Daemons are your eternal companion, from birth to death and beyond. They are your soul, physically manifested, after all. They take the forms of animals, from the simplest cricket to the most fanciful dragon. The more imaginative the person, the more imaginative the daemon's form. Likewise, the more lively the person, the more lively the daemon. Dimwitted persons have slow and sluggish, often naive and gullible daemons. Still, regardless of intelligence, a daemon almost always shows their person’s emotional state. It's not impossible for a pair to school themselves, to mask every emotion and thought even in the most turmoil of times, but for a pair whose daemon hasn't settled it's incredibly difficult.
Settling occurs around, during, or towards the end of puberty, when a child enters the world of adulthood. Daemons, when the time draws near, will likely shift forms less often. However, this does not mean they have any idea of what form they'll take, nor will their person. But when it sets, it sets for the rest of their person's life. There has been more than one unfortunate story of a person's daemon settling in the form of a marine animal - a whale, a dolphin, a fish - which leaves their person unable to set foot on land ever again.
This is because the bond between a person and their daemon is intense, almost palpable. Witches and shamans are capable of parting with their daemon without feeling the strain on their bond, but most normal people will never be able to simply walk more than perhaps a handful of yards from one another at most. If they nudged at the limits of their bonds, they would feel such extreme longing, anguish, and actual, physical pain with the slightest bit of separation. Normal humans can attain the ability to part with their daemon that witches and shamans are capable of, but it is not at all a pleasant process.
Canonically, 95% of all daemon are the opposite gender of their person, and it is unknown why this occurs. Same-gendered daemon are uncommon, but considered a minor anomaly more than something of concern. At worst, a person will be thought of as odd for having a same-gendered daemon. It is nowhere near the same as seeing a person without their daemon; this is considered alien, unsettling, as if seeing someone walking about without their head.
It is considered a taboo to touch another person's daemon. Doing so will instill a feeling of nausea and horror in both the daemon and person, and essentially paralyze the daemon in shock and possibly cause their person to faint. This is not a law that was passed, or something that is discussed: it is simply a thing that is. Other daemons can interact with one another, and often times do. It is how a good number of situations are resolved, with posturing or even fighting done by the daemons rather than the persons. It's not often that daemons talk to another person that is not their own, but it isn't necessarily uncommon.
Lovers, though never done publicly and never talked about, may touch one each others' daemons without feeling that sense of nausea, and instead feel a rush of warmth and excitement. |
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[ Only one daemon is safe from that treatment, and that's just because Praestes is too damn big for the leopard to bodily move. But that doesn't stop her from dropping the full weight of her body into two paws, straight into the wolf's side, when she picks on Sophia, or refuses to get out of bed when Gladio's feeling particularly lazy or actually tired.
... but this. This he'll get out of bed for, as Pisca tries to rouse Noctis again. He can't help the amusement that radiates off him, lips curling inward so that he doesn't bark out a full laugh. Yeah, he's not a fool. He knows. ]
Think that's a no, babe. [ Praestes jeers from where she's cuddled close to Noctis, her body shaking with barely contained laughter. Piscari doesn't need to say a damn thing for either half of Noct's shield to know she's trying to escape. Gladio has cornered Noct more than once when it comes to Iris, though it's mostly been out of amusement (and wanting to make his sister happy). They all know nothing will come out of Iris' crush, despite it lasting so long, but they don't want to break her heart by reminding her.
Hortari is just the visible evidence of the lingering hope that it might, and an extension of her adoration of the prince. He just... gets a little excited, that's all. A little overzealous. ]
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so! she rolls back over to give the wolf a little cuff on one ear in retribution, haunches wiggling like she's gearing herself up for a pounce. ]
Shut up! I don't need a translator!
[ ... of course, all of this activity is enough to make noctis snort out a little sound of irritation, voice muffled into the pillow. ] If you guys want to mess around, do it somewhere else.
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You really want to start this, huh. [ So she shifts to her belly from her side, uncrossing her wrists so she can get all four paws into the bed in preparation. Gladio watches all of this with amusement, and finally does bark out a laugh when Noctis bitches them out.
Taking pity on him, he hooks his arm around him properly instead of just draping it over him to pet his daemon, big palm wrapping around his ribs where he wedges his hand under his side. ]
Okay, out of the line of fire. Hup - [ And he rolls over, taking Noctis with him. His spot in the crease where the two beds meet allows for him to go from one bed to the other, giving the daemons the majority of the bed to "duke it out." But he's been the actual victim of daemon roughhousing more than once - has a scar on his arm from it, hilariously enough, that he deadpans a Coeurl had caused - and doesn't want Noct to suffer the same fate. ]