Born Wild

The science of werewolves

*Not essential to the story, but if you're curious on how I explain the science behind werewolfism please read! pretty short.*

They had just received a plethora of information already on herbs and transformation, but they were too curious to wait and read the book. Tala wasn't sure at all of how it worked. She was half conscious and in pain during her first transformation and therefore didn't focus on how it was happening. She did know that her clothes and shoes remained in tact and on her body before and after transformation, but they didn't show as a wolf.

Shadow's friend from a few towns over created an introduction that talked about the research he did. Her friend was a werewolf as well and curious as to how everything worked. He wanted to make a strong guess on the science. He made his garage into a research room with a video camera, a microscope, and other supplies like you might find in a doctor's office. He took time when he wasn't at work to record his transformations. He recorded three forced transformations. One was done with wolfsbane, one with herbs to relieve pain, and one without which he called the control. He recorded three full moon transformations with the same patterns. He didn't notice a difference in any of the transformations besides how he felt. He felt the most pain during the full moon without any herbs. He took a careful notice in the slowed, close up footage. After careful observation, he noticed a couple of things.

First of all, transformation begins with the change of eye color, the lengthening of nails, and the growth of two long canine teeth. After the transformation is, what he called "catalyzed fully", hair begins to sprout near the fingernails and spread from there. It creates somewhat of a second skin that forms over light layers of clothes. He said it seems somewhat independent, but connected. Werewolves have feeling in their skin after transformation, so the nerves and tissues are somehow connected. He guessed that possibly the new temporary tissue intertwines with porous fabrics to become one with them and the human skin.

He swabbed underneath the fingernails and his the mouth to rub on slides. He attempted to stain them with chemicals he has experience using with other bacteria. With much work and focus, he discovered a spiral shaped bacterium he hadn't seen before. He noted that possibly werewolfism is a disease passed by blood. It would explain why when someone is bitten or scratched that they become a werewolf, because the bacteria is transferred to their blood. Once the bacteria is transferred to the blood it can reproduce and move to other areas of the external body such as the nails or mouth.

During his transformations, he hooked up a couple of wires to his head to track minimal brain excitement. He didn't have that much money to spend on equipment, but he could borrow a set from the lab he worked in. He noticed a somewhat bump in the curve. Excitement of emotions during transformation would raise slightly as eyes, nails, and teeth changed. Then excitement of emotions would skyrocket and result in a full on transformation. 

After transformation was complete, the excitement would slow to a steady rate slightly higher than human state. Possibly the bacteria were connected to transformation through nerves via excitement in the brain. As to how the second skin conformed with shoes, he didn't know. It would take further research to discover. Tala and Koda thought all of this research was very interesting and unusual, but most of it made sense to them.