Editing Chris Elman (section)

==Appearance & Powers==
On at least one occasion, he provided a verification image for his account "Curious_Cephalopod" that appeared to be a literal cephalopod. He indicated, falsely, that his transformations followed a known schedule, and that he would be an insect in a few days.<ref name="P.6e1"/>

Chris has brown curly hair and large braces.<ref>Behind Weld, someone else was ducking into the room.  He looked like he was of a height with Kenzie, but given how boys developed slower, he might’ve been a touch older.  He had a mess of tousled brown hair that would have been over his eyes if he wasn’t wearing large headphones as a kind of hairband.  He had a very flat expression as he walked around the perimeter of the room.  His t-shirt was black with a logo I didn’t recognize, his cargo shorts had stuff packed into the pockets, but he mostly looked like a very average kid.  Only his old fashioned braces really stood out to me- the kind that made it hard for him to put his lips together.<br/>[...]<br/>Chris, too.  By process of elimination, he’d be the boy roughly Kenzie’s age. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2017/12/23/flare-2-5/ Excerpt] from [[Flare 2.5]]</ref><ref>Where his curly hair was usually pushed back by headphones, so hair was very close to head  - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/07/21/beacon-8-6/ Excerpt] from [[Beacon 8.6]]</ref> As he changes between his forms he constantly needs to adjust the braces.<ref name="II3.4 e2.5">He opened the kit and drew out a pair of pliers<br/>[...]<br/>I glanced at Chris.  Chris had two sets of pliers in his mouth.  He was readjusting his braces.<br/>[...]<br/>“You can play me eight times,” Chris said, pulling the pliers out of his mouth, “After that they’ll probably catch on.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/16/glare-3-4/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.4]]</ref> The need in braces is permanent, since he reverts to his original form after transformations, re-ruining his teeth.<ref> He stood there, in a coat that didn’t fit, wearing a body that didn’t fit him, slouching, his hair a mess, and dark circles under his eyes.  His teeth were already crooked again, without the external braces.- [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/01/18/infrared-19-5/ Excerpt] from [[Infrared 19.5]]</ref> With each form, he rotates through a small but permanent change occurs with his body, an addition in one area that causes a subtraction in another.<ref name="II3.2 e2">“It’s one.  He doesn’t change all the way back.”<br/><br/>“What?” I asked.<br/><br/>Tristan explained, “He changes to one, he gets a little taller, a little stronger, a little more sluggish.  He changes to another, gets better eyes, ears…”<br/><br/>“Thus the headphones,” Kenzie said.<br/><br/>“…and less responsive in hand-eye coordination to go with it.  He tries to balance, but lately it’s been getting worse.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/09/glare-3-2/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.2]]</ref>
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<ref>Following behind, my sister was in the company of Chris, who had done his best to grow up early and hadn’t quite hit the mark.  He was distorted, his torso stretched out, his arms stretched down, legs roughly the right proportions, but there was an uncanny issue in there, a rounding error in calculations, or the sum total not adding up to parts.  His hair had grown in rather long considering it hadn’t been that long since he’d left, and he still slouched, despite being tall. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/05/28/breaking-14-4/ Excerpt] from [[Breaking 14.4]]</ref>
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As Cryptid, Chris used eight core forms<ref name="II3.3 e4"/> each tied to his emotional state with strengths and weaknesses inherent in each of them, which combine with secondary modifiers that add altered characteristics.<ref name="4.6 e1">“Yeah,” Chris said.  “I knew there was a risk I might be useless for the day, putting myself in a state where I just sit around, eat, play games.  So I fucked off.  I’ll hit anxiety a few times in the next while, but I’ll make it mad twitchiness so there’s some more motive behind it, instead of it being paralyzing.  That’ll be fun.” - [[Shade 4.6]]</ref>  Further, he can combine traits from different forms into a hybrid form with hybridized abilities.<ref name="II3.2 e1">“I transform,” Chris said.  “Changer<br/>[...]<br/>I have a few different forms.  They’re inspired by my moods and mental states.”<br/><br/>“You give them names based on what mood or state they’re from,” Kenzie said.  “Like Creeping Anxiety and Wistful Distraction.”<br/>[...]<br/>“These forms reflect the feelings?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Very much so,” Sveta said.<br/><br/>“It sounds like he has more than a few forms,” I said.<br/><br/>“Eight or more, as far as I’ve counted,” Kenzie said.  “He said a few, but I think he loses track.  There’s wiggle room in each form, too.  It depends on a lot of factors.  Diet, time since he last used a form, if he pushes for something in the middle.<br/>[...]<br/>The forms tend to come with pretty heavy weakness.  Anxiety is quick but fragile.  That sort of thing.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/09/glare-3-2/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.2]]</ref>

