Note to self, a mix of alcohol, alchemy ingredients and magical hallucinogens leaves one hell of...
Magic Student's Sentient Mistake
- Thread starter NotCuriousEnough
- Start date
-
- Tags
- original magic school
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 56
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 11
-
Statistics (10 threadmarks, 9.3k words)
User Total NotCuriousEnough 10 Threadmarks Reader mode -
Loading…
Ow
- Location
- In Orbit
Note to self, a mix of alcohol, alchemy ingredients and magical hallucinogens leaves one hell of a hangover, do not repeat. Also Ow.
Dougie Sanderson managed to crack open a crusted eyelid on his second attempt and took in the room. It was the same as normal, dark, cluttered with the remnants and scar-tissue of previous experiments. The benefits of one's own personal pocket dimension was that there was no-one to tell you to clean up. He knew where everything was, or at least could find it eventually.
After spending time cleaning off the vomit and refreshing both mind and body they were ready for the day. With magic this took just under a minute and most of the delay was due to the hangover. Sure the snobs looked down on magical cleaning due to the various after effects but Dougie had more important things to do than spend all of his time primping and cleaning.
Then he noticed something out of place. A beaker with a faintly glowing viscous yellow liquid in it. Dougie pondered his shattered memories of last night. First came his disastrously failed attempt at wooing Steff and then came the depressed self medication. After that is was a blur but he concluded that he might have done something that possibly could have led to this result.
He shrugged and was about to direct his attention to food when the liquid, no the slime, moved on its own. Huh. Well that's interesting...
What do?
[] Poke it
[] Feed it
[] Ignore it, food first
[] Destroy it, it might be dangerous
(no write in option just yet, but they will come later)
Dougie Sanderson managed to crack open a crusted eyelid on his second attempt and took in the room. It was the same as normal, dark, cluttered with the remnants and scar-tissue of previous experiments. The benefits of one's own personal pocket dimension was that there was no-one to tell you to clean up. He knew where everything was, or at least could find it eventually.
After spending time cleaning off the vomit and refreshing both mind and body they were ready for the day. With magic this took just under a minute and most of the delay was due to the hangover. Sure the snobs looked down on magical cleaning due to the various after effects but Dougie had more important things to do than spend all of his time primping and cleaning.
Then he noticed something out of place. A beaker with a faintly glowing viscous yellow liquid in it. Dougie pondered his shattered memories of last night. First came his disastrously failed attempt at wooing Steff and then came the depressed self medication. After that is was a blur but he concluded that he might have done something that possibly could have led to this result.
He shrugged and was about to direct his attention to food when the liquid, no the slime, moved on its own. Huh. Well that's interesting...
What do?
[] Poke it
[] Feed it
[] Ignore it, food first
[] Destroy it, it might be dangerous
(no write in option just yet, but they will come later)
data
- Location
- In Orbit
Dougie is a barely competent wizard in training, whose current goal is to get laid as much as possible. He is stymied in this goal due to a lack of social graces, poor personal hygiene and a mug that even his mother is a bit iffy about.
He is easily distracted and would much prefer to goof around than devote himself to unlocking the secrets of the universe at the magic college that his disappointed father has sent him to. This is not his story.
You are the slime in the glass beaker. A result of a bored magician messing around in his lab while drugged off his face. While Dougie's story genre is a dating sim, yours is more survival horror. Good luck!
~~~
This is my first quest so please be gentle. In contrast to this the slime has no plot armour and Bad End's abound. If the slime dies I will revert to a previous vote and continue. I hope that we can all have fun together growing our collaborative tamigochi
He is easily distracted and would much prefer to goof around than devote himself to unlocking the secrets of the universe at the magic college that his disappointed father has sent him to. This is not his story.
You are the slime in the glass beaker. A result of a bored magician messing around in his lab while drugged off his face. While Dougie's story genre is a dating sim, yours is more survival horror. Good luck!
~~~
This is my first quest so please be gentle. In contrast to this the slime has no plot armour and Bad End's abound. If the slime dies I will revert to a previous vote and continue. I hope that we can all have fun together growing our collaborative tamigochi
poke it with food
- Location
- In Orbit
Ehh. The voting has been fairly split on everything except for the kill option so we will go with poke it with food.
Dougie pondered the slime as he cast his own personal version of create food and drink. His version was far quicker than the usual since he walked over to his mini-fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out surplus army rations. The fridge was a box with an sigil inside of it that constantly cast a minor cold aura. He had to recharge the sigil every month but the convenience far outweighed the effort required.
The rations provided enough energy to sustain a soldier at war but taste wasn't a consideration. It had a slab of protein mixed with stale bread that made cardboard both look and taste appetizing and a vial of lumpy liquid that had streaks of brown, green and purple in it. Dougie lit a half smoked roll of herbs and took a deep drag to help mask the taste then dunked the slab into the liquid to soften it and took a bite. Even through the smoke it tasted of despair and of the inevitability of death.
Dougie pulled a strip of the slab and poked the slime with it. The slime seemed to have a super version of surface tension that normal liquid had but he was still able to pierce it with only minimal effort. The slime shivered when this happened but it quickly reabsorbed the spilt liquid. Dougie stirred it and the slime kept shivering but it took no actual damage.
He pulled out the strip and saw that the end had been eaten away slightly. He then put a crumb gently on top of the slime and the skin of the slime was enough to support the protein. This continued for a few seconds before the skin dissolved and the food was pulled into the body of the slime. The crumb was pulled apart and the liquid pulled each fragment into smaller and smaller pieces which were spread through the slime's body and slowly consumed.
Dougie grinned to himself. He had his very own acid slime. It wasn't particularly dangerous to anyone who was prepared but he had heard of unwary campers being suffocated in their sleep by them.
Oh well. He needed proper food ... and to brag to the gang about his accomplishment. Even if he did it off his head and couldn't remember how he had done any of it, it still counted.
He poured the slime into a glass bowl, tossed the remains of the rations in with it and put a metal lid on it to keep the slime in place. Off he went.
~~~
You are the slime. What do you do after you eat?
[] Explore
[] Develop
Dougie pondered the slime as he cast his own personal version of create food and drink. His version was far quicker than the usual since he walked over to his mini-fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out surplus army rations. The fridge was a box with an sigil inside of it that constantly cast a minor cold aura. He had to recharge the sigil every month but the convenience far outweighed the effort required.
The rations provided enough energy to sustain a soldier at war but taste wasn't a consideration. It had a slab of protein mixed with stale bread that made cardboard both look and taste appetizing and a vial of lumpy liquid that had streaks of brown, green and purple in it. Dougie lit a half smoked roll of herbs and took a deep drag to help mask the taste then dunked the slab into the liquid to soften it and took a bite. Even through the smoke it tasted of despair and of the inevitability of death.
Dougie pulled a strip of the slab and poked the slime with it. The slime seemed to have a super version of surface tension that normal liquid had but he was still able to pierce it with only minimal effort. The slime shivered when this happened but it quickly reabsorbed the spilt liquid. Dougie stirred it and the slime kept shivering but it took no actual damage.
He pulled out the strip and saw that the end had been eaten away slightly. He then put a crumb gently on top of the slime and the skin of the slime was enough to support the protein. This continued for a few seconds before the skin dissolved and the food was pulled into the body of the slime. The crumb was pulled apart and the liquid pulled each fragment into smaller and smaller pieces which were spread through the slime's body and slowly consumed.
Dougie grinned to himself. He had his very own acid slime. It wasn't particularly dangerous to anyone who was prepared but he had heard of unwary campers being suffocated in their sleep by them.
Oh well. He needed proper food ... and to brag to the gang about his accomplishment. Even if he did it off his head and couldn't remember how he had done any of it, it still counted.
He poured the slime into a glass bowl, tossed the remains of the rations in with it and put a metal lid on it to keep the slime in place. Off he went.
~~~
You are the slime. What do you do after you eat?
[] Explore
[] Develop
[] Mind
[] Body
[] Soul
[] Body
[] Soul
solution to a problem
- Location
- In Orbit
Hmm. An even mix of mind and soul development.
The slime had a problem. This had never happened before. This was mainly due to being new to the world. Running on instincts that it didn't know that it had it altered its internal structure. It changed its digestive acid to primordial ooze and from that spun out neural tissue.
For the very first time the slime had a brain. For efficiency's sake it was as simple as it could be, just enough to recognize the problem and try to think of a solution.
The problem was that its food had too much solid and not enough liquid and consuming it was starting to hit the limits of what the slime's body could handle. Having either too much or too little liquid was a problem.
Solutions?
-1. Stop eating the excess solid
-2. Find a way to eat all of the solids
Solution 2 preferred.
Thinking...Thinking...Thinking.
Success.
To eat all of the solid food it just needed more liquid. The slime altered another section of itself so that it had a mana catcher and then set it to leak overflow as water. The production rate was slow but sufficient that over time all of the solid food could be consumed. The slime now had a mana core floating at its center.
Having achieved a solution the slime no longer had a problem. It dissolved the neural structures so that it could eat more efficiently.
