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Lloyd didn’t know when he started feeling this way. Maybe it was when he used to growl at other kids his age in the Darkly’s boarding school for bad boys, maybe it was when he started collecting things he viewed as valuable, or maybe it was when he started subconsciously sleeping in a circle. Ultimately, it didn’t matter, what mattered was that Lloyd was now sat on his bedroom floor, sitting crisscross with his laptop in hand, leaning against the side of his bed. He had heard of this… therian thing in passing, but decided to do research on the topic.
“A person who experiences being and identifies as a non-human animal on an integral, personal level?..” He muttered to himself, continuing his deep dive into this whole Therian thing. As he kept reading, he couldn’t help but feel like he related to what he read. Involuntary urges and instincts that aren’t exactly human (not that he’s fully human either), feeling the involuntary want to do things that aren’t human, and feeling or sensing limbs that aren’t there. Lloyd began to slowly realize he might be a Therian, or something akin to a Therian. Lloyd leaned his head back against his mattress, thinking of the possibilities, of what it would mean to be a Therian and if he was, did he have multiple theriotypes, or just one? Lloyd tried imagining what he’d look like as an animal, or with animal traits… it came so easily to him. He could feel a pair of pastel yellow horns on the top of his head, a pair of wings on his back with pale green scales, and a scaly tail connected to his tail bone. Lloyd researched deeper into the whole Dragon Therian thing, reading on other peoples experiences… it really resonated with him, and made him feel like he understood a part of himself that he had kept to himself for so long. Lloyd smiled softly, he could feel as if he had a long scaly tail, it thumping happily against the floor, even though it wasn’t really there.
Over the next few weeks, Lloyd dove deep into research between training and saving Ninjago. The other ninja noticed, they were glad Lloyd seemed happier. Kai would make little comments. ”You seem happier.” He’d ask with a teasing brotherly smile.
”I do?” Lloyd would ask with a smile practically glued to his face, which would earn a brotherly chuckle and knuckle sandwich from Kai.
Lloyd soon discovered quadrobics, and he fell in love with it almost instantly. He quickly began trying to teach himself how to do it through YouTube videos. It took a while, a long while. But, with weeks of practice, getting bruises from tripping, and getting walked in on by a concerned Nya from hearing a crash, or a worried Zane coming in to clean up bruises and to ask if he’s okay, he was decent at it.
Lloyd began trying to get his hands on some gear, maybe just a mask at the least, but he was struggling, since the ones he made himself didn’t look how they looked in his head, and he’d have to personally apologize and pull out the ukulele to his wallet because of the prices to commissioning one. It was a Saturday morning when Lloyd entered Jay’s room, who had been laying in bed, playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo switch.
“Hey Jay?” Lloyd said as he closed the door behind him. Jay didn’t look up from the switch.
“Yeah kid?”
“So… Do you think you could make something for me?” Jay paused his game, peaking up with interest.
“I’m listening.” Jay tossed the switch to the side. Lloyd grabbed his phone from his pocket, pulling up a photo for inspiration of the mask he was thinking of, showing it to Jay. “Anything else?” Lloyd shook his head no. “Got it, I’ll have that done soon kid.”
Jay entered Lloyd's room Monday night with a box. Lloyd looked up as Jay placed it on the bed, he closed his laptop and scooted over to the box. Jay gave a small nod as he waited for Lloyd to open it. Lloyd opened it, pulling out the dragon mask. Lloyd smiled brightly, before noticing more in the box. Lloyd pulled the two other things in the box… a pair of fake lightweight wings and a fake tail, all matching the mask. Lloyd began tearing up. Lloyd shot up from the bed, hugging Jay. Jay gently hugged him back.
“Sad tears or happy tears?” Jay asked.
“Happy tears.” Lloyd mumbled back.