If Chris doesn't use his whole range of emotional forms, such as trying to stay in one too long, he claims it negatively impacts his psychology and train of thought.<ref name="II3.2 e3">“What happens if he doesn’t change?”<br/><br/>“The body stays the same,” Sveta said.  “He doesn’t change physically.”<br/><br/>“Which is good.”<br/><br/>“But he doesn’t change mentally either.  He says he can’t tap those emotions he’s not using, he can’t think as clearly, his thoughts go in circles.”<br/><br/>“Lose-lose,” I said.<br/><br/>“Something like that,” Ashley said. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/09/glare-3-2/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.2]]</ref> These changes can be euphoric in how they affect his mood, he likens it to a narcotic.<ref name="II3.3 e4">“Your mood seems better,” I said to him.<br/><br/>The smile dropped away.  He looked at me and shrugged.  “It’s different.  I feel more human, mentally and emotionally.”<br/><br/>The change hadn’t seemed to make any difference in how he looked, either.  Were the changes subtle?<br/><br/>“I’m not sure I grasped it all,” I told him.  “Once you change, it’s…?”<br/><br/>I trailed off.<br/><br/>“It’s like a hit of a drug,” he said.  “Focus, surprise, sadness, appreciation, disgust, fear, anger, and then this one.”<br/><br/>“Joy?”<br/><br/>“I call this particular flavor of it Wan Indulgence,” he said.  He bit down on the chocolate bar, then closed his eyes, clearly enjoying it.  He talked with his mouth full, “Can be enjoyment.  I’ll feel it more normally for a few days now that I’ve changed.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/13/glare-3-3/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.3]]</ref> 

His exposure to his own monstrous forms allegedly gives him resistances to horrific mind effecting powers.<ref>[[Shadow 5.11]]</ref>

