019 ✤ video

[akito]

Um...

[ there's a familiar voice to go with a... vaguely familiar face. the features are shaped the same, but gold eyes are now a light, silver blue with hair a silvery white to match. it falls over thin shoulders in wispy waves, cowlicks more apparent now than when his hair was short. ]

This is Akito!

I learned how to shape shift a while ago... I don't do it all of the time like the kedan, but I like to sometimes for fun. I felt like trying something new, and I ended up liking this face enough to use more than once!

[ it's easier to hold a shift if he has a good mental picture of what it looks like, though he never bothered coming up with new faces to keep before. ]

So, ah... If you see a person looking like this, it's me.

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[unetrustworthy]

[Midii saw the post. She was vaguely familiar with the face behind it, particularly compared to the one she had seen multiple times over the Network, but what drew her attention was the mentioning of shape-shifting.]

Why?

[She couldn't stop herself from asking. The single word question passing through her lips before she even realized she had turned on her console to respond.]

[akito]

[ that wasn't a question he was really expecting, though he supposes he should have. while he doesn't intend to ever admit the real, cowardly reason behind it, there are other elements he would be more willing to share. ]

Why not?

[unetrustworthy]

[...touche.]

Do you have any particular reason why you would want to hide who you are?

[It was something Midii had always wondered about the Shapeshifter's in general. She wasn't against it, nor was she judging. Once upon a time, she might have wanted to do the same. Only more permanent. Now...]

What was wrong with the old you?

[akito]

It's fun - like getting a new hair cut whenever you want. My Papa has hair like this, so I wanted to see what it was like.

[unetrustworthy]

[Oh...that...]

[Absently, a hand reached for her own blonde locks. The shame shade of blonde as her baby brother, a trait they'd both inherited from their father.]

I can...understand that...

[To this day, she was still proud of how much she'd resembled the man. It gave her something of his to remember him by, even if that something was her own reflection.]

But people can still recognize you if you change your hair. You're changing everything to the point where you had to still tell people who you are.

[akito]

I just changed my hair and the colour of my eyes. That's a big enough difference that people wouldn't recognize me at first glance.

[ which is entirely the point. ]

The people who actually know me won't have trouble, but potential customers might.

[unetrustworthy]

[Huh. Interesting.]

How did you learn? Was it here, or did you know back where you came from?

[akito]

I got it here as a mystery gift!

[unetrustworthy]

[The only surprise behind that statement was the mystery part; Midii recalled, long ago, how she had been given a Gift as well. A gift she no longer possessed, because the giver had been...defeated.]

You're saying you don't know who or where it came from?

Doesn't that worry you?

[akito]

It was left on my doorstep. There isn't any Taint on it, and it isn't physically bonded to me so I'm not very worried.

[unetrustworthy]

...I'm not sure what you mean by Taint, but nobody suspected anything about the Boons we were all given a while back, either.

All I'm saying is that maybe you should be careful about using it so freely.

[akito]

Taint. The darkness indicating something contaminated by Malicant. I think that the boons were too integrated into us to get a good reading.

Who says that I haven't been? Even if something like the Boons happens again, it isn't an issue for me. At his full power he couldn't control me beyond a few moments.

Besides, if anything happens I can just get rid of it.

[unetrustworthy]

[It probably spoke volumes about Midii's lack of knowledge in this particular area. She only knew what she knew, and that was the last time she'd received something like that, it had come from Malicant.]

Are you sure?

[akito]

Mn, yeah.

[unetrustworthy]

...alright.

[There was little else she could argue, then. She didn't know magic. This person obviously did.]

Just...be careful.

[akito]

Of course!

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[ruinsprofessor]

[Blink. Blinkblink.]

[There's not really a family resemblance, but the coloration is familiar enough it throws Raine for a minute.]

...I appreciate the warning.

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[akito]

Different hair and a change in eye colour makes a really big difference, ne?

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[ruinsprofessor]

They do.

[Continued thoughtful staring, now that the surprise has faded.]

Have you changed your face shape at all, or is the perceived difference solely that?

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[akito]

No, I left everything else the same. Just my hair and the colour of my eyes are different! I can't change too many things at once, otherwise it just resets everything back to normal.

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[ruinsprofessor]

Fascinating.

[That sounds like Science might be in the offing.]

But you can change the structure of your face, correct? What other limitations have you discovered?

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[akito]

If I don't understand how something would work, or it's too biologically impossible, I can't do it. And a majority of my body has to be unaltered - so I can change things, but not enough that I couldn't be recognized by someone who knows me?

