[Nexus] Home 14: Oddly Squishy

[Slii Arhem]

Terry's Lab

Nothing seems to be off, at least as far as magically imposed changes go. What Terry read of the texts did hint that more nefarious spells can sometimes lie dormant until a certain trigger or stimuli is present, to prevent you from realizing you've been ensorcelled until it's too late. They warned specifically about them, as a proper mage can work them so that the longer they stay dormant the worse they'll have entwined themselves around you, and the harder it will be to get them out.

[Halae]

[Terry's Lab]

Damn, that means that, since it affects her magic, she'll have to try something magical before the trigger event can happen. A sigh; she needs the symptoms of the spell to be able to counteract it, so she has to try this.

A simple spell at this point, a little thing she developed, remarkably, by herself. It's a sort of "Detect Magic" effect, which she designed specifically because she knew Waldorf would try something like this again. Perhaps not anticipated to be so insidious, but still. It's directed inward, to try and get a feel for whatever magic is affecting her, but she doesn't have the experience to make it as precise as she likely needs it.

[Slii Arhem]

[Terry's Lab]

Damn, that means that, since it affects her magic, she'll have to try something magical before the trigger event can happen. A sigh; she needs the symptoms of the spell to be able to counteract it, so she has to try this.

A simple spell at this point, a little thing she developed, remarkably, by herself. It's a sort of "Detect Magic" effect, which she designed specifically because she knew Waldorf would try something like this again. Perhaps not anticipated to be so insidious, but still. It's directed inward, to try and get a feel for whatever magic is affecting her, but she doesn't have the experience to make it as precise as she likely needs it.

Terry's Lab

The spell fizzles and does nothing as Terry's skin begins to tingle ever so slightly. Goosebumps raise along her entire body, and don't recede as the tingling slowly fades.

Hey you know what would be great for lunch today? A salad. Nice and crunchy, with lots of leafy greens and cucumber.

Wait, just where did that thought come from? Shouldn't she be focused on what just happened to her instead?

[Halae]

[Terry's Lab]

Terry considers this for a moment. the idea of a salad is appealing, but also a bit disturbing, given it came out of nowhere only after her spell fizzled. She doesn't know what else happened, of course, so she'll spend a moment doing another pseudo-meditation, examining her body for any changes that may have taken place.

[The Bushranger]

[Terry's Apartment]

"MagLoops it is!" Lucy declares with a grin, waiting for Terry to head into the lab (the better to admire her departing rear) before hurrying to the kitchen.

Once there, she sets about preparing two bowls of the cereal (Cyborg's Best!), being careful to add just the right amount of milk so that they won't get soggy too quickly. Pondering for a moment, she adds some sugar, then pauses, looking in the fridge for fruit.

[Slii Arhem]

[Terry's Lab]

Terry considers this for a moment. the idea of a salad is appealing, but also a bit disturbing, given it came out of nowhere only after her spell fizzled. She doesn't know what else happened, of course, so she'll spend a moment doing another pseudo-meditation, examining her body for any changes that may have taken place.

[Terry's Apartment]

"MagLoops it is!" Lucy declares with a grin, waiting for Terry to head into the lab (the better to admire her departing rear) before hurrying to the kitchen.

Once there, she sets about preparing two bowls of the cereal (Cyborg's Best!), being careful to add just the right amount of milk so that they won't get soggy too quickly. Pondering for a moment, she adds some sugar, then pauses, looking in the fridge for fruit.

Terry's Lab

There is indeed something different, besides the goosebumps. Or rather in relation to it. The skin all over her body feels as if it's set to burst off her, uncomfortable in a prickly sort of way without being painful. It's as if there were many small points of pressure, smaller than the smallest needle, resting just below the surface.

If she's bothered experimenting with shaving, she might recognize the sensation of an ingrown hair here or there that wasn't present before.

In addition, studying this effect should make it fairly apparent that it's worst at a few point on either side of her nose, due to the sensitivity of the skin there. It's so bad in fact that it might just cause her to sneeze.

Kate's Apartment

"Artificial Intelligence. I wound up with fairy energy in me, decided it was a good idea to pull an all-nigher, and woke up the next morning with an odd program in my computer, that's as far as I can tell sentient and sapient. Would you like to meet it?" Kate picks up the laptop.

Kate's Apartment

Mintbalm wrinkles her nose, "I'd like to, but that's not a very good name for it. How can anything intelligent be artificial? Unless it's just faking that it's smart by acting like it. I'm not sure what'd be more impressive either, faking that you're smart when you're dumb or actually being smart in the first place." Mintbalm glides around to the other side of the computer screen to take a look, her movements while walking much more fluid than the jerky, hyper moves she made when she was still a pixie and used to being in a smaller body.

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

"There's no way it's not intelligent. If it is faking it, it's good enough at faking it that in order to be that good at faking it, it would have to be intelligent." Sophie says.

