Name: Eh'oll "L" (ey-ole) * these are his default values plus info otherwise

*Gender: Male, he/him, pan

*Age: 24ish, appears however old he wants to look

Relations: Won't talk about his family, likely doesn't remember them; no current partner, no known children (doesn't mean he doesn't have them)

*Height/Build: 6', evenly built but markedly flexible and not burly; he can run from 5' to 6'4" easily when shifted, though can also slouch or posture specifically to avoid being known as 'that 6-4 dude'; also is frequently seen with a bit of a paunch, but can look absolutely ripped (look ripped)

*Skintone: slightly ruddy medium peach, his normal form has a generous amount of body and limb hair, and he does keep stubble and a modest 'stache; anything with a similar shade will remain shaped considerably longer than if he has to concentrate on removing or adding hair, radically changing skin color, etc

*Hair: rich and shiny black, tightly curled, kept short with sideburns and a delightfully rakish look to him; he never seems to need to brush his hair even if he's running late, it just looks great naturally; the straighter or curlier a subject's hair must look, the more fun he seems to have making it look 'just as perfect as his own'...

*Eyes: very dark reddish-brown, shiny, large and supposedly-earnest or even confused looking, under dramatically quirked brows; he has a penchant for not blinking a lot, but the whites of his eyes (unless required) are always bright and clear

*Voice: he has a stunning range with a purr to his voice normally that attracts darn near anyone; he has 'pretty' lips, and makes the most of them, when listening to his subjects to emulate their voices he also copies their lip motions and adopts quite a few of these motions in his own normal shape; he can sing but also has a selection of ranges for that which allow him to go full falsetto and ultra-deep bass

*Preferred Look: As described below, L is a shifter whose appearance can be virtually any humanoid he has encountered or imagines; but his default is in fact the boi <-- over there with mostly leather pants and cloth shirts, suitable for scuffing around in pipes or up walls; only if he's required to be anywhere officially, would he clean up and use his 'nice' outfits; and yes he has a bunch of extremely varied clothing from dresses and bikinis to full royal gear or butchers-aprons

Art From/Inspiration: Erdem Kaynarca (photo); Meiker / Elequinoa Fairytale Duet maker ; character info provided by Ty

Residence: Glades, now formally in his own dome with his Beasts

Personality: L seems far more vapid and bubbleheaded than he really is. He's actually incredibly clever, if not book-smart; though he is markedly charismatic and charming if you get him alone. He is rarely seen as conniving or simpering, he is not weak-willed in any way (hence ... being able to command and keep up with two beasts of such stunning ranks) but he definitely tries to give off the appearance of some bumbling clod at times. He doesn't have a cruel streak, he isn't 'evil' or even 'mean', for the most part; he just needs to survive and thrive, so he makes the most of his appearance, his shifting, and how people 'think' a guy like him 'should' be. People are generally willing to let him slide if they catch him, he's just that good with people.

Education/Skills: it's unclear where L learned anything, or what his childhood education may have been, but he's quite literate even if he doesn't sit down with a good book or have a lengthy philosophical conversation, he can keep up with those conversations without being lost. (On the other hand, he looks lost all the time, part of his charm.) He's the type to read a recipe a couple times, try it once 'straight', and then add to it as he wants to experiment. And he does this with his appearance constantly. It's somewhat clear that he grew up on the streets, because his actual profession of thievery wouldn't have come any other way. It's unclear whether his shifting powers appeared before he was a thief, or after, because he can climb a wall or shimmy into a treasury and slip away before anyone notices; equally well however, he moves through a crowded room as someone else into that same treasury to 'withdraw' 'their' gold with no one the wiser. Whether he thinks one of them gives a better thrill, only he knows for sure, but he definitely enjoys both of those methods of getting things done. Always churning in the back of his mind are escape routes, names and places, all the detritus of the conversations that surround him when he's working. He discards most of that when the job is done, but he often incorporates things he knows from that background noise, into new and unique personas. They are that much more real for it.

