Movement in the dark forest nearby suggests that someone is close, though all the white fox can see is shadows. She continues for a time, but slower - checking behind herself constantly. She starts to feel a prickle of something close to anticipation in the back of her skull a few moments before a wave of something else hits her. Fear is not an emotion she consciously knows well enough to name. So when it is pushed into her, filling her body and surrounding her like she is suspended in water, she does not know what it is. She only feels the symptoms - her orange eyes widening in surprise, her small heart beating wildly, and the way her limbs lock and freeze her where she is.
When Mazikeen first turns, at first she still just sees darkness but a shape seems to be settled right at its heart - shadow turned solid. Her heart continues to race, though she tells herself she is just curious about the figure, nothing more. He is so unlike anything she has ever seen before - and then she tries to shift into whatever he is, but there is no response from her ability. She has not encountered many animals that she has not been able to shift into which makes her wonder whether this is an animal at all.
Perhaps it is something else entirely.
What she manages to shift into, instead of the shadow creature, is a wolf - something bigger, which makes her feel better. The choice between fight or flight has always resulted in one answer for her so she stands her ground, turning around to fully face the shadowy figure she has a hard time focusing on - the fur on her back rising in what she tells herself is a warning, not fear.
@[Torryn]