❄ Writings & Headcanon ❄

[wintershepherd]

A post for collective game-related writings, ficlets, whatever.
WILL CONTAIN ROTG SPOILERS, HEADCANON, AND RANDOMNESS.

( TUSHANSHU )

12/26/12 → Jack's arrival to Tu Vishan and subsequent fishing out of the ocean, takes place immediately prior to this entry.

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Jack's Physiology

[wintershepherd]

Some key points regarding Jack's physical state:

• The entirety of his physical being is powered by the winter magic that has literally reanimated him. If that were removed or nullified in any way, Jack would turn back into a pumpkin corpse. On any kind of medical scan, aside from the oddities listed in the next bullet points, Jack will register basically as a drowned body. To people/things capable of detecting it, his magic will register as an unidentifiable energy signature.

• His body's core temperature is well below freezing and this makes his skin temperature very cold as well, capable of causing frostbite if a regular person remains in contact with it for an extended period of time. His blood has a slushy consistency and because it doesn't properly circulate (and thus aerate) it is quite a bit darker than usual blood. This is why when Jack blushes, it tends to have a purplish tint to it and when he's cut, it bleeds very little and very slowly.

• He has no heartbeat or pulse, though he can will them into function if he chooses, though they remain very slow, much slower than should be capable of sustaining him, a byproduct of the winter magic animating him. As he doesn't technically NEED any of them to keep functioning, he usually only remembers their presence if he's excited or feels fatigue and then his body will mimic those physical reactions subconsciously. He does breathe (as evidenced by the gasping as he was pulled from the pond) but like the heartbeat, it is a reflection of something that's ingrained in him rather than an actual need for it; his breaths don't fill his lungs. Yet if someone tried to choke him, he'd react exactly as though he couldn't breath, up to and including passing out from it. (Whether it would continue once he was unconscious, debatable but probably not.)

• There is ice inside of his lungs, frozen lake water from when he drowned. If he gets too warm, it starts to melt back into water and all the gloriously fun side effects of having your lungs full of water start happening. Coughing will start first as his body tries to purge the water, but will develop into full-on choking as he's unable to catch any breath.

• On the topic of getting too warm, Jack starts feeling adverse effects once the temperature starts getting around 50°F/10°C. Because his core temperature is subzero, he has to start expending energy to maintain that which causes increased fatigue, lethargy, nausea and dizziness. The warmer it gets, the less able he is to keep himself cool which in turn, his body starts being unable to use the winter magic to preserve itself and Jack starts having to deal with a body that isn't actually functioning any longer. The first physical signs are evident in his complexion: mottled bruising will start developing around his face and on his limbs (particularly his extremities, hands and feet), his eyes will become sunken with black hollows beneath them. In short, he's going to look (literally) like a walking corpse.

• Once the symptoms reach a certain point, Jack won't be able to bring himself back down to temperature on his own and will need an artificial source of cooling. This will also put him into a coma-like state until everything inside of him can refreeze back to where it's supposed to be.

• He can feel cold, it just doesn't feel unpleasant. Likewise he can distinguish different levels of temperature (hot or cold) just like a regular person, however his scale of temperature is obviously heavily geared towards, meaning that what humans perceive as merely "warm" may feel hot to Jack, and hot things are scalding and potentially dangerous.

• He doesn't need to eat or sleep, but is capable of doing both. The use of his magic does factor into his level of fatigue so he'll nap to "recharge" after large expenditures of it.

• Jack, like all spirits, has physical attributes (strength, agility, constitution) above what his physical form would suggest-- because really, he looks like 100lbs and twig-like. He's not super strengthed or anything, but he can carry someone approximately his own height without much trouble.