~~~
Dougie returned to his room sad and depressed. Bragging to his friends had turned into going out for celebratory drinks which had turned into bragging to hot girls about his success but Sally, Melanie, Lee, and Sophie had not been impressed. Even when he had done something amazing he still struck out.
His own personal pity party was interrupted as he felt a draw on the magic in his room that wasn't there when he had left. His mana sense was one of the weakest in his class so he needed tools to help him get any further information but since he knew that this would be the case he had a magimeter handy. Of course it took him a few minutes of rummaging to find it but he was able to pinpoint the change as coming from the bowl that the slime had been placed in.
He whipped off the lid and saw that the slime was in the process of consuming the rations. It was comical how it was trying to dissolve the dense slab that was larger than it was. The slime had spread itself thin and still couldn't reach the bowl on all sides let alone engulf the food entirely.
Dougie noticed that the slime had carefully absorbed all of the slop leaving the bowl meticulously clean. Significantly cleaner than before the slime had been decanted into it in fact. Dougie was distracted from his thoughts of having a slime maid as he noticed the reason for the mana drain. The slime had a mana core that wasn't there when he had left.
He knew that no-one had messed with the slime in his absence. Slob he might be but long and painful lessons from his father made sure that his security spells were top notch. This meant that the slime must have grown the core itself.
There was a rule to gaining the power of magic. You had to open yourself up to the aether of the universe and let it flow through you, let it fill you and change you. Only then could you use the power of the universe otherwise known as mana for your own selfish purposes. This was hard for sentients to do since their own thoughts, feelings and desires kept getting in the way. Learning to get out of one's own way was easily the hardest part of training a mage. Various mind altering substances helped with that and Dougie would be the first to admit that it was his favorite part of magic training.
Conversely it was why the creatures of the world naturally gained in magic as they aged. Powerful creatures would even start crystallizing their mana in structures that they could tap in emergencies making them even more dangerous. The only reason that people, of any sort, held any power in the world was through their ability to plan and work together. And Dougie's pet slime had just managed to replicate that accomplishment as a new born.
Dougie's grin only grew as the implications sunk in.
What does Dougie do?
[] take the slime to his professor for advice and hopefully academic credit.
[] perform experiments on the slime
[] remove the mana core and examine it.
[] something else
[] write in
The slime had a problem. This had never happened before. This was mainly due to being new to the world. Running on instincts that it didn't know that it had it altered its internal structure. It changed its digestive acid to primordial ooze and from that spun out neural tissue.
For the very first time the slime had a brain. For efficiency's sake it was as simple as it could be, just enough to recognize the problem and try to think of a solution.
The problem was that its food had too much solid and not enough liquid and consuming it was starting to hit the limits of what the slime's body could handle. Having either too much or too little liquid was a problem.
Solutions?
-1. Stop eating the excess solid
-2. Find a way to eat all of the solids
Solution 2 preferred.
Thinking...Thinking...Thinking.
Success.
To eat all of the solid food it just needed more liquid. The slime altered another section of itself so that it had a mana catcher and then set it to leak overflow as water. The production rate was slow but sufficient that over time all of the solid food could be consumed. The slime now had a mana core floating at its center.
Having achieved a solution the slime no longer had a problem. It dissolved the neural structures so that it could eat more efficiently.
~~~
Dougie returned to his room sad and depressed. Bragging to his friends had turned into going out for celebratory drinks which had turned into bragging to hot girls about his success but Sally, Melanie, Lee, and Sophie had not been impressed. Even when he had done something amazing he still struck out.
His own personal pity party was interrupted as he felt a draw on the magic in his room that wasn't there when he had left. His mana sense was one of the weakest in his class so he needed tools to help him get any further information but since he knew that this would be the case he had a magimeter handy. Of course it took him a few minutes of rummaging to find it but he was able to pinpoint the change as coming from the bowl that the slime had been placed in.
He whipped off the lid and saw that the slime was in the process of consuming the rations. It was comical how it was trying to dissolve the dense slab that was larger than it was. The slime had spread itself thin and still couldn't reach the bowl on all sides let alone engulf the food entirely.
Dougie noticed that the slime had carefully absorbed all of the slop leaving the bowl meticulously clean. Significantly cleaner than before the slime had been decanted into it in fact. Dougie was distracted from his thoughts of having a slime maid as he noticed the reason for the mana drain. The slime had a mana core that wasn't there when he had left.
He knew that no-one had messed with the slime in his absence. Slob he might be but long and painful lessons from his father made sure that his security spells were top notch. This meant that the slime must have grown the core itself.
There was a rule to gaining the power of magic. You had to open yourself up to the aether of the universe and let it flow through you, let it fill you and change you. Only then could you use the power of the universe otherwise known as mana for your own selfish purposes. This was hard for sentients to do since their own thoughts, feelings and desires kept getting in the way. Learning to get out of one's own way was easily the hardest part of training a mage. Various mind altering substances helped with that and Dougie would be the first to admit that it was his favorite part of magic training.
Conversely it was why the creatures of the world naturally gained in magic as they aged. Powerful creatures would even start crystallizing their mana in structures that they could tap in emergencies making them even more dangerous. The only reason that people, of any sort, held any power in the world was through their ability to plan and work together. And Dougie's pet slime had just managed to replicate that accomplishment as a new born.
Dougie's grin only grew as the implications sunk in.
What does Dougie do?
[] take the slime to his professor for advice and hopefully academic credit.
[] perform experiments on the slime
[] remove the mana core and examine it.
[] something else
[] write in
Last edited:
Illusions
- Location
- In Orbit
SCIENCE wins. Of course it does.
Dougie thought for a moment and realised that he needed to double check the mana cores existence. He knew just what to do. He grabbed the bowl that the slime was in and rushed out of the room with it. Leaving his cubby hole he entered the room that he had to share with another student. Neil. Neither of them liked this arrangement and were both skilled (rich) enough to be able to set up their own pocket dimension that they didn't have to spend time together.
The left the dorm at a jog and set across the campus, past the lecture theatres, past the cafeteria, past the library, and finally to the laboratories. It was a nice day, clean blue sky with the fluffiest of clouds dotting here and there but Dougie barely noticed. It was still the weekend so the lab shouldn't be in use but there were plenty of people who had first dibbs over him and who could even kick him out if they wanted to use the equipment.
He was in luck. There was only one other student in the building and they were using alchemy equipment for something that produced some rather impressivly horrible blue smoke as a by-product. Dougie gave the student a nod which was returned and proceeded to the imaging room.
It had the impression of being a small room but this was just a facade. The rest of the space was filled with stacks of equipment, devices and various doodads which combined so allow for an impressive diagnostic suite of whatever was in the space remaining.
Dougie put the bowl on the floor in the middle of the room. He called out to the empty space.
"Scan for my student identification. Start up sequence initiate. Visual interface, haptic feedback"
A silent illusion popped into existance in front of Dougie. It had a dark blue screen that could only just be seen through. On it were the words in white: "Permissions verified. Interface configured. Orders?"
Dougie pushed at the illusionary screen and manipulated the controls much faster than he would have been able to using words. He set a beam on aether radiation down from the ceiling through the bowl and set the results to show in an additional screen.
The radiation passed straight through non-magically reactive substances but he could see the shadow of the slime and the spot where the magic core was had completely absorbed the radiation and showed as a completely white spot on the image.
Magic core confirmed. Dougie grinned. "Jackpot" he said.
"Hey, I like that. From now on I am calling you Jack." The slime responded enthusiastically by ignoring him completely and continuing to try and disolve food larger than it was.
Dougie couldn't let that disrespect slide and picked the slab up out of the bowl and shook the slime off it. The slime fell a considerable distance of several body lengths back into the bowl where it splashed. It took a few moments before it put itself together and Dougie used this time to lay a trail of crumbs in the bowl leading to the remainder of the food.
He watched as the slime shivered, its surface rippling before it convulsed slightly and it started moving towards the nearest crumb. A quick application of diagnostic tools and he realised that Jack had grown for itself a simple chemical sensor net across its surface with matching neural tissue wrapped loosely around the mana core to interpret the resulting information. It had done this modification in seconds with no visable effort. Dougie wasn't sure whether to be impressed or jealous at the adaptability of this strange creature. He thought that the alteration would fall somewhere between smell and taste.
Jack's movement was sometimes like an inchworm and other times had a definate roll-like quality to it. It looked haphazard as anything but it got the job done. Jack followed the crumb trail without hesitation, working to digest the crumbs as it moved along. When the trail was done Jack latched back onto the slab of food as it was before. Dougie watched closely though a variety of vision modes and watched as the brand new sense organ was recycled back into digestive acids.
Dougie had answers to his questions but now he had all new ones. He was more than a bit out of his depth.
What do?
[] Library. There has got to be something about slimes that can alter their internal structures at will. Right?
[] Professor. Sure Jack was awesome, but class credit would be even better. But did he have enough to show yet?
[] Problem solving. Jack seemed to alter itself whenever it had a problem. Design a series in puzzles that increase in difficulty and run Jack through them to make it better. It does seem to be happy to discard any changes as soon as they were no longer needed but it kept the mana core. Maybe it could be convinced to keep a working intellect as well.
