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Narancia Ghirga - Monster AU Profile

Narancia Ghirga, a mischievous shapeshifter with reckless habits, undying loyalty, and a shaky sense of belonging.

Preface about species type:

This post will be introducing many polymorph-related vocabulary terms which will be included in the Monster AU 'dictionary'; you don't need to worry about getting confused, because I'll stick with layman's terms for the most part, I'm just including the more formal terms for fun and fake education. They are all words I made up.

Narancia's a bit of a special case; his specific classification is unknown, making him fall into the special category of tochnopolymorph (TOECH-no-paw-lee-morf), also known as a non-specific shapeshifter (NS3), or 'true polymorph'. There are many, many different 'breeds' of polymorphs, but they often have defining features, a true form, set forms, and/or a different classification (such as zooanthrope, selkie, Diego Brando, etc.).

Narancia, however, is one of the types that do not fit into a known further specification. Though he has a natal form (protomorph) that is usually assumed to be his 'true form', Narancia is versatile and does not have a 'true form' (as he's never defined one for himself), only a default; his default form is the same as his protomorph. He can change any physical aspect of himself to a certain extent and can transform into anything provided it isn't too big (as accumulating significantly more matter into his being spontaneously is not generally within the extent of his capabilities, and usually transforming beyond his own mass involves fucking around with internals and is just in general kind of really horrifying).

Note that the rules that apply to Narancia do not apply to all polymorphs, or even all tochnopolymorphs, necessarily.

His clothes stay with him when he shifts, but whether this means that; 1. his clothes are actually a part of his body, 2. he internalises his clothes when he shapeshifts, and then externalises them when he returns to human/protomorph or, 3. some other bullshit; is unclear.

Details related to Polymorphism:

His tail, which is somewhat feline, leonine, or heraldic unicorn-like, is prehensile, meaning it can grab and hold things. It can also extend and shorten at will.

He has tapeta lucida. His eyes are reflective when light shines on them, but they also seem to glow in the dark somewhat.

Could trans his gener in any way at any time he wants to. Except legally. He presumably generally doesn't. But he could. And if he does. It's none of our business.

Many of his theriomorphs (animal forms), such as cats and dogs, have black fur since that's the colour of his hair, and purple eyes, which is a risk to give him away, as the colour is unusual. When questioned about the giveaway, he says, "I'm a shapeshifter, not a fucking chameleon!" However, his ability to imitate other humanoids to a semi-convincing degree, including the all-around-pale Pannacotta Fugo, suggests there are probably other factors involved.

If given enough time, he, like most tochopolymorphs, can regenerate any sort of piercing damage (like cuts, stabs, and bullet wounds). Polymorphic regenerative 'invulnerability' reportedly "does not extend to fall damage"; and may not recover a major pierce through the heart, as they don't have the time to heal it because they are dying right fucking now!!

It's important to note that if something is removed, it would take significantly more effort to restore it, as it would likely require him to redistribute his remaining mass to keep his shape, so if he lost an arm, he'd have to sacrifice some height to restore the arm.

This is only a temporary solution, because even though this method allows him to retain his shape, his missing mass still should be restored, particularly because if it's not, then the arm will still be missing in protomorph, which is activated by instinct.

A lehkomorph, or simple formshift, is a shift into a form that isn't too different from the protomorph, such as Narancia's human-passing form(s). A vazkomorph, or complex formshift, is a shift into a form that's significantly different from the protomorph, such as most theriomorphs and animal forms. Impersonation transformations (simulaforms) are either-or depending on the case; transforming into a small child would be considered a complex formshift due to a difference in general structure.

It's hard for Narancia to maintain both a complex formshift and Aerosmith at the same time. When he retains an animal form, it can be a challenge to summon, control, or use his Stand ability. Whether this is a focus issue, a hypothetically common trait for polymorph Stand Users, or something else, it's hard to say.

Transforming into something too big generally leaves him very sore when he changes back, and he can be quite whiny about it, but, as you'll learn in a bit, the whining... may or may not kinda be warranted. Overuse of shifting capabilities is also known to commonly cause soreness and sometimes dislocations or deformations as the body forgets how to put itself back together properly. Shapeshift responsibly.

To properly redistribute his size, when taking a much smaller form, sometimes 'mass-carriers' need to be formed to store the extra mass less conspicuously; if he were to take a child form, he might have to form with longer hair or a "backpack".

Larger forms usually require the opposite - as gross as it is, a form that is significantly larger usually requires internal mass to be redistributed, meaning that he would probably externalise and/or compress his own organs, which is generally incredibly painful and often very unhealthy; this should only be performed in dire circumstances, and even then, should generally be avoided, because it can be life-threatening.

There is some leniency; Narancia taking the form of an inconspicuous kitten but transforming into a properly-sized humanoid form breaks this restriction, and there are other exceptions, though he generally tries to keep his mass consistent. Taking a smaller form with no mass-carriers usually results from mass-shedding, which can be done voluntarily but is unpleasant. Mass restoration is the harder step of the process, but usually is aided by eating. This is likely the reason that Narancia was able to regain his humanoid form once he’d eaten.

The current only known case study of one of the most horrifying shapeshifter afflictions: form decay! Thanks a lot, Prosciutto.

