*Throws hands up in the air* I give up! This fic is a load of rubbish but the plot bunny was driving me mad (it ate all my carrots ). I couldn't get it into a proper story format, so I've gone with a sort-of humorous documentary/voice-over style thing, which has turned out more like one of those annoying people who pause a film so they can tell you everything about it that you didn't need to know. I hope you get some enjoyment out of it.

Jake opened his avatar eyes to a world of grey, ashes floating in the air and tickling his throat, leaving him coughing. A furry weight settled beside him, and the ex-marine wiped the ashy muck from his face before turning to his daemon, Canta.

Now, you may be wondering what exactly a daemon is? Well, the people of this universe have part of their souls on the outside of their bodies, unlike others where the soul is entirely inside. This soul-part is known as the daemon, and exists in an animal form that can talk and communicate with both the person and others. When the person reaches puberty, their daemon 'settles' into a form that reflects their personality and remains in that form until death.

"What are we going to do now?" Canta asked, her black Labrador form turning grey with falling ash. Jake scratched her ears gently, still after all these months unsettled by the slight translucency to her form caused by the use of the avatar.

Because the soul is inextricably tied to the body and the mind, when the mind is transferred to the avatar part of the soul must follow it, while part remains behind. This is seen as the translucency in the daemon, as part of its being is left behind with the person's body, as an indistinct cloud of golden mist. This is rather unsettling to those used to solid daemons.

"Well I've got a few ideas" Jake replied cockily, before seeming to fold in on himself, unable to keep up the act. "It's all gone to pieces, hasn't it Canta? First Venusuela, then Tommy, now here..." Jake was interrupted by a quiet whimper, drawing his attention to his daemon.

Canta was shaking, straining to stay quiet as pain wracked her form. As Jake watched, she seemed to shrink and contort, her fur lightening to a greyish-brown.

"Oh God! I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," Jake cried as he realised what was happening, scooping the now mouse-form Canta into his arms.

You see, while it is widely believed that after settling daemons remain in that form for the rest of their lives, there are exceptions. There have been several recorded cases of daemons changing form in adult life, often due to mental illness or severely traumatic events. In some instances, as is the case here, the daemon will revert to a child-like situation whereupon it will transform into different forms depending on the person's emotional state until a new stable personality emerges. And because it is unnatural for the daemon to be changing form, these transformations are invariably painful.

"That's it!" Jake shouted suddenly, jumping up with Canta still cradled in his arms. "I've had it with trying to be like I was before, a good little dumb grunt that only follows orders and acts like he doesn't have a care in the world. What Quaritch is doing is wrong, and if everyone else is too scared to do something about it then I will! Screw orders and screw a diplomatic solution! I need to do something big, something impressive to win back over the Omaticaya, to get an army together..."

As Jake was busy yelling at himself, he barely noticed the movement in his arms as Canta began to change yet again, except to subconsciously let her squirm out of his hold and drop to the ground. He didn't even notice as she grew and grew, fur shrinking and disappearing to be replaced by red leathery skin, fore-legs stretching and membranes forming. Jake only turned around as Canta's shadow fell over him; he grinned as he beheld the Great Leonopteryx, or Toruk, standing over him.

"Perfect!"

This is probably not even worth a review, but any I do get will make me super-duper happy.

If anyone would like to do their own version of this, or make a longer story using this plot bunny, please go ahead.