Yuuya Sakazaki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
espigeonage) wrote2013-04-08 12:51 pm
espigeonage) wrote2013-04-08 12:51 pm
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Information
Preincarnation name: Sakazaki Yuuya (family name, then personal name)
Reincarnation name: Julien Sakazaki
Age: 26!
Appearance: He used to look like this. Then, more like this or this. Standing with straight legs, he was around seven feet tall. In detail, his old appearance is here.
Now, he looks like this. Julien is a pigeon the size of a pony. Small human aspects remain - a couple fingers on each wing, blue eyes, some of the jaw structure etc. The picture has him stretched up as tall as he can go, it's more comfortable and natural to hold his body less upright. He's very big around.
Occupation: Until mid July 2013 he was tech support at an office. Before that he worked several different jobs, managing to quit, get fired, or be laid off each time. He volunteered and then worked at Aaron Strider's LSR clinic for at least a year and a half and had to quit after becoming a harpy. For a time he was a model contracted at Askell Studios. Now he works for Liam.
Would your character know him? Julien lived in Locke City when he was 14-16, less than a decade ago, and then he moved. He graduated from a college out of state in 2011. From April 2012 to late November 2013 he lived with his sister in Locke. In 2014 he moved to Vegas, then to Germany.
He is very friendly and gregarious, so he knows many people on the casual friend level and has an amazingly huge Facebook flist, though it's been neglected of late. Julien has a good memory for names and faces and always seems genuinely happy to meet, speak with, hang out with, and reunite with people. Virtually anything - movies, arcade games, party games, drinking, watching sports - looks like fun to him, and he's good company during parties. He can be a little much, but he doesn't pester people who don't like him. He also likes to flirt, but this often doesn't go anywhere, and he's happy with that.
Echoes:
First - Mental|The motivation to get and then stay in shape.
Second - Mental|This memory, "Apostle of the Violet Rose". Gained by touching a snake statue.
Third - Physical|A single white feather, gained in flight.
Fourth - Physical|Pigeon lungs, gained in a conversation with Lyall. They are, ah, smaller than human lungs and don't work as well without air sacs.
Fifth - Physical|Pigeon air sacs attached to lungs, supplying them with fresh unmingled air on both the inhale and the exhale. Gained after getting help about breathing issues.
Sixth - Physical?|The ability to hear, see, and otherwise interact with ghosts, provided they aren't weakened or concealing themselves. Gained at the art gallery.
Seventh - Mental|This memory, "Heaven-Soaring Wings". Gained via haunting.
Eighth - Mental|This memory, "This pain is part of me." Gained via canon recurrence.
Ninth - Physical|An avian voice. Gained via involvement in the Sage plot.
Tenth - Physical|Hato harto, something like twice the mass of a human heart. Gained via Sage plot stuff.
Eleventh - Physical|Hybrid pigeon eyes. Gained after seeing a Vermini swarm.
Twelfth - Mental|A degree of vaguely spiritual regard directed at the starry sky. Gained... after quite a while gazing at the daystars he can now see, trying to figure them out.
Thirteenth - Mental/Physical|Moves like Yuuya. He tends to default to moving gracefully and with little sound, regardless of footwear and flooring. Gained after drinking tainted water.
Fourteenth - Mental|The mindset needed to temporarily take over the patient-care aspect of a small-scale medical facility. Gained as a recurrence after having to cover for Aaron at the clinic.
Fifteenth - Item|Yuuya's iPon/future bird smartphone. Currently unuseable without the password. Gained as a recurrence while on a "mission" which attempted to be stealthy.
Sixteenth - Item|A potted miniature rosebush with small, deep violet, strongly scented blossoms. Not of an existing variety and possibly genetically adjusted, but also not possessed of any special properties. The pot is decorated in ways pleasing to bird eyes and is quite lightweight, as is the hydroponic medium the rosebush is rooted in. Gained upon being given purple roses by Amrita.
Seventeenth - Mental|This memory, "I didn't do it so he'd love me." Gained upon realizing that Aaron forgot about the network and that they were close.
Eighteenth - Mental|This memory, "a brief overview of Sumatera Influenza and its effects on the world." Gained when Bakura theorized about why humans are diminished and there are non-humans who want to protect them in the "Apostle's" world.
Nineteenth - Mental|This memory, "Feel like writing me off as a heartless bastard yet?" Gained from another conversation with Bakura, this time about Aaron.
Twentieth - Mental|This memory, "No one can ever be replaced." Gained from this set of interactions with Aaron.
Twenty-first - Physical|Technical bird status. Gained from watching the lights.
