Technowitch Jade and Construct Spoot

[7/7/2014 8:20:06 PM] cohortDirector: Unfortunate side effect never made sense to Jade. It was a strange phrase implying that a side effect had any type of fortune. There were much better and more accurate words for side effects that were dangerous. Like the word dangerous. Or lethal. Potentially life threatening was three words, but it still carried the same message and was much more descriptive and accurate than unfortunate.

Besides, it's not like they happened that often. They tended to be harmless, or mild inconveniences that could be brushed off or fixed easily. Lab accidents weren't uncommon for practictioners of science and magic, which is why precautions were taken. Those who jumped into this sort of thing without some form of protection were doomed to failure and often in very unpleasant ways.

And it was always with this in mind that Jade refused to step into a situation where she thought she couldn't handle things. There wasn't much she couldn't handle, of course. She'd figured out how to make fire and lightning bend to her will from her left and right hand respectively, how to make anything within her home teleport to where ever she wanted with a thought and a snap of her fingers (herself included) how to carve runes into the soles of a armored boots to give herself the ability to fly! Sure, pumpkins and all the secrets they carried still gave her a lot of trouble, but what were the mysteries of a very specific gourd to someone who managed to give herself dog ears!?

Granted, that had been an accident, but it still worked!

So why was she so frustrated with figuring out the puzzle behind this one being's creation? Why was solving for the solution to a sentient hologram such a damned confusing issue?

Jade groaned at the ceiling, tired of cooping herself up and headed to the balcony of her tower. It was cliche, but what sort of self-respecting blender of science and magic wouldn't live in a tower? The fact that the rent was non-existent was a nice bonus.

She slid her hand over the sturdy wooden guardrail as she stepped out to look at the horizon. It was largely dominated by the trees of the forest she'd set up shop in. But over the tops of the greenery, she could make out the lights of the nearby city she went to when she need supplies. She blew a raspberry in it's direction as she leaned down to settle her chin against her crossed arms on the guardrail. The city had not taken too kindly to her punching a watchman for goosing her, but she refused to pay the fine for the assault. As such, she wasn't welcome. Which was fine, it didn't stop her from sneaking in. What they didn't know didn't hurt them and maybe next time the jerk would think twice before getting his nose broken. Lifting her gaze upward, Jade smiled at the various stars dottting the sky. She really needed to get her telescope fixed.
[7/7/2014 8:20:23 PM] cohortDirector: // i'm rusty, but i hope this is alright. //
[7/7/2014 8:22:50 PM] WordBird: (( gimme a bit! my rps are actually responding tonight ))
[7/7/2014 8:36:04 PM] WordBird: (( just finished reading! it's really good but I'm not exactly sure how I would be able to reply :o ))
[7/7/2014 8:37:28 PM] cohortDirector: // yeah, sorry. i wasn't sure how much freedom to give you regarding what to do with spoot, and then i handed you too much freedom, anyway. probably should have had her get antsy and start hunting him down for tests or something. maybe have him sneak up on her? //
[7/7/2014 8:39:28 PM] WordBird: (( Oh!! so he's already been made? >:o I didn't realize that. Any details I might need to know about how he works? ))
[7/7/2014 8:41:40 PM] cohortDirector: // yeah, she's still trying to figure out HOW he works. i guess it's important to note that he is a weird sort of hardlight hologram. basically a magically created AI that can manifest itself from a central point. kind of how the real spoot has the necklace he can go back to regenerate, this davesprite has a sort of core that he can summon himself from and if he goes into a sleep mode, he can shrink back into the core. he can also go back into the core and float around as a little spoot orb. //
[7/7/2014 8:42:24 PM] cohortDirector: // think like samus' morph ball thing, only smaller. it's his heart, basically. //
[7/7/2014 8:42:31 PM] WordBird: (( Ohhh, so there is a hard physical core in his center projecting him? And he's touchable, but kinda in an ectoplasmic sorta way ))
[7/7/2014 8:42:41 PM] cohortDirector: // yes, exactly. //
[7/7/2014 8:42:53 PM] WordBird: (( okay! that makes sense ))
[7/7/2014 8:43:22 PM] cohortDirector: // he can also anchor his core somewhere and project himself to walk around a certain radius around the core if he doesn't want to feel too exposed. //
[7/7/2014 8:50:44 PM] WordBird: While Jade busied herself with the night sky, something small, a wondrous little ball of science and magic, floated silently towards her. It skirted just above the ground, so as to go more easily unnoticed, until it finally came to a stop just behind the young witch. And then it rose up, the circuitry of the orb lighting up, projecting itself outward, forming ribbons and branches of light like a cardovascular system, though one that held it's 'heart' in the dead center of the torso, rather than in the left breast.

