Solo Hounding the Hound

[Evalin]

9th of Fall, 514 AV

They had decided to remain where they were for the day after the attack, if only to see if the attackers would return and as it stood their current position was already easily defensible. Night was now beginning to fade as the light started to peak out from behind the green and leaves, but for the moment Evalin cared little for such things as light and warmth. With the aid of Gresshal they had drug two of the bodies closer to the tree in which now the Dhani rested, having gotten little sleep during the night for fear of the Hounds return.

The bodies rested now on the jungle floor, spread out before the Immortal and her Familiar who hovered over the bodies as he inspected them. The creatures when on all fours would have reached to Evalin's waist. Their powerful muscles were knotted and well visible under the short fur that covered their bodies, but what stood out most to the nuit was their teeth... They did not appear to have any lips and so the Immortal could see where the teeth were embed into the gums. Large soulless eyes completed the picture and gave the beast an overall skeletal appearance.

"Fierce they were..." Evalin whispered, reaching forward to run her fingers over the beasts face, pausing to trace one extra large tooth with the end of one long nail, "Wonder I from where they come."

"Native to this place I would assume." the Irlyid replied with a tone that said it mattered to him little if at all, "Hunters of a pack, adapted to corner prey in the darkness of night and to slip through the jungle with such ease as to be nearly undetectable were we not looking for their approach."

Shifting Evalin came to her hands and knees, crawling closer to look and inspect, "Be it but a thought but... My dear Tsenrika, what believe you to be the extent of my abilities as they are now?"

"In what way do you ask?" he floated closer to rest over the nuit's shoulder.

"Wonder I..." Evalin crawled closer to the beast until she nearly straddled it, not heeding the blood that still dripped from its opened wound created by the stone spike sent through is skull the previous night. Leaning ever closer Evalin pulled upon the strands of her djed and began to finger and prod them to place as an artist might mold the clay or pain upon a canvas.

She focused on the one aspect of the creature she was intensely familiar with, its teeth, and with a mental shrug she pulled the image her eyes showed her and overlayed it over her own mental picture of her own face (aided of course by the Familiar who floated close enough that she could see herself through his eyes.

The Immortal grinned, stretching her lips as thin as she could as she pressed upon her djed with silver hands of her will, massaging and molding and smoothing them over so that her lips became thinner and thinner, conforming and becoming one with her gums. The transition was slow, but there was no rush as Evalin took her time ensuring the change was even throughout her lips and mouth region, running hands carefully over where her lips had been to ensure there was no edge or wrinkle.Her finger then traced down and fingered the edge of her inscisors, tilting her head as she took note with interest that the Akila hound in fact had very few teeth, but rather a handful of larger ones which somehow gave it an even greater and fierce expression. It's jaws were wider, more jutting and it looked as though raw tendons were exposed on either side of its jaw, obviously used to increase is overall biting strength.

There was a tingle along Evalin's jawline as she began to play with the djed of her teeth, pulling pairs and sets of teeth together, trying to to use their collective mass of djed to form bigger, singular teeth instead of the smaller multitude. Floating around Tsenrika observed the work as it commenced, adding his own consciousness to the process to aid and guided the nuit's will and djed as the teeth were shaped, rounded and then elongated until each was as thick as two of her fingers and as long as her longest finger. As she worked Evalin steadily widened and expanded her jaws as she did with her Banshee model, but this time she was certain that it was only just enough that she could fit all of the teeth and still close her mouth. The muscles of her jaw she began to work on next, working and adding djed to strengthen and thicken them so that they could support the increased weight of the new shape. Tsenirka circled her head slowly, adding his own touches as they went to slightly angle a tooth so that they would slide over each other more easily, and shifting muscles and skin back and forth where need be to make opening and closing her mouth.

Pressing then upon the djed that moved up on her cheeks and over her nose she began to flatten out and extend those features, nearly getting rid of her nose entirely as she formed a short snout. She paused though before she reached her eyes, leaving only from her nose down transformed as she turned her head to look at Tsenrika and her own reflection there.

"Awahf dah yah thahnk?" Without lips she could not form words properly, which was perplexing and made the nuit's eyebrows raise but she shook her head, What do you think...?

"Truly hideous... but that is expected."

