not me drawing a full avian!tommy design instead of working on literally anything else i’m supposed to or drawing lore, couldn’t be me /j just. bird boy. i love him. mwah. bird. with obligatory goggles because all of my favorite character designs need goggles and he’s a sky boi i don’t make the rules
In the bird shifter AU Will Tommy become friends with Wilbur?
Maybe~
Now Wilbur is on high alert to try and spot the weird bird person again- but unfortunately he keeps ranting about his plans to catch both tiny people to "Clementine" (actually Tommy but Wilbur didn't know their actual name-), so any time he sets up a trap Tommy either knows to tell Tubbo to avoid it, or they both work together to get rid of the trap completely
It isn't until the night that Tommy's wing is fully healed that Wilbur sees him again- and this time he has a cage... Which leads him to realizing his bird and Tommy are one in the same
At least Tubbo isn't trapped, and now is trying to think of a plan to free Tommy as Wilbur asks him loads of questions- they might eventually become friends when Wilbur gets it through his thick skull that Tommy is an actual person, but for now, Wilbur is an idiot who is just curious
So, bird shifter au. Does wilbur eventually find out? Or does he just think his pet bird randomly disappeared?
He finds out before Tommy leaves- he came down for water one night when Tommy was hanging out with Tubbo half shifted. Wilbur trapped Tubbo under a cup and picked up Tommy to examine them and figure out what they are- but he's no scientist, nor does he know alot about biology, so he puts Tommy under a bowl while he goes to get his phone to text a friend a picture of what he found.
While Wilbur was gone, Tommy was easily able to lift the bowl off of himself (he's like the size of a human hand and flying makes his arms/wings stronger), then free Tubbo so they could hide in the walls- then right before Wilbur came back he shifted back into a bird
So, Wilbur knows he has a weird bird person thing and a tiny person living in his house- but he doesn't know that the bird person and "his pet" bird are the same person.... Yet
You mentioned that Tommy can’t fully shift or it would break his arm, but what is that form? If he can go between bird and half bird comfortably, what does fully shifted Tommy look like? /gen (sorry if it’s been explained before and I missed it)
Fully shifting just means he looks like a normal human
When he's half shifted his arms and wings are kinda the same thing, so it doesn't hurt to half shifter so it doesn't hurt his broken wing- if he were to shift into a human though that's his wing turning into an arm- and that complete rearrangement of his bones definitely would break his arm/wing even more
This new au seems so interesting! Would Tubbo try to help Tommy escape? And would Tommy eventually find his family again?
Well- when Tubbo first saw Tommy (not as a bird named Clementine by Wilbur-), he at first thought they were a borrower since it was night and dark, so he assumed them looking bigger then a borrower was just the shadows messing with his head- until he got closer and realized they were this big feathered person twice as big as himself (Tubbo is like a little shorter then 4 inches tall, and when Tommy is half shifted he's 7 inches tall-), but they do eventually become friends and Tubbo teaches him about all the tunnels (that Tommy has to crouch to fit into) so he knows of a way to get out once he can fly again (he can only glide when half shifted, and with his hurt he can't fly when fully a bird)
And Tommy will eventually see his family again- his wing can't stay hurt forever and with Tubbo's help he's bound to escape before Wilbur realizes he's not actually a bird, right? Plus Dream and Niki go out flying every night to try and find him