Okay okay, so uh, other zoanthropes.
So okay, thing is, bodies. This is about bodies and survival, and things get weird when you deal with the night people who turn into things smaller than humans. Werewolves are right on the edge - a werewolf gets bigger, depending, like, big werewolves turn into a wolf the size of a cow, they can be huge, but generally speaking the mass of a wolf and the mass of a human are kinda related in scale. There's no push or pull of one side or the other, and that's why they're so prosocial. There's still a scale problem - that leads to the dry madness, the thing uh-
Oh, dry madness, uh, right, so you know a hangover? Ever been dehydrated? When you shift from human to wolf, your body goes from needing about N water and regulating temperature with sweat to needing N+ water and regulating it with panting and much less area to sweat. And it uses resources to shift, so early wolves, they shapeshift, their body is suddenly full of a different hormone mix they're not used to, and they're kinda immediately really dehydrated. The brain doesn't do a good job of making decisions when you're having a turbo hangover and you're strong enough to punch a bus apart.
Dry madness happens when you go bigger than the human form. It's why a lot of the bigger ones are cranky and short tempered, right?
When you go smaller you get different experiences and the way animals see the world. It's this really human thing that you see smaller, herbivorous animals as being 'gentle' and 'safe,' because you know they're not going to try and eat you. But the thing is, from their perspective, herbivores are the people who showed up to the knife trade with a stick, so they gotta make good on it. Herbivorous animals will run hide fight before they die, and it makes them a bit uh...
Look, have you ever seen a rabbit try to get away from being held by a vet? These animals can try to escape so aggressively they die in the name of survival. That's messed up. And it's because the toolset they got is so limited. As animals, mice can ensure the survival of mice by running from most things and breeding every chance they get. Rabbits, same thing. But rabbits and mice zoanthropes? When you go down in size and you get a herbivore's brain? It's like a cheat code. It's this mind that can handle so much stuff at once, can multitask, can plan ahead, all put into a body and a brain that's looking at the world faster. The reaction speeds on these animals are faster than humans, the uh, whats it, shutter speed? on their eyes? They just plain out have more time to react to things. It's like being a rabbit with superpowers, and about being able to shut out the parts of the brain that panic.
Like, the typical small herbivore zoanthrope feels like superman. You can't meaningfully hurt them the way their brain imagines hurt, so they're not bothered. Imagine a life of fear that suddenly is free of it forever. That's what it's like, you see 'em in all these incredibly chill positions like fuckin' surf instructors and head shops. The part of the brain that's afraid of not having enough food to eat or places to be just can't handle seeing like, a supermarket bread aisle, it's like it goes to heaven.
I guess the main thing I hear about wererabbits is they're smug? Like, the stereotypical wererabbit is pretty easy, happy to take your snacks, very chill, and also absolutely willing to ghost the shit out of whatever you're doing the second they don't like it. Not unreliable, just they got really good boundaries, in the 'nope, I'm out' vibe.
Not that you can't get some haunted ass stone-rock seer rabbits out in the wild places, like, these people believe in the Prince of a Thousand Enemies with all their rapid beating hearts. And the ones that do like to fight like to fight. They showed up to fuckin' party and they're not going to stop for breaking laws or breaking bones. Rabbits, man, if they fight it's because they want to fight and that's because fighting is the way they want to do things. Don't fuck with the rabbits, man.
You know the line - 'but first, they must catch you,' yeah? They revel in surviving against the odds.
Mice, it's kinda the same thing. A mice brain looking out through human eyes, the influence of the mouse on the human is like, you feel like superman? Like, think about it, you shapeshift into something that's SO STRONG. It can handle thunder and lightning and rocks and it can tell cats to go away - I mean, the cat mouse thing, I'm simplifying, I'm trying to weave a story so you have the vibes of the life and mind of a zoanthrope. Point is, the mouse tells the human look at how strong you are, you don't need to be afraid. And the human in the mouse, when they're in the mouse form, is seeing 'look, this world is so much less terrifying than you think, we can take it easy, take advantage of what we can see.'
And you may think 'oh well, why are the weremice so nice, it's not like they're extra safe' no they are though. Sure, a mouse can't hurt you the way that a wolf can, but a human's brain piloting a mouse's flexibility and the drive to survive will power its way through fuckin drywall while you're still looking for it. So yeah, that short lady running the pub is a weremouse. Yes, the puns were intentional. Yes, she doesn't care if you didn't notice.
So yeah, rabbits and mice, small herbivores in general. Herbivores. No, not rats, rats are omnivores, things are different for rats. Plus a lot of the historical records about wererats weren't talking about wererats, they were just repeating antisemetic shit, that sucks.
