#wereu

[x-amount-verbs]

https://twitter.com/wuzeirou/status/1530344886783733760?t=6gVj3LOTDuilJumK5wwv_A&s=19

https://mobile.twitter.com/wuzeirou/status/1530344886783733760?t=6gVj3LOTDuilJumK5wwv_A&s=19

I MEAN—

😳👀🥵

thanks for the rec anon 👀

[unwilling-survivor]

so anyway the WereU has invaded my brain

One paranoid fox shifter for your perusal.

(art by @snaxk )

[unwilling-survivor]

Some Other You! (you know exactly who is sending this ;3)

*kicks down the door* WEREU SAM!

So. In this universe, there’s a genetic condition called Adolescent Species Morphosis (ASM), where at some point in adolescence teens suddenly develop the ability to shapeshift into a specific mammal. Along with that comes very obvious physical changes: permanent anatomical changes including the ears and tail of their animal, frequently changes in teeth and claws, and of course plenty of adjusted senses.

In this AU Sam is a werefox and utterly unhappy about it. She wants to be “normal,” and to her normal is human. Her backstory still keeps a few beats— still struggled to establish a place for herself as “cool” and uncaring - before ASM more thoroughly cemented her as a rebel outcast type. She continued to struggle with things like anxiety and depression, only now plenty of her paranoia also came from being a shifter and dealing with the prejudice and judgment from that.

Instead of simply partying and going off meds in college, she had an added trauma; the girl she considered her closest friend and crush attempted to pimp her out. Shifters frequently being fetishized, Sam already had a hard enough time dealing with intimacy with humans, that event (even if the client didn’t realize she didn’t know, and was immediately apologetic when he found out) ruined her trust and really fucked her up. That combined with other things lead to her being hospitalized, a triply traumatic experience in this au given how horrifyingly bad the mental institution dealt with shifters. Caged, sedated, having her hormones fucked with to force her usual lunar cycle to a different time for their convenience, she was utterly scarred.

I could go on and on. I love WereU Sam. Here, have her whole backstory. Tw for minor body horror, mention of sex work, mental health hospitals, and some minor self harm. https://docs.google.com/document/d/12XRL_GpGJqi0wWaDsV3-JALWU0-YIPy81JKw02K2gKU/edit

WereU Sam

There was no worse time than in the middle of class for it to happen. Her ears were ringing, her skin itched. Her legs felt tingly— the whol

For a bit of a brief rundown of the verse on the whole: It’s the United States - or something almost like it - in some kind of near future. The general surroundings are similar, with very slightly more advanced tech. But the main difference here is one thing; ASM. Adolescent species morphosis. About .5% of the population has it. It surfaces around or shortly after puberty, with those afflicted having painful permanent physical changes take place - ears changing and migrating, growing tails, new teeth - as well as gaining a seemingly scientifically inexplicable ability to change shape.

Prejudice is rampant. Shifters can be scary— predator shifters are looked on in fear; aggressive shifters are subjected to registry and ear tagging. But if they behave, if they take the right hormones, have the right surgeries, they can live perfectly normal lives. Hell, there are even famous shifters— actors, models; beautiful people who popularized hair styles that imitate ears, or subtle fake fangs. Meanwhile, those with the real thing still get stared at, discriminated against, targeted. The adult industry is crawling (no pun intended) with cam kittens: shifters that play on the taboo desires of humans and leverage that desire to make their careers, for as long as it can last.

There are different opinions on shifters. Some think shifters are abhorrent, disgusting, an offense against god. Or they think they’re dangerous, and should be eliminated. Or, they find them to be an exotic animal to hunt. Others - like The Unity Covenant, a religious charity organization - pity them, and want to save them, to help them be normal. Still others believe in equal shifter rights, in equity for all. Of those, a smaller group is willing to fight for it, to shelter and defend shifters seeking refuge from areas hostile to their kind. There are also radical shifters, those believing in shifter superiority, eager to take vengeance on a society so fundamentally against them.

There are hidden settlements, small towns, meant to be utopic for shifter communities. But they are few and far between. More often, shifters help each other, or assimilate. That’s what pills are for. That’s what sedatives are for. Force yourself through a mandatory shift once a month, and you can live close to human for the rest of it. Don’t get arrested, don’t get institutionalized, or you will be caged until they’ve reestablished your cycle to fit the rest of the inmates. Or patients. The worst offenders get ear tags and forcibly sterilized.

In this verse Sam is a werefox, a recent runaway, fleeing after an unfortunate burst of temper had her biting a potential employer. Fear of being labeled a violent shifter made her panic, panic made her anxiety spiral, and an unfortunate reaction to anxiety made her fear reinstitutionalization. It traumatized her the first time: she couldn’t go back. So she ran away from a loving home, where parents made sure she got the pills she needed, where she knew exactly how to pin down her ears and tail and pass for human at a glance. She ran, and kept running.