About

Corbin's fully avian form, or simply The Bird, is a complicated being. Technically speaking, they are one and the same, with the changing structure of his brain, nervous system, and hormones during a shift accounting for the behavioral changes. But Corbin views and treats it as a separate entity borrowing his body. With such vastly different personalities, it's not hard to see why.

The Bird's brain is structured far more similarly to that of its natural counterparts, but at a higher capacity. It is still a strongly instinct-driven, reactive creature that acts as much on reflex as it does deliberately. It has none of the reservations and fear of judgement that Corbin's human self does, allowing it to be bolder in its interactions with others, much to his dismay. It lacks the capacity for empathy that humans have, and is more likely to act in self-interest than self-sacrifice in most scenarios, but is at the same time fiercely loyal, visciously protective, and disruptively affectionate toward the few people it chooses.

Like all corvids, the bird has an uncanny knack for problem-solving (see: getting into and out of things it shouldn't). Unlike other corvids, it also has opposable thumbs, so challenging it is more difficult. However, while a good puzzle can keep it occupied for hours at a time, the bird can be impatient if it doesn't have a clear idea of why it should wait. It is easily frustrated if it doesn't make enough progress, it's removed from the task before it can find a solution, or if the stakes are too dire. And a frustrated bird is a destructive, sometimes dangerous bird. Crane has stopped letting the bird near anything valuable or hazardous for this reason alone. While it doesn't have quite the communicative abilities of a human, it can understand basic gestures and some verbal language. Corvids have been taught to speak in captivity, and this one is no different; however, where natural birds are mimicking sounds and repeating them on cue, Corbin understands their meaning and application. Speaking is sometimes difficult, so he keeps it to a limited range of single words or short, broken phrases.

Corbin and the bird share a body and mind, and each can feel the constant presence of the other, be it a latent hum buried deep within, or the inexorable pull of a strong impulse. As a human, Corbin can still sometimes feel the bird's instincts urging him to act, while as a bird, the remaining part of his human self sometimes has to keep the bird in check. Interestingly, they do not seem to share memories one-to-one, and the bird's memory of time spent as a human seem to be fuller and more accurate than vice versa. This is presumably because the more avian structure of the bird's brain means episodic memory is more limited and processed differently than it is in mammalian brains, so when the brain returns to a human structure, there is less usable memory for it to work with.

Abilities

• Flight - The bird's wings are fully developed and flight capable. Its bones are hollow, making Corbin lighter as a bird than he is as a human, despite being much bigger. Clipping or otherwise damaging his wings will impede his flight for the remainder of the shift. Once he returns to human form and shifts to bird once again, the wings will reform like new. The researchers never taught him to fly nor gave him the room to try himself, so when he first escaped, he didn't know how. Crane had to "teach" him, by pushing him off the roof of a tall building and letting him figure it out on the way down.
• Accelerated healing - A byproduct of the experiments that is not directly linked to the archosaur DNA. Corbin can't heal instantaneously, but approximately twice as fast as the average human. Wounds that would be fatal to a human are still fatal to him as well, though it would take longer for him to bleed out
• Superior strength - Despite the hollow bones, the bird is physically stronger than Corbin or most any human. It won't be lifting a car over its head any time soon, but it can easily shove one out of its way.

Skills

• Escape artist - Staggering intelligence, superhuman strength, opposable thumbs, dextrous feet, fine claws, and a sharp beak lined with teeth are a powerful combination that make keeping the bird contained an intimidating task. Unfortunately for him, he is not the first superhuman creature to exist in the world, so many would-be threats already have ways of combating it. Still, it gives them a run for their money.
• Navigation - Being a bird and having a top-down view of the environment gives the bird naturally strong spacial awareness and memory. It can learn the layout of a place in only a couple of overhead passes and remember where resources, enemies, or safe havens are located within it.
• Tactical distraction - Being fiercely protective of its favorite people, the bird is very good at distracting enemies from them. It can analyze very quickly what the enemy is, what they are doing or trying to do, and how to draw their attention away even under great stress. Common tactics include knocking over or breaking objects, startling them with spread wings and a loud screech, using its spread wings and tail as a shield, and as a last resort, attacking the enemy from behind or from the side, often focusing on the face and eyes. While this started as a natural instinct, Crane encouraged and honed it into an invaluable skill.