[] Write in.
Also, what does Jack think about Dougie. It was able to smell/taste him and figured that he was the one that removed the food and made it work to get it back. The neural tissue used to determine this was just enough for a single additional conclusion about this state of affairs.
[] Food? (is confused)
[] Food! (is angry)
[] FOOD. (Doesn't care at all)
Dougie thought for a moment and realised that he needed to double check the mana cores existence. He knew just what to do. He grabbed the bowl that the slime was in and rushed out of the room with it. Leaving his cubby hole he entered the room that he had to share with another student. Neil. Neither of them liked this arrangement and were both skilled (rich) enough to be able to set up their own pocket dimension that they didn't have to spend time together.
The left the dorm at a jog and set across the campus, past the lecture theatres, past the cafeteria, past the library, and finally to the laboratories. It was a nice day, clean blue sky with the fluffiest of clouds dotting here and there but Dougie barely noticed. It was still the weekend so the lab shouldn't be in use but there were plenty of people who had first dibbs over him and who could even kick him out if they wanted to use the equipment.
He was in luck. There was only one other student in the building and they were using alchemy equipment for something that produced some rather impressivly horrible blue smoke as a by-product. Dougie gave the student a nod which was returned and proceeded to the imaging room.
It had the impression of being a small room but this was just a facade. The rest of the space was filled with stacks of equipment, devices and various doodads which combined so allow for an impressive diagnostic suite of whatever was in the space remaining.
Dougie put the bowl on the floor in the middle of the room. He called out to the empty space.
"Scan for my student identification. Start up sequence initiate. Visual interface, haptic feedback"
A silent illusion popped into existance in front of Dougie. It had a dark blue screen that could only just be seen through. On it were the words in white: "Permissions verified. Interface configured. Orders?"
Dougie pushed at the illusionary screen and manipulated the controls much faster than he would have been able to using words. He set a beam on aether radiation down from the ceiling through the bowl and set the results to show in an additional screen.
The radiation passed straight through non-magically reactive substances but he could see the shadow of the slime and the spot where the magic core was had completely absorbed the radiation and showed as a completely white spot on the image.
Magic core confirmed. Dougie grinned. "Jackpot" he said.
"Hey, I like that. From now on I am calling you Jack." The slime responded enthusiastically by ignoring him completely and continuing to try and disolve food larger than it was.
Dougie couldn't let that disrespect slide and picked the slab up out of the bowl and shook the slime off it. The slime fell a considerable distance of several body lengths back into the bowl where it splashed. It took a few moments before it put itself together and Dougie used this time to lay a trail of crumbs in the bowl leading to the remainder of the food.
He watched as the slime shivered, its surface rippling before it convulsed slightly and it started moving towards the nearest crumb. A quick application of diagnostic tools and he realised that Jack had grown for itself a simple chemical sensor net across its surface with matching neural tissue wrapped loosely around the mana core to interpret the resulting information. It had done this modification in seconds with no visable effort. Dougie wasn't sure whether to be impressed or jealous at the adaptability of this strange creature. He thought that the alteration would fall somewhere between smell and taste.
Jack's movement was sometimes like an inchworm and other times had a definate roll-like quality to it. It looked haphazard as anything but it got the job done. Jack followed the crumb trail without hesitation, working to digest the crumbs as it moved along. When the trail was done Jack latched back onto the slab of food as it was before. Dougie watched closely though a variety of vision modes and watched as the brand new sense organ was recycled back into digestive acids.
Dougie had answers to his questions but now he had all new ones. He was more than a bit out of his depth.
What do?
[] Library. There has got to be something about slimes that can alter their internal structures at will. Right?
[] Professor. Sure Jack was awesome, but class credit would be even better. But did he have enough to show yet?
[] Problem solving. Jack seemed to alter itself whenever it had a problem. Design a series in puzzles that increase in difficulty and run Jack through them to make it better. It does seem to be happy to discard any changes as soon as they were no longer needed but it kept the mana core. Maybe it could be convinced to keep a working intellect as well.
[] Write in.
Also, what does Jack think about Dougie. It was able to smell/taste him and figured that he was the one that removed the food and made it work to get it back. The neural tissue used to determine this was just enough for a single additional conclusion about this state of affairs.
[] Food? (is confused)
[] Food! (is angry)
[] FOOD. (Doesn't care at all)
Last edited:
Training
- Location
- In Orbit
The slime that Dougie called Jack had a problem. This was frustrating. Once it had finished with the crumbs that it had worked for it found that there wasn't a direct path to further food. It had taken a long time to figure out how to move around, through and eventually over the various obstacles and it was rewarded with a crumb after each accomplishment. When it reached the prize the real issue occurred however.
It started to dissolve the alterations that it had made so that it could better eat when it was punished. The slime had never been punished before. The form of the punishment came in a sudden and abrupt cutoff of environmental mana which meant that the slime couldn't produce liquids and thus couldn't eat. Having food right there and being unable to eat it was just so unfair. It had jumped through all of the hoops (sometimes literally) placed in its path and it still wasn't allowed to eat its fill.
After it recovered from its temper tantrum it did as always did and put more brain to the problem. Moments after it did so whatever made the mana go away stopped and the slime was able to eat once again. It started to make room for more digestive acid and the mana went away again. This circus act repeated itself several times before Jack figured out what was being wanted from it.
By leaving all of the changes and additions intact when the problem was solved it was allowed to eat in peace. Having its digestive rate greatly hindered was still better than being prevented from eating at all. The problem giver jumped up and down and made all sorted strange noises when the slime managed to get through all of the reward. Unfortunately all of the additions that the slime was carrying around cost energy to run and much of the food was spent keeping these operational. The neural tissue and the mana core were especially expensive.
The challenges continued but they kept changing. Movement puzzles were replaced with problems where the slime would have to manipulate its environment to match and image to open the path to more food. This required the slime to develop its manipulation and sensory abilities. Touch and taste were the easiest with vision and mana senses the most difficult to make work. The puzzles seemed to go on forever but it was hard to tell exactly since the slime didn't have any mechanism to measure the passing of time.
Jack continued to pass the various challenges put before it and was punished whenever it didn't keep the required changes. It felt bloated and uncomfortable. There was so much growth on its skin and in its centre that it was obviously slower in its movement. The volume of its digestive acid was also so limited that it couldn't digest much more than the crumbs that the tall one was providing it with. It even delayed solving several problems so that it could finish digesting the reward from the previous success.
Finally the tests ended and the slime was bundled back into the bowl that it had entered the horrible room in. Jack didn't mind the puzzles so much but the various flashing lights were annoying. It hadn't noticed when it was first put in the room but all of the effort that it had put into improving its mana senses had made them worse and worse.
It was left alone in its bowl which wasn't nearly as roomy any more. The tall one gave it some food before putting the lid back on. The slime sat in the dark and quiet and pondered its problem. The tall one did such strange things and it was currently dependent on the rewards that it got for sustenance. The slime pondered its problems all through the night, but it was a far harder problem than the ones that it had be taught to solve.
Now that Jack is smarter and has spent the night pondering what conclusions does Jack reach about Dougie?
[] The tall one has a purpose although I don't know what it is yet. I will find out what it is if I am patient.
[] The tall one is teasing me with food. I should take the food from it.
[] The tall one is restricting me. I should get away from it so that I can do what I want.
[] The tall one is teaching me. I have learnt so much and I get treats when I am good. I like this.
[] Write in.
Dougie has sleep and then classes. What does he do with Jack.
[] Jack should come with. It is still small enough to be carried. This will invite questions though.
[] Jack can stay in the pocket dimension. It won't get up to any trouble all alone surely.
[] Set Jack free. There is a nice park not far away from the university that would work.
[] Jack needs a sitter.
[] Blow off classes. This is far more important. Besides he wasn't going to pass that class anyway.
[] Now that Jack has some tricks to show off it is time to take it to the professor. Extra credit here we come.
[] write in.
It started to dissolve the alterations that it had made so that it could better eat when it was punished. The slime had never been punished before. The form of the punishment came in a sudden and abrupt cutoff of environmental mana which meant that the slime couldn't produce liquids and thus couldn't eat. Having food right there and being unable to eat it was just so unfair. It had jumped through all of the hoops (sometimes literally) placed in its path and it still wasn't allowed to eat its fill.
After it recovered from its temper tantrum it did as always did and put more brain to the problem. Moments after it did so whatever made the mana go away stopped and the slime was able to eat once again. It started to make room for more digestive acid and the mana went away again. This circus act repeated itself several times before Jack figured out what was being wanted from it.
By leaving all of the changes and additions intact when the problem was solved it was allowed to eat in peace. Having its digestive rate greatly hindered was still better than being prevented from eating at all. The problem giver jumped up and down and made all sorted strange noises when the slime managed to get through all of the reward. Unfortunately all of the additions that the slime was carrying around cost energy to run and much of the food was spent keeping these operational. The neural tissue and the mana core were especially expensive.
The challenges continued but they kept changing. Movement puzzles were replaced with problems where the slime would have to manipulate its environment to match and image to open the path to more food. This required the slime to develop its manipulation and sensory abilities. Touch and taste were the easiest with vision and mana senses the most difficult to make work. The puzzles seemed to go on forever but it was hard to tell exactly since the slime didn't have any mechanism to measure the passing of time.
Jack continued to pass the various challenges put before it and was punished whenever it didn't keep the required changes. It felt bloated and uncomfortable. There was so much growth on its skin and in its centre that it was obviously slower in its movement. The volume of its digestive acid was also so limited that it couldn't digest much more than the crumbs that the tall one was providing it with. It even delayed solving several problems so that it could finish digesting the reward from the previous success.
Finally the tests ended and the slime was bundled back into the bowl that it had entered the horrible room in. Jack didn't mind the puzzles so much but the various flashing lights were annoying. It hadn't noticed when it was first put in the room but all of the effort that it had put into improving its mana senses had made them worse and worse.
It was left alone in its bowl which wasn't nearly as roomy any more. The tall one gave it some food before putting the lid back on. The slime sat in the dark and quiet and pondered its problem. The tall one did such strange things and it was currently dependent on the rewards that it got for sustenance. The slime pondered its problems all through the night, but it was a far harder problem than the ones that it had be taught to solve.
Now that Jack is smarter and has spent the night pondering what conclusions does Jack reach about Dougie?
[] The tall one has a purpose although I don't know what it is yet. I will find out what it is if I am patient.
[] The tall one is teasing me with food. I should take the food from it.
[] The tall one is restricting me. I should get away from it so that I can do what I want.
[] The tall one is teaching me. I have learnt so much and I get treats when I am good. I like this.
[] Write in.
Dougie has sleep and then classes. What does he do with Jack.
[] Jack should come with. It is still small enough to be carried. This will invite questions though.
[] Jack can stay in the pocket dimension. It won't get up to any trouble all alone surely.
[] Set Jack free. There is a nice park not far away from the university that would work.
[] Jack needs a sitter.
[] Dougie has a few friends that he could ask but none of them are the most reliable
[] Dougie saw an add for a minder. Trained and reliable, if a bit expensive, but they would be a complete stranger.
[] Dougie saw an add for a minder. Trained and reliable, if a bit expensive, but they would be a complete stranger.
[] Blow off classes. This is far more important. Besides he wasn't going to pass that class anyway.
[] Now that Jack has some tricks to show off it is time to take it to the professor. Extra credit here we come.
[] write in.
The Professor
- Location
- In Orbit
<I hadn't noticed that it was so close to Halloween and I am glad that the vote swung away from attempted murder since I struggled to figure out how to make a death match between goop that can fit in a shoe box who can at most dribble water and a practitioner of mystic arts with a tendency to get stoned anything more than a farce.>
Winning vote:
[X] The tall one is teaching me. I have learnt so much and I get treats when I am good. I like this.
[X] Now that Jack has some tricks to show off it is time to take it to the professor. Extra credit here we come.
Virginia Smith was the senior emeritus professor in magibiology and was sitting at her desk bemoaning the existence of paperwork when there was a knock at her door.
"Come". Her tone was strict but she was relieved to have a break from the monotony.
The door opened and a shaggy head poked through it. "Do you have a moment Prof? I have need of your wisdom." Dougie asked.
Virginia was not expecting Dougie. She had only taught him once but his answers in class were quirky enough that she remembered him. She had also typecast him as one of the druggie clique. She was personally against the option to allow students such free reign with pharmacology since most of them lost control and washed out. Her objections were overruled since the minority who managed to balance the conflicting needs of life even while stoned or worse had a tendency to blossom into greatness. That said she wasn't sure into which group Dougie was going to end up in.
"Of course. Come in. Sit down. What can I help you with?" She asked with a smile and a hand wave as she put down her pen and turned over the papers that she had been working on.
Dougie sat and she noticed that he was carrying a box. He pulled the lid off and offered it to her. "Well you see, I have gone and done something unexpected. While I was blackout drunk after a breakup, don't ask, I managed to create life. This is Jack". He said sheepishly.
She examined the contents of the box. "Well done. Creation of magical life forms is usually post-grad level work. But what does this have to do with me?"
He shrugged "As you said, this is work far in advance of what I would be called to perform. Any chance of extra credit?"
Virginia casually cast a spell that layered her flesh in mana made solid yet malleable and reached in to pat the slime. It's texture was not right for a standard acid slime. Intrigued she pulled it out of the box and into the light.
"What have to done to this poor slime? It looks terrible!" she exclaimed.
"I just taught it a few tricks. I was rather impressed at how quickly it was able to learn, and I thought that this might mean that it was a special variant, you know, a smarter one." he responded.
"That well might be but even so Jack here is severely undersized for all of the additions that you have forced on it. A slime needs to be mostly slime, I thought that that would have been obvious. This much deviation from standard must be causing a lot of stress on the poor dear. We need to fix this at once. Come with me." she said as she put Jack back in the box.
The left the office and went down to her personal experimental area. With an ease of countless hours of experience she poured the slime into an enchanted glass cauldron before mixing up an appropriate meal for the creature.
Various powders with all of the trace minerals that the slime would need along with sugars, fats and proteins that would allow it to grow big and strong were mixed with mana infused waters into a slurry of the exact consistency so that the slime would hardly have to digest it at all. She kept up a running commentary of her actions for Dougie's sake since she would certainly not be taking responsibility for Jack, she had enough things on her plate already. With his help they poured the over sized mixture down onto the tiny slime who was immediately in food heaven.
With that task completed she turned back to Dougie. "To recap: you made a slime while on a bender; don't remember how; mistreated it for the months required to have it grow all of those additions and now you want a pat on the head?" she asked scathingly.
Dougie grinned "That sounds almost right. One thing that you might have missed in your initial examination is that Jack here managed to grow itself a mana core on its very first day of existence. Today, in fact, is day two. I didn't want to bother you until I knew more about what I had on my hands." as he talked he handed over the recordings that he had made in the imaging chamber of Jack showing the mana core. He also handed over another pair of images showing the before and after shots from the training session.
Virginia examined the sheets closely. "You didn't do anything intentional to provoke a mana core?"
Dougie winced. "This is my first slime, okay. There is a learning curve. I fed it some rations, but I forgot to give it liquids to match. Jack grew a mana core and started to transmute mana into water so that it could eat. It didn't take it long either. I only left it alone briefly."
"I have to admit that you have something special here. It would have been easier to sign off on a project if you knew what you had done and could replicate it, but never mind. To get extra credit I will have to enroll you in a independent study class. You need a goal and will have to both write a paper and present it at the end of semester. What exactly do you want to do the project on?"
[] catalog a new variant of the slime species, with all of its strengths and limitations (biology focused; ends in dissection)
[] To teach the slime true intelligence (psychology focused)
[] A safe source of low quality mana cores (farming focused, will attempt to repeat circumstances that made Jack to breed them)
[] A renewable source of low quality mana cores (training focused, try to teach Jack to extrude a mana core on its surface as payment for food that can be removed without trauma.)
[] Something else? Write in.
Winning vote:
[X] The tall one is teaching me. I have learnt so much and I get treats when I am good. I like this.
[X] Now that Jack has some tricks to show off it is time to take it to the professor. Extra credit here we come.
Virginia Smith was the senior emeritus professor in magibiology and was sitting at her desk bemoaning the existence of paperwork when there was a knock at her door.
"Come". Her tone was strict but she was relieved to have a break from the monotony.
The door opened and a shaggy head poked through it. "Do you have a moment Prof? I have need of your wisdom." Dougie asked.
Virginia was not expecting Dougie. She had only taught him once but his answers in class were quirky enough that she remembered him. She had also typecast him as one of the druggie clique. She was personally against the option to allow students such free reign with pharmacology since most of them lost control and washed out. Her objections were overruled since the minority who managed to balance the conflicting needs of life even while stoned or worse had a tendency to blossom into greatness. That said she wasn't sure into which group Dougie was going to end up in.
"Of course. Come in. Sit down. What can I help you with?" She asked with a smile and a hand wave as she put down her pen and turned over the papers that she had been working on.
Dougie sat and she noticed that he was carrying a box. He pulled the lid off and offered it to her. "Well you see, I have gone and done something unexpected. While I was blackout drunk after a breakup, don't ask, I managed to create life. This is Jack". He said sheepishly.
She examined the contents of the box. "Well done. Creation of magical life forms is usually post-grad level work. But what does this have to do with me?"
He shrugged "As you said, this is work far in advance of what I would be called to perform. Any chance of extra credit?"
Virginia casually cast a spell that layered her flesh in mana made solid yet malleable and reached in to pat the slime. It's texture was not right for a standard acid slime. Intrigued she pulled it out of the box and into the light.
"What have to done to this poor slime? It looks terrible!" she exclaimed.
"I just taught it a few tricks. I was rather impressed at how quickly it was able to learn, and I thought that this might mean that it was a special variant, you know, a smarter one." he responded.
"That well might be but even so Jack here is severely undersized for all of the additions that you have forced on it. A slime needs to be mostly slime, I thought that that would have been obvious. This much deviation from standard must be causing a lot of stress on the poor dear. We need to fix this at once. Come with me." she said as she put Jack back in the box.
The left the office and went down to her personal experimental area. With an ease of countless hours of experience she poured the slime into an enchanted glass cauldron before mixing up an appropriate meal for the creature.
Various powders with all of the trace minerals that the slime would need along with sugars, fats and proteins that would allow it to grow big and strong were mixed with mana infused waters into a slurry of the exact consistency so that the slime would hardly have to digest it at all. She kept up a running commentary of her actions for Dougie's sake since she would certainly not be taking responsibility for Jack, she had enough things on her plate already. With his help they poured the over sized mixture down onto the tiny slime who was immediately in food heaven.
With that task completed she turned back to Dougie. "To recap: you made a slime while on a bender; don't remember how; mistreated it for the months required to have it grow all of those additions and now you want a pat on the head?" she asked scathingly.
Dougie grinned "That sounds almost right. One thing that you might have missed in your initial examination is that Jack here managed to grow itself a mana core on its very first day of existence. Today, in fact, is day two. I didn't want to bother you until I knew more about what I had on my hands." as he talked he handed over the recordings that he had made in the imaging chamber of Jack showing the mana core. He also handed over another pair of images showing the before and after shots from the training session.
Virginia examined the sheets closely. "You didn't do anything intentional to provoke a mana core?"
Dougie winced. "This is my first slime, okay. There is a learning curve. I fed it some rations, but I forgot to give it liquids to match. Jack grew a mana core and started to transmute mana into water so that it could eat. It didn't take it long either. I only left it alone briefly."
"I have to admit that you have something special here. It would have been easier to sign off on a project if you knew what you had done and could replicate it, but never mind. To get extra credit I will have to enroll you in a independent study class. You need a goal and will have to both write a paper and present it at the end of semester. What exactly do you want to do the project on?"
[] catalog a new variant of the slime species, with all of its strengths and limitations (biology focused; ends in dissection)
[] To teach the slime true intelligence (psychology focused)
[] A safe source of low quality mana cores (farming focused, will attempt to repeat circumstances that made Jack to breed them)
[] A renewable source of low quality mana cores (training focused, try to teach Jack to extrude a mana core on its surface as payment for food that can be removed without trauma.)
[] Something else? Write in.
Last edited:
Proposal writing
- Location
- In Orbit
There was enough interest that I am going to go with both of the top 2 options
[X] To teach the slime true intelligence (psychology focused)
[X] A renewable source of low quality mana cores (training focused, try to teach Jack to extrude a mana core on its surface as payment for food that can be removed without trauma.)
Student and teacher discussed the various options and came to a conclusion as Jack ate and ate growing ever larger.
"I still think that figuring out exactly what you have done and replicating it would be the most impressive project that you could undertake" said the professor.
"True, but I really don't have any idea what happened. I would have no advantage over trying to develop a new slime species from scratch. No, I will stick with the hand that I have been granted through the whims of fate. I will take Jack to the greatest heights possible and that will have to be enough." Dougie was adamant.
Dr Smith sighed then nodded. "Very well. This is what you will need to do." With a complete lack of theatrics she conjured a ream of paperwork. "Normally you would have a month to fill this out but due to timing and the unorthodox nature of your request I will need it done before the end of the week. Have fun."
Dougie grinned "I am not afraid of a little paperwork. To show how very grateful I am for this opportunity I will get on this immediately. Don't worry, I won't forget about all of my other responsibilities."
"See that you don't. I will be keeping an eye on what you manage to accomplish with Jack here. It is something special." With those parting words she left for her office, the call of her own paperwork calling.
Dougie pulled a pen from his pocket and twirling in his fingers he looked through the papers that he had to complete. It was straight forward if lengthy and he had already discussed the vast majority of it. Everything that he would need to detail about his project, his methodology and goals had to be defined within.
After making sure that the Professor was gone and was unlikely to return and that Jack was going to be busy for the foreseeable future Dougie reached far further into an inner pocket than seemed possible from the outside. Sowing a portable hole into clothes was a difficult and expensive operation but worth it for sheer utility. He pulled out box, long and thin that was burnished wood banded in metal. The lock required blood to pass and within was a variety of vials, pills, powders and a syringe.
Despite the blind eye that the administration took to drug use for the purpose of expanding ones magical potential, they would be most unhappy if he was discovered with several of these reagents. Nootropics were frowned on by academics but Dougie was certain that this was just because they were jealous. Besides he was certain that he would eventually be able to accomplish the same mind altering effects without the assistance of drugs once he had sufficient experience but they would work as a crutch for the moment.
He started his procedure of mnemonics and spells as he imbibed and injected his chemical assistants. He was getting faster but it still took him five minutes to get the intense focus that he was aiming for. All of his fears and doubts faded away. His attention for anything unrelated to his current task was put aside. He stopped noticing the various aches and pains that come from having a corporeal presence. Nothing mattered but completing his personally assigned goal of completing his project proposal as efficiently and eloquently as possible.
With this mono-focus he memorized the wording of the entire stack of papers and pulling from all his studies he constructed a perfectly mental document that met the requirements or each section. In this state it was impossible to measure the passing of time but he knew from experience that he was far more articulate in much less time than he would normally manage. He reviewed and edited his mental creation time and again, polishing it until he was happy with it.
Finally he was ready for the boring part. With a burst of mental effort the rest of his pens levitated out of his pockets and met with the now floating papers that were arrayed around him. Each He ran on several layers of split thought, one for each pen and another to direct them like a conductor and without pause he started writing with a pen in each hand and another four besides. Instead of moving the pens around he moved the paper which required less power but more control. Control was dependent on focus and that was something that he had in excess for the duration of his spell.
The pages filled with clean, neat and easy to read calligraphy six at a time at an amazing rate. Of course Dougie was unable to feel wonder for the moment. Each word laid down matched exactly the mental document and he was still able to hold the mental structures of the spell in place as the last of his 50 pages were filled in, although the protective measures that he had designed to prevent permanent damage were starting to warn him that he would be unable to continue much longer without bursting a blood vessel in his Broca's area. Since he didn't want to lose his ability to talk he disassembled the magical structures and allowed his thoughts free from their cage.
Dougie checked his timepiece. Two hours had passed. He started some exercises to shake out his muscles and relieve the tension that had accumulated as he had hardly moved for the entire time. As he worked through his set he cast an eye over Jack. It had eaten its way to the top of the food and had grown visibly but it was far from being done. Dougie noticed happily that it had kept all of the modifications that it had been convinced to grow. Being bigger they sat a lot more comfortably on its form. It looked happy enough and had plenty to do so Dougie wandered off back to his room for some much needed sleep with a passing goodbye wave.
~~~
Dr Virginia Smith made sure that she was back in her office with the door locked and her sign indicated that she was unavailable before she released control over her body. It was a useful spell that had served her well in all social engagements but holding it for too long left her with a psychosomatic itch that only grew over time. She had felt compelled to engage it to hide the full extent of her shock at Jack's capabilities at such a young age. Dougie was too immature to realize but this was a game changer. Even if he was unable to accomplish either of his stated goals the mere existence of such a pliant and teachable monster would cause a resurgence in the art of creating custom life forms.
This was too big for just her. She needed to tell someone.
<Note that this vote is specifically for world building. Options not chosen imply that the option don't exist in the world. You can pick as many as you want and I will adjust as needed to make it work. Please vote by plan>
[] institution lawyers to get most acclaim and honor (and legal rights) from results. (This implies a Capitalist society with all of the pros and cons that come with it)
[] The workers society should get a head's up since this could well affect their livelihood in the future (A socialist society)
[] As requested she will tell her holy father at confession (A Theocratic society)
[] rebellion connections to overthrow the evil despot (A corrupt and evil government)
[] Big brother already knows (an efficient an evil government)
[] Even if she told little sister the message wouldn't get to those to needed to know about it until it was too late anyway. (a well meaning but inefficient government)
[-] There was a form for just this sort of situation available at the local council office. (a well meaning and well run government) [haha, yeah right. Pull the other one]
[] Although she risked breaking cover the homeland needed to know (There is a cold war that threatens to turn hot with the neighbor)
[] anyone who would listen since it might be the turning of the tide (Hello death world)
[] no-one, things are fine as they are (mystery box option) (Can only be taken alone)
[] write in (you can propose any world building dependent on my sign off)
[X] To teach the slime true intelligence (psychology focused)
[X] A renewable source of low quality mana cores (training focused, try to teach Jack to extrude a mana core on its surface as payment for food that can be removed without trauma.)
Student and teacher discussed the various options and came to a conclusion as Jack ate and ate growing ever larger.
"I still think that figuring out exactly what you have done and replicating it would be the most impressive project that you could undertake" said the professor.
"True, but I really don't have any idea what happened. I would have no advantage over trying to develop a new slime species from scratch. No, I will stick with the hand that I have been granted through the whims of fate. I will take Jack to the greatest heights possible and that will have to be enough." Dougie was adamant.
Dr Smith sighed then nodded. "Very well. This is what you will need to do." With a complete lack of theatrics she conjured a ream of paperwork. "Normally you would have a month to fill this out but due to timing and the unorthodox nature of your request I will need it done before the end of the week. Have fun."
Dougie grinned "I am not afraid of a little paperwork. To show how very grateful I am for this opportunity I will get on this immediately. Don't worry, I won't forget about all of my other responsibilities."
"See that you don't. I will be keeping an eye on what you manage to accomplish with Jack here. It is something special." With those parting words she left for her office, the call of her own paperwork calling.
Dougie pulled a pen from his pocket and twirling in his fingers he looked through the papers that he had to complete. It was straight forward if lengthy and he had already discussed the vast majority of it. Everything that he would need to detail about his project, his methodology and goals had to be defined within.
After making sure that the Professor was gone and was unlikely to return and that Jack was going to be busy for the foreseeable future Dougie reached far further into an inner pocket than seemed possible from the outside. Sowing a portable hole into clothes was a difficult and expensive operation but worth it for sheer utility. He pulled out box, long and thin that was burnished wood banded in metal. The lock required blood to pass and within was a variety of vials, pills, powders and a syringe.
Despite the blind eye that the administration took to drug use for the purpose of expanding ones magical potential, they would be most unhappy if he was discovered with several of these reagents. Nootropics were frowned on by academics but Dougie was certain that this was just because they were jealous. Besides he was certain that he would eventually be able to accomplish the same mind altering effects without the assistance of drugs once he had sufficient experience but they would work as a crutch for the moment.
He started his procedure of mnemonics and spells as he imbibed and injected his chemical assistants. He was getting faster but it still took him five minutes to get the intense focus that he was aiming for. All of his fears and doubts faded away. His attention for anything unrelated to his current task was put aside. He stopped noticing the various aches and pains that come from having a corporeal presence. Nothing mattered but completing his personally assigned goal of completing his project proposal as efficiently and eloquently as possible.
With this mono-focus he memorized the wording of the entire stack of papers and pulling from all his studies he constructed a perfectly mental document that met the requirements or each section. In this state it was impossible to measure the passing of time but he knew from experience that he was far more articulate in much less time than he would normally manage. He reviewed and edited his mental creation time and again, polishing it until he was happy with it.
Finally he was ready for the boring part. With a burst of mental effort the rest of his pens levitated out of his pockets and met with the now floating papers that were arrayed around him. Each He ran on several layers of split thought, one for each pen and another to direct them like a conductor and without pause he started writing with a pen in each hand and another four besides. Instead of moving the pens around he moved the paper which required less power but more control. Control was dependent on focus and that was something that he had in excess for the duration of his spell.
The pages filled with clean, neat and easy to read calligraphy six at a time at an amazing rate. Of course Dougie was unable to feel wonder for the moment. Each word laid down matched exactly the mental document and he was still able to hold the mental structures of the spell in place as the last of his 50 pages were filled in, although the protective measures that he had designed to prevent permanent damage were starting to warn him that he would be unable to continue much longer without bursting a blood vessel in his Broca's area. Since he didn't want to lose his ability to talk he disassembled the magical structures and allowed his thoughts free from their cage.
Dougie checked his timepiece. Two hours had passed. He started some exercises to shake out his muscles and relieve the tension that had accumulated as he had hardly moved for the entire time. As he worked through his set he cast an eye over Jack. It had eaten its way to the top of the food and had grown visibly but it was far from being done. Dougie noticed happily that it had kept all of the modifications that it had been convinced to grow. Being bigger they sat a lot more comfortably on its form. It looked happy enough and had plenty to do so Dougie wandered off back to his room for some much needed sleep with a passing goodbye wave.
~~~
Dr Virginia Smith made sure that she was back in her office with the door locked and her sign indicated that she was unavailable before she released control over her body. It was a useful spell that had served her well in all social engagements but holding it for too long left her with a psychosomatic itch that only grew over time. She had felt compelled to engage it to hide the full extent of her shock at Jack's capabilities at such a young age. Dougie was too immature to realize but this was a game changer. Even if he was unable to accomplish either of his stated goals the mere existence of such a pliant and teachable monster would cause a resurgence in the art of creating custom life forms.
This was too big for just her. She needed to tell someone.
<Note that this vote is specifically for world building. Options not chosen imply that the option don't exist in the world. You can pick as many as you want and I will adjust as needed to make it work. Please vote by plan>
[] institution lawyers to get most acclaim and honor (and legal rights) from results. (This implies a Capitalist society with all of the pros and cons that come with it)
[] The workers society should get a head's up since this could well affect their livelihood in the future (A socialist society)
[] As requested she will tell her holy father at confession (A Theocratic society)
[] rebellion connections to overthrow the evil despot (A corrupt and evil government)
[] Big brother already knows (an efficient an evil government)
[] Even if she told little sister the message wouldn't get to those to needed to know about it until it was too late anyway. (a well meaning but inefficient government)
[-] There was a form for just this sort of situation available at the local council office. (a well meaning and well run government) [haha, yeah right. Pull the other one]
[] Although she risked breaking cover the homeland needed to know (There is a cold war that threatens to turn hot with the neighbor)
[] anyone who would listen since it might be the turning of the tide (Hello death world)
[] no-one, things are fine as they are (mystery box option) (Can only be taken alone)
[] write in (you can propose any world building dependent on my sign off)
Reminiscing
- Location
- In Orbit
[X] Even if she told little sister the message wouldn't get to those to needed to know about it until it was too late anyway. (a well meaning but inefficient government)
[x] Although she risked breaking cover the homeland needed to know (There is a cold war that threatens to turn hot with the neighbor)
[x] anyone who would listen since it might be the turning of the tide (Hello death world)
After pondering for a moment Virginia decided that she would tell everyone. There were plenty of interested parties for a discovery like this. The government would have to be the first on the list. Mainly because it would take the longest.
She pulled out a tall sheaf of papers and started leafing through them, looking for the form she wanted. Form IIV-B-3? No, that was to requisition a new gardener for the college. Form IIV-B-4? No, that's the form to report a ship lost at sea. Why did she even have that? Ah, here it was, Form IIV-B-5, reporting an undiscovered form of slime. And with that she needed Form 65-IV-A-V, identifying characteristics, and Amplifying Form 5-C-21, method of discovery. And Form II-4-B-IV... She sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.
Virginia was old enough to remember when the bureaucracy actually worked smoothly. The Emperor was still ruling then and evil despot he might have been he was invested in making the Empire the very best that it could be. Many people suspected that this was from vanity more than anything else since the Emperor considered the Empire a mere extension of Itself.
The Emperor had been ruling the Empire for long enough that the moniker Eternal had been applied to both. The philosophy of the Emperor was that the prime difference between sentients and beasts was communication and the team-work that this allowed. Instead of focusing on having the best the Empire had the most and in just the right place and time as needed. Every child was examined carefully and given a custom tailored schooling and carrier path, those that were not sacrificed to ensure that the Emperor would live forever of course.
The restrictions on personal freedom prevented many of the sparks of genius that were seen beyond the walled borders but by learning the cold calculus of war the barbarians were kept from the gate and the myriad varieties of monsters were prevented from making a toehold. On the few occasions that conventional forces were insufficient fell rituals were used to ensure the safety of the majority at the expense of the few.
This had been the status quo for longer than anyone other than the Emperor could remember and people were resigned to the necessity of the evils perpetrated in defense of their way of life. A change came when the Emperor announced a new threat from beyond greater than anything that the Empire had need to face before. The entirety of Its great concentration was needed to prevent catastrophe and the local governors were given far greater autonomy for the duration of the emergency.
As shocking as this apparent acknowledgement of insignificant power was it was nothing compared to when the Emperor started to lose. Greater and more terrible rituals were needed to keep the great demon from entering reality. It took a year of hard magical struggle in the beyond and the screaming sacrifice of an entire percentage point of the populace for the fight to be won. The made the survivors unhappy and whispers of discontent spread.
The Emperor called in the governors and showed them of the victory. It had been much diminished with Its soul in tatters and its magic barely flickering as its slithering form rose up over the mere mortals that It had left running things.
The Emperor was so proud at the success that It had had protecting the Empire. It was so very confused when the castle was stormed. So great was the discontent that the majority of the guards were in on it and most of the remainder left rather than defend the one that had taken so much from them. It could not understand why they would consider the death of their children too high a price for safety. No one bothered to explain the concept to It. The governors died first and the the Eternal Emperor joined them shortly after. Blood ran in the street as those most loyal to the previous regime were culled out of the government offices.
Bells were rung all over the Empire. Ding Dong the Emperor is dead. Parties were thrown and ran until the food ran out. When the hangover's faded the reality of an Empire without the Emperor started to sink in. The leader of the group of heroes who led the charge and was the one who swung the final blow had taken control but he didn't know anything about leadership, diplomacy or delegation. It turned out that the spells that run the bureaucracy were powered by the Emperor and anyone who knew enough to restart them with a different power source were either dead or in hiding. Paper forms were the best alternative and it just wasn't good enough.
