Generally, when one discovered they could shapeshift, it happened one of two ways. Either they did it intentionally, or it happened subconsciously without them even realizing until they saw the world in a different way. For one Michael Townley, however, figuring out that he could shapeshift was both unintentional and extremely hard to miss. After all, it was really hard not to notice that you were in another form when you lost all of your legs. One moment, the bobcat had been out in front of his house, curled up in the warm sand and coming in and out of consciousness as he dozed. Normally he would've been inside with Trevor, but he was feeling particularly cold that day, so he had wanted the sun bathing down upon his dark coat and the feel of the heated ground beneath him.

However, his peace was not destined to last long. Michael found himself curling up into an even tighter ball as a shiver went down his spine, a soft grumble leaving him. He was so focused on the chill in his body that he didn't even notice how he was shrinking, and changing. Long dark fur gave way to vivid, multicolored scales, and soon, instead of a melanistic bobcat laying in front of Michael's home, there was instead a San Francisco garter snake. He was fairly short, although you wouldn't be able to tell from the thick layers of reptile that were now curled up in the sand, in all sorts of different vivid shades. His head was a bright red that continued down the whole of his body, yet as the red snaked along his scales, it was joined by a dark blue and a bright turquoise that made him stand out starkly against the sand.

Before long, Michael opened his eyes – or rather, opened his retinas, considering he no longer had eyelids – and was shocked to see that the world had grown in size around him. He instantly felt that something was wrong, and when he tried to jump up to his paws, he instead just found his body jerking upwards, uncoiling from itself as his head reared up. He frantically turned his head from side to side, looking down at his own colorful scales in shock as he tried to process what had happened. Although he wasn't injured, he could still feel a distressed sense of panic bubbling in his chest, and before long the reptile was hissing frantically, desperate for some guidance, "Roxie?! Trevor?! Christ, somebody come here!" At least his voice sounded mostly the same, which would clue both his sister and lover in on who he actually was. Well, that and the multitude of jewelry that was now scattered around and draped over him, having either fallen off or slipped down when he involuntarily shifted.

Oh, how he was going to kill Roxie. He was definitely going to kill her for manhandling him like some kind of limp noodle. The male had been about to hiss out some kind of explanation for Hollow, only to hear his sister's soft voice, followed quickly by snickers. He immediately began to glare at her, his already narrow eyes seeming to narrow further as he was picked up. He whined from somewhere deep inside as he felt his jewelry slip off his now much smaller form, hissing angrily as he thrashed about, "This isn't fucking funny, Roxie! I feel ridiculous like this!" In all honesty, he looked pretty ridiculous like that too. Although he was a rather visually appealing snake, with brightly colored scales as well as colorful eyes, he didn't look to be very dignified. It didn't help that he was squirming in his sibling's grip, desperately trying to reconnect his now scaled belly with the ground. He didn't even really know what his intention was, besides curling protectively around his jewelry.

Eventually he began to feel tired as his thrashing proved unsuccessful, lured even more towards the notion of giving up by the fact that Roxie's plush fur was so close. Sighing heavily, the serpent just flopped forward, resting his head atop the feline's shoulder as he spoke to Hollow, "I didn't do it on purpose. And I don't know if anything triggered it, either. I mean, I was just napping. I felt cold and I curled up a little bit more, but I certainly didn't mean to turn into this." He had meant to gesture with a paw in order to demonstrate his point, but considering his current predicament, all he really ended up doing was squirming some more. He sighed in defeat after that, closing his eyes briefly and trying to focus back on his old bobcat form as he muttered, "Rox, you shapeshift all the time. How do I go back?" The thief wasn't particularly keen on staying in a form that was so small he could be easily trampled in one step.