Twenty-second - Physical|Carneades Virus, gained from visiting the tower.
Twenty-third - Mental, tier two|This memory, "Graffiti about the End Times", and certain flight-related thought patterns. Gained from being in a terribly run down house in the Dead District.
Twenty-fourth - Physical|Birdlike bones and a bursa of fabricius. Gained from encountering an animated snake statue with Lyall.
Twenty-fifth - Ability|More stealth! A kind of "I'm-not-interesting". He can kind of fade into the background and be difficult to notice as he watches someone, even if he starts following. Can still be sniffed out, though. Gained as a recurrence from investigating the tower security.
Twenty-sixth - Item|Yuuya's agent harness thing. It looks a little different from that. Two backpack-ish straps, one horizontal strap high and visible, one lower. On the back the backpack-ish ones come together and form a Y that connects to the horizontal straps. It more or less fits Julien. Loops and attachment sites for more straps can hold weapons and other things. There's a kind of pouch for his iPon. Gained surveying some blown up Dead District things.
Twenty-seventh - Mental| Three words, "It's called Carneades". Gained when Danny gets close to the truth.
Twenty-eighth - Physical/power, Tier 2| Pigeon hearing and perceived time dilation. Gained with participation in the Exploration Plot.
Twenty-ninth - Mental| Some knowledge of Leone J.B., Yuuya's handler. Gained sneaking around in Aaron's company.
Thirtieth - Mental| The sense that somehow it's personally important to him, to press on despite previous mistakes, to keep trying to improve. Gained advising Ravi.
Thirty-first - Physical, Tier Two| Avian skin and muscle tissue. Gained encountering Blood Keys.
Thirty-second - Memory| This memory, First Mission. Gained being shot by one of the Blood Keys.
Thirty-third - Mental| A certain familiarity with firearms. Gained grasping a gun in a combat situation.
Thirty-fifth - Item|Yuuya's school locker, loaded with Legumentines presents and nothing else. Gained as the seasonal echo.
Thirty-sixth - Mental| A greater degree of, mm, emotional independence. Gained when Aaron, his last... quasiparental figure, went and forgot everything again.
Thirty-seventh - Mental| A tendency to say greetings and farewells in some different language, gained teasingly greeting Akito in Elvish.
Thirty-eighth - Mental| Nigh-unshakeable calm in dangerous situations. Gained on a rescue mission.
Thirty-ninth - Physical | Heavily altered avian-style anatomy of mouth and throat. Gained because snakes in a meeting.
Fortieth - Tier Two, Physical/Ability | A harpy-like body and the rudiments of flight. Gained when he fell/leaped off a building.
Forty-first - Item/Ability | A recoiless rifle and the basics of using it. Gained from being around for Wise Snake.
Forty-second - Mental| This memory, Ungainly Dance. Gained facing snakes.
Forty-third - Mental| Recalling that his brother kept his tail up and Yuuya did not. Gained raising his tailfeathers for the first time.
Forty-fourth - Ability| Feather dexterity. Gained using his prehensile feathers.
Forty-fifth - Ability| Familiarity with HB!verse night vision glasses. Gained from seeing footage of the Vegas lights.
Forty-sixth - Ability| Advanced typing/texting skills. Gained... typing with his feathers.
Forty-seventh - Item| An issue of Absolute Zero, an artbook Anghel drew with a focus on the fantasy au version of Yuuya. Gained in a monster attack.
Forty-eighth - Mental| Some familiarity with the artbook's author/artist.
Forty-ninth - Ability| Pigeon sleeping patterns. Gained after the alien broadcast.
Fiftieth - Mental| Willingness to bathe in unheated water. Gained... bathing in unheated water during the molt.
Fifty-first - Mental| Hazy memory of Yuuya's first home and that it was before his father was murdered, also a nostalgic response to the smell of leather. Gained talking to Geoff.
Fifty-second - Mental| The password to Yuuya's smartphone! Gained encountering a ghost
Fifty-third - Mental| Yuuya's weird attitude towards threats - they're not really alarming anymore. Gained thanks to Isabela.
Fifty-fourth - Mental| Anger and disgust about kill-first-ask-questions-later mentalities. Gained seeing someone knife a ghost.
Fifty-fifth - Mental| Some expertise on escaping pursuit. Gained being pursued by Mafia types.
Fifty-sixth - Ability| Greater pain tolerance. Gained enduring a tattoo.
Fifty-seventh - Ability| Ability to swim well with wings. Gained... swimming.
Fifty-eigth - Ability| Expertise at manipulating computerized security systems. Gained messing with the Stark house.
