--The sensation lasted only an instant, though, before he felt his changed face split along a hundred tiny livid cracks and burst, showering his lap and the floor around him with feathers and bits of skin. His hands had gone back to normal as well, having shed any sign of talons.

Almost immediately, the person on the couch sat bolt upright, coughing, hands flying to cover their mouth. For a moment they just kept coughing hard, until suddenly that stopped--and they began to shudder, as though unable to continue. Hawk hesitated, but when it became clear that this person wasn't able to breathe, he reached over and slapped them between the shoulder blades.

This seemed to actually work to loosen up something in the person's chest. Slowly they brought their hands away from their mouth, gasping, and exhaled a plume of greyish smoke. Smudges of blood coated their palms and lips. Their eyelids fluttered, and all at once they fell back onto the couch and were out again. The thin plume of smoke wending its way up from their lips slowly went from grey to white.

Hawk watched this with alarm, then ran his hands through his hair, inspected his now completely normal fingers, and gave a huge sigh.