He has claimed to have two transformations a day, although on one occasion he has been seen to transform three times in one day.{{cite}}
{|class="mw-collapsible article-table" style="width:100%"
!style="width: 18%; vertical-align: top;"|
!style="width: 82%; vertical-align: top; font-size="300%;"|Known Forms
|-
!style="width: 18%; vertical-align: top;"|Name
!style="width: 82%; vertical-align: top;"|Description
|-
|Wan Indulgence
|Humanoid giant with a pot-belly, small head and thick limbs. Has the ability to swallow large objects<ref name="II3.3 e1">The two of them went to plant it, with Chris picking up a fallen tree on the way.<br/>[...]<br/>Chris had his head turned, and he was using one hand to cram the last few feet of the dead tree into his mouth.<br/>[...]<br/>Chris had one hand full with the tree, mouth distended with a fat tongue sticking out, apparently to keep the tree from rubbing against his lower row of teeth; his hand served to protect the other teeth.<br/><br/>I was put in mind of the man I’d seen during the broken trigger, who’d had a tree come out the other direction.<br/><br/>Chris laughed, deep and booming, tree digested.  He lowered his chin, mouth closed, hands and arms up to protect his face and guard Kenzie. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/13/glare-3-3/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.3]]</ref> and re-shape the materials.<ref name="II3.3 e2">Chris, legs embedded in spiky rock, was using both hands to haul what looked like a long, thin rod out of his throat.  He’d swallowed the length of the dead tree like a sword-swallower swallowed a blade, and now he was drawing it back out, changed.<br/><br/>Narrower, thinner, smoother, and slick with fluids.<br/><br/>Chris, it seemed, wasn’t just the kind of changer who could adapt his form.  He was the kind of changer who gained new sorts of powers while in an alternate form.<br/><br/>He hauled the last of the tree free of his mouth.  Fifteen feet long, thicker at the end he had just removed than at the end he held, now that he was turning it around to get it in a position he could wield it.  Too long to be a proper club, not quite a rod either. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/13/glare-3-3/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.3]]</ref><ref name="II3.3 e3.1">He reared back, and he blew.  He’d broken down and processed more of the dead tree than what he’d used to condense it into a giant club-staff.  He exhaled a butt of wet sawdust.<br/><br/>- [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/13/glare-3-3/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.3]]</ref><ref name="II3.3 e3.2">He swallowed hard, giving me a suspicion about what he was about to do.  He spat out a ball of wood pulp and phlegm, and I flew to one side, letting it sail past me.<br/><br/>He began to pick himself up, working his way up the hill, stabbing down to pierce the ground with his half-stick and plant it there like an ice-climber might use a piton.  The slope was just a little steeper at the base of the hill, and the water had become rock again, smooth and with the spikes all pointed downward, not good grips.<br/><br/>He swallowed hard, giving me a suspicion about what he was about to do.  He spat out a ball of wood pulp and phlegm, and I flew to one side, letting it sail past me.<br/><br/>I was put in mind of Crawler – the changer power, the spitting, the joyful monster.  Crawler had laughed too.<br/><br/>Crawler had critically injured me with his acid spit, and that had let Amy get her hands on me the second time.<br/><br/>It was a dark, unpleasant thought. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/01/13/glare-3-3/ Excerpt] from [[Glare 3.3]]</ref>
|-
|Mad Anxiety
|A horrible screaming<ref>“People are coming through,” Chris said.  “If we need it, I’ll be a distraction.  I’m quick, I’ll be in and out.”<br/>[...]<br/>“Yeah,” Tristan said.  “We’ll debate it when the time comes.  It’s anxiety?”<br/><br/>“Yep.  Mad Anxiety.”<br/><br/>“Great,” Tristan said.  “It’s not the screaming one, is it?”<br/><br/>“Mad is the screaming one,” Chris said.  “I wanted to make an impact and if we need me as a distraction then screaming is good.”<br/><br/>Tristan said something Spanish under his breath and went to his whiteboard.  Swear words, if I had to guess. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/02/24/shadow-5-1/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.1]]</ref> face taller than the average person and twice as wide, completely cheekless. The lower jaw is attached to the rest of the face the way an insect is attached to a thorax. Innumerable legs that look to be made out of pure muscle provide locomotion while a few claw at his face.<ref>What I saw had to be Chris.  I was far away, so I couldn’t see him well, but it had to be him.  It was a face, six feet tall, three feet wide, with no cheeks or anything but a spine connecting the top half from the lower half, as if the chin and bottom row of teeth were the ‘head’ of an insect, the rest of the head the thorax.  The setup was surrounded by a ring of spider-like legs in varying shapes and sizes.  They looked like flesh and not chitin, though, muscular meat with a pronounced ‘elbow’, coming to a pointed tip where it touched the ground or face.  He jerked and twitched, large eyes wide, and some of the legs seemed to be more focused on clawing at his own face than on keeping him mobile.  I would have said it was like someone dragging his fingernails across his cheeks, but he didn’t have any cheeks.<br/><br/>He screamed at them, and it was the sound of mortal terror.  He’d succeeded in getting Love Lost and Nailbiter’s attention, and now huddled at the foot of a building, pulling against it as if he could pull himself through the seam between sidewalk and store.  They didn’t seem to know what to make of him.  I didn’t blame them. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/03/shadow-5-3/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.3]]</ref>Something similar called Creeping Anxiety is mentioned by Kenzie<ref>[[Glare 3.2]]</ref>Mad Anxiety might be a combination of Creeping Anxiety and "mad twitchiness".<ref name="4.6 e1" />