As they spread into a vaguely humanoid shape, it took more form, substance, until it made the shape of a semi-transparent young man with a shitty smirk and a mischievous glint in his eye. It was a good thing the young woman was too busy looking out into the sky to notice the gentle glow of the projection just behind her.

Still ever silent, even as his circuitry of light pulsed inside of him, emanating from his core, he raised his arms...

And suddenly placed them on the witch's shoulders with a quiet "Boo!"
[7/7/2014 8:50:50 PM] WordBird: (( i hope that's okay ))
[7/7/2014 8:53:34 PM] cohortDirector: // that's perfect! i really liked the way you described how he builds his body. //
[7/7/2014 8:58:27 PM] WordBird: (( i really liked the idea of light being his lifeblood, so why not make it like a literal blood system? just with more 90 degree angles, probably ))
[7/7/2014 9:04:30 PM] cohortDirector: "BWAH!" Jade exclaimed, quickly spinning around to face the orange-tinted mass of energy, one hand quickly held up with a charge of green lightning sparking from it. A roll of her eyes let him know she wasn't about to fry him, but she poked him in the chest and gave him a zap. It wouldn't be enough to short circuit him at all. They'd already figured out he was a sponge for electricity. He could have been overloaded, but Jade had no reason or even desire to try that. Even though he made a nuisance of himself, he was still nice company.

"Oh, you big dumb.....dumb! What if I'd actually shot at you. Or teleported you in half! Hm? Surprising a witch in her own home really isn't that smart," Jade lectured, but she wasn't honestly mad and the way she rested her hands on her hips and stuck her chin out was a mockery of basically every stern talking to someone had tried to give her.
[7/7/2014 9:13:01 PM] WordBird: (( quick question- since the core can float, does that mean he can effectively fly? ))
[7/7/2014 9:14:35 PM] cohortDirector: // if he wants to. //
[7/7/2014 9:15:55 PM] WordBird: The man of light gave a dramatic gasp and put his hand over his chest where she zapped him, before promptly giving a bit of a giggle. "Okay, but out of curiosity, how much can you even hurt me if you don't hit my core?" He asked, crossing his arms, shit-eating grin still on his face. "Not being a smart-ass or nothin', I actually don't know how that would work. Or, how I work."

He chuckled again, this time at the pose Jade was making. He floated up a bit, to make himself taller than her, folding his legs in a sitting position. "Yeah, yeah, MOM, I'll keep it in mind." And then, mumbling, he added, "Not my fault you're so easy and fun to startle."
[7/7/2014 9:27:14 PM | Edited 9:28:30 PM] cohortDirector: "I'm not used to having people around," Jade answered, pushing up to sit on the guardrail. She wasn't particularly worried about falling. It had happened before and all she had to do was teleport herself to her bed before she reached terminal velocity.

"That is a good question, though. I'm worried to do any unnecessary tests on you since if I break you, there's no telling how I'd make you again. Or even how I'd fix you! Your core was supposed to be a part of Dave's new armor, not a stand alone module. I'm not even certain you need the core, but there's no way to test that without possibly doing some serious damage to you. You're one of a kind and you should consider yourself lucky for it! Otherwise, I'd wallop you so hard for all the times you spook me."

Lifting her arms into the fluffy dark red mass of her hair, Jade pushed it back with a sigh and sputter. She left her arms raised while looking at the unusual construct with a tilt to her head.

"We need to come up with a name for you. I can't just keep calling you Mr. Orange or crow thing or ridiculous miracle of my 'blasphemous art'," Jade lowered her voice to a mocking tone and made air quotes for the last bit. She'd been lectured by the local mage guild and the sciences consortium, but she paid them no mind. It's not like there were laws against what she was doing. They were just petty and probably a little jealous.

