Chapter 609: Build-A-Body Part 1
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"Well, before you go too far, just note that every part of your basic humanoid body will be improved, but we can't go too far. We can actually push your Memphis body further, it's one of the reasons you'll be stuck in that form at first. That form will essentially drag your humanoid body up to acceptable levels.
"One of the little tricks we're using is for your soul to think of your Memphis body as a transformation, match it, then force the link to your new humanoid form instead of your old one. The fact that you couldn't actually go back to your old body is something we'll be… obfuscating from your soul, if that makes sense.
"Anyway, the point is that before you decide this or that needs to be changed, know that everything will be improved. Besides, not all Memphis features are better, quite a few are, but not all of them. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, well I did, but not for this long. Please ask what you wanted to ask" said Nira, somewhat apologetically towards the end.
*Hmm… well nothing there changes my point with the eyes. I don't mind swapping them out for cat eyes and I think they'll pair well with the ears and tail. Which… I… I can probably hide those two things if I need to… but I just… I like the idea of having some part of the new me that can't be hidden. They'll also be subtle enough that even if I can't get good at changing them back to fully human they aren't super noticeable.*
"I think I'd like Memphis eyes, assuming they are better then my humanoid forms ones?" said Lily just slightly unsure.
"Well both of them will be much better then your current set of eyes," said Nira gesturing at Lily's glasses, "but yes they should be better. Memphis eyes are better then what they are based on, and they are based on a very powerful mutated version of a shadow cat. They have excellent night vision and with a bit of mana can even see in pitch blackness.
"The only downside is that your peripheral vision will be harder to react to. It won't be smaller because of our upgrades, but compared to motion directly in front of you it won't trigger the same brain response and will take some getting used to. Actually, that is something I didn't quite cover, your brain will be different in both forms with more differences in your Memphis brain. It won't be a major issue, it'll just take some adjustment."
"No, that's fine, I'd like to have Memphis eyes in my default humanoid form. What colour will they be?" asked Lily.
"Either, orange, blue, or green. I don't recommend blue though, it will make your eyes quite sensitive to sunlight and due to the basics of cat eyes you won't even get better night vision. Unless you have a particular attachment to blue, I suggest picking one of the others. Furthermore, heterochromia isn't an option in a Memphis. It causes some issues with the genetics in the eyes so we don't offer it. If you want to change the colour of just one eye you can use cosmetics for it later," explained Nira.
*Hmm. Blue is probably the colour I would have picked if there is no issue with it… and I don't want green eyes, so probably orange? Orange or blue certainly but am I willing to give have less then ideal eyes? I had to get used to glasses basically my whole life, do I really want imperfections in the perfect eyes I'm getting? No. No I don't want that. Besides, Nira said I there are cosmetics for them so I can change them to blue if I really want later on.*
"I'll go with orange eyes please. I don't have an interest in green and I don't want to compromise them by making them blue," said Lily.
"Ok, good good," said Nira as she pulled out a tablet and started entering Lily's choice. "What about hair? The shadow cat heritage means Memphis hair pretty much only comes in black. We could change it, but that would be your only change to your Memphis body we could make if we did. Black colouring is pretty well stuck in the body. An alternative would be to change only your humanoid forms hair, but that would put a bit of stress on your soul, surprisingly more than just leaving it black instead of letting it stay brown, not to mention other colours."
*Sounds like I don't really have a choice in the matter.* "I'll just go with the black hair, I imagine it can be dyed pretty easily and it should work well with my shadow affinity," said Lily.
Nira noted it down, "Now that you've brought up your affinity which have you decided to add in?"
"Paper first, then shadow then space," said Lily.
Nira looked over the choice of magical affinities, "That can be a powerful combination, just be careful, those will take quite a bit of training to get good use out of. You won't be able to do anything too fancy right at the start with those three."
"That's fine, I picked them for that reason. Plus I have some confidence in paper," said Lily.
"Alright. Back to your humanoid form, anything else you want to carry over? Any changes you want to make? We still have… hmm… your soul can probably handle two or three changes without any issue. Memphis default changes included in that," asked Nira.
*Hmm, is there anything I want? Claws could be nice but I think I'd rather practice summoning them in human form rather than keep them around all the time. My ears and tail will stick around and I already grabbed the eyes. Is there even anything else? Bones I guess but I have no idea how that would work. Fur? Yuck, I don't want to even think about that direction.*
"Is there even anything else I could carry over? Most things I can think of wouldn't work all that well except for claws which I don't want as a default," explained Lily.
"Oh yes there is actually, the main one is whiskers, a Memphis can use them to track electrical signals, even bioelectricity, so they might be worthwhile. Other than that… you could take Memphis ligaments and probably get away with it. It would make you more flexible but take a bit more focus to stay standing still. Hmm, your new muscles should mean it wouldn't be noticeable." Mumbled Nira.
