#best believe those tiefling fangs leave a mark too

[vampcaprisun]

i sincerely believe that archer’s instinctual reaction to astarion trying to bite him would be to bite back. harder.

(he does let astarion take a little sip after, of course. it’s not an angry bite, after all. he just does that when he’s startled.)

[essayofthoughts]

interesting! without spoiling anything, are you thinking of the possibility of restoring tiefling!percy to his original form?

I've been talking with @blorbologist about that a lot! Because the thing is, I don't think Percy would ever be anything but horribly dysphoric about a body he was forcibly changed to and that he does not identify with. A body which inherently and permanently marks one of the worst mistakes he believes he ever made and which he cannot escape. I think he has days that are easier to bear than others, but I don't think he ever really thinks of his horns or tail or claws or fangs as his - they're always the horns or the tail or the claws or the fangs, always held at a remove.

And that kind of means his entire life sucks if he isn't able to change back!

Now, until Caleb comes up with the spell to help Nott/Veth I don't think there really is anything that'd do that permanently aside from Wish and given Percy's distrust of magic at the best of times, let alone something that phenomenally powerful being cast by Scanlan... I am inclined to say he is hesitant to say the least.

Not to mention the fact that, as a member of Vox Machina and a member of the leading council of Whitestone he is a well-known and prominent tiefling. He is an example against bigotry towards tieflings and likely a source of hope for some! And Percy is noble; as he says after Scanlan leaves, none of them are solely their own people - they are inherently tied to those around them and expectations. The presence of the public eye has a hugely limiting effect on what is acceptable for him to do.

He could change himself back once the spell is available - but what would that mean for and imply to those tieflings who've looked up to him as a prominent, positive role model? If he'd turn himself human again? The implicit suggestion that he has always been ashamed of himself and that, if he was, they should be too. That question he has to weigh - is his comfort worth the negative effect it'd have on uncounted people? And Percy doesn't think highly of himself as an individual. He thinks plenty of himself as a de Rolo, as a member of Vox Machina, but he also kind of hates himself a lot, and likely even more in this AU? Why would he believe he deserves something kind and good when as he is he can help so many others?

So I think if he does change himself back to human it is at the urging of Vex and his children - especially his tiefling children - and not so much himself. I think he dabbles in the idea a little, using Alter Self coins from Tary (which would likely startle the hell out of Vex the first time) - but again, I think he'd be very hesitant to do that once he and Vex have children, because what kind of message is he sending to any tiefling children of his if he chooses to take human form sometimes? If he rejects being a tiefling like that? I think that's a conversation he has to have with each of them at some point (and maybe I've been noodling with a lil fic chunk for that maybe).

But yeah. I'm not decided yet on if he does turn back to human but I'm very sure that he wants to and has complicated feelings about whether he's 'allowed' to.