#abigail walker

let's get started on the biology bit first of all. Given that Delsin can almost perfectly adapt and copy the power sets of other conduits, he'd need a physical and microbiological structure capable of doing so, how can he do this without turning into a puddle of genetic failure goop you ask? Well, it's because his specific conduit abilities allow him to perfectly recreate stem cells that don't degrade at a constant non declining rate. Wouldn't that stop him from aging? And that's a strong "kind of", it directly correlates to the persistent use of his powers and obtaining of new ones. It's sort of comparable to how the immune system strengthens when exposed to threats more frequently

This is also one of the main reasons Delsin doesn't have to worry about being infected by Alex or any other blacklight or redlight victims, with how aggressively his body has to adapt to new conduit DNA, it can quickly identify the virus starter cells, even before they've reversed their mirror chirality when they attempt to fully infect and mature inside a host, essentially making him the only one genuinely "vaccinated" against the disease

Not to mention the ABSURD internal temperature that comes from storing so much energy in the body, for his smoke abilities this involves maintaining an extremely high thermal core, so his core body temp is around 130 fahrenheit when resting, this would quite literally melt any normal person's brain immediately, but he inherited a strong immunity to heat from Henry alongside his powers

And unfortunately he does tend to inherit some negative traits from other conduits, such as Fetch's predisposition towards addiction, this combined with his poor impulse control and the natural influence of his smoke abilities, lead him to a somewhat contained nicotine addiction (specifically just cigarettes), he's entirely aware of the fact this habit doesn't physically harm him in any way, but he still feels as though he's let down both Fetch and Reggie, whilst also being very disappointed and a little scared of the fact he's not entirely in control of himself anymore

Now for more of the ✨ psychological side of things ✨

Delsin definitely comes across as the carefree adrenaline junkie type, which is entirely true, but he often abuses this aspect of his personality to avoid directly addressing negative emotions or topics, such as Reggie's death and his extreme phobia of monotony and confinement

He is definitely someone that perceives others fear as understandable and natural, while his own is seen as weak and inherently bad in some way, so he just rebrands it in his head and actions as either motivation or anger. And while he does carry a high capacity for violence and anger, this tendency often makes him seem far more frightening and dangerous than he is. Of course the news has jumped on this opportunity to frame his as a malicious bio terrorist, simply making him more afraid and exacerbating the issue

He's not used to being the responsible one in any circumstances, now that Reggie's gone and he's met Alex, that position has kind of been forced on him. He took in Alex at his very lowest point, while also being at his own lowest point, so it's been a rather fantastic struggle on both ends

Since this au is dependent on him being karma neutral, he's had to distance himself from his loved ones to protect them, mainly because Augustine has fully fallen off the cliff of batshit insanity, and has a grudge on him. So he doesn't know if Betty's even alive anymore, he did his best to help with her condition after snatching Augustine's powers, but at her age there's really no way of knowing without keeping in touch with her. As for Fetch he does his best not to speak to her or Eugene often, because he knows they're in danger even if he's just calling them while they're hiding out in rural Canada