Without the Evils invoked by a ruler willing to do anything required for victory the Empire stopped winning. Casualties were far greater across the board and territory was lost to neighbors who took advantage of any weakness. Monster's were not culled appropriately and places far within the walls stopped being safe. It was a dark time but the people consoled themselves with the knowledge that the current evils were at least honest about the terror that they caused.
Things had improved enough to reach a new equilibrium since then but the paperwork was still horrible. Every form that she filled out in triplicate reminded her of victories won and the costs involved. Personally it reminded her of her secret oaths to the Consulate. It's rulers were a lesser evil but at least they would make the hard calls for their own good unlike the Hero. The Hero of the people was a horrible ruler but felt that by going from one emergency to another killing the worst of the monsters he was doing an excellent job. It was unsustainable and she was certain that it would lead to the doom of all if it continued. She would keep playing the role assigned to her but if it came to war between the Empire and the Consulate she knew that she wanted the Consulate to win and bloodlessly as possible. It was the only hope for a future for the people that she loved.
She broke out of her revery as she finished the last of the forms. A roll of the shoulders and a crack of the neck set her right and she packaged the stack and took them with her as she left the office. The paperwork was dropped at the appropriate office on campus where it would be taken to the Capital and processed. She knew from painful experience that it would take the bureaucrats weeks to work through their backlog enough for them to see her work and that it would take longer before it was passed through the various departments to someone who had both authority and intelligence enough to realize what they had. She doubted that she would hear from them in time for it to make a difference.
The circuitous route that she took leaving campus would inform her Consulate handler that she had news and which dead drop she would leave it at. Then she went home. Telling everyone else would have to wait until the standard gossip meeting.
Empire members had become used to the inefficiencies inflicted upon them by the bureaucratic nightmare wrapped in the trappings of niceness and had adjusted each in their own way. Virginia had with her works backing joined a gossip group. There were members from a variety of organisations who would meet regularly and inform their counterparts of events of importance that had happened in their sphere's of influence. There were even members of government who attended. It was a known and accepted method of short cutting the never ending paperwork and actually getting information to those who needed it to ensure that something could be done.
Victoria sighed. Dealing with paperwork always made her feel just that little bit dirty. She was looking forward to a bath.
~~~
Jack was full. This had never happened before in its entire existence. It had eaten a feast that the other one had shown the maker how to prepare. It was just the right consistency and absolutely delicious. Jack lost itself in the joy of eating. It didn't stop eating until it felt like it. There was still plenty of food left and it rested upon the bounty covering the surface the entire surface of the cauldron content and turned its attention outward for the first time since it had been put in the container. Maker was nearby but he wasn't paying any attention. Attempts to gain his attention failed repeatedly. The old standby of surface shivering was ignored and Jack developed entirely new methods of control over its internals to allow it to extend a pseudo-pod vertically and waggle it in a rough approximation of the limbs that maker had, but nothing.
Jack was filled with a sense of gratitude for finally having its hunger dealt with. It wanted to show its appreciation for existing and for having its needs taken care of. Even all of the extra additions that Maker had inflicted on it were nice now that it was big enough that they were not causing discomfort. It had been paying attention when Maker and the other one were together. Communication between them seemed to contain a lot of body language but there have been more to it than the moving the jaw and limbs. Jack wanted to tell Maker, well it just wanted to be able to communicate, there was so much to say and even more to listen to, like what its purpose was. Jack hoped that whatever it's reason for existence was it would be able to have many more feasts in the future.
How does Jack try and communicate?
[] Practice it's body shaping. Jack can currently manage a single short crude growth that it can wave around. Try to emulate Makers shape.
[] Jack doesn't need to communicate the same as Maker as long as it can do so. Now that a dribble of water isn't needed for food perhaps it could be directed towards sending and receiving information. (DC70 out of D100 roll for telepathy. WARNING low rolls (>30) will cause unintended side effects.)
[] Vibration is the key. When the jaw moved there was a vibration through the air that went with it. Learn how to experience those vibrations and produce them (develop primitive hearing and sound production via a tight membrane that can be grown on its surface)
[] Write in.
[x] Although she risked breaking cover the homeland needed to know (There is a cold war that threatens to turn hot with the neighbor)
[x] anyone who would listen since it might be the turning of the tide (Hello death world)
After pondering for a moment Virginia decided that she would tell everyone. There were plenty of interested parties for a discovery like this. The government would have to be the first on the list. Mainly because it would take the longest.
She pulled out a tall sheaf of papers and started leafing through them, looking for the form she wanted. Form IIV-B-3? No, that was to requisition a new gardener for the college. Form IIV-B-4? No, that's the form to report a ship lost at sea. Why did she even have that? Ah, here it was, Form IIV-B-5, reporting an undiscovered form of slime. And with that she needed Form 65-IV-A-V, identifying characteristics, and Amplifying Form 5-C-21, method of discovery. And Form II-4-B-IV... She sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.
Virginia was old enough to remember when the bureaucracy actually worked smoothly. The Emperor was still ruling then and evil despot he might have been he was invested in making the Empire the very best that it could be. Many people suspected that this was from vanity more than anything else since the Emperor considered the Empire a mere extension of Itself.
The Emperor had been ruling the Empire for long enough that the moniker Eternal had been applied to both. The philosophy of the Emperor was that the prime difference between sentients and beasts was communication and the team-work that this allowed. Instead of focusing on having the best the Empire had the most and in just the right place and time as needed. Every child was examined carefully and given a custom tailored schooling and carrier path, those that were not sacrificed to ensure that the Emperor would live forever of course.
The restrictions on personal freedom prevented many of the sparks of genius that were seen beyond the walled borders but by learning the cold calculus of war the barbarians were kept from the gate and the myriad varieties of monsters were prevented from making a toehold. On the few occasions that conventional forces were insufficient fell rituals were used to ensure the safety of the majority at the expense of the few.
This had been the status quo for longer than anyone other than the Emperor could remember and people were resigned to the necessity of the evils perpetrated in defense of their way of life. A change came when the Emperor announced a new threat from beyond greater than anything that the Empire had need to face before. The entirety of Its great concentration was needed to prevent catastrophe and the local governors were given far greater autonomy for the duration of the emergency.
As shocking as this apparent acknowledgement of insignificant power was it was nothing compared to when the Emperor started to lose. Greater and more terrible rituals were needed to keep the great demon from entering reality. It took a year of hard magical struggle in the beyond and the screaming sacrifice of an entire percentage point of the populace for the fight to be won. The made the survivors unhappy and whispers of discontent spread.
The Emperor called in the governors and showed them of the victory. It had been much diminished with Its soul in tatters and its magic barely flickering as its slithering form rose up over the mere mortals that It had left running things.
The Emperor was so proud at the success that It had had protecting the Empire. It was so very confused when the castle was stormed. So great was the discontent that the majority of the guards were in on it and most of the remainder left rather than defend the one that had taken so much from them. It could not understand why they would consider the death of their children too high a price for safety. No one bothered to explain the concept to It. The governors died first and the the Eternal Emperor joined them shortly after. Blood ran in the street as those most loyal to the previous regime were culled out of the government offices.
Bells were rung all over the Empire. Ding Dong the Emperor is dead. Parties were thrown and ran until the food ran out. When the hangover's faded the reality of an Empire without the Emperor started to sink in. The leader of the group of heroes who led the charge and was the one who swung the final blow had taken control but he didn't know anything about leadership, diplomacy or delegation. It turned out that the spells that run the bureaucracy were powered by the Emperor and anyone who knew enough to restart them with a different power source were either dead or in hiding. Paper forms were the best alternative and it just wasn't good enough.
Without the Evils invoked by a ruler willing to do anything required for victory the Empire stopped winning. Casualties were far greater across the board and territory was lost to neighbors who took advantage of any weakness. Monster's were not culled appropriately and places far within the walls stopped being safe. It was a dark time but the people consoled themselves with the knowledge that the current evils were at least honest about the terror that they caused.
Things had improved enough to reach a new equilibrium since then but the paperwork was still horrible. Every form that she filled out in triplicate reminded her of victories won and the costs involved. Personally it reminded her of her secret oaths to the Consulate. It's rulers were a lesser evil but at least they would make the hard calls for their own good unlike the Hero. The Hero of the people was a horrible ruler but felt that by going from one emergency to another killing the worst of the monsters he was doing an excellent job. It was unsustainable and she was certain that it would lead to the doom of all if it continued. She would keep playing the role assigned to her but if it came to war between the Empire and the Consulate she knew that she wanted the Consulate to win and bloodlessly as possible. It was the only hope for a future for the people that she loved.