Evalin chuckled, the sound odd and gruff when coming from her large teethed face.

[Evalin]

"A full bodied transformation... That my master has not tired thus far." he hovered over her back as Evalin grunted, her djed flowing down her back as she began to work on the rest of her body.

Be there ever a first time for everything my dear Tsenrika... Her body shivered as the nuit closed her eyes, letting her see herself through Tsenrika's eyes as she ran her mental fingers along the djed of her body. He was right, however, as this would be the Immortal's first attempt at a full body morph. It was new, alien even, but it was the clear first step toward true mastery. The risk, however, was great to the point that even one such as Evalin hesitated. What would happen if she went too far and could not come back? What if she became stuck? What if she lost herself, forgot her true form and had to remain forever a bestial monstrosity... Well the Wretched One figured that in such case little was truly changed, for surely already she was a monster even if outward she did not express this. What then was the worst that could occur? She become a physical incarnation of the taint and hatred that dwelled inside, just beneath the surface? All this would mean was that the world would see and come to hate her for not just what they felt but what they saw... surely Uldr would be pleased with such a thing.

If I be called a monster... then let me become one utterly. she said deep within her mind as she pulled and struck the djed of her core being. Another tremple wracked her body as Evailn opened her eyes, seeing with her eyes and Tsenrika's as mental hands grabbed upon the djed of her knees and jerked, and with a loud CRACK they reversed, muscles and tendons vibrating as she and Tsenrika quickly began to rearrange them so that they would work upon the join that now rested at a new angle, and a new position. Her teeth bared, for she could not help it one way or another, Evalin raised her hand and slowly inched back, holding her balance as she turned her eyes down the beasts body and found its paws. This image she took, with Tsenrika's aid, and laid it over her own mental image of her hand that she stared at now as she began to work, pulling in fingers, using the djed that flowed back to began to form pads upon her palms as each of her five fingers was reduced to stubs of sorts. A dogs paws were rounded with claws that would not extend or retract, and so these she began to fashion where her hands used to be even as Tsenrika floated around her body, pressing his mental will down upon her feet to help her guide that transformation as well.

It was all so much to keep track of as her djed shifted and moved about all across her body at once. Her consciousness was stretched then, guding each and every shift of bone and muscle here and there as she tried to copy everything about this creature that she could observe. Her limbs she shortened and thickened, legs now bulging as the muscles that once spread thin were now bundled and kept in a much smaller space. Her back arched as each and every vertebrae ground against one another, the tips of the spines poking through her skin that did not seem to be thick enough. Where once were hands and feet there were now paws with thick pads upon them and claws that dug into the dirt as Evalin balanced herself to keep from tilting over. Her spine curved slightly as she was forced to shift her ribs up higher and higher to account for the arch. Luckily this beast was about as large as Evalin was, but more compact and hardened so while she did not have to change much of her mass as far as quantity goes she instead simply had to shift it elsewhere.

Shaking her head Evalin looked at herself through the Irlyid eyes, and what she saw was horrid... Her body was bent and on all fours, much like how the Hound's body was, but for a few major differences. her arms were still far too thick, the shoulders too wide even as the arch in her back was too great. Bits of white of her spine could be seen through her skin where her vertebrae were arched unnaturally, and while the greater portion of her body was changed her eyes and ears were still those of a humans, and black hair still fell back over her shoulder and neck giving her a terrible, nightmarish vision of a not quite complete morph. She had yet had time to add to the details such as the skin and fur, thus she still had very pale skin and no hair whatsoever to cover the stretched skin through which ribs and other joints were clearly visible.

Not quite... Looking up the sun was already past its crest, no less than 6 bells had past since they began and there was no sign of Gresshal in the tree. Perhaps he had gone so as not to witness the terrible act that defiled nature unfold before him... but it was no matter, he would return. For the time being Evalin's only concern was perfecting this model.

[Evalin]

"Lengthen the body to relieve the stress on the spine and to even out the proportions." Tsenrika advised even as Evalin felt his consciousness pressed against her own and guide her will to do just that.