*Hmm, the ligaments… I don't know that I want them, feels like an accident waiting to happen. Whiskers though… I wonder how noticeable they'd be? That and how annoying it would be with electricity EVERYWHER. It might be nice to have while I'm out helping Kat but imagine it'd be a big issue back on Earth.*
"How hard is it to cut off the sensations from those whiskers? There is a lot of electricity back in our home dimension and I feel like there is a risk of going crazy if I had them permanently," said Lily. *That and I can't decide if they'd look cute or not.*
"It would likely be hell at first but something you could get used to," said Nira musing. "You can think of it like smells. You can't smell yourself or your room, but it certainly does smell like something. The it will be the same, you can learn to ignore it if it gets too much, but until you start to ignore it… things won't be great for you"
*That's not necessarily what I want to hear. Another thing to put on the backburner then? I don't want to go crazy or something like that… then again… I'll be stuck as a Memphis for a while… and I'll have to get used to it anyway…* "Will I need to get used to it in both forms or will one be enough?" asked Lily.
Nira glanced at her data pad for a second as she thought of an accurate response, "Hmm… from what I know, there will be quite a lot of overlap, but you'll need at least some time to get used to it in both forms because the brains are a bit too different for something like that. The humanoid brain doesn't have electric sensing by default so it has to be added in a special way to make things feel natural. It will probably be worse in your Memphis form though so it won't take long or be too bad if it carries over."
*Hmmm…* "How hard would it be to transform just the whiskers if I wanted to have them around later on. If that question makes sense?" asked Lily.
"Yes, I get what you're saying. As for that… well… certainly on the more difficult end of things. You don't really have an equivalent to help the transformation along. Nails to claws, hair to fur, sharpening teeth, oh yes teeth I'll need to ask about those. Anyway, the point is you're… almost but not quite growing a new arm. If that makes sense? You have to not only grow one, but get used to the sensations from it, which will be harder if you're using partial transformation for it," explained Nira.
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"Well, before you go too far, just note that every part of your basic humanoid body will be improved, but we can't go too far. We can actually push your Memphis body further, it's one of the reasons you'll be stuck in that form at first. That form will essentially drag your humanoid body up to acceptable levels.
"One of the little tricks we're using is for your soul to think of your Memphis body as a transformation, match it, then force the link to your new humanoid form instead of your old one. The fact that you couldn't actually go back to your old body is something we'll be… obfuscating from your soul, if that makes sense.
"Anyway, the point is that before you decide this or that needs to be changed, know that everything will be improved. Besides, not all Memphis features are better, quite a few are, but not all of them. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, well I did, but not for this long. Please ask what you wanted to ask" said Nira, somewhat apologetically towards the end.
*Hmm… well nothing there changes my point with the eyes. I don't mind swapping them out for cat eyes and I think they'll pair well with the ears and tail. Which… I… I can probably hide those two things if I need to… but I just… I like the idea of having some part of the new me that can't be hidden. They'll also be subtle enough that even if I can't get good at changing them back to fully human they aren't super noticeable.*
"I think I'd like Memphis eyes, assuming they are better then my humanoid forms ones?" said Lily just slightly unsure.
"Well both of them will be much better then your current set of eyes," said Nira gesturing at Lily's glasses, "but yes they should be better. Memphis eyes are better then what they are based on, and they are based on a very powerful mutated version of a shadow cat. They have excellent night vision and with a bit of mana can even see in pitch blackness.
"The only downside is that your peripheral vision will be harder to react to. It won't be smaller because of our upgrades, but compared to motion directly in front of you it won't trigger the same brain response and will take some getting used to. Actually, that is something I didn't quite cover, your brain will be different in both forms with more differences in your Memphis brain. It won't be a major issue, it'll just take some adjustment."
"No, that's fine, I'd like to have Memphis eyes in my default humanoid form. What colour will they be?" asked Lily.
"Either, orange, blue, or green. I don't recommend blue though, it will make your eyes quite sensitive to sunlight and due to the basics of cat eyes you won't even get better night vision. Unless you have a particular attachment to blue, I suggest picking one of the others. Furthermore, heterochromia isn't an option in a Memphis. It causes some issues with the genetics in the eyes so we don't offer it. If you want to change the colour of just one eye you can use cosmetics for it later," explained Nira.
*Hmm. Blue is probably the colour I would have picked if there is no issue with it… and I don't want green eyes, so probably orange? Orange or blue certainly but am I willing to give have less then ideal eyes? I had to get used to glasses basically my whole life, do I really want imperfections in the perfect eyes I'm getting? No. No I don't want that. Besides, Nira said I there are cosmetics for them so I can change them to blue if I really want later on.*
"I'll go with orange eyes please. I don't have an interest in green and I don't want to compromise them by making them blue," said Lily.