"So, what should I call you?"
[7/7/2014 9:30:52 PM] WordBird: (( Out of curiosity, why would he be crow-ish in this? and so he has wings? ))
[7/7/2014 9:32:47 PM] cohortDirector: // that's a good question. thankfully, we can play with that a little! i think it'd either be that he has a crow symbol on his core or that jade just thought it'd be neat to give dave the ability to produce some sort of wings and that translated to this version of spoot being able to turn into a crow. //
[7/7/2014 9:33:40 PM] cohortDirector: // dave's wings would have been purely for decorative purposes, because what's the point of magic if you can't be flashy? //
[7/7/2014 9:34:30 PM] WordBird: (( Ohhhh, so she was originally trying to give Dave flashy wings. why not also some form of simple flight/hovering or something that would be enchanted into his armor when the core was installed so he could move around better, but because everything about spoot is weird, it just ended up with him being a birdboy? ))
[7/7/2014 9:34:58 PM] cohortDirector: // yes, exactly. //
[7/7/2014 9:35:26 PM] cohortDirector: // wings just like in the animes. //
[7/7/2014 9:43:10 PM] WordBird: "Awesome, I always wanted special treatment." He said with a short laugh. Though to be honest, the uncertainty of his very being and how he worked, unknown even to his creator, made him a little uneasy. It was hard to be fully confident when even the one who invented you didn't know how you functioned, what your limits were, and what may or may not hurt you. He'd have to be careful.

At the insistance that he needed a name, the ethereal young man scrunched up his nose a bit, the subject apparently entirely ridiculous to him. "Why not just call me Dave?" He suggested, floating downward until he was settled on the guardrail beside Jade. "I mean, that IS who I am. Dave, that is."

He shrugged, rolling his bright amber eyes. He didn't really see the point to this conversation. He was Dave! Sure, maybe not the exact same Dave, but still definitely Dave. He was made of three basic ingredients: science, magic, and a lotta Dave. There really was no question in his mind that the person he was was just Dave.
[7/7/2014 10:02:45 PM] cohortDirector: Jade sucked on her lower lip, an eyebrow raised at his comment. It made sense. As far as she could tell, he was Dave. A different Dave, yes, but his memories checked out, his rude demeanor, the way he tried to brush off stuff that bothered him. Everything about him screamed Dave at her.

"Okay, Dave. I'll have fun teasing the original Dave by calling him Sir Strider, anyway," Jade said, giggling at the idea. With a smile still on her face, she lowered her eyes to look at this Dave's core. The way it glowed and pulsed was almost like a slow heartbeat and it even seemed to extend to his eyes. Even if he was accident, it was still nice to be able to admire the fact that he was just so pretty. Silently congratulating herself on an accident well done, Jade snapped her fingers to bring up a display tablet. The device let her pull up screens of information. Very handy and much easier to lug around than books and tons of paper. With a flick of her hand she pulled up something for him to see.

"See this? This is a schematic of everything I've got about you. I want to run some other tests at some point, but I think I've poked and prodded at you enough for a lifetime. Which is why, I'm going to try something different!"

With a smile, closed the tablet and handed the palm sized device toward him.

"I want you to record stuff about yourself. You're a living thinking person. It'd be sort of cruel to just keep prodding at you like a meat chunk."
[7/7/2014 10:18:13 PM] cohortDirector: // whether that implies that jade has prodded at a meat chunk for a reaction is up for debate. //
[7/7/2014 10:18:36 PM] WordBird: (( she has ))
[7/7/2014 10:35:25 PM] WordBird: "Sir Strider sounds so pretentious." He said, making a funny face, before smirking at Jade. He was implicit in the teasing of his other self and he knew it. It was hard not to want to mess with the original Dave at least a little bit, if only in giving the witch some ammo, in the form of 'what annoys magic bird Dave probably also annoys regular Dave'.

When Jade teleported the display tablet, the orange Dave quickly scooted over to look over her shoulder at it. It was... interesting, to say the least, to see all the information available about himself, about his very existance.

And then suddenly the tablet was pushed into his glowing hands, and he was genuinely surprised. He raised an eyebrow, opening it up to look at the information again. It made sense, her reasoning, and it definitely would be a lot more respectful of him to allow him to make his own observations of his own damn self.

"Okay," He said, deciding not to mention his reservations towards making discoveries about himself outside the safe and controlled enviroment of a lab, "But you're going to have to show me how to use this thing."
[7/7/2014 10:49:53 PM | Edited 10:51:07 PM] cohortDirector: There was a pause after he'd said that. It genuinely never occured to Jade that Dave wouldn't be able to use one of these things.

When the information clicked, she inhaled slowly as the sides of her mouth curled up into a smile that was equal parts glee and teasing.

"Dave can't use one of these!" She said, as if triumphant in her new discovery. Anticipating, his Dave 2.0's confusion, Jade started explaining quickly, animatedly moving her hands around as she spoke.