Though able to regenerate physical damage well, things such as illness, immune issues, and infection are a different matter, as they are things he is unable to control, and they can be very severe for him. He was susceptible, and it culminated in the eye infection.

Though he is a polymorph with no technically set form, his protomorph is very distinctive and suggests something more species-specific. In particular, most of his features appear feline in some capacity, his face especially, not to mention his mannerisms and body language, which are quite catlike.

There may be some implication that the frequent morphing contributes to jaw pain or discomfort that Narancia seems to alleviate by chewing, biting, or eating things he is really not supposed to have in his mouth—like he's teething.

Details about Narancia:

Has a bad habit of slinking around in the dead of night, going into other people's rooms and then promptly fleeing upon waking them up. Cryptid behaviour.

Smug, somewhat childish, and thinks he's SO cool with his shapeshifting. Look, just... let him have this

Likes to just slightly change his appearance to mess with people and see how long it takes them to notice as a prank. Usually, he does this with Mista because he knows he can get away with it. Fugo fell for it at first but when he caught on he started to get mad about it. Just because it's annoying and distracting.

He also used to impersonate Fugo just to mess with him, but it freaked Fugo out, so he stopped doing it because it stopped being as funny when Fugo was scared rather than angry. Narancia never figured out why it scared him so much. Fugo gets twice as freaked out about it post-Pompeii arc. For some reason.

Impersonating Fugo around the others worked at first, but they could usually figure out if it was Fugo or Narancia by speech patterns and body language. Even when he tries to speak like Fugo, Narancia's tone gives him away.

But also, to save time, if they look at the face, they can tell practically right away if it's Fugo or Narancia. Narancia has some form of prosopagnosia—face blindness—so he can never mimic the face quite right (short of copying someone's face while he's staring at it), and something always looks noticeably wrong. He generally distinguishes people by their hair, scent, and voice. He's not completely unable to distinguish the way someone's features look, so he can replicate them if he's looking at them, but as soon as he's not looking, he is unable to recall what someone looks like or recognise someone's face. He doesn't recognise Bruno with his hair down and sometimes struggles to recognise Mista without his hat on.

Absolutely touchstarved (e.g. desires cuddling and petting) but he's a bit awkward about it, especially when it comes to physical affection with other men (very 'no homo' vibes), although he is sort of willing to display physical affection with Mista more openly because it's a 'bro thing' (it is not a bro thing). To remedy this oxymoronic situation, Narancia usually assumes his cat theriomorph when seeking affection, in which he feels less weird about receiving affection and the others feel less weird about petting him.

Regarding the street kids Narancia used to run with before he got arrested, it's a fair assumption to make that they knew Narancia wasn't human and (whether themselves a pack of juvenile werewolves or just a group of humans) hung out with him like he was a more-or-less normal person, and that's why he wanted to run with them. They let him feel like he fit in, which is something he'd struggled with his entire life due to a lack of exposure to any of his own kind, leading him to be unsure if he could ever belong anywhere.

Because he could be anything and transform himself in any way, he wasn't sure that any identity he gave himself was really his or if he was just conforming to what other people wanted. He didn't know how to be "himself", but running with the street kids at least gave him something, a name for himself, a place to belong, maybe a role to fill that wasn't just 'whatever they need at the moment' (though he certainly did a lot of that). But "Bro" was mostly just using him because his shapeshifting abilities were really useful and really convenient for framing him.

Fugo happened upon a sickly, injured kitten on his way to Libeccio's one day. He picked the kitten up despite better judgement, having sympathy for the tiny creature, and, despite the biting and scratching that his poor arms sustained, brought the kitten to Buccellati. They gave the kitten a little bit of food, and when they left it alone in a room for five minutes while they tried to figure out what to do about it, they came back in to find a scruffy boy halfway fallen off a chair, and no kitten to be seen. The rest of Narancia's backstory proceeds as normal, except that Fugo goes fucking ballistic at him because he, a creature with complex cognitive function, fucking bit him!!! Voluntarily!!! That's so fucked up!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!

Giorno stole his gender and that's why he's canon lesbian of the day

Likes... being pet on the head... but will punch you in the jaw if you try. Unless he wants you to do it. he's very fickle...

Has a nasty case of undiagnosed ADHD and/or something else, probably made slightly worse by the fact he's inhuman and thus already has some pretty odd tendencies. Struggles to sit still, hyperfixates yet struggles to focus (particularly in an academic environment), has some sensory issues and has a severe need to be stimming in 90% of his waking moments. His favourite style of stimming seems to be spinning things, including pocket knives, pens, and Aerosmith's propellers. The way he spins pens shows a very very impressive dexterity.

Seems to always have about 12 pocket knives on his person at any one given time. You take one knife away from him and he pulls another out of his fucking shoe and shanks you in the gut. Allegedly has 3 knives under his pillow, as he warned Limbo.

Incredibly expressive. His lack of a definite form allows his body (especially his ears, in his protomorph) to reflect his expression or mood to a much greater extent than a human's could. In the case of his ears, it's very much like cat body language.

The ORIGINAL catboy. Step aside, True Catboy Ghiaccio and Semantic Catboy Tiziano! I don't care that hes not a cat!!! shut the fuck up!!!!!

he does hiss at people

#NEW MONSTER AU POST DROPPED *FIRE EMOJI*

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