

Nick sat down as Dane circled him a few times, growing more steady as he went. "Is my 'wolf' going to start talking to me soon? Or do I have to coax it out?"

"Your wolf?"

"Yeah. I mean, I've shifted now, so my wolf half should wake up and start telling me stuff, right?"

Nick laughed at that. "There's no schizophrenic voice. You're the wolf. When we talk about that part of our shifter selves, we're just meaning a way of thinking and being. Like the way your eyes now have a new way of seeing. It's not a separate part of you. It's just a difference in you."

"Oh. That's kind of disappointing." Dane stopped and sat down in front of Nick, noting their vast difference in size for the first time since shifting. He was barely half Nick's size.

"Holy sh*t," Dane gawked. "You're still huge! I'm a wolf just like you now, so why are you still so much bigger than me?"

"We're two different kinds of wolves, Dee. You've shifted into a natural wolf through a spell. Whereas I'm a born shifter with a mutation species. You can't find the type of wolf I am in nature. It doesn't exist."

"Then how did you become the wolf that you are? Magic?"

"Magic and genetics. Essentially we were bred this way through several generations of my family."

"Just to make you big and frightening?"

Nick frowned dourly. "No. To make us perfect for hunting shifters."

"Oh...." Dane stood again and sniffed the air. "It's so strange," he said. "The world not only looks odd, but it smells odd. Everything stinks. Especially whatever this smell is." Dane followed his nose until it bumped him into Nick's broad side. "Whoops," he sniffed. "Of course that's you. My bad."

"Hey, that's not fair. I'm very clean." Nick whined.

"I'm sure it's not as bad as this super nose makes it seem." Dane said absently. He was already moving on to other smells and sights and sounds.

It was amusing for Nick to watch his mate see the world through his lens for the first time. He followed Dane around the pen as he investigated every nook and crevice of the yard. Before long, moving around on four legs was second nature to him. So was finding things he didn't need to be eating.

"Put that down!" Nick snarled and snapped at Dane's muzzle for the eighth time.

"You need to quit that!" Dane snapped back, his teeth flashing even as he cowed beneath Nick's scolding. "I'm not doing anything, Nick! Leave me alooone."

"That's a f*cking nail. Why are you trying to eat that?"

"I didn't know it was a nail," Dane pouted. "I was still trying to determine what it was. And, anyway, it smelled nice."

"It smells rusty, you little dope."

"Why is that relevant?"

"Because you can't yet tell the difference between rust and blood."

Dane rolled his eyes. Or tried to. It wasn't as easy to do as a wolf. He didn't have as much control over his new features as he probably wanted. So Nick was missing out on, like, ninety-percent of Dane's main form of communication. As these microtransactions built up, Nick feared it would be a blessing now but a curse later.

"So when are we going to leave this pen?" Dane asked abruptly. "The alchemist said we only had to stay here until I learned how to move around. I want to go see the woods. Chase squirrels and sh*t."

"You literally just tried to eat a nail," Nick countered. "You need more time."

"Maybe. Maybe not. I only get five hours as a wolf, and I know to watch out for that now. Besides, how many nails could there be in the woods? C'mon. I bet, if we tried, we wouldn't even have to wait for someone to come and open the gate. We could just jump this fence and be out of here."

"Jump the fence? You mean this eight foot fence? Why would you want to try when--?" Dane was already galloping towards the fence, and hardly hestitated a breath before leaping up to the top of the fence. He had to run up the last few feet and grab the edge with his forepaws, but he made it. Seconds after finding purchase with his hindfeet, he vanished over the top. Nick heard the heavy thump of his feet hitting the ground on the otherside.

"THE GATE ISN'T LOCKED," Nick thought-screamed. But screaming in your head wasn't nearly as effective as screaming aloud--even when that scream could be shared from one skull to another. Nick cursed. He ran back across the pen and shoved open the gate. By the time he had made his way around the enclosure to where Dane had landed, his mate was gone. "Dane, where are you?" he called out. "Dane? DANE!"

"What!?" Dane answered back. Unlike true sound, Nick had no way of telling where Dane's thoughts were coming from. But he knew that Dane couldn't be too far away, either. Otherwise they wouldn't hear each other.

"Where are you?" Nick repeated. There was a short pause, but Nick would have sworn he could hear the mischief brewing within it.

"I'm hiding." Dane teased. Nick cursed the playfulness in Dane's voice.

"This isn't funny, Dee. You come back here right now."

"Ooh, sounds like I could be in trouble. You'll have to find me if you want to spank me."

"Dane, I'm serious. Dane? Dane...?" Nothing. Nick was going to have to play, whether he wanted to or not. And he was pretty certain he was getting too old for this.