"Ok, good good," said Nira as she pulled out a tablet and started entering Lily's choice. "What about hair? The shadow cat heritage means Memphis hair pretty much only comes in black. We could change it, but that would be your only change to your Memphis body we could make if we did. Black colouring is pretty well stuck in the body. An alternative would be to change only your humanoid forms hair, but that would put a bit of stress on your soul, surprisingly more than just leaving it black instead of letting it stay brown, not to mention other colours."
*Sounds like I don't really have a choice in the matter.* "I'll just go with the black hair, I imagine it can be dyed pretty easily and it should work well with my shadow affinity," said Lily.
Nira noted it down, "Now that you've brought up your affinity which have you decided to add in?"
"Paper first, then shadow then space," said Lily.
Nira looked over the choice of magical affinities, "That can be a powerful combination, just be careful, those will take quite a bit of training to get good use out of. You won't be able to do anything too fancy right at the start with those three."
"That's fine, I picked them for that reason. Plus I have some confidence in paper," said Lily.
"Alright. Back to your humanoid form, anything else you want to carry over? Any changes you want to make? We still have… hmm… your soul can probably handle two or three changes without any issue. Memphis default changes included in that," asked Nira.
*Hmm, is there anything I want? Claws could be nice but I think I'd rather practice summoning them in human form rather than keep them around all the time. My ears and tail will stick around and I already grabbed the eyes. Is there even anything else? Bones I guess but I have no idea how that would work. Fur? Yuck, I don't want to even think about that direction.*
"Is there even anything else I could carry over? Most things I can think of wouldn't work all that well except for claws which I don't want as a default," explained Lily.
"Oh yes there is actually, the main one is whiskers, a Memphis can use them to track electrical signals, even bioelectricity, so they might be worthwhile. Other than that… you could take Memphis ligaments and probably get away with it. It would make you more flexible but take a bit more focus to stay standing still. Hmm, your new muscles should mean it wouldn't be noticeable." Mumbled Nira.
*Hmm, the ligaments… I don't know that I want them, feels like an accident waiting to happen. Whiskers though… I wonder how noticeable they'd be? That and how annoying it would be with electricity EVERYWHER. It might be nice to have while I'm out helping Kat but imagine it'd be a big issue back on Earth.*
"How hard is it to cut off the sensations from those whiskers? There is a lot of electricity back in our home dimension and I feel like there is a risk of going crazy if I had them permanently," said Lily. *That and I can't decide if they'd look cute or not.*
"It would likely be hell at first but something you could get used to," said Nira musing. "You can think of it like smells. You can't smell yourself or your room, but it certainly does smell like something. The it will be the same, you can learn to ignore it if it gets too much, but until you start to ignore it… things won't be great for you"
*That's not necessarily what I want to hear. Another thing to put on the backburner then? I don't want to go crazy or something like that… then again… I'll be stuck as a Memphis for a while… and I'll have to get used to it anyway…* "Will I need to get used to it in both forms or will one be enough?" asked Lily.
Nira glanced at her data pad for a second as she thought of an accurate response, "Hmm… from what I know, there will be quite a lot of overlap, but you'll need at least some time to get used to it in both forms because the brains are a bit too different for something like that. The humanoid brain doesn't have electric sensing by default so it has to be added in a special way to make things feel natural. It will probably be worse in your Memphis form though so it won't take long or be too bad if it carries over."
*Hmmm…* "How hard would it be to transform just the whiskers if I wanted to have them around later on. If that question makes sense?" asked Lily.
"Yes, I get what you're saying. As for that… well… certainly on the more difficult end of things. You don't really have an equivalent to help the transformation along. Nails to claws, hair to fur, sharpening teeth, oh yes teeth I'll need to ask about those. Anyway, the point is you're… almost but not quite growing a new arm. If that makes sense? You have to not only grow one, but get used to the sensations from it, which will be harder if you're using partial transformation for it," explained Nira.
"Well, before you go too far, just note that every part of your basic humanoid body will be improved, but we can't go too far. We can actually push your Memphis body further, it's one of the reasons you'll be stuck in that form at first. That form will essentially drag your humanoid body up to acceptable levels."One of the little tricks we're using is for your soul to think of your Memphis body as a transformation, match it, then force the link to your new humanoid form instead of your old one. The fact that you couldn't actually go back to your old body is something we'll be obfuscating from your soul, if that makes sense."Anyway, the point is that before you decide this or that needs to be changed, know that everything will be improved. Besides, not all Memphis features are better, quite a few are, but not all of them. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, well I did, but not for this long. Please ask what you wanted to ask" said Nira, somewhat apologetically towards the end.*Hmm well nothing there changes my point with the eyes. I don't mind swapping them out for cat eyes and I think they'll pair well with the ears and tail. