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I was just thinking, would werewolves be able to cry or laugh in their non-human forms? Crying as in tears, not just whimpering/howling sadly.
What would a gestalt sound like if he/she was laughing? I read an article somewhere that dogs 'laugh' by panting. Maybe it would be a combo of the two?

edit: Also smiling. Would/could weres smile, showing off all their fangs, or would that be seen as a threatning gesture(baring teeth)
Werewolf 1-"Hey noob, stop baring your fangs at everyone, you got a tail for a reason"

Werewolf 2- "Oh, sorry" *wags tail*

I dunno, what do you all think?

Silverclaw wrote:I was just thinking, would werewolves be able to cry or laugh in their non-human forms? Crying as in tears, not just whimpering/howling sadly.
What would a gestalt sound like if he/she was laughing? I read an article somewhere that dogs 'laugh' by panting. Maybe it would be a combo of the two?

Can wolves cry? If so, yes.
I imagine they would sound something like a deep breathy laugh. The kind they usually give demons or dragons and such in anime. Probably closer to a chuckle than an actual laugh.

Silverclaw wrote:"Also smiling. Would/could weres smile, showing off all their fangs, or would that be seen as a threatening gesture(baring teeth)
Werewolf 1-"Hey noob, stop baring your fangs at everyone, you got a tail for a reason"

Werewolf 2- "Oh, sorry" *wags tail*

I dunno, what do you all think?

It's probably context sensitive. I've seen dogs grin and show their teeth in a non-threatening manner, which usually winds up frightening people who don't know that the dog is grinning rather then about to bite them.

A werewolf's smile would be just like a human's, or a dog's. Werewolves would be able to read many more visual cues than just the baring of teeth. In a smile, the face is relaxed, the eyebrows are loosened, and the body becomes more fluid; they would be able to clearly see that it wasn't aggressive.






As for laughing, I've heard people laugh by panting too. Not everyone laughs out loud. I'd imagine a werewolf's laugh would be a more guttural bark, but still distinguishable from a pant.

And I give my werewolves tears.

Ok I know I've already responded, but I found another pic of a happy smiling wolfie that I had to post because it was cute. Almost too personable!

I think it's pretty well established that werewolves can smile seeing as both their human and canine counterparts can.

As for crying as in actual tears, that I'm not so sure about. They probably could since they still are at least half human, but it might not be as evident as it is with humans (and this is a stretch, I know) because of their fur. Humans have bare skin on their faces so tears can clearly be seen streaming down, whereas wolves have fur that would theoretically soak them up as they come.

Tears are a natural reaction to dryness of the eyes, so I doubt a werewolf would be completely without them. It just wouldn't look like this:

I would say yes, even things a wolf may not be able to do (side issue) a werewolf may be able to do to.

Wolves and other canids do have tearducts; that where the goop at the inner corners of their eyes comes from.

So, yes; a Werewolf could cry, as in shed emotional tears. Would they, though?
My guess is yes; and for the same reasons that their Smooth form would cry.

And while I don't have the pictures to show it, I have seen a Wolf smile; and there was no mistake in what they were smiling about. They smile for the same reason we smile. They just have fewer opportunities to do so.
Or reasons...

Human laughing has a lot of a primate sound to it. A canine in a similar mood will tend to pant and run around with his or her mouth hanging open, like in the above photos.

Human tears are largely a saline mixture--salty water. Canine tears are more oily, and as a result they dry less. That's why dogs don't blink nearly as much as we do, and why if you try to engage a cat for that matter in a staring contest, you can count on losing. Wolves may cry, but doing so doesn't shed tears. Since a Gestalt form is a mix, one's imagination is left to decide for one's self, but since we tend to give our Gestalt werewolves wolfy eyes, and indeed some of us are bad about shifting our characters' eyes first, tears may be in short order.

Still, for those of us who base lycanthropy on a virus, when tears are shed, they're probably at least a little contagious.

Interesting question!

Smile, yes. As has been mentioned, smiles and grimaces would be distinguishable; they'd also combine it with a tail wag (because of their wolf side). Laughing? I say go for a combination of the human laugh, and the canine bark/pant. How would that sound? I can't even imagine. I'm not creative enough to try and pin a believable, natural sound to that. It would definitely be a sound unique to werewolves and something worth hearing!

Crying? Redeye (I think) mentioned that wolves do indeed have tear ducts, but Scott Gardener let us know that the "tears" are more oily than human tears. I would go for the middle and say that they could cry, but there wouldn't be near as many tears and they'd be less visible.

I think a were could do both. The smiling examples were great, made me smile too!
I think a were laughing would sound more like a cough, or they might toss their head and yip in delight like puppies do when they play.

Wolves are cool too.

If the "People" I've known are any example, Wolves not only laugh (a sort of whuffle sound with a smile) but play jokes on each other.

A female had a sort of "toy"; a burlap "ball" stuffed with straw that was "Hers". Her brother would wait until she was away from her resting spot, and then carefully pick it up and put it with the other "enrichment toys" in the enclosure.
His sister would hunt all over to find her toy, and then take it back to her spot. As soon as she left, her brother would take the toy and return it to the pile of toys. Then he would wait and "whuffle" as she scrabbled all over the place looking for her toy again.
Eventually she caught him. While there was no bloodspill, she made sure he understood the ball was hers.
A day later, another wolf snuck the toy out of her spot, and took it back to the toy pile, then waited. As soon as she saw that her toy was gone, she took off after her brother, while the wolf who actually did the deed, "whuffled" as he watched.
Oh, yeah; they cry, laugh, and play jokes on each other.

LOL!
That's awesome. Not surprising, but really cute and funny.