Powers: Eh'oll is able to alter his physical appearance, surface structure, coloration, and voice to a limited extent. He takes inspiration from the people around him and emulates, or even outright copies appearances down to the voice patterns, though for best results there he must observe the person for a while to get a good grip on it. He can adopt very specific appearances by touching the subject, the longer and more lingering, or the more... intimate touch (that is to say, swappin spit) the more detailed the appearance will be. He can take on feminine or neutral appearances as easily as elfin, humanoid, or other such similar-sized body shapes, but cannot alter his internal structure, so no added organs. He can add a short or thin tail, more easily grow lots of skin to emulate one (but it'd be kind of limp); horns, ears, fangs, even a xenomorph-like carapace head can be done without difficulty. L maintains these shapes for about 3 hours at a time, and if he's emulating someone using a touch-based sample that time can be up to 6 hours. He must then rest in his default birth shape, preferably overnight, but if pressed he can shift numerous times before his shifting goes a bit sloppy and his true appearance starts showing through. Apparently to accommodate this power, he has a stunningly strong and vivid memory for 'anything people-oriented' from coloration, style, postures, textures, smells and tastes, to shopping lists and handedness options. However these all show up only in his shifting, and not in conversations - if he's talking about someone he met, he'll only ever bring up what they were discussing or maybe a thought or two about how they dressed, but never things that would 'tell' he's experimented with looking or acting like them.
He does not have any further psionic powers that anyone knows about, however his flexibility and weird ability to fit into things that just are way too small or the wrong shape may also be part of this appearance power. He can easily fit through a 7" wide gap in walls, through a narrowly open window, or around a very very tight corner, through pipes about 8" in diameter all of which are smaller than his head so there's that. And far from being floppy or wet-rag limp, he is generally a strong-handshake good-bearhug type of guy. Okay the reason he is always shaking hands is to accumulate cells to emulate...

Enhancements: none known, not sure how non-damaging implants might work with a guy whose joints and apparently bones are as flexible as his. And since he's continually fronting the 'I'm just a simple man' he hasn't yet been put into the clone vats. All of these things above, however, have made Etan's geneticists (Zekiran Etan in particular) perk up and take notice. If his genes are flexible enough to work his weird power, maybe they'll be included in new projects...

History and Current Events: Only a few people know Eh'oll's past, and he is much more concerned about the future than willing to talk about his own prior life before Etan's group brought him on board at the Glades. He is easily suited to life in virtually any era or setting - be it harsh cave-dwelling wilderness, medieval thatched-roof towns and castles, roaring-speakeasy cities, far-flung spaceports, or even the dystopic gleam of the Glades towering over the apocalyptic ruins of an old theme park. He always finds a way to survive. Whether this survival is 'endearing' to Etan, only the Glades leader knows. But he definitely seemed like a good find at some point, and was put to work quickly to gather information and watch people under Etan's rule.

He never questions that Etan himself can just reach into those people's minds, he knows how strong the psionic is; he also knows his mind is an open book, so he won't screw up willingly. Eh'oll is clever enough that he doesn't just roll over and do whatever he's told, when on a mission. He will gently adjust his attitude, make simple observations, and is careful not to confront Etan when he's in a mood.

The man was in a good mood when he informed Eh'oll of his new task, that of 'bringing home some Beast eggs'. Whatever those were. Oh, he found out quickly enough. At this Arx Atra Mons, a volcano (a volcano that was very surely going to erupt, that's what they did, wasn't it? erupt?) held an entire array of eggs and the beasts that laid them. He would bring back what he could, right?

The eggs were guarded but not at all times, and not from all incursions... There was a habit they had of allowing the smallest 'most useless' eggs be plucked up by the cooks - so he gently sidled up to said cook, emulated her appearance, and was assessing the many eggs in the arena when... of all things, they started hatching.

He wound up back to back with a stunningly gorgeous and equally terrifying woman, Khivi, from the Glades.

"Why are you here?" She demanded, about the same time he was muttering the same phrase. They came off these bloody grounds with a selection of eggs all right, but they were hatched, they'd be powerful.

With the classes and instruction from the local folk to command them, the strong minds of the dragons - telepaths... oh, how would their boss Etan feel about their minds? - were confusing at first. But Eh'oll's continual assessment of things around him kept his own mind quite sound. His two magnificent Beasts grew strong quickly enough, and would always be willing to do the dirty work that Etan expected of them. Eh'oll would keep them from being outright awful, though! Even if the smaller of them was a full arm's length taller than he was, Eh'oll's quick swat whenever Ysang or the much bigger Kisul reminded them that they had to be polite enough to not just get roasted by the actual threat to their existence. Etan tolerated no shenanigans, save perhaps his own dragon's... but that was not anyone's secret to share, now was it.

The Glades, the characters (except where noted), and concepts here are all (c)2022 Lethe. Creature art credited on each page. Page art created using stock images, screenshots from Far Cry New Dawn, and others as noted on pages individually; font used is Zorque. Do not remove or repost without express written permission.