When shape shifters shift is it more like when you're trying to hold the same position or when you change the shape of clay and it stays like that?
Not really. I think to explain it, you need to think of magic as an invisible ocean that eveyone in NeXus is wandering through.
The idea of shapeshifting in NeXus is kinda as Asteroth and Nik learn, it's giving into the idea that magic is an ever-permeating force that can change and warp everything, including people. In this sense, magic is like the sea, washing over people like tides on the beach or corroding metals to rust.
Shape shifters are taught to surrender to magic, not giving it resistance but direction. You're not trying to make magic do anything, you're just using transfiguration magic to "talk" to magic as a force how you'd like it to change you.
With the allegory in mind, you wouldn't be trying to swim in that ocean, you're choosing a spot and letting yourself float (you change). When you wanna stop floating, you stop and then decide to swim again (ie. you change back).
Shifters really are the ones who gotta deal with the active process of changing, but that's a different story altogether.
