The effects were almost immediate.

Carl clutched at his chest, still woozy from trying to hold his breath for so long. Head spinning, he collapsed next to Evelyn, her broken pot scattered around him. He felt bad, but couldn't dwell on it for long; his lungs burned, his eyes stung, and he could feel goosebumps across his skin. Surely that was all due to a lack of oxygen, right? Carl tried his best to remain level-headed about the situation, but evidence to the contrary remained all around him, a literal fog around his brain emphasizing the point. This was all too much to bare, a thousand possibilities hitching a ride on his train of thought simultaneously, so he ultimately resigned himself to whatever awaited him.

It started in his chest, the feeling spreading outward. Removing his shirt, Carl could swear he saw his skin almost rippling like a wave, flowing from his center out to his extremities. It felt weird, to be sure, but it wasn't super painful. After a time it happened again, causing him to shudder and shake his hands and feet like they had fallen asleep. Carl rubbed his arms, timing it correctly: as the skin pulsed under his touch, he was awash with sensation. His skin felt softer; smoother too, with the arm hair falling away under his ministrations. Another moment, another ripple, and now the young man's arms seemed...smaller? Carl tested it by wrapping the fingers from his right hand around his left arm: as the pulsing picked up pace, he was able to reach around his arm more and more. Carl wasn't particularly well muscled but he was in decent shape; now, however, his arms seemed positively...dainty. His fingers had become soft and smooth, as well, whilst thinner and longer, too. Like a pianist's. What was happening to him?

Having apparently completed its work on his arms, the feeling began to nestle in Carl's lower half, forcing him to pull off his pajama pants. The results were similar as the pulsing effect spread down his body, smoothing his skin and shifting his weight around. However, as his lower legs and feet became more delicate, it seemed to have the opposite effect on his thighs; filling out rather than slimming down. Carl could only watch in fascination, taking it in stride surprisingly well for someone who had been freaking out mere moments before. A part of his brain knew where this was going and tried to sound the alarm, but failed to reach the man's outward consciousness. The next part came with a yelp of discomfort, an almost sickening crack sound filling the air as Carl's hips rearranged, pushing his thicker thighs farther apart. Carl fell onto his back, his eyes going wide in realization. Was he...was he turning into a woman?

Coming to this conclusion only seemed to spur on the effects, causing Carl to gasp...and cough some more. The rippling was coming for his face next, and without the ability to see it unfold, this felt especially odd to him. He **** himself to close his eyes, to focus on the differences as he ran his light fingers across. His nose getting smaller with each pulse. His cheeks and lips feeling fuller. Even his rapid breathing sounded different to him, each release of air sounding higher, a bit more feminine.

"This feels so...freaky. Oh, wow, is that what I sound like?"

Carl shuddered, smiling as he did so. He couldn't help it! Everything about this was weird, but it felt so nice! He shivered again, opening his eyes as he put his small hands on the floor to push himself into a sitting position. Rather, he tried to, but Evelyn made her fate known once again.

"Youch!"

Carl's left hand pulled back from the ground, causing his body to tumble to the side. Lying again on the floor, Carl's face scrunched in pain as he looked over at his hand: a terra cotta fragment had cut him, the blood beginning to leak out from his flesh wound. Blood that, he noted with confusion, was not red; it was instead almost lime green in color. This was crazy, even considering everything that had happened. The most astonishing part wasn't even the alien blood - although Carl decided to save that interesting tidbit for later - no, it was how quickly his body was healing! His cut was knitting itself back together almost as quickly as it had opened, leading him to bluntly state his surprise in his (rather cute) new voice:

"Holy shit, I'm Wolverine."

Gaping in amazement, Carl played with his hand for a solid minute. As far as he could tell, his hand looked...basically the same as it had been before the cut. His palm was stained by the green blood, but otherwise the damage was completely reversed. So distracted was he that Carl failed to notice the color of his skin, shifting to match his blood. When he finally noticed, he cried out in surprise. A vibrant pattern was spreading throughout his hand and up his arm, but curiously only in some places: like a partial sleeve tattoo, the colorfulness did not cover his entire arm. Carl shifted around to watch as it reached his shoulders, down the sides of his stomach and matching on his legs. Mostly green, with some purple and pink mixed in for good measure. He was sure it touched his face as well, a tingling signifying its completion. It was only when it wrapped around his chest proper that he noted a difference, the feeling upgrading into a coolness. Centered on his chest, his body involuntarily shivered in delight. Was he? Was it really? Carl took in a sharp intake of air as he felt it, the truth making itself known quite readily. Yep, he was developing tits.

His nipples hardened, pushing out like they were ready and willing. Full steam ahead! they seemed to say, set sail for womanhood! The pulsing was back, stronger than ever before. Instead of pushing away from his chest it was coming back to his center, seemingly coalescing all the weight it had shaved off elsewhere. With each pulse, with each breath, a little more skin came to the fore; a little more filled his view. Carl had very little concept of cup sizes: he knew his ex-girlfriend Aundrea was rather small-chested, but beyond that it was a total mystery. To quantify his own chest was a near impossibility, let alone a concept he never in his wildest dreams expected to suddenly need to think about! He moaned at the feeling, his breasts growing quicker than he anticipated and yet it still felt agonizingly slow. Out and out they went, blitzing past Aundrea's size and swelling larger still. The section of his brain that had given in thanked its lucky stars: he wasn't a freak or a mutant. He was becoming something amazing! Carl squeezed his breasts together and sighed happily, taking in a deep breath of the purple fog that continued to emanate from the nearby window throughout the apartment.

That might have been a mistake, because even as his breasts finished their heavenly feeling of growth, the burning in his lungs returned. Groaning at the pain, Carl rolled onto his hands and knees, his nipples brushing against the floor. He couldn't focus on the pleasurable stimulation, though, for something was happening in and around his nethers. His view partially blocked by his (sizable) tits, he didn't need to see to know where this was headed. Weird blood and colorful skin aside, everything else about him had become female; why would it leave behind the final part of him that was male? Still, he did not expect it to hurt so much, and he certainly wasn't expecting to feel anything from behind him. Wait, what?

Arching his back, Carl couldn't see what was happening to his penis, but could surely make out his backside. And what a behind it was: when had he developed such a booty? Probably when his hips had cracked apart, but he somehow hadn't noticed. This was irrelevant, he knew, for it wasn't his butt that was currently growing; rather, a spot just above it was. The color had come to a point on his lower back, and now that point was pushing outward. Tears in his eyes, Carl watched incredulously as his tailbone elongated, creating something far from human. Further and further it stretched, twisting out like it had a mind of its own. It smacked the pieces of terra cotta away, leaving the poor houseplant as naked as its owner, Evelyn watching him - no, her- grow some kind of green and purple gecko tail. Much like the rest of her body, the tail grew in quickly, eventually reaching a length similar to her (probably shorter) height. Having all but forgotten her nether region, Carl twisted to see the truth: he was definitely a 'she' at this point, and the changes were undoubtedly slowing down. She sighed in relief.

Pushing up to plant herself on her cushy behind, the young man woman absentmindedly brushed some hair out of her face. It must have grown out at some point, she mused to herself, noting in her peripheral vision the pinkish-purple color that matched the highlights on her body.

"I have to find a mirror!"

Carl moved to get up, using the table for balance. She made it to her shaky feet, nodded in determination, and took a step toward the bathroom...before subsequently face-planting.

"...This might take some getting used to."