ingo's appearance will shift smoothy between human and dragon, as mentioned; i've done a Lot of playing around with what he'd look like at various different "states" so here's some in somewhat chronological order. debatable levels of "canon" design
he CAN somewhat control how much he transforms, but not fully.
Something about the rift above mount coronet prevents him from appearing fully human...
that, and he doesn't really remember how to stay consistently one way ljdfksjklfsjlfsdksjfkl
but because he can somewhat control it slightly, he can occasionally suppress the dragon traits. this usually happens when he visits jubilife (though the question is, is that due to the distance from the rift or the accidental masking metaphor lol)
but generally he's just kinda vaguely creature in a way that is ALMOST human but just not quite, as has been consistently shown through all of the drawings of him as a human
zekingo and reshingo's first impressions of volo are starkly different, haha.
zekingo's first impression is of someone who has strong Ideals (over time, those Ideals get stronger, but they also become darker, filled with anger and hatred). He likes this, but the more he interacts with volo the less he likes. Once Volo figures out zekingo can sense Ideals (even if he doesn't know the specifics of ingo's ability) he tends to avoid zekingo
reshingo, however. volo is absolutely RANCID with lies. something in reshingo's instincts is SCREAMING at him about volo. to fight against this, punish the one who dares speak and act such lies in the presence of Truth Incarnate.
needless to say, volo tries to avoid reshingo from the very beginning lol (makes it a bit difficult to navigate mount coronet, but he makes it work.)
since he's got thems draconic traits. he's a bit toasty! and fluffy!
the pearl clan kids LOVE him, especially what with how cold the icelands get. personal heater! PRIME cuddle real estate!!!! and even though he looks intimidating he's actually really nice and always takes the time to play with them
so even though he's weird and kinda scary sometimes and very clearly not human. kids are kinda attached to him lolllll.
kinda back with the themes of the clan accepting him despite his VERY blatant oddness and inhuman traits
new twin dragons au dropped ("new" -> been procrastinating posting it to tumblr since last. uh. last june. almost a year. just about exactly 11 months specifically. whoopsies.)
ANYWAY. the. there's some stuff i've wanted to do with dragons and submas that can't happen with fulcrum au's rules At All. so i decided. why not just make a whole new au. also why not switch who's who while i'm at it :)
and thus my own take on a reshiram ingo was born
essentially: here, the difference between forms is like a spectrum, rather than a switch like fulcrum au's. there's Fully Human and Fully Dragon, but then everything in between as well. though they both prefer to be Fully Human/Dragon.
When reshingo gets Got to hisui, his hold on his "human" form wavers; with the weird spacetime stuff going on and the amnesia, he constantly has slight draconic traits too that human form.
READMORE BECAUSE THIS BEASTIE GETS LONG, FELLAS
will also include a lot of the art from the very beginning so some of it is kinda old/outdated LOL
very normal human guy who's got fangs and claws and weird eyes and can occasionally breathe smoke and fire. his hair is a little longer and kinda floats. mega fluffy sideburns :) also whiskers i gave him real long whiskers because For Fun. sometimes he's got fur or little feathers here and there? yeah dw about it that's just ingo bein silly :P
the first few drawings:
when he first shows up in hisui; pearl clan little hunting or foraging group come across a strange distortion. distortions are always dangerous, but in this one even from the outside, you can see the silhouette of a massive, raging beast ...
when it passes, they investigate the site for anything left behind, and come across ingo. Even though the circumstances of his arrival are suspicious, they still decided to bring him to the settlement. None of them in good conscience would be able to leave someone behind to freeze in the snow.
but when the bring him inside to recover and look him over for signs of injury or frostbite, they start noticing strange things about his appearance. Sharp fangs, claw-like nails, nictitating membrane (the "third" eyelid that you see in a lot of animals that humans don't have), etc.
the pearl clan takes him in despite this, of course; despite his vaguely inhuman traits, he's still Ingo and wins them over pretty quickly.
the thing is, he has to avoid the spacetime distortions. he never remembers what happens if he tries to enter them...
uhhhh THAT. will be it FOR NOW!!! i have MUCH more about this au, but i think splitting the subjects between posts would be best so here's just a sort of introduction :D
I am absolutly adoring Reshingo, he is such a kretcher. I would also very much like to know what Zisu and Reshingo think of one another!
first time zisu meets reshingo uhh. by that point he's had an Uncomfortable encounter with kamado so he's already doing that subconscious masking-his-dragon-traits thing. so while there's nothing immediately obviously inhuman about his appearance, he's got some of that sweet sweet uncanny valley vibe.
zisu is, understandably, a bit wary of this creepy ragged feral-lookin' man, but he's evidently part of the pearl clan, and he wouldn't have been allowed through the gates if he were a threat. so.
ultimately it's a polite interaction, since there's no real reason for either party to dislike the other. ingo asks about the training grounds, zisu's glad to tell him, and they end up talking about pokemon for so long that Irida has to hunt ingo down and drag him back home lol
so yeah from zisu it's a sort of "wary and cautious" to a "he looks weird but he's incredibly passionate and that's neat" in just one or two interactions lol. she does have a lingering uncanny-valley reaction to him for a bit that she intentionally ignores but ultimately that kinda goes away, ironically enough, when ingo starts relaxing in the training grounds and unmasking a bit. when she starts actually noticing these weird creature-like features, she has an actual reason for why he feels weird, and that in and of itself calms the unease. human brain afraid of the unknown/unexplainable and all that etc etc etc
(as for ingo. from the first interaction alone he's a lot more comfortable with her than anyone else in the village. he can tell she's cautious of him, but he doesn't have any hard feelings. it's understandable! he's a stranger, and a weird one at that, and she's in charge of the security corps! he's actually pleasantly surprised at how easily they get along)
but yeah! eventually they get to know each other well enough that ingo starts unmasking more around the training grounds (this is probably after the events of the game, or at least right before the climax of the plot lol. where the whole village is getting more comfortable with pokemon in general)
Zisu herself has always been much more comfortable with pokemon than the rest of the village of course, given her whole Job and everything (both aspects of it, at that). so instead of ignoring it and not mentioning it like the rest of hisui, she actually is actively curious about his more inhuman features
uhhhh also since zisu absolutely physically wrestles with pokemon (this is my truth for ever and ever no one can convince me otherwise) and reshingo is very much at least a Little bit pokemon you KNOW she's gonna be manhandling that poor guy
