Even though she wasn’t falling through the ground anymore, Gale knew that something was wrong. Everything tingled fiercely, and the hairs on her arms were standing up. A faint light filled the cave that she couldn’t place the source of, until she realized that it was her own body…
Or rather, it was the white fur that grew from her skin.
She sat up with a start as the stuff thickened on her arms. The motion seemed to throw her ears loose, both in placement and form, and they scooted up her head and lengthened, taking on their own dusting of softness as they did so. Gale yelped, and it sounded too loud in her ears, and too high-pitched, like a strained squeak was mixed in.
She immediately thought of her friend Bindi, the zoologist, who sometimes underwent a similar transformation. Her vulpine ears and tail, as well as her red hair, were permanent traits that carried over to her human form, too. Bindi had trouble talking while transformed, and could lean a little more bestial in combat, but was otherwise pretty much completely herself… though apparently she used to struggle with memory loss, waking up to find that she’d destroyed furniture and the like. She always seemed insistent that others should stay away from her when she took on that form, despite never having harmed anyone, and that saddened Gale…
… But that wasn’t the way in which Gale was thinking of her now. Because, in addition to all of this, there was also the fact of Gale’s fascination with Bindi’s transformation. For such a thing to now be happening to her was admittedly frightening but also quite thrilling. Maybe she wasn’t consciously happy about the whole thing, but she could not take her eyes off of herself as the changes progressed.
Said changes were now arriving at her hands, which began to twitch, and pop, and swell within her gloves. Threads snapped, the softly glowing white fur bursting through the gaps. Pads welled up on her fingertips and palms, and Gale gasped (another hint of a squeak!) at the sensitivity of them. Her fur was amazingly soft, albeit quite cramped beneath her armor and accessories. She fumbled with her band of regeneration and found it quite difficult to use her newly pudgy digits for the task. That might be a problem…
The length of her ears wasn’t increasing any longer, though it’d taken them quite some time. The only creature Gale had ever seen with such long ears was…
“A bunny?”
Her front teeth responded by beginning to ache slightly, confirming her suspicions. As they grew, her mouth had no choice but to crack forward, growing into a muzzle with enough room to contain the buckteeth… or at least let them poke out cutely. This part was mildly painful, but Gale had been through far worse, so she got through this with only one adorable squeak escaping her thinning lips at most.
Meanwhile, more softness grew across her body and threatened her outfit. Her scarf began to feel gloriously, wonderfully stuffy as fur sprang from her neck. A puffball tail exploded from the seat of her pants, which were already struggling with her swelling, strengthening thighs. The armor, Gale figured, should be easy enough to repair or even replace. But then she felt her feet press against her boots.
Her Terraspark Boots.
Those were valuable, and complicated to make. She hadn’t even realized how much of her energy had been going into keeping them from shimmering into their constituent parts, how much of it still was. But that realization did hit her now, and it gave her an idea. Her toes bulged, her feet lengthened, wanted to tear free, to let their brand new pads touch the earth, but even with all of the tension building up… Gale simply let go.
There was still shimmer soaked into those boots, so she allowed it to work its magic. It was an odd feeling, and a difficult one to maintain, but she breathed deeply and focused, pulling away her Crafting influence on her footwear. Gradually, it began to pay off. Instead of violently tearing fabric, Gale’s lapine ears were met with a chorus of otherworldly Undoing, as her Terraspark Boots warped like taffy. Shapes began to emerge from them, anklets and aglets and skates and rockets all peeling away from each other, and as they did so, Gale’s feet rubbed past them in their quest to attain the comical proportions of a bunny’s paws. By splitting into multiple kinds of footwear, the boots dislodged themselves from her feet without needing to be torn asunder.
The transformation came to a close, and Gale leaned back against the wall of the cave, a pile of accessories in her lap. She breathed heavily, oddly satisfied with her own quick thinking… or was it this form that she found satisfying? She pushed the thought aside, and, realizing there were few other thoughts left to take its place, promptly fell asleep.
The next day, Gale was stopped by one of the townsfolk, who was concerned about some beast he’d seen the previous night. Something with huge feet and long ears that he’d never seen before (“Nor have I!” she assured him). Apparently it’d been rummaging through the chest that potion ingredients were kept in, though only a few things were found to be missing that morning. Gale calmly told the man that she would keep an eye out for the monster, and that seemed to ease his worries. She made a note to herself to return that potion bottle after cleaning it thoroughly. For now, though, she was on her way to Bindi’s place. She had lots to talk about with her.