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March 2, '21, dream character. Antonio is some sort of intergalactic investigator/law enforcement, but the legitimacy of that is questionable... He was originally employed by a crumbling little law firm where he worked on his own until unwillingly assigned to his partner, Jonny. Both of them hated this and were disastrous together, but later became good friends through a series of strange events on the job. Neo has essentially never called his partner anything besides "Jonny" since this, even in professional settings. They developed a reputation and began to get freelance jobs, but didn't leave the firm either. Later on, they got lucky enough to receive funding from a cryptic planet containing immeasurable wealth. The inhabitants were more than capable of defending their lot, so the only people to see said wealth were people endorsed by them. Which, due to their detachment from everybody else, was just stuff they thought was neat : ) Neo and Jonny basically -but unofficially- left the firm to wander around space and do whatever jobs they wanted as long as they sent a report back to their sponsors sometimes. The financial stability was great, but left them feeling a little uncertain as to what they were supposed to be doing overall. They catch a rumor of strange happenings in a neighborhood on an Earth-like, so the just sort of...meander down there to steak it out
On the Earth-like, the two took up temporary residence in a home left vacant by owners on vacation. Neo with his nocturnal habits notices peculiar fog billowing from the center of the street on most nights. It's very thick and doesn't seem to be bothered by the wind. On choice occasions, this will spread to cover several blocks, casting everything in a haze that's difficult to see more than ten feet in front of oneself. He keeps getting caught in the phenomenon - at least three times. Each time, he'll be out minding his own business when the fog would roll in. Shortly thereafter, he'd encounter a member of the planet's law enforcement, far off and ominous. They'd have blood splattered on them and on the ground where they were standing, but no obvious source. Once sighted, they'd start to slowly walk towards whoever had seen them. Neo obviously found this unnerving, but very easy to outrun. He'd slink past the pursuer and into the fog. Once he was out of sight though, the officers would begin firing guns wildly in seemingly random directions (which alerted him to the fact that there was indeed more of them hidden in the mist). Once he got far enough away, the strange activity would cease and the fog would slowly dissipate as usual for fog. Granted, this was weird, but not really...worth the duo's time...? They were at least decently well-known and this seemed like a pretty obvious fix
While Neo struggled to get Jonny to see the weird haze at all, Jonny had caught sight of something else. Every day, a kid would ride a bike to the house directly next to them, enter the garage, and not be seen until returning the next day. Nobody else seemed to be in the house. He mentioned this casually, as it was just kinda weird, but Neo was getting a bit antsy from nothing really happening and decided to have one of his sporadic moments. While stalking around and looking to catch the fog with its back turned, he noticed the kid was returning home. He tried to get his attention, but he kept on robotically pedaling, heading towards the garage. Neo them decided to try and break whatever routine was going on here. Obviously the logical conclusion was to bite and pop the bike's back tire. This however didn't stop this kid. Instead, it drug Neo in the dark garage, which promptly closed. The kid finished his routine of putting his bike away and entering the house, but as soon as he crossed the threshold, he seemed to become aware that something had happened. He began aggressively searching for intruders, although he appeared to be quite frightened while doing so. None of the lights were on and all of the windows were closed, leaving Neo to try and navigate the unsettling environment. The kid only got more persistent, nearly catching Neo as he tried to escape. In the end, he had to duck into a hatch he found in the garage lest the kid catch him (o-of course he wasn't scared or anything. But the cops had guns, so this kid might too). Inside the hatch was a very dark underground chamber that was filled with...people...?? They seemed to be alive, but were stone-still and didn't react to him crawling all over them. At this point, Neo really wasn't thinking rationally due to having lost his nerve, but he wanted Jonny to believe him about this one (since he was having such trouble proving the mist existed). Thusly, he hauled one of the figures out when he thought he had a moment, broke a window, clambered out, and retreated to the house where the stakeout was taking place. Jonny was obviously weirded out by this, but his confusion was cut short by insistent pounding on the door. The kid was there, seemingly having crawled out the window as well, as he was covered in scratches. His eyes were glassed over and it appeared he was going to knock until he was let in. Neo, still frazzled, urged Jonny to just close all the windows and hide. After several hours, the kid returned to whatever routine he was supposed to be doing, entering his own house through the busted window. Neo ensured it was barricaded shortly after
The person he'd pulled from the basement was a species known as a War Elf. He had a faint blue aura around him that faded the longer he was free. Eventually, he began to move, although fully unfreezing took a considerable amount of time. He seemed to have amnesia, having no idea where he was, what was going on, and generally being clueless about anything helpful. He did quite like Neo though and quickly befriended him
Neo has a line of specific forms he's able to shapeshift into that appear increasingly concerning. He rarely delves very deep into them, typically just bouncing between his most normal and secondary form as needed. He can shift individual parts in, which he often does, but he can only do so from one tier up (form 1 can only access form 2. Must be form 2 to access form 3). His second form has gecko-like hands and feet that allow him to crawl on walls. His tail also develops a sticky pad that can sort of be used as a hand. His eyes get 'w' shaped pupils like a cuttlefish and see much better in the dark. Form 2 also has to bonus of people having a hard time looking at it. Granted, the can with some ease, but looking directly at it doesn't come naturally. This allows him to be much sneakier (but will also annoy people)
He tends to have a flatter expression, but isn't beyond emoting. It's just not his go-to for most situations. Prefers to use nicknames for people, even in inappropriate situations (he seems to be immune to caring about this). Has two different nictitating membranes along with regular eyelids, allowing him to blink in three different ways. They also...make wet noises. He can not do this, just like one can yawn without making a noise, but sometimes he just doesn't care! Has a tendency to crawl around on all fours when he's being sneaky. Or climbing walls. Or...doing a lot of things, honestly. He doesn't seem to need as much sleep as others, which allows he to be awake at night and for much of the day