There was a soft popping sound as her body lengthened slightly, her back stretching out and the sharp ridges where her vertebrae were showing through lessened somewhat as this morphs weight was more evenly displaced over a larger area. Once this was completed attention was given to the upper portion of her body where the muscles and djed there were more compacted than anywhere else, giving the body a lopsided and somewhat comical look (and equally making it hellish to look at). The muscles were smoothed out and the front limbs lengthened somewhat so that there was a more smooth transition from shoulder to forearm and paw. That djed that was pulled from there was then distributed toward the back end, letting those back limb muscles grow ever so slightly to give a more balanced appearance to the body.

Now with that done Evalin let herself focus upon her head and neck, collecting the djed there as she began to extend her neck out more, giving it more room to trun her head about even as she began to push her shoulders back slightly. The muscles of her neck she knew had to grow to support the weight, and this she did gradually as the Irylid glided smoothly along her spine to float over her head to guide her hair follicles to begin to take in the black locks and distribute the hair more evenly over the entirety of her body. It was somewhat similar to repotting a plant in that all that was needed was to take the djed that formed her hair and shift it from one place to other places over her body. Once they Evalin needed only to let the djed do as it did before, become hair that was shorter and was not all clumped onto one place on the top of her scalp.

The nose was flattened the rest of the way, molded so that it became one with the snout as the skin was drawn back further to reveal more of the bone white beneath just as the Hound's did. Even as her neck grew Evailn pressed her will upon her skull, shrinking it and curve it so that it flowed smoothly back into the thick muscled neck. Her ears she focused on near the end, shaking her head as she pulled upon the curve of the lobes and edge to extend it out into an almost funnel shape that would help trap sound and funnel it into her ear canal.

For a tick Evalin pondered altering the eyes as well, but instead with some thought decided to leave them as they were and instead with the Familiar's help molded her brows and cheeks so that they became more streamlined with the overall face, sinking in the sockets themselves until the red of the iris' could only just be seen when she turned toward something or someone. Slowly, ever so slowly the morph was coming together as Syna sank more and more toward the horizon. Evalin felt tired, strained, weary beyond anything she had ever experienced when performing morphing. It was similar to a muscle that had become overworked, and her djed only weakly protested when she began to make further changes.

Now, with the majority of it completed Evalin lifted one leg, taking a step slowly, cautiously as she felt her new muscles and their new positions. Unlike the serpent tail this form was not so unfamiliar to her that she could not function, after all did she not have 4 legs when she became her Other? One step became two, and then three as Evalin made a slow circle around the tree where she and Tsenrika had been hard at work.

It feels...

"The body is slow to respond, but it is not uncomfortable it seems." Tsenrika observed, coming closer, "A full bodied transformation. What think you of it?"

Looking around at herself Evalin tried to shrug, but nearly lost her balance and stumbled, I feel as though I am someone else entirely.

[Evalin]

"The scales..." the familiar's gold voice whispered, half amused and partially bemused.

Confused Evalin turned so that she could more easily see her hindquarters, and there she saw just as the Familiar had said... scales black as pitch covering from her paws to near the waist of her new form. With a silent curse Evalin looked away, the urge to scratch her head great but as she raised a paw she realized that scratching her head was not quite as easy as before. Thus she sat back on her haunches and growled instead, The scales... the scales seem to have followed me into this form as well. How annoying.

"They could be an aesthetic quirk to make this form truly your own." the Irylid suggested as he floated around to inspect the area more closely, "It appears the djed believes them to be a part of you as sure as your skin or hair is."

But this is not the case, it is an abnormality." Evalin scratched her neck with a hind leg, but then stopped as she realized what she had done and lowered her foot once more, It seems this is the cost of my growth. Djed that forgets what it is and what it should be. Wonder I how THIS form will change that as well?

"Severe I would assume." She could feel him mentally shrugging, "But such are the costs for progress. Hopefully the cost shall not be that you are forced to walk on your hands from now on."

Hush now. Evalin stood to all fours once more, taking a few more practice steps before looking back on herself, If anything this form feels more natural than that half form we discovered before... no need to slither when I do have four limbs on which to walk.

Gathering her legs beneath her Evalin pushed off the ground, leaping forward on the combined might of her four legs and nearly crashed into a tree that went from several lengths away to nearly upon her in a fraction of a tick. It seemed this body was able to move far easier than even her normal one, and the more she worked and moved teh more at home she began to feel. The pull of her djed grew less and less with every bell, and for this reason Evalin began to wonder if, perhaps, she was taking her magic too far.

her djed trembled as she reached toward it once more, almost seeming to flinch away from her influence as she started the slow transition back, Aid me Tsenrika... Feel I that this shall be of some difficulty.