Fifty-ninth - Mental| Crossdressing is fun! Gained when Isabela coaxed him into trying.
Sixtieth - Ability| Lockpicking! Gained breaking into Liam's.
Seventieth - Tier 2| the dreamcracker and training. Gained because of Refined Shell.
Seventy-First - Item| A basket of food. Gained thanks to using the teleporter and reaching Germany.
Seventy-Second - Mental| Knowledge of how birds age. Gained talking to Kilian about how dwarves age.
Seventy-Third - Mental| "The mummy hunter becomes a mummy", gained considering titans.
Seventy-Fourth - Physical| The other tissues and organs become birdy, notably his digestion, gained from wolpertinger exposure.
Seventy-Fifth - Tier 2| Full bird form and improved flying ability, gained from the pink lights at Christmas.
Seventy-Sixth - Mental| Finding the blinded quail on the Holiday Star, also gained from pink lights at Christmas.
Seventy-Seventh - Mental| Knowledge of Shuu Iwamine. Gained because lolmedia about Aaron.
Seventy-Eighth - Skill| Avian martial arts. Gained meeting Arnold's doppleganger.
Seventy-Ninth - Memory| Manipulating his brother. Gained because lights.
Eightieth - Skill| Hacking! Gained trying his metaphorical hand at it.
Eighty-first - Memory| World bird history, gained because lights.
Eighty-second - Knowledge| Understanding the Japanese language. Gained thanks to immersion.
Eighty-third - Skill| Bird lifeguarding. Gained... doing that.
Eighty-fourth - Skill| Technological improvisation skills. Gained from the last lights
Eighty-fifth - Item| Walkie-talkies. Gained going on a mission
Eighty-sixth - Memory| Golden Weekly mission, gained because explosions
Eighty-seventh - Memory| The Christmas Thieves mission, gained getting his tail burnt
Eighty-eighth - Item| Bird sniper rifle, gained dive-bombing Aaron's attacker
Eighty-ninth - Memory| The Holiday Star experience, gained meeting the Boy
Full application: Here!
Reincarnation name: Julien Sakazaki
Age: 26!
Appearance: He used to look like this. Then, more like this or this. Standing with straight legs, he was around seven feet tall. In detail, his old appearance is here.
Now, he looks like this. Julien is a pigeon the size of a pony. Small human aspects remain - a couple fingers on each wing, blue eyes, some of the jaw structure etc. The picture has him stretched up as tall as he can go, it's more comfortable and natural to hold his body less upright. He's very big around.
Occupation: Until mid July 2013 he was tech support at an office. Before that he worked several different jobs, managing to quit, get fired, or be laid off each time. He volunteered and then worked at Aaron Strider's LSR clinic for at least a year and a half and had to quit after becoming a harpy. For a time he was a model contracted at Askell Studios. Now he works for Liam.
Would your character know him? Julien lived in Locke City when he was 14-16, less than a decade ago, and then he moved. He graduated from a college out of state in 2011. From April 2012 to late November 2013 he lived with his sister in Locke. In 2014 he moved to Vegas, then to Germany.
He is very friendly and gregarious, so he knows many people on the casual friend level and has an amazingly huge Facebook flist, though it's been neglected of late. Julien has a good memory for names and faces and always seems genuinely happy to meet, speak with, hang out with, and reunite with people. Virtually anything - movies, arcade games, party games, drinking, watching sports - looks like fun to him, and he's good company during parties. He can be a little much, but he doesn't pester people who don't like him. He also likes to flirt, but this often doesn't go anywhere, and he's happy with that.
Echoes:
First - Mental|The motivation to get and then stay in shape.
Second - Mental|This memory, "Apostle of the Violet Rose". Gained by touching a snake statue.
Third - Physical|A single white feather, gained in flight.
Fourth - Physical|Pigeon lungs, gained in a conversation with Lyall. They are, ah, smaller than human lungs and don't work as well without air sacs.
Fifth - Physical|Pigeon air sacs attached to lungs, supplying them with fresh unmingled air on both the inhale and the exhale. Gained after getting help about breathing issues.
Sixth - Physical?|The ability to hear, see, and otherwise interact with ghosts, provided they aren't weakened or concealing themselves. Gained at the art gallery.
Seventh - Mental|This memory, "Heaven-Soaring Wings". Gained via haunting.
Eighth - Mental|This memory, "This pain is part of me." Gained via canon recurrence.
Ninth - Physical|An avian voice. Gained via involvement in the Sage plot.
Tenth - Physical|Hato harto, something like twice the mass of a human heart. Gained via Sage plot stuff.
Eleventh - Physical|Hybrid pigeon eyes. Gained after seeing a Vermini swarm.
