Teru
Teru is a shapeshifter featured in world X. He is a friendly and kind and always ready for shenanigans with friends, but his nature as a shapeshifter makes him insecure and prone to feeling like he doesn't belong anywhere. Teru can appear a little shy and reserved first, talking in an extremely polite and serious manner to new people, but he is also adventurous, curious and (from a humans' perspective) exceptionally kind and well-mannered for a demon. He is the equivalent of a millennial in his world and his values can be seen as more individualistic and progressive than his elders'. He enjoys watching cartoons and reading comics. He is Hannes' best friend and partner and also strongly affiliated with Karen, Darian and Vincent.
AppearanceAs a shapeshifter, Teru doesn’t have a fixed form. However, his preferred form is that of a young human male of unidentified race. He generally appears to be a rather slim-built male of slightly above average height (approximately 176cm), light skin and two-coloured hair (strawberry blond base colour with pink dye). His features are generally somewhat feminine with large eyes and average-sized, pointy nose. His face shape is oval. His most noticeable feature is his two differently coloured eyes: red right eye and blue left eye. Regardless of form, Teru can’t change his eye colour unless he uses coloured contacts.
He is most commonly seen wearing a long, grey jacket with yellow decorations, large blue ribbon around his neck, white collared shirt and black, simple pants. |
Personality
As a shapeshifter Teru’s personality can be hard to pinpoint: shapeshifters are supposed to be able to play any kind of role and as such their individuality often disappears almost entirely. However, representing a more modern generation, Teru is more keen on the idea of individuality and has been trying to build and figure out his own ever since he was a teenager. It is still natural for him to assume any kind of role he just desires, but he does his best to listen his own feelings towards matters too to figure out how he as a person feels about things.
Generally Teru appears as a calm and collected young man, but with feelings of insecurity due to his status as a shapeshifter. He is also rather shy and sometimes a little afraid of making friends, fearing people will lose their interest in him when they realize he doesn’t have a perfectly stable personality or behavior. As result he might sound overly serious or uninterested at times because of his inner nervousness. Despite this, however, there is a certain kindness and warmth in him even when he is nervous, and it usually draws people towards him. Teru himself has hard time understanding this though, as his insecurity is something that runs in deep and usually shows when with new people.
With those he is more comfortable with, however, Teru tends to be much louder and is often telling jokes, sometimes even slipping to dark humour. He likes teasing those who he loves and sometimes even changes his look to imitate his friends or their biases. Especially after making friends with Hannes, Vincent and Darian Teru has been able to relax himself and let his own personality shine through.
He has a bad habit of distracting himself instead of dealing with his feelings, and he often feels out of place among other supernatural creatures because shapeshifters don’t have any defined culture nor sense of belonging. Teru also has a bit of a gambling obsession, and he usually earns his rent money through cheating in gambling when there is no other way to earn money. He does feel bad about it, but the thrill of disguising himself and trying not to get caught is somewhat addicting. He tries not to do it as much anymore as he did when he was a teen due the fact Hannes doesn’t approve it at all. Teru is also noted to be somewhat overprotective and a worrywart, and he has worrisome tendencies of possessiveness over people he cares about. However, he tries his best to learn to control his impulses.
Generally Teru appears as a calm and collected young man, but with feelings of insecurity due to his status as a shapeshifter. He is also rather shy and sometimes a little afraid of making friends, fearing people will lose their interest in him when they realize he doesn’t have a perfectly stable personality or behavior. As result he might sound overly serious or uninterested at times because of his inner nervousness. Despite this, however, there is a certain kindness and warmth in him even when he is nervous, and it usually draws people towards him. Teru himself has hard time understanding this though, as his insecurity is something that runs in deep and usually shows when with new people.
With those he is more comfortable with, however, Teru tends to be much louder and is often telling jokes, sometimes even slipping to dark humour. He likes teasing those who he loves and sometimes even changes his look to imitate his friends or their biases. Especially after making friends with Hannes, Vincent and Darian Teru has been able to relax himself and let his own personality shine through.
