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« on: December 19, 2008, 05:49:04 AM »
Hmm. Well, Caleb's character would have him say something and contradict it in the next moment. He does most of this stuff to have fun. You shouldn't really believe everything Caleb says, he jokes around a little too much. The official explanation for why Caleb doesn't blow their cover is that the only way to notice them (via the magical creature shroud) shifted is to force them to notice you, either by attacking them or shifting in front of them. As Caleb says, the longer you spend in wolf form, the bigger you get. Also, he neglected to mention there is also a whole aging slowdown. Jared's dad has years of wolf form under his belt. If it weren't for his Talent (like Jared's fear smelling, Caleb's reflexes) He most likely would be about the size of a semi truck. (and no I won't tell you what the talent is. you'll just have to read.) Although, I probably need to put a size limit or something. Maybe I'll just say that after a while, all of jared's family moves out to some rural town of their choice.
aaand yeah most of the reveals are setting based. That's why I have to rework my next few chapters to get rid of the (hmmm, around five) FIVE info dumps about the setting.
This is Jared's second time shifting ever. the first was on the night of his birthday, when he is forced into shifting (there's a forced shifting ritual that they perform on every birthday. It kinda became a tradition, like blowing out the candles. only with magic rituals) Jared shifts long enough to panic and for his dad to talk to him about why they can shift (suffice to say, it's cause they were born with it). Jared's blind panic blocked him from going through hearing and smell then.
Also, they do look canine, but their bone structure is... weird. I describe what they look like when Jared first shifts (it'd just be awkward here) but the way I think about it is that they have a weird meld of human and wolf bones. or they constantly (and subconciously) shift their bones back and forth. They have five toes to their paws, which they can move a little, but not enough to grab things. Their torso and spine is kinda more squat, closer to human porportions. that way, Caleb can do his freaky twisty moves.
As for how they can talk, I'm going to leave that to the "it's magic" explanation. (if you really want something, then what happens is that somehow their thoughts get turned into words in the air and they don't even need to move their mouths to talk. but whatever.)
As for Trohs' fear of them getting away, yes it's more than just a territorial dispute, but I'm gonna call a RAFO on that.
speaking of twistyness, I got some (if not most) of my ideas for how Caleb moves from nofna.com (it's a webcomic, but your guess is as good as mine what some of those attacks mean. oh, and there's some language).