"Dave can't use one of these! If you can't use one and have no prior knowledge how, that goes to show that the other Dave can't use one either, right? I've shown this to Dave before and he acted like it was no big deal. Something about them having something like this in the city. 'Whatever you say, Harley. Stuff like this isn't that impressive when you see them on every street corner. Even a child could use one of these and that's why I'm too cool to use one," Jade's voice dropped as she was imitating Dave's demeanor.

"Do you know what this means? I am going to tease him SO MUCH. And you'll be able to tease him, too, because you're getting a private lesson from yours truly!"

Bouncing up and down excitedly, Jade scoots closer and points to the displayed screen, running her fingers over it to show Dave how the touch functions worked.

"It's really simple! You move your hand over the display and it follows. You tap on what you want to get a closer look at and if you sort of pinch your fingers over something you see, it'll make it smaller. Do the opposite to make it bigger. And riiiiight here," Jade said, pointing at the actual hardware in Dave's glowing hand. "Is the power button. It's charge typically lasts a good couple of hours, but I can make it last longer courtesy of my lightning. But you ARE energy, so who knows how long you can make it last."
[7/8/2014 10:03:05 PM] WordBird: "Well, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I know everything Dave knows, or knew, so it stands to reason that if I don't know somethin', neither did he at the time you created me." Dave shrugged, not really getting what the big deal was. At least, until Jade finally spelled it at for him. Ah yes, Dave-teasing cannon fodder. That made the bright construct laugh.

"That's because I'm the superior Dave, obviously." He said, giving his best shit-eating grin until the witch brought both their attention back to the little device in his hands.

"Will it register me touching it...?" He asked in a mumble, almost more to himself than to Jade. He followed her instructs, and seemed genuinly delighted when the pictures and letters on the screen reacted to him as it would to anyone else. He had been slightly worried that he wouldn't have enough... substance.

He laughed a little to himself, practically doing a little wiggle-dance where he sat, playing with the things on the screen. Then he brought back up the schematics of his capabilities again, where he quickly decided to jot down his first note: 'Physically capable of manipulating a tablet.' Then he turned and grinned at Jade, evidently very proud of himself.

"Well, I'm only a limited amount of energy, even if energy makes up most of me." He said, when the witch finally stopped rambling for a second. "Unlike you, I can't just summon more. I gotta recharge sometimes."
[12:39:19 AM] cohortDirector: "For your information, Mr. Know-it-all, I don't just summon more energy. It's more complicated than that. There's lots of different things involved. For instance," Jade said, pulling her left sleeve back to show off the sigils she'd tattooed onto her arm. It was obvious from the sudden movement that Holo-Dave had tripped the exposition switch in her mind and she was going into full teaching mode. Jade didn't often have people to talk to about this sort of thing as they always left or lost interest part way through, but it never dulled her enthusiasm.

"Firstly! I have to make sure that I set up a grounding sigil to make sure the electricity I use doesn't come back and shock me. If I didn't outright die from that, I'd die from embarrassment. Then there's the gathering incantation, that's right here," She said with another quick tap at what looked like some very small print on her forearm. "-mixed with a little natural energy mumbo jumbo over here to make sure that the energy source it feeds off of isn't JUST me, otherwise I'd die from the spell leeching off of me. And then," she said, taking a breath as she continued on with her explanation of the intricacies and meanings behind the lines on the tattoos.

She wasn't about to stop unless she was interrupted. It was nice having someone around to be excited at rather than spending most of her free time keeping herself busy and trying not to get bored. It's not that she minded boredom. The problem lay in boredom leading to navel gazing and then to spending way too long dwelling on being lonely. That sort of thinking didn't help anything and it certainly didn't set up a building wide teleportation spell. Or accidently create a new lifeform that she was excitedly babbling away at.
[12:45:45 AM] WordBird: Jade was in luck, because Dave was honestly interested. Maybe Regular Dave might not have been, or only half interested. But despite having all of the original Dave's memories, Holo-Dave was quite aware of his existance as a new being in the world, and it gave him a lot more curiosity, and a lot less fear. That might not always be a good thing.

He crossed his legs, floating a couple inches above where he had previously been sitting- he had to admit, being able to float and fly was fun as hell. Especially since he could lord it over the human Dave, who was still completely grounded. He bent so he could rest his elbows on his knees, and prop his chin up in his hands, watching Jade as she talked, and eyeing the markings she'd made on her arm. They looked really cool and kind of pretty, aside from being incredibly practical and useful.

