#the slugpups can be desmond’s actual ‘children’

[teecupangel]

Did tumblr eat my ask? Or is it just taking awhile? I’ll ask again just in case , and u can ignore it if it wasn’t. Time travel Des gets turned into an animal au, but this time he’s a slugcat from rain world, they’re cute, generally good at parkour, and can have different abilities (artificer can make explosives, spearmaster can make spears from its tail,etc.) so Des could have one of the canon abilities, or he could have a unique one. (Or one from a mod lol)

Noooo, your ask wasn’t eaten by Tumblr nor did I ignore it. I’m still answering asks and reblogs from July 26 (which has your ask as well and that was why I was able to answer this now) TTATT

I’m sorry for the delay. TTATT

Anyway, on to the ask.

For those unfamiliar, the Slugcats are the playable characters in the game Rain World.

And look at how adorable they are:

Honestly, I was debating on just keeping him purely Survivor because Survivor is white.

But let’s shake it up a bit.

Desmond’s slugcat ‘type’ changes depending on various conditions:

He’s primarily the white Survivor (base stats) when he’s alone or doing his own thing. This is how his ancestors first saw Desmond and how he’s usually described later in history as a symbol of the Brotherhood.

He turns gold (yeah, not yellow) as the Monk when he’s safe with one of his ancestors, usually curled around the neck and hidden by both the hood and the robes itself. He’s quite warm in this state and tends to purr a lot. He tends to not be that combat-oriented in this state.

He turns red as the Hunter when he’s… well… hunting mostly. Looking for and stalking preys would usually turn him red. Ratonhnhaké:ton is the ancestor who sees this a lot.

He turns into the plump Gourmand when he has eaten quite a lot. This happens a lot with the Auditores because they just love to feed him. He’s slower but he can use his larger body to slam against things and other people. More often than not, he just rolls into a ball and tries for strikes.

Artificer (magenta?) and Spearmaster (purple) are the states that usually appears before Altaïr.

Spearmaster appears when Altaïr has no more throwing knives and he would use the spear that appears on Desmond’s tail instead. Because of this Altaïr actually changed to Desmond’s spears instead (since they’re about the same size of his throwing knife) and Desmond usually helps and flicking his tail turns the spear into a projectile weapon whenever they’re forced into open combat.

Artificer first appeared when Altaïr started working on the hidden gun and his explosive capabilities are usually used for control demolitions. Artificer is more or less just studied when he was with Altaïr. It’s Ezio who turns Desmond into a walking timebomb of distraction and demolition. The requirement to making Desmond an artificer seems to be that he had to smell gunpowder. He turns into an Artificer once he sneezes.

Rivulet (water) is the easiest state to change to. Get Desmond wet and he’d turn into a Rivulet. As long as he’s wet, he’ll stay a Rivulet but… once he’s dry, he’ll return to being a Survivor unless there’s another state requirement being fulfilled (like being wrapped in a warm blanket to dry off while in his ancestor’s arms would turn him into a Monk instead).

Saint’s (green) requirement is a bit of a mystery though but the most possible explanation is that Desmond turns into a saint when he needs to freerun and thinks he needs to use the Saint’s long tongue to grapple and swing from ceilings, walls, tree branches, etc. Saint’s the most frail of his states and Desmond tries to change his states as soon as possible whenever he turns green.

… I feel like whenever one of his ancestors die, Desmond gets a slugpup (maybe it just… splits from him? Or it slithers out of the ancestor’s body?) and follows Desmond around. The slugpup doesn’t shift states but usually tries to help Desmond whenever it can. Desmond’s pretty sure they’re reincarnated slugpup of his ancestors… or maybe he just wants to believe that. Slugpups are very affectionate towards Desmond and Desmond treats them more like his kids than minions.

Desmond names his Slugpups on the ancestor they ‘come from’. Slugpup!Altaïr has the Dominance trait which means he will pick up things he thinks he can use and use them. This is usually not weapon and more like utility items like smoke bombs and even just food he would give to Desmond once he starts to feel sluggish. He also likes to stay with the other slugpups and Desmond isn’t sure if he’s acting as their leader or their big brother… maybe both? Slugpup!Ezio is more on the Energy side and he tends to grab shiny things that are usually expensive af. Slugpup!Ratonhnhaké:ton is an Aggression type and prefers to have a weapon. Mostly, he would have a spear or one of the Assassins’ throwing knives.