So, what are the characteristics of real Shifters? Well, there are some interesting differences between them and normal humans. However, there are few truly facinating differences, except the fact of ShapeShifting, which very few Shifters can do.

Many Shifters are "static electricity antennas", that is they seem to be full of static electricity, especially when their shifting energy is high. They get static electricity shocks, including some that are much stronger than regular static electricity shocks and very painful, from many things that they touch, even things people hardly ever get shocks from, such as biscuits. And they also give such shocks to people they touch.

Many Shifters have huge appetites and huge metabolism, they eat A LOT and gain little or no weight. This can wreak havoc with food bills, especially since Shifters tend to be highly tempted to buy a lot of meat.

Many "born Shifters" report having a very emotionally hard childhood, even ones that had a great, loving family and lots of freinds they got along well with. They felt a vague, yet vitally important sense of not being allowed to be themselves, or of the world never really understanding or accepting them. One Shifter reported making it to the top of the social scene and being surrounded by freinds, but knowing she only got that way by pretending to be something else and hiding her true nature, and gave it up. She was happier with herself and without being on top of the social scene.

Shifters come in all races, Including Negro (black), even if it is hard to picture a Negro WereWolf in your mind, but of those that are caucasian (white) a VERY large proportion of them have blue or green eyes. And there is also an unusually high proportion of Shifters with unusual eye colors such as grey or hazel. Brown eyes are rare in Shifters, except for races where brown eyes are nearly the only choice.

Some Shifters have very interesting physical differences from most normal humans. I know of two that have yellow eyes, both of them female WereCoyotes. Several brown-eyed Shifters I know have their eyes change to black whenever they are angry, and some have brown eyes that change to black "just because of no particular reason". And a number of Shifters have eyes that regularly change from blue to green to brown and back. I am amazed by how often the eye-changing-color-regularly phenomena shows up. This is not impossible, many people have their eye color change in life, usually from blue to green, and usually at puberty, and not have it change back. Also, it is known in psychology that many individuals suffering from multiple personality disorder experience eye color changes when they change personality. For a change of eye color, your eyes only have to release a flood of proteins with the new color and absorb or stop making the old proteins. The black-changing eyes probably have the blood vessels enlarge or something. I have personally seen two instances of eye color change. One happened to me, I had my eyes slowly change from blue to a distinct blue-green over a period of about a year. During that year I had many dreams of myself as a Wolf with yellow eyes. Then my eyes slowly changed back to blue over several months. The other eye color change I saw happened to a man that lives near where I live. This man was a person I suspected to be a Werecat for various reasons even before I saw the eye color change. His eyes were definately dark brown while I was standing in line with him. By the time we got to the front of the line, his eyes were a very odd light brown/grey color, and within a half-hour of the time when they were dark brown they became a very light grey/hazel with no trace of brown. Forty minutes or so later, they were once again dark brown. I know of one Shifter who has his hair very regularly start growing in a different color. As I write this, his roots are growing in blond, with the old hair color an odd red. Once again, some people have their hair permanently change color at puberty or at age 5 or so, usually from blond to black or blond to brown. And all of us have at least a few hairs of every color growing on our body, even if we don't notice them. I know one WereWolf (I think a non-shifter, but am not sure) who has one pointed ear. He inherited this from his father who has two pointed ears. I bet he suffered from alot of Spock jokes!

Shifters often have a lean, stringy body build, like the wolf. A hairless wolf would look very similar to a greyhound with a wolf's head+neck put on it. Most of the bulk of wolves is just their thick fur.

"Ben (not his real name) was playing Vivaldi (not his favorite music) up really loudly, and {no-name #6} decided to do an aural test. At first, Ben thought one of the speakers was faulty, and then he looked around and saw {no-name #6} running a nail down the windowsill lightly. He stopped running the nail down, patted Ben on the head, and walked away."--anonymous Shifter quote

So, is the thing about WereWolves having extra-keen senses true? Yes and no. Many are just more aware of their senses (humans regularly ignore their nose, but if you pay attention to your nose all the time some, like you do normally with sight, your sense of smell gets MUCH better).