Twelfth - Mental|A degree of vaguely spiritual regard directed at the starry sky. Gained... after quite a while gazing at the daystars he can now see, trying to figure them out.
Thirteenth - Mental/Physical|Moves like Yuuya. He tends to default to moving gracefully and with little sound, regardless of footwear and flooring. Gained after drinking tainted water.
Fourteenth - Mental|The mindset needed to temporarily take over the patient-care aspect of a small-scale medical facility. Gained as a recurrence after having to cover for Aaron at the clinic.
Fifteenth - Item|Yuuya's iPon/future bird smartphone. Currently unuseable without the password. Gained as a recurrence while on a "mission" which attempted to be stealthy.
Sixteenth - Item|A potted miniature rosebush with small, deep violet, strongly scented blossoms. Not of an existing variety and possibly genetically adjusted, but also not possessed of any special properties. The pot is decorated in ways pleasing to bird eyes and is quite lightweight, as is the hydroponic medium the rosebush is rooted in. Gained upon being given purple roses by Amrita.
Seventeenth - Mental|This memory, "I didn't do it so he'd love me." Gained upon realizing that Aaron forgot about the network and that they were close.
Eighteenth - Mental|This memory, "a brief overview of Sumatera Influenza and its effects on the world." Gained when Bakura theorized about why humans are diminished and there are non-humans who want to protect them in the "Apostle's" world.
Nineteenth - Mental|This memory, "Feel like writing me off as a heartless bastard yet?" Gained from another conversation with Bakura, this time about Aaron.
Twentieth - Mental|This memory, "No one can ever be replaced." Gained from this set of interactions with Aaron.
Twenty-first - Physical|Technical bird status. Gained from watching the lights.
Twenty-second - Physical|Carneades Virus, gained from visiting the tower.
Twenty-third - Mental, tier two|This memory, "Graffiti about the End Times", and certain flight-related thought patterns. Gained from being in a terribly run down house in the Dead District.
Twenty-fourth - Physical|Birdlike bones and a bursa of fabricius. Gained from encountering an animated snake statue with Lyall.
Twenty-fifth - Ability|More stealth! A kind of "I'm-not-interesting". He can kind of fade into the background and be difficult to notice as he watches someone, even if he starts following. Can still be sniffed out, though. Gained as a recurrence from investigating the tower security.
Twenty-sixth - Item|Yuuya's agent harness thing. It looks a little different from that. Two backpack-ish straps, one horizontal strap high and visible, one lower. On the back the backpack-ish ones come together and form a Y that connects to the horizontal straps. It more or less fits Julien. Loops and attachment sites for more straps can hold weapons and other things. There's a kind of pouch for his iPon. Gained surveying some blown up Dead District things.
Twenty-seventh - Mental| Three words, "It's called Carneades". Gained when Danny gets close to the truth.
Twenty-eighth - Physical/power, Tier 2| Pigeon hearing and perceived time dilation. Gained with participation in the Exploration Plot.
Twenty-ninth - Mental| Some knowledge of Leone J.B., Yuuya's handler. Gained sneaking around in Aaron's company.
Thirtieth - Mental| The sense that somehow it's personally important to him, to press on despite previous mistakes, to keep trying to improve. Gained advising Ravi.
Thirty-first - Physical, Tier Two| Avian skin and muscle tissue. Gained encountering Blood Keys.
Thirty-second - Memory| This memory, First Mission. Gained being shot by one of the Blood Keys.
Thirty-third - Mental| A certain familiarity with firearms. Gained grasping a gun in a combat situation.
Thirty-fifth - Item|Yuuya's school locker, loaded with Legumentines presents and nothing else. Gained as the seasonal echo.
Thirty-sixth - Mental| A greater degree of, mm, emotional independence. Gained when Aaron, his last... quasiparental figure, went and forgot everything again.
Thirty-seventh - Mental| A tendency to say greetings and farewells in some different language, gained teasingly greeting Akito in Elvish.
Thirty-eighth - Mental| Nigh-unshakeable calm in dangerous situations. Gained on a rescue mission.
Thirty-ninth - Physical | Heavily altered avian-style anatomy of mouth and throat. Gained because snakes in a meeting.
Fortieth - Tier Two, Physical/Ability | A harpy-like body and the rudiments of flight. Gained when he fell/leaped off a building.
Forty-first - Item/Ability | A recoiless rifle and the basics of using it. Gained from being around for Wise Snake.
Forty-second - Mental| This memory, Ungainly Dance. Gained facing snakes.