Kate will show Mintbalm the screen.

>There's someone here, one minute.
Okay.
Is it a new person?
>Yes, she's a friend of mine.
>Would you like to meet her?
Yes!

"It's pretty smart, but it's also very innocent. Feel free to talk to her, though."

[Halae]

[Terry's Apartment]

There is 3% milk in the fridge. Mmmm, milk!

[Terry's Lab]

Terry has, in fact, experimented with shaving, likely due to Lucy and skirts, and then abandoned it in frustration. Still, it's enough to recognize what the feeling of fur coming in is.

"Oh, you bastard."

She'll look again through the different books. This is another transformative curse, after all, but she has as much time as she needs, given that it's a gradual thing that only takes effect when attempting to cast spells.

Terry will also pick up a book off the shelf - specifically, her book on alchemy and mixing potions. Dispelling an active effect can't be easy, but having an extra option, if it could potentially work, is a good idea. She'll then review once more, scratching at her nose.

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

"Alright... does it have a name?" Mintbalm settles down on the couch next to Kate quite familiarly, exhibiting her usual lack of personal space and shame without any of the awkwardness that came from her crush on Kate when she was still a lesser fey.

"Uhm, did you think of giving it a voice? I'm not the best with written words really, it wasn't until a short while ago that I even saw the need with them, so I'm still a bit slow." Her near-illiteracy isn't exactly embarrassing to Mintbalm since usually subtle applications of fey magic can make up the difference quite quickly, but she doesn't want to risk shorting out the laptop by doing something like that.

[The Bushranger]

[Terry's Apartment]

Mmm, milk. And strawberries, perhaps!
And, two bowls of cereal in hand, Lucy heads to the lab, walking quietly so as to not startle Terry in the middle of delicate research.
"I fixed some for both of us, if you want..."

[Slii Arhem]

Terry's Apartment

The books don't have much to say on the topic of reversing an ongoing transformative spell, other than transforming yourself back to normal through various magical methods. Actually breaking the spell is step one of course, so it doesn't just change you back, but after that you still have to regain your form.

And the fact that the spell on Terry seems to be gobbling up all of the energy she's using to fuel itself rather than work her own magic, it seems like quite the challenge to even break it in the first place.

[Halae]

[Terry's Apartment]

Right then, let's try- Terry cuts off as Lucy enters the lab. She'll take the offered bowl, to set it down on the desk so she can eat as she works.

And then, the itchiness of the nose will get to her, and make her sneeze.

[The Bushranger]

Terry's Apartment

"Gesundheit," Lucy says, (for once) not watching Terry as she concentrates on eating...

[Slii Arhem]

Terry's Lab

On the plus side, her nose is feeling much less pained and sensitive!

On the negative side, the reason for this is a set of whiskers sticking out as wide as either side of her face, twitching with each minute vibration around her.

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

"Um, no, I haven't named it yet." Kate admits. "And I haven't introduced it to sound yet, either. I've done a bit with a camera and facial recognition software, but I have to take things slowly. If I were to plug in a microphone, I would have to then explain to it sound, find the talk to text program, and the basic talk to text program isn't very good, so I'd have to explain phonics..." All things much better done off-screen.

[Halae]

[Terry's Lab]

"Ugh..." Terry says, feeling at her now sensitive whiskers, "Pleasant."

she'll start eating the magloops in silence, disgruntled by the problem. Even as she does so, she begins looking up how to end ongoing effects without using magic.

[The Bushranger]

[Terry's Lab]

"Huh?"
Lucy looks up.
Spots the now be-whiskered Terry.
Blinks in surprise.
"...that perv."

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

"Um, no, I haven't named it yet." Kate admits. "And I haven't introduced it to sound yet, either. I've done a bit with a camera and facial recognition software, but I have to take things slowly. If I were to plug in a microphone, I would have to then explain to it sound, find the talk to text program, and the basic talk to text program isn't very good, so I'd have to explain phonics..." All things much better done off-screen.

Kate's Apartment

"Right, okay, I see how that could be a nuisance. Guess I'll just have to hunt and peck." Mintbalm rests her index fingers on the keys and begins typing out a simple:

>Hello my name is Mintbalm and I am a friend of Kate.

Terry's Lab

After the whiskers, Terry gets a bit of a break from any more impromptu changes. At least until the next time she uses magic.

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

Hello Mintbalm.
I'm happy to meet you.

"Huh, I guess she doesn't care about the finer points of grammar. It has trouble figuring out misspelled words, though."

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

Despite their numbers Pazuzu should have no trouble hunting down the departed Einherjar. They've got this tendency to die en masse and have been shipped off to their just rewards the same way, ending up clumped between a few Hells, mainly those devoted to Wrath or Pride.

