Transformation description
(because I’m a nerd and TF fan and write too damn much down)
((Note – if you’re drawing this, you don’t by any means have to take this as what you MUST do – I love seeing different interpretations. This is just my mental image of the process and sequence of Ambrose’s normal transformations.)
*I’ve divided this up into stages to give a good idea of what is happening at the same general time, as several features will be growing out at any given moment.
*I’ve also separated each stage into both emotional changes (what he’s feeling mentally and sensation wise) and physical changes.
*Normally, the complete transformation would take between a full 2 and 5 minutes.
*This is the description of his change to hybrid form J. To wolf form, his hands would change about when his feet do, his head hair recedes as he gets his second coat, and as his musculature changes, he would shift even more to a quadrupedal form.
STAGE ONE:
In the first stage, there is absolutely no accompanying sensation to alert him that anything is going on, other than starting to feel more restless.
The first physical thing to happen is any “cut” feature that he had been trying to hide would begin to grow back ( eyebrows would re-thicken and connect again across the bridge of his nose, and his nails would grow back out to their natural state of long and pointed.) ((These are the features that re-grow while he sleeps every night.)) In total, he would have thick, connecting eyebrows, long pointed fingernails, pronounced and sharper canines, and a slight pointed tip to his ears.
STAGE 2
In this stage his heart rate starts to accelerate, and he starts to feel minor chills and hot flashes alternating, as if he has a fever. The fur growth feels kind of prickly, like goose bumps, but the effects are minimal enough that it is possible, if caught up in something, he might not notice.
His sharp canines would begin to become more pronounced and even longer, and the nails would lengthen even more, thickening and beginning to discolor. Additionally, his hairline would extend down into the sideburn area on his face – the hair/fur would be rather fair and soft – not thick beard-like hair. As this is happening, his ears extend to longer points, and have a slight inconsistent fur on them. ((At this point, until later stated, all hair and fur growth is the color of his natural hair – blonde.)) His blue eyes begin to shift to the green spectrum (eventually reaching yellow). Furthermore, a light furring starts on the back of his hands.
STAGE 3
In this phase, the room might start to seem like it’s reeling to him, though not enough to throw him off balance, and he will start to feel as if he’s got a LOT of pent up energy, as if he needs to do something, THEN – his breathing comes quicker and the equivalent feeling is that of a fight/flight response mixed with a bit of a feral and/or carnal feelings welling up. IF he is in a VERY heightened state of emotions already (fighting, terrified of something, or being very passionate) then it is possible that he still may not notice the changes.
His senses begin to sharpen at this point – most notably his hearing and sense of smell, and his ears lengthen even further and start to change shape to a more canine look. His canines become quite long, and some of the other teeth in his mouth begin to point and mimic a canine dentition, starting to look rather large in a still-human jaw. His fingernails (and toenails) at this point are definitely claws- long, sharp and black. Hair/fur starts to trail in a straight line about six inches wide (though wider in areas where his back is wider) down his back starting at the nape of his neck and running down to his tailbone (where a small, sensitive nub is developing), and spreading outwards across his shoulders and down the backs of his arms to the wrists. By the end of this stage, most of his back, and the backs of his arms and legs is covered in this light fur. This fur is still blonde, and at this point most of it does not grow to longer than an inch, except for a feathering-effect on the backs of his arms/elbows, and long fur with a similar consistency along the sides of his jaw line (but not down to his chin). Rough, calloused-spots begin to well up and darken on the pads of his fingers, palm, toes, and the balls of his feet. His muscles tighten (arms, legs, chest and abdomen), and start to expand, getting to the point where he’s definitely filling out most normally-fitting shirtsleeves and pants, though not quite to the point of straining.
By this time, his eyes are the full feral yellow, the black rims develop as well, concealing any white of his eyes – giving the full wolf-eye look, though still with the distinct look of intelligence and full awareness.
STAGE 4
As the change progresses into this stage, the body begins to shift in bone and more extreme musculature, and thus almost always pain. There is an exception, however. If he is experiencing a strong, primitive emotion (fury, terror, lust, etc) then instead of these physical shifts causing a wrenching pain, it translates into a heightened feeling of that emotion, the sensation of that emotion traveling throughout the body as it swells and stretches and tears into new shapes. His heart races, and were it not for the sensations, scents would be quite noticeable as his sense of smell becomes extremely acute. He would have to be incredibly *coughs* occupied/distracted and in one of the aforementioned mind states not to notice the shift at this point.
One of the first things to occur in this stage is the undercoat quickening its spread across his body from the neck-down, as the coarser, surcoat of gray and dark fur begins to grow in in a few sparce locations (namely the backs of the arms, on the shoulders, and a bit along the jawline. Almost concurrently is the lengthening of his spine/tailbone, pushing out a long, thin, and almost hairless (aside from “peach-fuzz”) bony tail from the small nub from the previous stage. This kicks off the surge in emotions– not tied to the rest of the more spreading shift mentioned above, a reflection of the sensitivity of the area. As soon as the tail grows out, the piqued emotion of the new appendage pushing out sets off the spasming of muscles as they swell further, his ribs widening, joints shifting outwards, and bones growing to support the change, -this- time the growth strains and rips the seams of most normally-fitting clothing. Along with this, his feet begin to stretch, leaving the big toes behind to shrivel to next to nothing as the rest of his toes swell, becoming paws. His hands also stretch larger, and the calluses from the previous stage on the hands/feet thicken and darken considerably, becoming full-fledged pads. Near the end, as the body is swelling considerably, his jaws, led by the changing dentition, starts to push outwards.
STAGE 5
This is as the final changes occur – the last of the large changes, and the refining of the growth into a more lupine look. He is burning with the change now, before the sensation finally starts to wash away and leave him in the new, stronger body, blinking as his senses adapt to the increased awareness.
His jaw pushes out further, pulling and shifting the bones of his skull and the teeth in his mouth into the final shape as his sinus cavities swell and attune to the shape and increased olfactory capabilities, his nose changing shape, darkening, moistening into a canine nose now at the end of his muzzle. His face is now left virtually identical to a natural wolf, gasping for breath. Now fur rushes down from his hairline and up from his jaw line to cover his face. As this happens, in his body bones crack into their new positions, cementing into their final shape as the surcoat of the coarser gray/white fur coats his changing muscles and fills out the brush of his quivering tail.