Finally, he had to stop her- if only to ask a question. He even raised his hand like a schoolchild. "Okay, question- but how much electricity can you produce? What's your limits? And if you reach those limits, how long 'til you can access it again?" He asked, all terribly good questions. "Like, basically, what's your power level. And for that matter, d'you got any idea what mine is?"
[1:03:15 AM] cohortDirector: The schoolchild reaction caused Jade to halt in her lecture. No one had ever actually asked her a question, especially a series of insightful question, when she was like this. For a moment, she didn't know what to say in response, but her smile came back with even more enthusiasm as she straightened herself up and put her sleeves back the way they were supposed to be.

"I'm glad you asked that! I've never actually tried to see what sort of force I could create with this spell if I were to release everything I had in one go, but I assume it'd be a frightening amount! Considering the power output I've done before when under attack and how that didn't actually phase me too much, if I went all in, I'd probably be able to create a charge that would ionize the air. That would result in a bit of chain lightning and a lot of collateral damage. Sooooo, it'd be best if I never did that. But if I did I'd...probably be out for a week? Assuming me releasing the bindings on the sigils to use myself as well as whatever energy I'd gathered didn't kill me," Jade answered.

Her tone at the mention of her own death in that sort of situation was said with the marked detachment of someone who either didn't care if they died or had never really considered that death was a possiblity if they were in a life-threatening situation.

"As for you," she continued, reaching a hand up to her chin as she puzzled it out in her head. "I'm not sure. Unfortunately, your maximum output is as much of a mystery to me as how you even exist right now. But if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say you'd really...." she trailed off, grinning the grin of someone who couldn't help but be amused at their own joke before even getting out to their audience. Locking eyes with him, she got closer than what was probably comfortable for most people.

"Shock me...with the answer. Hehehehehe."
[1:10:25 AM] WordBird: The mention of Jade's possible death, while it didn't phase her, clearly rattled the construct. Sure, she and Dave were close friends, but... Holo-Dave had a different sort of attachment to her. She created him. Technically, she was all he had. He couldn't imagine his life if she were to suddenly die. What would happen to him? What would happen to her tower, her belongings? And most importantly, he'd miss her so much it'd hurt.

But he didn't say anything on the matter, instead raising his eyebrows when she suddenly came close, before audibly groaning. "That," He said, "Was absolutely horrible. That was bad, and you should feel bad. Shame on you."

Dave laughed and rolled his eyes, sitting up straight and crossing his arms. "Okay, I got another question... d'you think I can shock people? Maybe little zaps? I'm sure I could, seeing as I'm made of the stuff, practically. That and light." He hummed as he pondered for a couple moments. "I'm not sure how I'd go about doing it, though... Not sure if risking it is a good idea."

And then a thought hit him- Jade didn't know what his maximum energy store was. He shuddered, frowning a little before opening his mouth to ask one more question. "Yo... What would happen if I ran out? of energy, I mean? Like, if I forgot to charge myself in time?"
[1:27:44 AM] cohortDirector: "I think you'd just go into a shutdown mode. Technically, you're still the same parts and pieces I made. In much the same way a human being is mostly just their brain walking around in a bone and meat suit, you're a cute little ball of circuitry and magic piloting a big puppet made of more magic and light. As long as you take of this," Jade said, smiling warmly as she placed a hand against his chest over where his core rested.

"You'll be fine. You might even technically be immortal. I don't know! There's so much about you I don't know and it drives me nuts!" She said, emphasizing her frustration by lifting her hands and placing them on either of his cheeks and nudging his head back and forth gently.

With a long drawn out sigh, she let go of his face and dropped her arms to her sides.

"But! That's part of the fun, too. Don't spend too much time dwelling on your mortality. I made you and you're my responsibility! I'm not letting anything happen to you if I can help it. More importantly, you wanted to try zapping, right? You should be able to. The original magic I had woven into you was supposed to deliver a nasty little shock to anyone who got too close to hitting Dave. Er. 'Sir Strider."

A much more sly grin climbed on to Jade's face as she held out the hand imbued with her lightning spell.

"Why not give it a shot? The way to do it should technically already be in your head. Um. Heart? Core? You. You just have to figure out how to bring it out," Jade said, giggling as she wiggled the fingers of her extended hand. Her smile faded momentarily, though, replaced with a more thoughtful expression. As with most of her more melancholic moods, this one left just as quickly as it came.

"Don't worry about hurting me."