I like to imagine that part of Bryan's body/soul being stuck in the portal for the better part of a year had quite the number of physical changes to him too appearance wise.
Au/headcanon wise I imagine that the portal decided that Bryan would be its vessel for power long before he died, and him ending up stuck in there for so long only allowed it to speedline the process.
And with Bryan being it's chosen pawn I suppose, the portal had to rid his body of anything it would deem too weak to allow him to possess such power—namely, the fatal wound that he received from Glitchtrap. The portal itself managed to basically remove it from Bryan's body, no scar no nothing, replacing it with smooth skin that is just ever so slightly lighter than the rest of him. Obviously showing that it isn't quite natural. It also doesn't tan like the rest of him does. Just stays pale.
I also like to think that Bryan would never have been able to come back as a human if the portal had not done this, because the damage would have been too great. {Obviously, have we seen the damage that Molten assessed in that s2 finale?} So along with ridding Bryan of the scar, it replaced any other damage too.
This came at a price obviously, the portal can't be too op. In doing all of this for Bryan, for having a living breathing source of power, the portal now needs to use him to get that power back on occasion, because repairing Bryan's state the way it did weakened it quite a bit. Not really noticeable to anyone of course, because it can draw from countless dimensions, but it uses Bryan for just that bit more sustainability. Otherwise it becomes more unstable more frequently, and that isn't good for anybody involved.
So when Bryan hears that incessant calling to the portal, it's often so he can lose himself to it's almost mechanical whirring and give up great amounts of his power to it. And so on and so forth, sometimes Bryan goes and the portal will grant him just that bit more of power, leaving him there in front of it for a long while, solidifying the connection and making him feel even worse, and sometimes it will take. Like a cycle.
It's why Bryan finds himself so helplessly drawn to it. Bryan needs the portal to survive—even if it does more harm than good—and the portal requires Bryan to sustain itself.
Kind of like some sick and twisted codependency.
As well as this, regarding Bryan's physical state, I think remaining in the portal for so long gave him some not very human like features. His ears are slightly more pointed, his eyes have a rather unnatural hue to them, just hints of purple here and there that come out in full force during active usage of his powers. He also has white scarring on his back in the shapes of stars and arrangements that look almost like constellations—though none from this world. They aren't painless however, and burn and sting at his skin on occasion. His hair also has a purple hue to it, though far more noticeable than his eyes. And he cannot dye over it. Though he's definitely tried.
As for his powers themselves, they cause a whole other mess off effects upon him, which I might talk about later but idk. I'm not sure. This has already reached essay territory.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
titsay
amandla