Forty-third - Mental| Recalling that his brother kept his tail up and Yuuya did not. Gained raising his tailfeathers for the first time.
Forty-fourth - Ability| Feather dexterity. Gained using his prehensile feathers.
Forty-fifth - Ability| Familiarity with HB!verse night vision glasses. Gained from seeing footage of the Vegas lights.
Forty-sixth - Ability| Advanced typing/texting skills. Gained... typing with his feathers.
Forty-seventh - Item| An issue of Absolute Zero, an artbook Anghel drew with a focus on the fantasy au version of Yuuya. Gained in a monster attack.
Forty-eighth - Mental| Some familiarity with the artbook's author/artist.
Forty-ninth - Ability| Pigeon sleeping patterns. Gained after the alien broadcast.
Fiftieth - Mental| Willingness to bathe in unheated water. Gained... bathing in unheated water during the molt.
Fifty-first - Mental| Hazy memory of Yuuya's first home and that it was before his father was murdered, also a nostalgic response to the smell of leather. Gained talking to Geoff.
Fifty-second - Mental| The password to Yuuya's smartphone! Gained encountering a ghost
Fifty-third - Mental| Yuuya's weird attitude towards threats - they're not really alarming anymore. Gained thanks to Isabela.
Fifty-fourth - Mental| Anger and disgust about kill-first-ask-questions-later mentalities. Gained seeing someone knife a ghost.
Fifty-fifth - Mental| Some expertise on escaping pursuit. Gained being pursued by Mafia types.
Fifty-sixth - Ability| Greater pain tolerance. Gained enduring a tattoo.
Fifty-seventh - Ability| Ability to swim well with wings. Gained... swimming.
Fifty-eigth - Ability| Expertise at manipulating computerized security systems. Gained messing with the Stark house.
Fifty-ninth - Mental| Crossdressing is fun! Gained when Isabela coaxed him into trying.
Sixtieth - Ability| Lockpicking! Gained breaking into Liam's.
Seventieth - Tier 2| the dreamcracker and training. Gained because of Refined Shell.
Seventy-First - Item| A basket of food. Gained thanks to using the teleporter and reaching Germany.
Seventy-Second - Mental| Knowledge of how birds age. Gained talking to Kilian about how dwarves age.
Seventy-Third - Mental| "The mummy hunter becomes a mummy", gained considering titans.
Seventy-Fourth - Physical| The other tissues and organs become birdy, notably his digestion, gained from wolpertinger exposure.
Seventy-Fifth - Tier 2| Full bird form and improved flying ability, gained from the pink lights at Christmas.
Seventy-Sixth - Mental| Finding the blinded quail on the Holiday Star, also gained from pink lights at Christmas.
Seventy-Seventh - Mental| Knowledge of Shuu Iwamine. Gained because lolmedia about Aaron.
Seventy-Eighth - Skill| Avian martial arts. Gained meeting Arnold's doppleganger.
Seventy-Ninth - Memory| Manipulating his brother. Gained because lights.
Eightieth - Skill| Hacking! Gained trying his metaphorical hand at it.
Eighty-first - Memory| World bird history, gained because lights.
Eighty-second - Knowledge| Understanding the Japanese language. Gained thanks to immersion.
Eighty-third - Skill| Bird lifeguarding. Gained... doing that.
Eighty-fourth - Skill| Technological improvisation skills. Gained from the last lights
Eighty-fifth - Item| Walkie-talkies. Gained going on a mission
Eighty-sixth - Memory| Golden Weekly mission, gained because explosions
Eighty-seventh - Memory| The Christmas Thieves mission, gained getting his tail burnt
Eighty-eighth - Item| Bird sniper rifle, gained dive-bombing Aaron's attacker
Eighty-ninth - Memory| The Holiday Star experience, gained meeting the Boy
Full application: Here!
|Transformative Echoes|
no subject
Change: One white feather from his back. Not rooted, so it instantly came loose and looks more like an item echo.
Cause: Going flying.
no subject
Change: Pigeon lungs, scaled up to fit his body. These are considerably smaller than human lungs, unlobed, fairly rigid, and located deeper in the ribcage, against the back. The diaphragm does not help in breathing. Instead it's all chest movements; to that end his ribcage moves more with each breath than a human's.
It progressed slowly, taking roughly ten days to complete.
Cause: Conversation.
no subject
Change: The rest of a bird's respiratory system. A system of nine air sacs crowding his chest and gut, pushing a little into his neck and arms.
This is a more efficient method of breathing than what's available to humans. Oxygen is taken in on the exhale as well as the inhale. Thin air, as if at altitude, poses little problem. It's hard to run out of breath. Each breath is deeper, at rest his breathing is rather slow. It's very steady, to the point where Julien cannot laugh or sob normally. Coughing is like in birds, high pitched and non-diaphragmic.