Leth was already begining to rise as Evalin started to gain somewhat of her form back. It was slow, almost as slow as the initial change itself. Unlike before when Evalin released her hold upon the strings of her djed her body did not instantly begin to snap back to its rightful shape. Instead it shifted very little, barely making any change at all which gave the nuit pause. It was similar to the tail when she had tried to shape it to no avail. LIke her djed... forgot what it was supposed to be.

Evalin called upon her memories of what she should like, and without Tsenrika's aid perhaps even that would have been outside the scope of her abilities for, at that moment, the Immortal realized she did not really know what she was supposed to look like. To a nuit a body was a vessel, something that changed nearly as often as a normal human might change their clothes. Thus no matter how Evalin might try she could not draw upon a clear picture of herself or what she was to become. Her identity as a nuit was not something physical, but rather a spiritual and emotional state and collective conscious experiences. How odd it was to suddenly focus on the physical when for so long she had cared little for what she really looked like. Luckily the Irylid did remember, and were it not for him Evalin knew she would be in far worse shape.

The djed was slow to respond, sluggish to move, and nearly painful to change as her knees cracked back to their original position and the nuit tilted and fell to her side. The rest of the changes came, slowly, over bells. Her djed felt ragged and raw to the touch as her spine and limbs lengthened back to their original shapes and her head and neck began to slowly come back to normal as well. What the Immortal found was that bigger, less complicated parts of her body changed more readily and so within several chimes her arms, torso and legs were close to what they should have been, however those things on the extremities such as her hands, feet and facial features were not so easily restored. Her hands came... after a bell. The djed there felt as though it had bee run over with gravel and sandpaper, and when Evalin sent the message to bend her fingers and wrist were slow to respond. Yet still, her hands became hands once more, but her feet seemed stubborn. Her paws lengthened, the individual toes became more prominent, but the pads remained and the overall look was still very canine. This combined with the scales that were still stubbornly holding on despite Evailn's efforts made the Immortal grimace, or would have were it not for the teeth which she could not seem to shift. With her newly formed hands Evalin managed to gently guide the transformations so that her skull and ears returned to normal, relatively... but from her nose down the djed refused to shift or change at all. For whatever reason she was stuck with the mouth of an Akila hound.

Be damned... Evalin cursed as she grunted, trying to force the djed in this region to shift even the slightest but to no avail. At last she simply gave up and sat back against the tree, wiggling her half human, half hound feet with a defeated sigh.

"You look even uglier than ussual." The hiss came from above and suddenly Evalin realized that Gresshal had returned and now lounged in the trees above, looking down on Evalin with a smirk written all over his face.

For a tick Evalin thought to reply, before remembering she could not speak with her mouth as it was... and instead simply looked away. Her body felt heavy, and now it was weirdly disfigured. The nuit was not sure if it was permanent, or if it could be mended... but for the time being she could do little about it. Her djed was no longer responding to her commands, as if it had completely given up and fallen out with exhaustion.

"Perhaps the morning will bring relief and the djed will be more willing to cooperate." Tsenrika floated over Evalin's outstretched hands as she sighed again heavily, Hope I that this is so... truly I do.

[Caela Dorin]

Grade Awarded Evalin Experience Skill XP Earned Endurance 3 Familiary 1 Morphing 5 Observation 2 Planning 2 Lores • Lore Earned • Reinforcing Muscles to Handle the Weight of a New Form • Undergoing a Full Bodied Transformation • Reversing Joint Direction • Morphing Model: Akila Hound • Not Being Able to Fully Shake Off a Transformation Additional Comments The detail in this was simply exceptional. I'd never read anything of yours before but I find Evalin's approach to things fascinating. I really loved the way you had her play around a bit first and gave me such an interesting insight into her sense of humour. Fantastic job! Bear in mind that I am in no way familiar with magics like morphing so if you feel that there's anything lacking then by all means let me know! Please edit or delete your grade request and PM me if you have any questions or concerns about your grade. x