PAINLING - TIMELINE #3141588

(Timeline Tuesday #89)

Painlings are a terrible nuisance of a species, causing torment across any timeline they stumble into. The creatures are flat and rectangular, with a canvas-thin body made of taught skin that stretches across their form. This skin is held in place by a hard exoskeleton, and while their carapace is beautifully ornate, it does not make up for the rest of their unpleasant features. It’s easy for those who gaze upon a painling to assume the creature is a natural painting of this timeline, giving little thought to their appearance. It’s this mimicry they use to their advantage.

The flat canvas of painlings features incredible variety, but there are always three consistent elements. First, the background of their design is always abstract, displaying any number of wild curves and shapes and lines. Second, there will be a humanoid figure in the foreground. Third, the image is rendered in black and white until a painling feeds.

Painlings possess mild telekinetic abilities, capable of levitating at slow speeds and speaking through psychic messaging. They use these abilities to creep their way into the homes of their victims, finding a hidden place to tuck away. Painlings often nestle in the attic, the basement, or the back of a closet. Once settled, a painling will wait until someone nearby, usually within 40 yards of the creature, is in pain.

A this point the creature will feed, gaining psychic nourishment from the unpleasant feelings of those around it. Every morsel of pain will allow a painling to grow in strength. Eventually, it can send out psychic pain waves of its own. This creates a feedback loop of discomfort, allowing painlings to gain power at an exponential rate.

As a painling consumes more pain, its blank and white markings will slowly turn a more vibrant shade of red. The creature does not need to consume food or oxygen to survive, only pain, and when it’s had its fill the painling with split into two distinct entities. One will remain tucked away, while the other begins its journey to find a new target and starts the cycle again.