His breath runs somewhat hotter than is normal and more water vapor is lost with each exhale.
Cause: Getting helped with breathing issues caused by the last one.
no subject
Change: Part of Julien's larynx has moved down to become an avian syrinx in his chest, where the trachea branches. An avian syrinx is a double-barreled bony structure with extremely elastic membranes. Vibrations of the membranes are controlled with sub-millisecond precision and resonate through the air sacs.
It's possible to speak intelligibly and extraordinarily fast without use of lips or tongue, and to produce two similar tones of voice at once. He has a ridiculously wide vocal range spanning from above soprano to around bass, with great resonance and richness. Rapid, smooth trills, overtones, and pure tones are easily produced, it's possible to vocalize clearly on the inhale as well as the exhale, and he can be much louder if so inclined.
He can mostly imitate human voices albeit with a slight odd quality to them, including his own old voice. Since uplifted pigeons have weird specialized syrinxes, Julien retains his size and a mostly-human bodyplan and can't inflate his throat, and he won't be imitating birds, he won't really sound like a given bird, but there will be some of that curious resonating quality you can hear most clearly in deeper birdcalls like mourning doves and ostriches.
Cause: Sage Party!
no subject
Change: Partial cardiovascular system change! Blood plasma has a somewhat different composition, veins and arteries slightly changed. The most obvious change is to his heart, though.
Twice the mass of his human heart, shaped a little differently and with some of the nearby arteries a bit different, it's slower at rest, responds more quickly, and can beat faster for longer without trouble. It's more efficient and seems slightly off if listened to.
Cause: Contact with a Vermedi bat.
no subject
Change: Pigeonlike eyes.
The ancestors of mammalkind skulked in the dark and traded colors for the ability to see in the shadows. Three basic colors give humans the ability to distinguish around ten million colors, which is as good as mammals get. Bird ancestors walked in the light, and pigeons have improved on that front. Five basic colors give intelligent pigeons the ability to distinguish ten billion colors. They have the best color vision of anything with a spine.
Just looking at someone - skin oils, blood vessels under the skin, hair, fingernails, teeth, insects, traces of wiped away or evaporated saliva/tears/sweat/blood/cum/whatever, makeup, soaps, dyes and detergents used on clothing, scar tissue. Julien sees these in brighter, more obvious colors than what we see, if we'd see it at all. Hand and foot prints, anywhere skin oil could have transfered, are obvious. Stars are visible in the day, the sun can be seen through clouds, and air turbulence is watchable.
The big downside is, well, poorer vision in low light. Not enough to be crippling, but night blindness can certainly suck. The darker it is the less color there is, and "too dark to see" isn't as dark as for humans.
With bird eyes Julien can also see faster. What's a blur to humans... often isn't to birds, so he can track things better and move more rapidly through obstacles - though the downside there is that the flickering of fluorescent lights and the artificiality of video are much more obvious. Watching something from the "corner of his eye" gets an image almost as sharp as looking directly at it. Pupils can contract and dilate much faster than ours, this can be consciously controlled but also reflects emotion and concentration.
He also has flecks of iron in his eyes, interfacing somehow with his optic nerves and letting him "see" magnetic fields. With just the eyes this magnetic sense isn't as refined as it would get if I gave him the other iron flecks, it's just a vague indication of direction.
For now Julien keeps the mammalian spherical eye shape and ability to move his eyes that humans have, since... otherwise his skull would need restructuring. Unlike with pigeons the whites of his eyes are still visible, and he keeps the blue pigments in his eyes... though the color's not quite the same, and blood vessels in the iris might make the eyes look purple during periods of eyestrain. And he gets the brain modifications to actually handle all this new input, and he no longer needs glasses day to day, though his visual resolution's a little shy of 20/20.
Finally he has nictitating membranes (translucent extra eyelids that protect and clean the eye, can work as "sunglasses", and also show emotion) and a modified sclerotic ring (eye bone).
Cause: Witnessing a Vermini swarm
no subject
Change: The features that distinguish Julien as a mammal all changed over, so that on a technical level he qualifies as a bird. Nipples lost their potential function. Brain structure is radically different, with the neocortex gone and the nidopallidium and dorsal ventricular ridge taking its function. On the genetic level, he has gone from the XY sex-determination system to the ZW system, and so his sex chromosomes are ZZ.
