Nightwalker Vyrm

Physical Properties

The nightwalker vyrm is a long, deep purple vyrm with bright blue markings. Its eyes are wide, with a very small iris and pupil, and are surrounded by the blue flesh of its head crests. Though its legs are proportionally fairly long, it has a tendency to stay low-to-the-ground outside of defensive postures. Its claws and teeth are sharp enough to break skin, but cannot pierce through anything a human's teeth or nails cannot. Its body has a soft, velvet-like texture, cool to the touch, with smooth, glossy claws. Along its head, shoulders, and hips, there are a total of six "crests" of fleshy wattles, bright blue, with a smooth, slightly scaly texture. These are used for body language, and the vyrm will flare them out in defensive posture. Its deep bluish-purple flesh is warm and fibrous, and forms a fairly thick layer around its body cavity, which is filled with a viscous, bright-blue liquid. Said liquid is acidic, but not dangerously so- its pH is about 2. Though the vyrm itself has no noticeable odor, its internal fluid's scent is pleasantly earthy and petrichor-like.

The nightwalker vyrm is not particularly resistant to injury- its inner flesh is moderately tough, but can be cut through with some persistence (or a jagged enough knife). It heals at a rate just below that of a human being, taking a few days to heal from smaller cuts. Scarring is moderate, with damaged areas being noticeably lighter and lacking the rest of the body's velvety texture. However, an injury that breaches the body cavity will take significantly longer to heal, and will often not properly heal over, resulting in a grotesque, fibrous scar that may leak fluid under enough strain. The nightwalker vyrm regenerates internal contents quite slowly, and will weaken and die upon losing more than 50% of its fluids.

It is a very quiet vyrm and does not vocalize often, typically only producing a snakelike hiss at most when cornered.

Generation

The nightwalker vyrm generates exclusively in residential areas, most often houses and apartments, but occasionally appearing in places like hotels, as well. It prefers to generate at night, but daytime generations are not unheard of. Though it can generate in any residence, it prefers quiet homes with dark colors and sheer curtains, letting just enough light through. It does not generate around vyrmseers, and as such the exact details of its generation are not known.

Nightwalker vyrms typically do not generate in homes that are already occupied by another vyrm, and if one does, it will likely never leave its bedroom of choice out of fear. This constant stress considerably decreases its stability.

Behavior, Effects

The nightwalker vyrm's demeanor is defined by a persistent, constant anxiety and fearfulness of its surroundings. Though it can be found throughout the home, it tends to gravitate towards bedrooms, using a particular bedroom as a "sanctuary" when fitfully nervous. The bedroom it gravitates to seems to be random, but this preference does not change throughout its life. During the day, especially in active households, it will remain in its favorite room, often hiding in the closet or under the bed. Sudden movements or sounds frighten it, prompting it to press itself deeper into its hiding place. As well, animals elicit a great deal of fear from the nightwalker vyrm, hissing and flaring at even the smallest mouse or spider. Despite this inherent, defensive fear of its environment, it is unlikely to attack, and its preferred method of escaping things that frighten it is to run and hide from them.

It is only in the quiet of night that the nightwalker vyrm works up the courage to leave its favorite room. It explores its territory with careful, tip-toeing steps, slinking through rooms with its body kept close to the ground, climbing over furniture and delicately pawing at objects that catch its interest. Even while wandering, however, the nightwalker vyrm is just as fearful, and any movements or sounds cause it to immediately flee with a panicked stumbling.

Every now and then, a nightwalker vyrm will become suddenly and intensely fixated on a single, seemingly arbitrary object, and will crouch down by it, carefully nosing it and running its claws over its surface. The nightwalker vyrm greatly enjoys tactile sensations, and if an object it is fixated on has a texture it is fond of (which can be anything from fur to leather), it will often rub its face against it. When day breaks, it will carry this object back to its favorite room, where it continues to fawn over it. These periods of fixation can last anywhere from hours to weeks, at which point the nightwalker vyrm suddenly loses interest in the object.

A given home will generate only one nightwalker vyrm at a time in a large majority of cases, with 5.6% of homes generating two nightwalker vyrms. These nightwalker vyrm pairs become deeply attached to one another, huddling together in a shared favorite room and consoling each other with gentle nuzzles and strokes. If one dies, the other will become distraught and panicked; scratching at the walls, destroying objects and accidentally injuring itself in a final, prolonged panic attack, before finally curling up on the floor. A nightwalker vyrm in this state will never move again, remaining in this position until death.

Behavior w/ Vyrmseers, Potential Uses

As it is with most things, the nightwalker vyrm is fearful of vyrmseers, and will flee if approached. If allowed to, it will watch a vyrmseer from its hiding place, unmoving, but will often rush to another spot if the vyrmseer attempts to interact. If cornered and touched with gentle strokes, the nightwalker vyrm will narrow its eyes and quietly rumble, as though finding the interaction pleasant, but will not change its position.

At a fundamental level, the nightwalker vyrm is harmless; its cowardly nature means it will never attack a human, vyrmseer or not, even if cornered. If attacked, it simply curls up and covers its face with its hands. It is not entirely helpless, however; it does have a defense mechanism of sorts. Proximity to the nightwalker vyrm causes an increase in adrenaline production and minor alteration to the senses, causing an increase in heart rate and feelings of fear and anxiety in nearby people. The intensity of this effect seems to correlate to the nightwalker vyrm's current emotional state; a cornered nightwalker vyrm causes much more intense feelings of panic in a person than a relaxed one would. This is typically used to frighten a vyrmseer away from the vyrm. As is the case with most vyrm proximity effects, vyrmseers are more affected by this than non-vyrmseers are.

With enough care and given enough time to adjust, a nightwalker vyrm may slowly adapt to the presence of a particular vyrmseer, and those with a nightwalker vyrm in their home may soon find that they have a companion of sorts. Nightwalker vyrms are very difficult to keep outside of their generation locale, but can be habilitated to multiple vyrmseers given enough time, and some groups of vyrmseers find themselves taking care of one of these nervous vyrms for quite some time.

Nightwalker vyrm fluid is very receptive to bluespace fluid conversion, and can be used in place of mundane liquids for this purpose.

Aging, Death

As it ages, the nightwalker vyrm grows weak, and in its weakness, is incapable of responding to stimuli in the ways that it used to, growing tired more quickly and laying down more often and more relaxedly. Consequently, its fear effect loses its strength, and near the end of its life, a nightwalker vyrm will only be able to induce a slight jump in heart rate. This is not to say the nightwalker vyrm becomes less fearful of its environment; it simply becomes less capable of expressing that fear.

When the nightwalker vyrm dies, its corpse slowly rots, its fluids' petrichor-like odor becoming an unpleasant swampy smell. Eventually, its corpse decays away entirely, leaving behind a faint blue stain and a slight mildewy scent.