|-
|Keen Vigilance
|Perception-focused, with "a fresh set of eyes".<ref>“Yeah, well, I dunno,” Chris said.  “I’m going to relax and wait until my vision comes back.  If it takes too long or if I run into trouble, I’ve got another change I was wanting to make today.  Keen Vigilance.  Perception focused.  It’ll give me a fresh set of eyes.” - [[Glare 3.5]]</ref> Slow but tough; described as an "armadillo with ears like a fennec fox and bigger eyes [...] and claws because its keen". On the same "spectrum" as Multifaceted Interest "but focused more and pulled together tight".<ref name="II5.6e1">'''Creepy Kid:''' <br/>
Blind rage would be a mistake I think.  Sudden Shock is quick… <br/>
…Or Keen Vigilance.  Slow but tough… <br/>
…and I’d be able to see and hear most of what was going on. <br/>
'''Heart Shaped Pupil:''' <br/>
Is that the one with all the eyes? <br/>
'''Creepy Kid:''' <br/>
That’s Multifaceted Interest.  You call yourself a good student? <br/>
'''Heart Shaped Pupil:''' <br/>
I am a good student.  Interest and vigilance are the same for you. <br/>
'''Creepy Kid:''' <br/>
Same range of the spectrum as Vigilance but diff’t. Is open and loose… <br/>
…You haven’t seen Vigilance. Same thing but focused more and pulled together tight… <br/>
…Think armadillo with ears like a fennec fox and bigger eyes… <br/>
…and claws because its keen - [[Shadow 5.6]]</ref> Slow but tough, with sharp senses.<ref>[[Shadow 5.6]]</ref> Vaguely armadillo-like, with large eyes and ears. Can extrude blades composed of bone and steel. <ref>[[Pitch 6.5]]</ref>
|-
|Deep Reflection<ref>[[Shadow 5.6]]</ref>
|Victoria remembered this as Dark introspection. Crow-like and coil-shaped with layers of hard, protective feathers and scales. <ref> Black, feathered, and wholly unintuitive in construction.  He had four legs like a crow’s talons, but large and spindly, and his body wrapped in on itself, with thick scale-like plates like the talons that extended around his ‘face’ and front.  The actual features weren’t birdlike, but were nestled in the ‘conch’ of his physical form.  If he’d been a banana, the eyes, mouth, and useful features would have been on the inside curve, the outside curve facing forward.  But he was more of a tight spiral than a banana, confused by the crests and flares of large, glossy black feathers that filled the gaps.
<br/><br/>
It was only because his eyes were spaced out that he could rotate them and look out to the sides, each eye yellow with a distorted pupil.
<br/><br/>
The feathers were heavy and hard, I realized, as he blocked one blast from Sidepiece by rearing up and fanning the feathers out.[[Shadow 5.9]]</ref> It has a disconnect between body and mind, allowing resistance to mind-affecting effects.<ref>[[Shadow 5.11]]</ref>
|-
|Strained Peace<ref name="II.7.8"/>
|Peace as in happiness. A tall, gaunt-limbed, bearded form hampered by a "shroud" made of loose skin that conceals its pot-bellied torso.<ref name="II7.8e1">“Strained is a modifier for forms, it goes around the circle with Repressed Anger, Tense Acceptance, Paralyzed Fear, Stifled Disgust, yadda yadda,” Chris said.  He took Kenzie’s cloaking device.  “All of which are the bases but with faster reactions and movements in a pinch, like I’m made of elastic bands that are all taut, ready to release, or I’m a gun with a trigger that needs only a light touch to fire.”<br/>
“That’s not a good thing,” Capricorn said.<br/>
“It’s fine.  Faster action, lower stamina, lower strength, more durability.  Changes the abilities that manifest.  Strained Peace doesn’t really have much in the way of special features, so there isn’t a trigger to pull.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/06/16/torch-7-8/ Excerpt] from [[Torch 7.8]]</ref>
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The indulgence form had apparently been derived from the happiness line, as far as I understood things.  There were similarities.  The form was tall, but where the other one had been broad in the gut, shaped like a teardrop with a tiny head and thick elephantine limbs, this one was… shrouded.  What I thought was a shawl at first was loose skin with no pigment, draped in a fashion that resembled a hooded robe.  Hair and a whisp of what should have been a beard hung down, long and growing as I watched, the length of hair and the hood hiding his face, even though he loomed a foot or two above the tallest person present.  The long, narrow limbs and frame within that shroud were gaunt, and stood tense with muscles strained and tendons standing out.  By the way the joints came together and the weight of the skin shroud, it was forced into a permanent crouch, hands bent in and back toward the body, head bent and turned toward the ground.