Hair has been replaced by primitive hairlike feathers in the same color (white) as Yuuya's. Instead of the schedules human hair keeps, all of the growth and shedding happens during the molt in late summer. For the rest of the year if a feather is plucked another will grow in to replace it, but if it's cut, it stays the same length. For now it still looks like hair, though there's two strands per follicle, and it's thicker and softer. Any replacements will be like kiwi feathers.
Instead of the mammalian system of three inner ear bones he has the avian system, with a single bone and a complex system of tubes lacing the jaw area. The other ear bones are incorporated into his jaw, but his jaw still works as simply as mammal jaws do. External ears and ear canals remain the same. While his hearing can still be damaged by loud noise just like mammal hearing, the relevant cells regenerate and restore peak hearing in about two weeks. Julien's hearing heals the damage of modern life and improves mildly, but remains within the normal range for sensitivity.
Cause: Seeing the pink lights.
no subject
Change: Birdlike bones and Bursa of Fabricius.
Julien's skeleton maintained its shape and configuration, but a great deal of marrow evaporated and most bones became partially or totally hollow, though the interiors are reinforced with struts. Bone composition is a little different and his bones are more calcified than before, harder but also more brittle. Air sacs adjusted, expanded, and moved into the new space; some bones are filled, others just penetrated and invaded. A bursa of fabricius grew low in his abdominal cavity.
The Bursa of Fabricius is an internal organ low in the abdominal cavity. It takes over blood cell production, both red and white, now that there's so much less bone marrow.
The capacity of air that can be held in Julien's lungs and air sacs is four times what's possible for humans. He loses still more water to evaporation and is considerably lighter than he was. The bursa has started producing pigeon blood cells, which are nucleated and better at carrying oxygen but also need to be replaced far sooner, which has a metabolic cost.
By December he will be able to survive losing seventy percent of his volume of blood. His heart will beat more slowly, he will breathe much more slowly while at rest. Also his immune system will be considerably stronger.
Cause: Snake statue.
no subject
Change: Pigeon hearing.
Pigeon hearing isn't particularly sharper than in humans, but they can hear vastly lower frequencies. Low frequency sounds carry far further than higher ones. A pigeon in the center of the continental US can hear the ocean on the East, West, and Gulf Coasts, and the wind against the chains of the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, extending hundreds of miles. Also audible in this way and across distance: auroras, explosions, storms, waterfalls, meteors, earthquakes and volcanoes, tornadoes, some kinds of engine, the various animals that communicate with low frequency sound. Incoming tsunamis, seismic events, and tornadoes can be heard minutes to hours before they can be detected by human senses. It's how many animals can sense these things coming.
Also, avian temporal sensitivity is ten times more acute than in humans. Sounds too fast and complicated for humans to really grasp are heard with much greater fidelity and complexity. With enough practice Julien might become exceptional at vocal analysis and more precise imitations.
Cause: Tier One of Two, participation in the Exploration Plot.
no subject
Change: A twofer. Avian skin and avian muscle tissue.
His skin became much thinner and softer, like frog skin, but it also incorporated a varnish-thin film called the sclerotic layer, which makes it tougher. When breached in a non-massive way the sclerotic layer tends to seal back up, restricting blood loss but also sealing in contaminants. It covers the surface of his eyes and extends down through lungs and air sacs to bind bones, inside and out, making them resistant to fracture. Julien's skin at least retains his melanin and does not at a glance look that different.
Sweat glands cease production and are reabsorbed. Skin oil glands change over to producing bird oils, which are thicker, waxier, mildly waterproof, and antimicrobial. A noteworthy duct, the uroptygial gland, appears below the small of his back, only about as big as a large chickpea. Without feathers to coat it'll need a bit of gauze and a bandaid to keep from leaving spots in his clothes. When he's clean the oils lend him a pleasantly sweet and yeasty smell, if he doesn't wash for long enough they go rancid and musky. There's more oil in hot weather. The whorled fingerprint-y skin of hands and feet went white and peeled off. Underlying skin has tiny polygonal scale-shapes, though not actual scales yet.
Bird muscle tissue in pigeons is nearly all "dark meat" suitable for high performance over a long period of time. Julien's physical strength increases about fifteen percent, his endurance gets the potential to increase above even human limits, the recovery time after exertion drops, his muscle heals faster from injuries. This muscle tissue processes oxygen differently. If the changes stopped here, Julien would potentially live notably longer than a normal human.
Bird muscle also burns energy faster, so there's a somewhat higher metabolism and a temperature increase of nearly ten degrees. ...so along with this there is be whatever adaptation's needed to keep his body from treating it as a permanent high fever.