Their physical shells reform like fleshy clay, chunks of shapeless organic matter apparating and globbing together into roughly humanoid shapes, action figures, memory sculpting the details on like they were in life. But not perfectly. Even when the process is done there's still a bit of the unformed clay about them- Little missing details. Patches of skin without texture, a crease or wrinkle in the skin forgotten, a minor feature more subdued or exaggerated than it was the first time around.

Consciousness returns all at once and the reborn soldiers prompty stumble and trip over their own feet suddenly experiencing all the added burdens of corporeal existence again, with all that pesky business of communicating with the tendons and muscles between deciding to move and doing so. It takes a mental prod to get them to remember about breathing.


"That would look to be your end of the bargain done then." As ever Prometheus is all business, although there's the slightest look of exasperation as his brothers shamble about in the background. "A pleasure, and please do remember that offer." And with that he holds out the blueprints for Pazuzu to take.

[Earl of Purple]

Fortress Mountain

"I will remember it. You remember to try My colleagues rather than relying upon one source for all your supernatural needs. We all do things slightly differently." With that, Pazuzu stands up and grabs his cloud-chair and pull it over his head. As it goes down, so Pazuzu disappears, and when the cloud reaches the ground it will slowly dissipate into the air.

If Prometheus has anything more to add, Pazuzu can be stopped.

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

Hello Mintbalm.
I'm happy to meet you.

"Huh, I guess she doesn't care about the finer points of grammar. It has trouble figuring out misspelled words, though."

Kate's Apartment

Mintbalm has the decency to blush at that comment, "I'm not so good with contractions or grammar for the most part. It's one of the hardest bits to learn since spelling things just takes time." She explains in relation to her punctuation-less statement.

Still, she types out another phrase a bit more confidently this time.

>Are you? That is good to hear. I'm happy that Kate managed to create something so neat and interesting.

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

The AI has an odd reaction:

I'm already interesting to you?

Kate looks somewhat intrigued by this response, but says nothing.

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

>Yep! You're something completely new to me. Even if someone else might have seen something like you before I enjoy new things and they interest me.

>Does anything interest you in particular?

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

Yes, many things.
I find people interesting.
I find sight interesting.
I think about interesting things a lot.

"The only thing it doesn't find interesting is simple math," Kate comments, "It has an in-programming calculator, so it's really easy. She hasn't really made any preferences yet."

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

"I bet it will find music very interesting once you introduce it to sound. Music is like math in structure, but it's also like language in a lot of ways." Mintbalm comments as she tries to think of something to say. The text-based medium is really limiting for her.

Maybe it'd be best to let the computer lead then?

>Is there anything you want to ask me or talk about?

"Hey Kate, it's just a really crazy advanced programmy whatsit right? Does that mean you could make a copy of it on another computer and you'd have two, like what happened with you and Copi?"

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

Kate frowns slightly. "I... think that would work, but... I'm a little scared to try it. What happened with Copi and I isn't something I want to mess with. Hypothetically, the two programs would end up being different people. Maybe very different people."

The program replies,

I want to get to know you.
Kate has let me meet many people, and they all are different.
I want to see how you are different.

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

"I guess they'd pretty much have to be, unless you did everything the exact same with the new program. What if you just made an inactive one though, and stored it somewhere else? It kinda seems to me like it's pretty vulnerable in there since laptops are so fragile." Mintbalm doesn't know the term backup, but that's what she's describing in essence.

>Well I used to be a pixie which means I did not grow up in the Nexus. I have powers that help me take care of nature along with other things like me, called fey. It is sort of like a larger class of animals that are all related to each other but unique in their own way. Since I grew up in a forest I only just started to learn how to read and write so talking to you like this without messing up is difficult.

The fact that she's no longer a pixie may be news to Kate, I can't remember if that came up explicitly earlier.

[Lost_Deep]

Kate's Apartment

"I have thought of doing a backup, but I'm a little afraid to mess with the files themselves. Ah... suffice to say there's a lot of odd things that I've noticed about the program itself that doesn't quite make sense. I suspect I might have sleep-dusted on it a bit the night that I made it, messing with the way that was in the computer, but... I don't have any proof." She shrugs. "And the chances that sleep-dusting would be beneficial to my computer at all is slim to none." She's quiet for a moment. "You know, I've had this AI for a while. I do kind of feel guilty for keeping it off most of the time..."

The program itself shows a little "..." for a few minutes, before replying,

There is a lot there I don't know about.
Do you want a full list?
Or can I just ask you about a few things?

[Slii Arhem]

Kate's Apartment

>You can ask about whatever you like and I will try to answer. It can be complicated and I don't know everything so I might ask Kate for help.

"I guess it doesn't really know when it's off, but maybe moving it to something you could keep on more often once you've taught it more would be nice. Keeping it on when no one can be around doesn't serve much purpose unless it can amuse itself somehow." And it brings to mind Copi's situation, having no contact endlessly and restricted to only thinking.