I can't give myself any more appendages except a tail, since I just extend my tailbone for that... I use it to help carry deliveries. It's the shift I do the most.

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[ruinsprofessor]

A tail?

[She heard him, all right. She's just somewhere between startled and thrilled.]

The implications of that, though-- you can't add appendages, but extending what's already there-- have you tried lengthening your fingernails, or shifting something like claws? Evidently you can shift dead tissue as well as living, if you can alter your hair...

[She's nearly tripping over too many thoughts at once, sheerly enthusiastic about the possibilities.]

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[akito]

[ claws are something he does pretty regularly when he's traveling at night, so it's easiest for him to just shift one hand to have claws a few inches long and hold it up for her to see. ]

I do this one a lot too. It's really useful.

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[ruinsprofessor]

[Oh good, he's ahead of her.]

For utility as well as combat, I'd assume?

Hm. Have you ever tried, intentionally, to make yourself completely unrecognizable?

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[akito]

For utility I usually just shift one finger into a claw, since clawed fingers are hard to hold things with! [ a small laugh. ]

I have before, but when I try it won't change everything fully. I look different, but people who know me would still be able to recognize me.

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[ruinsprofessor]

Fascinating.

The magic-- it is magic? -- sounds context-sensitive, to an extent. I wonder if it depends on the perceptions of others... Hm. How did you come by it? You said you learned, so I assume you haven't simply been able to do this all along...

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[akito]

Ah... It was a gift, of sorts. [ he knows the circumstances are suspicious, but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. he'll do good with his ability while he can, and discard it as soon as it seems to be doing more harm than good.

that doesn't mean he wants to have to explain that yet again though. ]

Sometimes I get payment for my services in items if my clients don't have the juulan to spare, and sometimes what I receive are strange things that only work their magic with me.

[ not necessarily a lie, since it's entirely possible that it's the truth. ]

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[ruinsprofessor]

[Yeah, that does sound kind of suspicious. But if Akito's had it this long with no ill side-effects...]

Hm. That's happened more than once? That's... oddly specific.

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[akito]

It's happened twice.

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[ruinsprofessor]

[...Still odd.]

I presume you would have said something if there was anything negative accompanying these gifts.

[A moment, then a little shrug, letting it go.]

If you discover anything else you can do with your shapeshifting, I'm curious.

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[akito]

When it's warmer out I'm going to try shifting gills for swimming. I can tell you how it goes.

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[ruinsprofessor]

Please do. I'd appreciate it.

[A little smile, and that's all she's got. Science will wait for warmer weather, apparently.]

[valevectorian]

[yeah that's a slightly skeptical and unsure look, though it's a little hard to tell with how half-neutral, half-annoyed he tends to look. most of it's in his eyes and brows.]

...You sure will stand out.

[akito]

There are kedan with bright green hair, or purple skin. I think I should stand out the same amount like this as I would normally!

[valevectorian]

Maybe so here. White hair on someone young will always be eyecatching, though.

[gives a noncommittal shrug]

[akito]

It's the colour of my Oniichan's hair. He's young, and his hair is very long and beautiful! It's not why he's eye-catching though.

[ he has good memories of playing with his father's hair when he was small. ]

[valevectorian]

So that's why.

[akito]

If I'm going to change my hair to something different, I thought it would be the best to make it look like my Papa's. Like from one set of genetic inheritance to another!

[valevectorian]

[idly considers how that would work. he's used to albinism, but that's about it. maybe things just work differently in other worlds.]

Does that mean your usual looks take after your mother?

[akito]

I can show you what Gazelle looked like.

[ there is practically no difference, so it doesn't take much effort to shift into the form of his 'previous' self. her chin is the smallest bit less sharp, and eyes a half-shade less vibrant a gold.

she's also taller but that's irrelevant on video. so are the wide hips and breasts he doesn't bother with, since female generally implies those two things anyway. ]

She looked like this, but taller.

[valevectorian]

[slightly narrowed eyes]

I can barely tell the difference between you and Gazelle. You really are her spitting image.

[akito]

[ shifts himself back to his Kaito-resemblance face. bam. ]

Un! It's probably why Kaito-nii believed I was his kid.

[valevectorian]

[odd sideglance. hard to tell what's going through his mind there.]

This shit sounds way more messy than it probably is.

[akito]

Messy? I don't think it was.

[valevectorian]

If you say so. I'm not going to ask further.

[Asking would mean showing too much interest in others and old habits like never giving people a reason to want to get close lest they be caught up in any conflict surrounding him die very hard.]