Cause: Contact with a member of the Blood Keys.
no subject
Change: Rhamphotheca/tongue/glottis/choana - basically a change to the inside of Julien's mouth and throat.
Julien's teeth fell out and rhamphotheca grew in - the hard, keratinous surface that covers a bird's beak. On the outside they are deeply grooved and appear to be teeth, albeit not quite like the teeth he had before. These grow slowly but surely and must be worn or filed down. The frontwards parts are sharp and correspond to incisors, there are also "molar" areas. Touch and taste receptors are embedded but get covered up if this internal "beak" grows too long.
His esophagus and trachea are parted. The trachea can pinch closed or fit itself to the choana, a closeable slit in the roof of the mouth leading to the sinuses and nostrils. Deeper than the choana is a smaller slit leading to his inner ears, so he can "pop" them at will.
His tongue is longer, narrower, and thanks to the bone inside, less flexible. It's also forked in a particular place. Those forks are grasping.
Julien now has difficulty speaking syllables that involve use of the tongue, unless he pronounces them in his syrinx. He also is no longer affected by capsaicin.
Cause: Being in the presence of rock snakes.
no subject
Change: Enough physical alterations to be able to fly, somewhat. His arms lengthened and their skin and tendons altered. A tail formed at the base of his spine. His legs - mostly feet - changed, lengthening at the foot, his neck became slightly longer, and feathers came in. His remaining fingers became clawed and scaly like his large, grasping toes.
He's a weak flyer like this, since he basically obeys the laws of physics. Human-shaped bodies are not made for proficient flight. Still, he glides well, skims along the ground easily, and can WAIR quite well.
Cause: Falling off a tall building
no subject
Change: Bird sleeping patterns. In short he becomes a very light sleeper, but also one who can get to sleep very easily and can do it sitting up or standing and leaning on something. He still sleeps deeply sometimes, generally in the dark in enclosed safe spaces, but otherwise wakes quickly and completely at minor provocation. Does not need caffeine.
Cause: Alien broadcast
no subject
Change: Remaining organs and tissues change to be pigeon-y, though still made to fit a sort of human-shaped body. Details!
A usually-dry mouth, with saliva concentrated in the back. The saliva is basically lubricative, thicker and more slippery, and without the minor healing properties associated with mammal saliva. Unlike if he were human, it doesn't hurt him to have his mouth dry, though it takes a while to get used to that.
Three "stomachs". The first, the crop in his throat, basically only stores food. It can be swallowed again or brought back up with little trouble. The second is the proventriculus or glandular stomach, where the acid and enzymes are introduced. The third is the gizzard or muscular stomach, where food is churned and pulped. Food can be passed from muscular to glandular and back at need. Since he can still chew Julien doesn't really need a gizzard. Vomiting is now quick and painless. His digestive system works more quickly in general.
Urinary and digestive systems are joined, with lobed kidneys sending avian uric acids to the cloaca instead of a bladder, though he doesn't get a full cloaca as sperm is not expelled through it. I decided not to emasculate him, just have him keep it in a separate slit where it can be everted at need. His testes are relocated to be internal, up in his ribcage.
Cause: Encountering a wolpertinger
no subject
Change: Essentially completed bird transformation, and more on how to fly - he got the basics when he became a harpy.
This is the bird form. The keel grows out from the ribcage and a huge amount of muscle is anchored to it, the spine becomes rigid, the knees are permanently tucked, the neck changes radically, the eyes become larger, and there are the beak and feathers. So he's huge. Small human aspects remain - a couple fingers on each wing, blue eyes, some of the jaw structure etc. The picture has him stretched up as tall as he can go, it's more comfortable and natural to hold his body less upright. He's much bigger around and somewhat heavier than as a harpy.
This change gives him a lot more muscle and a far, far stronger wingbeat. Swans can break bones with their wings, and he's much bigger than a swan; he could kill or seriously injure someone. His bite or peck are not to be sneezed at either, and his neck is about two and a half feet long, extremely flexible, and very difficult to break. Overall he's tougher and more dangerous (could maybe take a man with a baseball bat -> could take several men with baseball bats)
Stronger wingbeat and a skeleton adapted for flight lead to a better ability to fly. Taking off under his own power, hovering briefly, and climbing to great heights or flying against the wind are now possible. Pigeons are excellent fliers, fast and agile plus able to maintain a rapid pace for hours on end. He could manage to take off carrying as much as... oh, a hundred pounds, but it's a strain and impedes him.
This also makes his eyes much larger, which changes his eyesight a bit. Larger eyes mean a brighter, clearer image and mildly better low-light vision, though he's still not as good at that as a human.
Cause: Seeing lights over the Christmas Island