#ldad reverse!au

[teacupfulofstarshine]

hi star! i was thinking about your fics again (as one does) and i was wondering: if the roles of human/mer were swapped in ldad, what type of mers would thomathy & virgil be, and what would the ro-lo-pat family be up to up on land? sending you good vibes!

LIME THIS IS A WONDERFUL IDEA HOLY SHIT

uuuuuuuh well thomas would definitely be an elder mer, the way that patton is, but instead of being light blue he would have scales that are a gradient from red to purple and are also iridescent. virgil, on the other hand, would likely be a vampire squid - so instead of a tail, he would have a black squid’s body with lots of tentacles and markings (google vampire squid they’re super adorable) 

patton would be a marine ecology advocate who also runs the local rehabilitation aquarium. logan and roman would be his adopted sons who volunteer at the rehab aquarium - logan focuses on the more scientific aspects of caring for the animals, whie roman helps lead tours and educate the public. 

[teacupfulofstarshine]

So if vee were to be a vampire squid mer, how big would he be? Because i googled them and those cuties only get to about 30cm according to google and just- I'm imagining a teeny little mer about the size of 30 cm curling around elder!mer thomas' little finger bc of how smol he is in comparison to thomas if he's as big as elder mer pat and I'm just :')

vampire squid ARE tiny, it’s one of the reasons i love them so much!!! 

virgil would also be able to grow human legs, for much the same reason ldad!logan can, and i’m imagining that as a human he’s only about 5 feet tall. tiny boy. tiny little boy. as a mer, he’s not very long at all, but he is skinny and fast, and yes! thomas does like to be at a size where virgil fits in his hands. they both feel safe that way

[teacupfulofstarshine]

Ok so like, reverse ldad au, would Virgil have any of the abilities like how regular ldad! Logan can generate electricity? (Btw i really love your ldad au and Im curious if you're gonna continue it. No pressure. Love you Star Mom~~)

ldad!logan has electroreception in place of the glasses of his normal counterpart, which is loosely based on the electroreception abilities of a platypus, and he has electric abilities that are based on like a combo of an electric eel and certain species of electric octopi. he’s not based on a specific fish, or he would have that fish’s specific abilities

that being said, reverse!virgil IS based on a specific fish, the vampire squid! as such, he does have a couple of cool abilities based on what vampire squid are capable of!

- vampire squid have the ability to shift to match the density of the water around them to minimize the need for swimming and allow them to hang sort of suspended in the water to catch their prey. virgil has the ability to hover almost completely motionless in deep water and extend thin, see-through tentacles that he normally keeps retracted below his larger tentacles to catch prey

- virgil also has photophores on his face, arms, and tentacles! these are organs in certain bioluminescent fish that produce the light they emit. they are generally inactive, but when virgil gets startled he can produce bright, blinding flashes of light to stun predators and escape 

- in human form, these present as huge clusters of freckles

and yes, ldad is still a work in progress! grad school is kicking my ass rn but i’m almost done and the next chapter of ldad is plotted out so i’ll be working on it once exams and shit are done

[teacupfulofstarshine]

Reverse!LDAD crew meets normal LDAD crew. Patton and Thomas are both shocked to find another elder mer with a pod, the Romans are freaking out because Reverse!Roman thinks normal Roman looks SO cool and Normal Roman is trying to grapple with the fact that he is a human in the alternate universe, Reverse!Logan and normal Logan are weirded out by also incredibly intrigued, and normal Logan is just trying to figure out why Reverse!Virgil is so small.

logan, as a mer: why are you so Small 

reverse!virgil, who is prickly like normal roman: i will end your whole career fucking watch me

[teacupfulofstarshine]

Now I'm just picturing Logan holding a tiny Virgil in his hands, just in awe of how small he is- -Sailor

a;lsdfj laksdjf valid

if i ever write a oneshot for the reverse ldad!au, virgil will probably be human sized, but he will be on the small side of human. like, virgil with legs will be five feet tall, MAX. virgil with squid body will be MAYBE seven feet long. he will be TINY.