#have so many quackity-centric fics that focus on his wings like holy shit man

[synchlora]

UWU WINGS FOR QUACKITY????

HELL YEAH thank u both <3

some warnings ahead for abuse, both psychological and physical as well as some self harm

so..... quackity wing hcs that have been in the works since.. the end of november <3 this has practically become its own au bc of how far it's strayed from canon but i'll try to reel it in a little lmao

father was an avian hybrid, his mother was a typical human

his dad died when he was very young and his mother never taught him how to properly care for his wings

his mom wasn't actually sure he was an avian until he was ~15 when his wings started growing in (he has duck wings!!)

got teased a fuck ton bc of his wings, mainly people literally grabbing/pulling at them

didn't take good care of his wings bc he literally Did Not Know How

some story to explain how he gets out: he eventually decided to run off when he was 16/17 bc his mom didn't give a shit and he hated living there

tried and failed to support himself out in the city

ended up running into schlatt who seemed to be the only person who would help him

schlatt offered him a job and place to stay, saying they had to stick together, being the only two hybrids around (schlatts a ram hybrid)

schlatt started to "teach" him how to make his way in the city, taught him how to hide being a hybrid and quackity trusted him. he looked up to him

he taught him to hide his wings, saying he's "lucky they're not as obvious" as his own horns. already starting off establishing the idea that he'll disappoint him, that he's lucky or better off somehow

quackity very quickly becomes reliant on schlatt

eventually, they leave the city (unbeknownst to quackity, this was cause schlatt is corrupt as hell and people were literally trying to chase him off)

BACK TO WINGS: q is about 18 by this point and his wings are going through another growth spurt and he's getting his fledging feathers

on his own time, he starts to practice flight and stretches his wings more. he knows to keep them hidden around schlatt bc that's what's best for him, but the instinct to start flying is pretty strong and he does begin to fledge

inevitably, schlatt sees him do this once and he makes a massive deal abt it

leads to a massive lecture (read: fight) where schlatt yells at him abt his wings, saying he has to listen to him, he only has his best interests in mind, rly fucked up shit, etc

eventually, the conversation leads to schlatt making a decision. he's going to clip quackitys wings

he convinces quackity of all this and then, very haphazardly, clips not only the primary feathers, but also the secondaries all the way down the the coverts

basically, q's wings look like if you just had some feathers covering the skin of them but no actual long feathers if that makes sense

not only is this just excessively cruel, it also fucks q up a lot bc fledging is a massively important milestone for avians and he just. can't do it now

but despite this, schlatt has manipulated him into believing that this is for the best, this is normal and how he can continue to live in a world like this

not too long after this, the pair move to l'manburg and the election arc begins

im gonna do a big timeskip real quick bc im just doing wing hcs, not q's entire story and this is already long as hell lmao

basically, any time that quackity molts out new feathers, schlatt will always clip them, paying no mind to any blood feathers that may or may not get cut (this is why q starts to avoid it and will push it off until later to try and minimize the amount of blood feathers compared to the amount early in a molt)

at some point in schlatts reign, q meets karl and sapnap and the trio fall in love. this'll be important later and also is another reason why this is basically an au lmao

eventually, schlatt dies and q is distraught, not sure on how to move on properly

he starts pulling at/barbering his feathers from stress and they're in even worse condition than they've ever been before

he starts clipping his own wings bc he still believes what schlatt told him and also there is that lingering fear of him even after he's dead

this is where I start to split between canon and an actual happy ending lmao

in the happier au, karl and sapnap eventually learn what's going on and try and teach q to fly (it's a mess but it is growth and q processes a hell of a lot during this time)

in canon, q continues to hide his wings and drifts away from karl and sap

he eventually stops clipping them (by the time the techno fight happens, they're grown out enough that he can maneuver a little w them but tbh they mostly get in his way during that fight. after his death there, he very nearly clips them once again out of frustration)

the first time his wings fully grow in, I think he nearly cries seeing the metallic blue secondaries. he never knew his wings could have those colors, how could he have? he never looked at his own wings in the mirror out of shame and he'd always squeeze his eyes shut when they got clipped. but when they grew in this time, he made himself look at them and he cried

they're not gorgeous by any stretch of the word, but they're his. and he never knew what they looked like post-fledging

but they are very ragged from years and years of a lack of care and actively causing them harm

this is why when he snuck into the restaurant in the recent stream, he's not a good flier

he completely missed out on fledging at the proper time so that's enough to permanently throw off his flying ability. but on top of that, his wings are in absolute shit shape so that adds more difficulty

he still hides his wings most of the time, but since charlie has seen them before, he's fine having them out around him

that basically catches up to current day in canon so there we are! it has taken quackity a long time to finally get to a point where he not only shows his wings but also actively uses them. took a lot of practice to get there as well. and its not great, he still worries abt schlatt-- especially after meeting his ghost-- but he does use them finally.