An unusually high proportion of Shifters have been struck by lightning or received one or more very serious electrical shocks (such as by sticking their finger in a light socket). IF YOU WANT TO BE A SHIFTER, DONT TRY THIS BECAUSE IT WILL PROBABLY KILL YOU.

An unusually high proportion of Shifters have come very close to dying one or more times in their life.

Some Shifters suffer from odd health problems. Their doctors can tell (for an example) that their tissue is degenerating in such-and-such organ, but don't know why (there is no diesese or whatever).

Some Shifters have strange marks, bruises, or stretch marks on their body that they can't explain. Many Shifters have strange, unexplained, pains or aches.

An unusual number of WereWolves have the last name "Calvert" (hereditary werewolves maybe?).

Shifters are often easily entertained. Like a cat that can be amused for hours by watching leaves blowing in the wind, Shifters are often entertained by simple physical pleasures that normal adult humans usually get bored with very quickly.

"Give me a red rubber ball and I'm entertained"--anonymous quote

On the downside, many Shifters are endlessly facinated by fire, by watching it, and playing with it. At many howls, playing with the campfire or making too many campfires has got out of hand. There was an incident where a Shifter suddenly poured a can of gasoline on the fire, and there was also an incident where a sofa was set on fire.

Shifters tend to have an understanding with animals, even animals who would naturally be their prey. One Shifter I know owns, and deeply loves, many pet rabbits. Many Shifters report that strange animals, even ones who are unfreindly towards nearly everyone, gravitate towards them (regardless of whether these animals would naturally be prey in the Wild or not). Many Shifters say that animals seem to understand what they want and obey them more easily, even disobedient animals who don't obey their real owners. More than one Shifter has reported that they can go up to any strange dog they see and are never bitten (hmmmm, I wonder if Shifters would be perfect for breaking into places guarded by Dogs???).

Shifters, especially while Aura Shifting or Mental Shifting, tend to move in a way reminiscent of the way a wild animal moves. The legend of how WereWolves can be recognized by their animal-like walking style is often true. Some Shifters will, from time to time, find they have been walking digitgrade (without their heels touching the ground) for awhile without noticing it and that it feels more natural.

An unusually high proportion of Shifters are full-blooded, or half-blooded, Native American Indians, and a number of others have some Native American Indian ancestry.

Many Shifters report that normal humans have trouble understanding their facial expressions, and often claim that the Shifter is sullen or angry when, in fact, the Shifter is happy.

Many Shifters are either unusually hairy or have an odd texture to their hair.

Many Shifters, particularly those with high Shifting energy, have minor paranormal phenomena happen around them. Shifters with low Shifting energy often have minor paranormal phenomena happen around them when they are going through a transition period, such as experiencing realizations, having their inner animal change to another species, having their Shifting energy change texture, or just getting that itchy, restless feeling. One Shifter with high Shifting energy told me "an improbability field follows me around" when referring to all the odd things that happen around him.

A number of Shifters shed unusually large amounts of hair.

"I heard others {other Shifters} talking about shedding and almost thought they were kidding, it sounded so silly, but then I thought about how, when I stayed with some cousins, every time I took a shower the drain plugged with hair, yet never did with any of my cousins showering (maybe the drains at home are larger) and then I thought about how my mother constantly complained about how much hair I leave around my room, how much hair I leave in the brush, ect. And I thought that I'd never really bothered to pay attention to how much hair other people lost"--anonamous quote

Many Shifters report the ability to hear ultrasonic noises. Their descriptions of the annoying ultrasonic noises that TVs and other electronic equipment sometimes makes match up pretty well, so they probably aren't imagining it. One Shifter said her biology class was actually tested for how high a pitch they could hear (human hearing ranges, seeing ranges, and such vary from human to human, they don't match up exactly to that quoted in science) and she scored the highest. Of course, they hear no-where near as ultrasonic as normal animals, because if they did, there would be a LOT more ultrasonic noise-hearing being reported.

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