He has a bad habit of distracting himself instead of dealing with his feelings, and he often feels out of place among other supernatural creatures because shapeshifters don’t have any defined culture nor sense of belonging. Teru also has a bit of a gambling obsession, and he usually earns his rent money through cheating in gambling when there is no other way to earn money. He does feel bad about it, but the thrill of disguising himself and trying not to get caught is somewhat addicting. He tries not to do it as much anymore as he did when he was a teen due the fact Hannes doesn’t approve it at all. Teru is also noted to be somewhat overprotective and a worrywart, and he has worrisome tendencies of possessiveness over people he cares about. However, he tries his best to learn to control his impulses.
Powers and limitations
Being a shapeshifter, Teru has limitless possibilities - at least in theory. Partially due the fact he is young, Tery has limitations to his powers until he learns to control them better. This is a list of the main canon flaws in his abilities; as older he learns to control his energy consumption better, but he can't do anything about his eyes.
Teru usually prefers his main form. He doesn’t know what his original form used to be but this is what he is the most content with. As younger he used to switch between looks really often, but he has eventually found a form he can identify properly with.
He usually shapeshifts only a little (adjusting height, gender etc) due the fact full shifting is energy consuming and tiring. Teru can change his voice and likes to do it especially when he is explaining things other people have said.
- No matter what form he assumes, his eye colours stay the same. Thanks to his abnormal heterochromia, it’s easy to tell it’s Teru, unless he is wearing sunglasses or somehow blocking his eyes. He uses contact lenses if he truly needs to pretend to be someone else.
- Even if he can turn into other creatures, he can’t use any of their gained powers. His own personal qualities and abilities stay no matter the form. He can, however, access some things in transformation such as the ability to fly or jump really high; as long as they are purely physical attributes, he should be able to use them.
- Full shifting exhausts him and he can’t change back for at least 4 hours when he does that. The more he needs to alter himself from his current form, the more energy it takes out of him and the longer it takes for him to return back to his main form.
- If transforming into normal non-magical animals, Teru can’t speak with human words
Teru usually prefers his main form. He doesn’t know what his original form used to be but this is what he is the most content with. As younger he used to switch between looks really often, but he has eventually found a form he can identify properly with.
He usually shapeshifts only a little (adjusting height, gender etc) due the fact full shifting is energy consuming and tiring. Teru can change his voice and likes to do it especially when he is explaining things other people have said.
Past
* Will be expanded in the future
As he and his parents are all shapeshifters, Teru grew up without ever knowing his original form. He didn’t interact with humans at all and instead his parents kept him in the demon realm around supernatural beings so Teru could see a wide variety of different beings and learn to imitate their looks
His parents loved him, but due to shapeshifter customs they were not the best parents around: they never took pics of Teru as a child, resulting in Teru not knowing what he originally looked like. They also made sure that the kid would not get too unique and never encouraged him to pursue after anything in general, as their kind is supposed to be a jack of all trades.
While this made Teru a rather talented shapeshifter, his identity has suffered a lot and made him very insecure deep inside.
A thing that changed Teru’s life was when he was wandering around in the human realm and witnessed a young woman getting assaulted by a group of men. As Teru used to be a rather impulsive child, he rushed to the scene and transformed in front of humans to protect the woman. As he wasn’t thinking of any form in particular, he turned into a large, terrifying monster and scared the men away. However, he also scared the woman he tried to protect, and upon realizing what he had turned into, Teru got terrified. Although Teru managed to avoid a harsh punishment and was only lectured by his parents and the demon police forces, this incident inflicted him with a deep trauma. Since this, Teru became paranoid of his own nature and his true form, and the creature he turned into started haunting his nightmares, claiming Teru’s true form is the abomination he instinctively turned into.
