#creature grimoire

[rosebloodcat]

"I mean, it's not like I hate being like this Sally, I've lived like this longer than I haven't at this point. It's just- I can't exactly do my job while I'm covered in feathers! Who's gonna take me seriously if I'm running around looking like an extra from a fantasy movie?"

"... I might. But I'd probably also be asking if the movie was still hiring. Because a costume department that could pull that off would be amazing to work with."

*Grimoire pauses.*

"Actually, yeah, that would be a really amazing movie crew."

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.

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Bird man Grimoire! After losing the charm that lets him stay in a human form and he's finally found out by Sally.

As Girmoire himself says, he doesn't hate what he really looks like. But it's inconvenient for his job about 90% of the year so he really would rather not be in it most of the time. (He could maybe squeak by during Halloween or something with a costume event.)

He's supposed to look mixed, more human than not, because that was the threshold the Family Curse was wound back to. He gets to stay himself/sane at the cost of losing any potential benefits the monster transformation could have given him. (Like being able to fly.)

Girmoire's feathers are pretty scraggly, if I'm being honest. He doesn't really take care of them since he spends more time in his human form instead, so he doesn't really think to give them any special care they might need to look nice. And he is covered in feathers. They are all over him, even under his clothes. Also, they match his hair, with more grey feathers on his jaw, neck and chest, darker feathers that run down his arms, legs, and back, and his longest feathers getting bright red tips to them.

His face, arm, and chest feathers are the best cared for but that's because he can see them right away. The tail, back, and wing feathers have it the worst though.

And his wings are kinda in a perpetual molt, he's always shedding those feathers since he can't use them to fly. So he constantly has to clean them around the house. (This does not add to his fondness for them.)

He thinks the bird feet are annoying, since he can't wear shoes or socks. It especially bugs him during winter when it gets way too cold to run around barefoot, even indoors.

He doesn't hate how he looks, he just thinks it's inconvenient most of the time.

[rosebloodcat]

Bird Beast Grimoire

Okay, my brain has had time to ruminate on secret monster thoughts, so now it's time to turn this detective into a bird. Why? Why not.

So, magic bird beast. I am thinking of blending a couple birds together to make the Bestie Form. But using Corvidae as the base bird type. (AKA birds like Magpies, Crows, and Ravens.) But obviously not 100% those, just to make it questionable.

How is he a beastie? Well there are couple ways this could have come about.

He was born that way. It's something to do with parentage. One parent was a magic bird being/monster, while the other was not. He's a mix of the two!

He a straight up birdman. He was born a magic bird, but decided he like people and wanted to live like/with them instead of staying with whatever social/familial unit he was in before.

Bless/Cursed? Either the man himself did something, one of his parents ticked off a witch/wizard and he got hit with the "Not Human" beam instead of them, or it's something generational and he's gotten the (un?)lucky roll.

Personally speaking, I can come up with scenarios for all of the above. I think, however, for this one I'm gonna lean on the "Generational Curse" option. Just to make the whole thing more interesting.

An inherited curse that shows up every couple generations, and Grimoire was the one that got smacked with it for his generation.

It was originally done to cause a monstrous transformation that turns them into rabid monsters as a punishment for doing something they shouldn't have or bc they'd made an enemy of someone with magic. One member of the family (either someone who married in or the parent of someone who got it) managed to change the nature of the curse, making more of a tool or an inconvenience instead of something that would ruin the family/person it happened to.

Grimoire has 2 forms because of it; His ordinary human face and a kind of hybrid form.

The Hybrid form is actually his default face, and he can change to the human at will. But, he can only stay in/maintain it for a couple hours at most. He has some kind of token/tool/accessory that he needs to wear/keep to hold his form for a longer period, a charm that helps him stay in the form he's in while wearing it. (And to avoid transforming in his sleep or after losing consciousness.)

Either he knows someone willing to make the charm, he has a relative who makes it for him, or it's something he knows how to make himself. If he loses it, or it gets stolen, he only has a couple hours to find it before he changes to back to his Hybrid form.

Grimoire rarely ever takes off his charm. In fact, the only time he takes it off is when he's at home and 100% sure no one is going to come visiting.

The Hyrbid form looks genuinely like a hybrid of a monster and human. Very much a bird-human. If he has wings, they're way too small to fly with or there's something wrong with the feathers to make them unusable, and he's probably too heavy to fly anyway.

Grimoire likes being a detective, and likes being around normal humans, so he doesn't really let anyone know about the curse he's long-since learned to live with.

He likes being a quirky detective with a big collection of random things in his house that people enjoy working with/having around.

Of course, to have an AU with this, his secret has to get out at some point. At the very least, Sally has to learn about it. Right?

[rosebloodcat]

My brain is being infested with Secret Creature Thoughts. And Detective Grimoire ones.

What if-

Secret Creature Grimoire?