The teardrop shape remained, but it was well hidden. [...] A long finger with a raw nail bed instead of a fingernail reached down into the dirt of the road

[...]

The robe billowed out slightly, puffing.  The form’s head seemed to lack a mouth, or even any clear features besides maybe eyes and the waves of brown hair that hung in front, but something in the midst of the shroud had served for the exhalation.-->
|-
|Brooding Anger<ref>[[Beacon 8.7]]</ref>
|<ref>[[Beacon 8.6]]</ref> Based on [[Nursery]]<ref>“This,” he held up a syringe, “Is Brooding Anger.  I scanned Nursery during the Fallen fight.  It would be interesting.”- [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref>
|-
|Twisted Betrayal<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/9nvkrv/gleaming_915_parahumans_2/e7peuql/ Comment by Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>
| gnarled and vaguely birdlike, with a free-swinging head as if its neck had been broken; razor-sharp beak and talons <ref>[[Gleaming 9.15]]</ref>
|-
!style="width: 18%; vertical-align: top;"|
!style="width: 82%; vertical-align: top; font-size="300%;"|Known Modifiers
|-
|Mad Twitchiness
|Used in Mad Anxiety to give the anxiety "motive" rather than being paralysing.<ref name="4.6 e1"/>
|-
|Strained
|Used in Strained Peace. Lowers stamina and strength, increases speed and durability. Results in "faster reactions and movements in a pinch, like I’m made of elastic bands that are all taut, ready to release, or I’m a gun with a trigger that needs only a light touch to fire."<ref name="II7.8e1"/>
|-
|Anxiety
|Probably a synonym for "fear". Kenzie notes that "Anxiety is quick but fragile",<ref name="II3.2 e1"/> but Chris says it's "paralysing" without Mad Twitchiness.<ref name="4.6 e1"/>
|-
!style="width: 18%; vertical-align: top;"|
!style="width: 82%; vertical-align: top; font-size="300%;"|Other Mentioned Forms
|-
|Quiet Awe<ref name="II.7.8">[[Torch 7.8]]</ref>
|Used for relaxation purposes.<ref>I was stressed, so I went out last night, went to the middle of nowhere, changed to Quiet Awe.  I put on some music and lounged, tried to shut out the world.  I spent too long like that, changed back by accident, went straight back to that form. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/06/16/torch-7-8/ excerpt] from  [[Torch 7.8]]</ref><!-- Extra sensitive to current mind-affecting effects?-->
|-
|Sudden Shock
|Noted to be fast.<ref>[[Shadow 5.6]]</ref>
|-
|Blind rage
|Mentioned by Chris.<ref>[[Shadow 5.6]]</ref>
|-
|Wistful Distraction
|Mentioned by Kenzie<ref name="II3.2 e1"/>
|-
|Creeping Anxiety
|Mentioned by Kenzie<ref name="II3.2 e1"/>
|-
|Multifaceted Interest
|Similar to Keen Vigilance but with more senses.<ref name="II5.6">[[Shadow 5.6]]</ref>
|-
|Repressed Anger
|Mentioned by Chris as an example of the "Strained" modifier.
|-
|Tense Acceptance
|Mentioned by Chris as an example of the "Strained" modifier.
|-
|Paralyzed Fear
|Mentioned by Chris as an example of the "Strained" modifier.
|-
|Stifled Disgust
|Mentioned by Chris as an example of the "Strained" modifier.
|}

He claimed being able to fix [[Case 53]]s.<ref name="selfish asshole">“Probably with regular injections, but doable.  It would have been like painting a house that’s going to burn down tomorrow.  I don’t see the point.  In the big picture… we were only ever going to get a couple of years before the next world-ending crisis.  Machine Army, Simurgh, broken triggers, something.  I don’t see the point.”<br/><br/>“You’re a selfish asshole,” Sveta said.<br/><br/>“I am.  Absolutely.  And the irony is that as much as you want normal pink and brown human bodies I want as far the fuck away from humanity as is possible.  I have since the beginning, when I realized just how sick we all are.  Put me on a space shuttle, let me be a snake that literally eats its own tail forever, let me be a spider with fifty brains.  I don’t care.  Just…<br/>[...]<br/>
“Ugh,” I echoed him, though I was referring to something very different, my gaze locked on him.  “You want to be a Titan.”<br/><br/>“If it had to be one of us, wouldn’t you want it to be me?” he asked.<br/>[...]<br/>“You’re such an asshole,” Sveta said, under her breath.  “You could have fixed us?”<br/><br/>“Better to say I could fix you, present tense,” he said, staring off in the same direction I was.  “New data, new info, the giants are a trove of info.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/01/07/infrared-19-4/ Excerpt] from [[Infrared 19.4]]</ref>

===Equipment===
He generally carries around medical supplies(including injectors) along with videogames and a walkmen, which he says were provided by others to ensure any transformation he undergoes is not the last one<ref>[[Pitch 6.5]]</ref> and to stave off boredom respectively.<ref>“What is that?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Food.  Because I need to fuel up, and my next form is dense.  Some meds.  Plus my walkman and pocket atari, and some other stuff.  I was sorting out my stuff after getting dressed again.”<br/><br/>“''Walkman''?” Capricorn asked.<br/><br/>“We’re post-end of the world, I’m not going to bring my phone and risk it getting broken or losing it and having someone use it to figure out my secret identity.  Fuck, it’s hard to see it now that it’s not on me.”<br/><br/>“You can’t bring all this stuff,” Capricorn said.<br/><br/>“Fuck off,” Chris replied.  “I do things how I do them.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/31 Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.11]]</ref> In actuality, these injectors are his own tinker  creation and the ''cause'' of his transformations,<ref name="II10.y"/> with the game unit functioning as a Tinker scanner for powers and similar.<ref>Others were scattered around the room.  Some boys were in Chris’ old corner, having found and started up some of his old games.  One had been given to Kenzie- it wasn’t a video game player, but a scanner.  She would dismantle it later. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/01/01 Excerpt] from [[Blinding 11.4]]</ref><ref>“Chevalier.  Courtesy of one trip Breakthrough made to the Warden’s Headquarters.  I had my ‘gaming device’ with me.  Stole a scan of the big man.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/09/28 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 16.z II]]</ref>