Although this wasn’t true, Teru had no way of knowing it and he started becoming gradually more and more afraid of himself, his powers and the things he could do. To fight back his nightmares, Teru decided he wanted to mature more and moved out of his parent’s place, going to the human world and starting school there. He used to live in a hotel of sort meant for supernatural creatures and he spent some time there until he moved all on his own.
Teru blended rather well in with humans and started making friends, although his own insecurities and fears held him back so much they never became close. During this year Teru met Karen and they became acquaintances, Teru occasionally helping Karen out on his missions. A year after he heard a new keykeeper had moved close to where he lived, and this is how he met Hannes. As they both were around the same age and lived close, they became close friends and partners. Through Karen the two of them eventually met Darian, a young man sometimes running Karen’s errands, and through Darian they met his roommate Vincent. Soon the four of them all became a group of tight-knit friends.
As he and his parents are all shapeshifters, Teru grew up without ever knowing his original form. He didn’t interact with humans at all and instead his parents kept him in the demon realm around supernatural beings so Teru could see a wide variety of different beings and learn to imitate their looks
His parents loved him, but due to shapeshifter customs they were not the best parents around: they never took pics of Teru as a child, resulting in Teru not knowing what he originally looked like. They also made sure that the kid would not get too unique and never encouraged him to pursue after anything in general, as their kind is supposed to be a jack of all trades.
While this made Teru a rather talented shapeshifter, his identity has suffered a lot and made him very insecure deep inside.
A thing that changed Teru’s life was when he was wandering around in the human realm and witnessed a young woman getting assaulted by a group of men. As Teru used to be a rather impulsive child, he rushed to the scene and transformed in front of humans to protect the woman. As he wasn’t thinking of any form in particular, he turned into a large, terrifying monster and scared the men away. However, he also scared the woman he tried to protect, and upon realizing what he had turned into, Teru got terrified. Although Teru managed to avoid a harsh punishment and was only lectured by his parents and the demon police forces, this incident inflicted him with a deep trauma. Since this, Teru became paranoid of his own nature and his true form, and the creature he turned into started haunting his nightmares, claiming Teru’s true form is the abomination he instinctively turned into.
Although this wasn’t true, Teru had no way of knowing it and he started becoming gradually more and more afraid of himself, his powers and the things he could do. To fight back his nightmares, Teru decided he wanted to mature more and moved out of his parent’s place, going to the human world and starting school there. He used to live in a hotel of sort meant for supernatural creatures and he spent some time there until he moved all on his own.
Teru blended rather well in with humans and started making friends, although his own insecurities and fears held him back so much they never became close. During this year Teru met Karen and they became acquaintances, Teru occasionally helping Karen out on his missions. A year after he heard a new keykeeper had moved close to where he lived, and this is how he met Hannes. As they both were around the same age and lived close, they became close friends and partners. Through Karen the two of them eventually met Darian, a young man sometimes running Karen’s errands, and through Darian they met his roommate Vincent. Soon the four of them all became a group of tight-knit friends.
Trivia
- Ambidextrous. However, is often seen using his left hand which might be a hint of his original dominant hand
- He fears of being rejected when people get to know him better and learn he is a shapeshifter, as those creatures are seen as fickle and untrustworthy because they can assume any form they want.
- Pansexual. Teru has a bad habit of getting crushes really often, but he is usually too shy to actually voice these thoughts and he lets them fade with time.
- The relationship with him and Hannes is undetermined: it is unsure whether they are best friends, lovers or something else, and the two of them have mutually agreed not to define their relationship either.
- Although Teru constantly teases Hannes and makes a fool of himself, he is actually constantly worried of him and instinctively acts as the keykeeper’s protector of sort.
- During future arc he is known to work as a taxi driver, but it can be assumed he is also doing other odd jobs
- Teru used to have a long, black hair when he was younger. However, upon seeing two men (Yuuma and Shou) walking past him, Teru decided to copy the hair style of the blond man despite not knowing him at all.