She broke out of her revery as she finished the last of the forms. A roll of the shoulders and a crack of the neck set her right and she packaged the stack and took them with her as she left the office. The paperwork was dropped at the appropriate office on campus where it would be taken to the Capital and processed. She knew from painful experience that it would take the bureaucrats weeks to work through their backlog enough for them to see her work and that it would take longer before it was passed through the various departments to someone who had both authority and intelligence enough to realize what they had. She doubted that she would hear from them in time for it to make a difference.
The circuitous route that she took leaving campus would inform her Consulate handler that she had news and which dead drop she would leave it at. Then she went home. Telling everyone else would have to wait until the standard gossip meeting.
Empire members had become used to the inefficiencies inflicted upon them by the bureaucratic nightmare wrapped in the trappings of niceness and had adjusted each in their own way. Virginia had with her works backing joined a gossip group. There were members from a variety of organisations who would meet regularly and inform their counterparts of events of importance that had happened in their sphere's of influence. There were even members of government who attended. It was a known and accepted method of short cutting the never ending paperwork and actually getting information to those who needed it to ensure that something could be done.
Victoria sighed. Dealing with paperwork always made her feel just that little bit dirty. She was looking forward to a bath.
~~~
Jack was full. This had never happened before in its entire existence. It had eaten a feast that the other one had shown the maker how to prepare. It was just the right consistency and absolutely delicious. Jack lost itself in the joy of eating. It didn't stop eating until it felt like it. There was still plenty of food left and it rested upon the bounty covering the surface the entire surface of the cauldron content and turned its attention outward for the first time since it had been put in the container. Maker was nearby but he wasn't paying any attention. Attempts to gain his attention failed repeatedly. The old standby of surface shivering was ignored and Jack developed entirely new methods of control over its internals to allow it to extend a pseudo-pod vertically and waggle it in a rough approximation of the limbs that maker had, but nothing.
Jack was filled with a sense of gratitude for finally having its hunger dealt with. It wanted to show its appreciation for existing and for having its needs taken care of. Even all of the extra additions that Maker had inflicted on it were nice now that it was big enough that they were not causing discomfort. It had been paying attention when Maker and the other one were together. Communication between them seemed to contain a lot of body language but there have been more to it than the moving the jaw and limbs. Jack wanted to tell Maker, well it just wanted to be able to communicate, there was so much to say and even more to listen to, like what its purpose was. Jack hoped that whatever it's reason for existence was it would be able to have many more feasts in the future.
How does Jack try and communicate?
[] Practice it's body shaping. Jack can currently manage a single short crude growth that it can wave around. Try to emulate Makers shape.
[] Jack doesn't need to communicate the same as Maker as long as it can do so. Now that a dribble of water isn't needed for food perhaps it could be directed towards sending and receiving information. (DC70 out of D100 roll for telepathy. WARNING low rolls (>30) will cause unintended side effects.)
[] Vibration is the key. When the jaw moved there was a vibration through the air that went with it. Learn how to experience those vibrations and produce them (develop primitive hearing and sound production via a tight membrane that can be grown on its surface)
[] Write in.
Sound
- Location
- In Orbit
[X] Vibration is the key
Jack decided that the tall ones were communicating in a way that it was unable to detect. Of the various options that it could think of vibrations in the air is the simplest to test. Throughout the night it worked on various methods of making the air vibrate. Eating the air didn't work but hitting it did, at least sort of. Jack grew some thin hairs on its surface to tell when the air was moved and when it thumped against the side of the tub the air definitely moved. Jack was fairly sure that this was not the communication that the tall ones were using but it was a start.
Jack moved on from hitting the air with force to hitting it as rapidly as possible. The slime struggled to find a way to hit the air quickly enough but the less of itself that it used the faster it could go. After a full night of experiments and failures Jack finally had something that worked. It was a flap of skin pulled tight by a ring of cartilage surrounded with pressure sensors. When it managed to wire the sensors up to neural tissue correctly the sensitivity that it could detect air vibration became almost overwhelming.
Comparatively making the tight skin push the air around to make its own air vibrations was much easier. The only issue was that if the skin was being moved then it could not be used to detect air movement at the same time. This issue was solved by having multiple skins. They were all very delicate and easily torn so Jack built itself a stalk on the top of its body. The stalk was long and thin and covered in small elevated circles that were its sound producer/sensors. It put a dedicated light sensor at the top of the stalk so that it could see over the top of the lip of the container easier.
This is a useful success so Jack experiments with more stalks. It grew a whole forest of stalks on its top but they got in each others way. Any more than 5 was too many. Further play has Jack decide that two stalks is enough normally but it can grow additional ones as needed. Having multiple stalks had the unexpected benefit of allowing Jack to hear from differing points which allows it to very roughly determine where the sound originated from. There were many issues with this and Jack decided to practice it later when it had a reliable external source of noise.
~~~
Dougie wandered back in to the lab that afternoon after a morning of classes while eating an apple. The message that Education was Important had been ingrained from a young age but sometimes it was just so boring. Dougie was partway through closing the door when he noticed Jack looking back at him.
The shock was enough that he lost his grip on both the apple and the door. The door slammed shut with a clang of metal on metal.
"cLanG" the slime said. The sound that came from the stalks looking at Dougie were not quite the same but it was a recognizable attempt at mimicry. Dougie swore in shock and Jack parroted back the profanity. Dougie started to laugh but quickly stopped as the slime's attempts at copying merriment were quite disturbing. The sounds were quiet and just slightly discordant since they were coming from a variety of sources at once which meant that its version of laughter was more like the distant cries of the damned.
Dougie tried telling Jack the names of the various things in the room but Jack just repeated the sounds with no understanding. This continued without any increase in comprehension until Dougie poured a handful of water onto Jack while naming it "Water".
Jack had a flash of understanding and bounced around screaming WATER as loud as it can manage which rather freaked out Dougie because in its excitement each of the sound producers ceased synchronization completely and there were dozens of discordant whispers. Jack finally calmed down and was able to link the sounds to the entity that Dougie had named earlier. It spent a minute of so pointing out the light and table and door and so on. Then it pointed to itself "jAck" and to Dougie "Daddy".
"Close enough kid, close enough". Dougie had tears in his eyes.
Jack decided that the tall ones were communicating in a way that it was unable to detect. Of the various options that it could think of vibrations in the air is the simplest to test. Throughout the night it worked on various methods of making the air vibrate. Eating the air didn't work but hitting it did, at least sort of. Jack grew some thin hairs on its surface to tell when the air was moved and when it thumped against the side of the tub the air definitely moved. Jack was fairly sure that this was not the communication that the tall ones were using but it was a start.
Jack moved on from hitting the air with force to hitting it as rapidly as possible. The slime struggled to find a way to hit the air quickly enough but the less of itself that it used the faster it could go. After a full night of experiments and failures Jack finally had something that worked. It was a flap of skin pulled tight by a ring of cartilage surrounded with pressure sensors. When it managed to wire the sensors up to neural tissue correctly the sensitivity that it could detect air vibration became almost overwhelming.
Comparatively making the tight skin push the air around to make its own air vibrations was much easier. The only issue was that if the skin was being moved then it could not be used to detect air movement at the same time. This issue was solved by having multiple skins. They were all very delicate and easily torn so Jack built itself a stalk on the top of its body. The stalk was long and thin and covered in small elevated circles that were its sound producer/sensors. It put a dedicated light sensor at the top of the stalk so that it could see over the top of the lip of the container easier.
This is a useful success so Jack experiments with more stalks. It grew a whole forest of stalks on its top but they got in each others way. Any more than 5 was too many. Further play has Jack decide that two stalks is enough normally but it can grow additional ones as needed. Having multiple stalks had the unexpected benefit of allowing Jack to hear from differing points which allows it to very roughly determine where the sound originated from. There were many issues with this and Jack decided to practice it later when it had a reliable external source of noise.
~~~
Dougie wandered back in to the lab that afternoon after a morning of classes while eating an apple. The message that Education was Important had been ingrained from a young age but sometimes it was just so boring. Dougie was partway through closing the door when he noticed Jack looking back at him.
The shock was enough that he lost his grip on both the apple and the door. The door slammed shut with a clang of metal on metal.
"cLanG" the slime said. The sound that came from the stalks looking at Dougie were not quite the same but it was a recognizable attempt at mimicry. Dougie swore in shock and Jack parroted back the profanity. Dougie started to laugh but quickly stopped as the slime's attempts at copying merriment were quite disturbing. The sounds were quiet and just slightly discordant since they were coming from a variety of sources at once which meant that its version of laughter was more like the distant cries of the damned.
Dougie tried telling Jack the names of the various things in the room but Jack just repeated the sounds with no understanding. This continued without any increase in comprehension until Dougie poured a handful of water onto Jack while naming it "Water".
Jack had a flash of understanding and bounced around screaming WATER as loud as it can manage which rather freaked out Dougie because in its excitement each of the sound producers ceased synchronization completely and there were dozens of discordant whispers. Jack finally calmed down and was able to link the sounds to the entity that Dougie had named earlier. It spent a minute of so pointing out the light and table and door and so on. Then it pointed to itself "jAck" and to Dougie "Daddy".
"Close enough kid, close enough". Dougie had tears in his eyes.