“Is anyone familiar with the valsalva maneuver?” Vincent asked.

No one spoke up but that could have been partially due to at least half the class still being in animal form.

Sadly, none of the students with working vocal cords knew the answer to Vincent’s question.

Vincent reached up and pinched his nose between his fingers.

In a nasally voice he said, "One trick to learning this skill is pinching your nose and trying to blow out. This results in a pressure build up inside your head but also your chest that can help direct your energy outward."

“It’s also helpful to squeeze the muscles in your chest and pull your head down into your chest. All this is done to help guide the energy.”

Vincent stopped pinching his nose and continued, “Pushing too hard will actually stop the transformation completely. Pushing too little will only slow it down and balancing the forces just right will stop the transformation perfectly.”

“You’re searching for a goldilocks balance where the energy cancels out perfectly and the transformation stops exactly where you intend. Ideally that should mean stopping it right after the body part of choice is transformed."

"The valsalva maneuver is helpful for beginners and the only real challenge here is how hard you push along with timing everything. Thankfully, we still have around thirty minutes left for you all to practice both. Now get to it. Try to start with just transforming your hands."

Vincent continued his wandering through the rows of tents, offering advice where he saw fit.

Arthur stood around awkwardly trying to think of how he could pinch his nose and place the feather correctly onto his right index finger at the same time. Thankfully, he noticed other students seemed to have the technique down.

By squeezing his nose with his left hand and pinching the feather between his middle finger and thumb, Arthur could simply bring his index finger to the feather, trigger the transformation, and voila the transformation began.

He felt it moving up his arm, but Arthur was surprised when he fully transformed like normal albeit at a slightly slower pace.

Now in the form of a robin, he glanced around seeing if he’d stopped the transformation anywhere on his body, but it didn’t seem like his valsalva maneuver had done anything.

He’d felt himself let go of his nose during the transformation so perhaps holding on longer was the answer.

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Arthur quickly plucked out the largest feather on his wing and reverted to his normal form.

Now tall enough to see out the tent again, he noticed Tom staring with great intensity and slight confusion at his hand which appeared to be sporting feathers instead of fingers.

Arthur decided to redouble his efforts upon seeing his friend starting to make progress.

'Well, if I’m not stopping it at all, I guess I need to shoot for the other end of the spectrum.'

Arthur squeezed down extra hard on his nose with his left hand, determined to completely stop the transformation and try to mimic the feathers on Tom’s hand.

He wondered if his hand would be any smaller if the transformation was stopped hallway. Tom’s hand had appeared a little bit different proportionally after he’d partially transformed it.

Watching the transformation occur had always felt so visceral. He was literally watching his skin bubbling and twisting on itself into something new.

The more disorienting aspect however was to his senses. As a kid, he liked to watch the transformation and feel the loopy sensation it gave him. Almost like quickly spinning in a circle and feeling the resulting dizziness.

Over time he’d began to close his eyes and just wait for the transformation to finish. This served to diminish the feeling and not leave him feeling like he was carsick.

'If I really want to be precise with this, I need to start keeping my eyes open.'

Arthur had been closing his eyes up to this point, but his new need to gauge how the transformation had progressed before he stopped it meant that Arthur needed to keep his eyes open.

He was shooting for a hand full of feathers and the changes started immediately as he once again brought the feather to his finger.

Arthur began lightly trying to blow out his pinched nose, ready to fully stop the resulting transformation.

Once he saw the skin begin to bubble and shift, Arthur blew as hard as he could and heard his ears pop. He tensed the muscles in his chest as well to best mimic what Vincent had said earlier.

Arthur watched as the transformation stopped quickly this time. The very tips of his fingers felt funny, almost lighter while the hairs on his digits had elongated and gotten puffier.

Overall, it looked almost like he’d coated the back of his hands in glue and stuck them in a down pillow.

The feather he had placed into the blood on his forefinger was still sticking out straight from his hand. He waved his hand back and forth, but the feather didn’t waver.

'Weird. I guess that worked to stop the transformation though. Now I just need to find a middle ground and time it better so I get a wing instead of soft hands.'

Arthur grabbed the feather and pulled it out with his hand instead of a fully transformed beak which was a first and his hand reverted to normal in under a second.

He flexed and unflexed his hand, feeling a weight difference now that the feather was removed and wondered if the transformation had been in the process of making his bones lighter.

Excited to experiment more, Arthur got back in his new transformation position, but when he touched the feather to his finger, nothing happened.

He backed the feather out and looked closely at his forefinger. It still seemed to be bleeding when he squeezed it so that wasn’t the issue.

Arthur checked the feather, but it appeared normal besides a bit of dried blood at the tip.

Puzzled, Arthur reassumed his transformation stance with nose pinched and feather ready, but continued to get no reaction when he placed the feather to his blood.

At a loss for what to do, Arthur raised his hand and hoped Vincent would have some idea.