#( i just love the idea of the primordial sea enhancing his oceanid traits even though he has a typically 'human' form )

[daybreakrising]

HEADCANONS - PRIMORDIAL VAUTRIN

because floating in the primordial sea for 400 years is going to change anyone-

PHYSICAL CHANGES

i know that i've already highlighted the most noticeable changes to vautrin's physical appearance. forgive me for repeating myself here but i want to have everything under one post for an easy referral guide-

before his dip into the primordial sea, vautrin's eyes were hazel. now, however, they are a mirror of the sea itself: tones of blue and purple, dotted with silvery flecks. not only that, but the colours shift and move, rippling across his iris and dancing behind his pupils. it's... weird.

the sea also left a kind of residue on his skin: nothing tangible, but certainly visible - but only to certain non-humans, or those who have also been in contact with the primordial sea. this residue appears as a sort of shimmer on his skin. imagine sticking your hand into a beam of light passing through stained glass, moving it around so the colours shift and ripple over your skin - that's essentially what it looks like, though more subtle. it is always the blues, purples & pinks of the sea, with a faint glittering effect if caught under bright light.

aging. vautrin... doesn't. it's still a mystery whether or not he will ever age, or if the aging process has merely been slowed to a glacial pace. regardless, his lifespan has thus been extended... indefinitely, for now.

there is a general... uncanniness to his features. if the shifting eye colour isn't off-putting enough, there is an occasional strangeness to the way he looks at someone, or the way he smiles. it isn't all the time, and is more noticeable when he is distracted / unaware he's being watched.

he has curious "markings" along his arms that bear a resemblance to the darker blue markings on an oceanid's fins. to an average eye, these look like simple, if curious, scars or birthmarks upon vautrin's skin, but to non-humans or those touched by the primordial sea, these markings have a blueish tint.

he now has heightened strength & speed, particularly in water. (more on this below).

ADDITIONAL CHANGES

drifting in an endless sea for that length of time is, of course, going to affect a person's mind. whilst vautrin, for the most part, seems unchanged from his previous personality, there are some subtle changes:

his temper is more easily triggered. he has always been quick to anger, but was previously able to control his temper in most cases. it is now much easier to irritate, anger, and insult him, and he can react quite violently (not necessarily physically) in these circumstances.

he is prone to bouts of melancholy, becomes suddenly quite withdrawn, and loses himself in his own mind. in this state he can often be found sitting in the shallows of the sea, or mostly submerged in lakes or ponds. occasionally, he will sit at the bottom of the sea for hours.

he sometimes seems uncomfortable in his own skin. this is both a reaction to the power of the primordial sea within his blood, and his oceanid heritage itching to return to its original form. as with his bouts of melancholy, submerging himself in water seems to ease this discomfort.

there are times when his behaviour can be seen as odd, sometimes even unsettling: part of this can be explained by being displaced in time and, understandably, the very weird circumstances of his resurrection, but sometimes it simply seems like he has forgotten how to be human.

NOT QUITE HUMAN

the reason vautrin was able to survive falling into the primordial sea came down to his mixed heritage: whilst his mother was f.ontanian, his father hailed from m.ondstadt. the dilution of his blood prevented him being completely absorbed into the combined consciousness of the f.ontanian oceanids - his body was lost, but his soul, his mind, remained his own, left to drift for 400 years. (was there another reason he was spared, he sometimes wonders - perhaps a purpose he was intended to serve?)

however diluted, he still shared f.ontainian blood and, by extension, f.ontanian origin - and since he didn't emerge from the primordial sea until after n.euvillette cleansed f.ontaine of its sins, vautrin was not granted the same release. he is, technically, still an oceanid... of a sort.

his time in the sea only enhanced that non-human side of him, which has granted him a series of new abilities. counted amongst these are heightened strength and speed - perhaps not as noticeable on dry ground, given he was a trained soldier in his fomer lifetime, but certainly unmistakable once he enters the water. vautrin is able to swim faster and with greater agility underwater than any regular human, and doesn't seem to be as affected by the higher density of water to air. he is also able to breathe underwater in any body of water, though he disguises this to strangers.

and, should non-human (or, as always, those touched by the sea) eyes look upon those curious scar-markings on his arms when underwater, they would notice a rather subtle glow.

(similarily, if seen through elemental sight on land, vautrin always appears as affected by hydro.)

ABILITIES

primordial vautrin has a range of new abilities, both from his oceanid heritage and from the primordial sea itself.

he can feel emotion and memory within water. this is similar to n.euvillette's abilities, though on a lesser scale. much of what he gets is subtle: suggestions of emotion, fleeting glimpses of memories or snippets of voices, conversations. he cannot "watch" memories as if they were happening right before him, except for those that are his own.

he is more receptive to elemental energy. he can recognise vision users even if their visions are concealed, and he can see and sense the energy of elemental beings, or objects affected by the elements. think of it almost like constant elemental sight, only without altering his regular vision.

whilst he cannot control the hydro element the way oceanids can, he can manipulate water to a very small degree: for example, he can walk upon the surface of puddles, but not larger bodies of water, and he can redirect raindrops before they touch a surface. whilst he rarely does either of these things in public / around strangers, very occasionally one might catch him in action.

he is able to recognise, too, those who have been in contact with the primordial sea, even if it was only brief contact. he sees the same shimmer on their skin that is on his own, the vibrancy of which depends on how long they had contact.

he is able to communicate, to some degree, with aquatic creatures and hydro elemental beings (such as mimics). this "communication" is mostly through thought and emotion, as opposed to words or sounds.