It was long, it was treacherous, and Kat was starting to regret yelling at the elf. She should have realized the wisdom of a warm drink in this weather, but she hadn't thought much past her own annoyance at having to become the big baffoon. Even now she shuddered beneath layers of fat and furs as the caravan continued.
It was getting dangerously close to her shifting threshold, and if there was one thing Aikaterini didn't mess with it was that. And she wasn't about to let herself actually become this Elarick guy.
But she couldn't stop the caravan either.
It didn't need to be long, but it needed to happen...she she found a moment to murmur about taking a piss and catching up, before taking one of the poor animals and disappearing over a ridge.
With a shudder she began the process. All said and done it wouldn't be more than five minutes from leaving to when she returned. Albeit making things speedy did cause some pretty terrible pains, but nothing could be done about that now. She stripped down to her birthday suit and then fat gave way to muscle, bones cracked as they shrunk, and the skin she was wearing slipped from her figure in a steaming pile of...discard. She didn't know what else to call it. It wasn't pretty, but it was necessary.
And then the cold hit. But only for a few moments. Discarding a skin was far messier than donning one, so she quickly pulled the too-big furs back on her and started the donning process. 30 seconds later, she was once again Elarick and was already on her way back when she saw reindeer running.
Oh no.
No no no no no.
She had only been gone a few minutes.
Urged her animal on and soon saw exactly what the problem was...were bears. Big, ugly, half-human hybrids that were a mockery to her real transformative abilities. And they were angry. Members of the party were already lying in bloody heaps as the monsters feasted on their flesh.
Gods no...she couldn't do anything in this skin!
So she stripped down again, a big fat naked Elarick, and shed his skin again until it was just her for a few seconds before white fur sprung from her skin. This was who she was. This was her true form - at least according to her, genetics be dammed.
And she lunged and took down one of the six remaining mutants, her teeth filling with blood as she clamped down on its neck.
Euphoric.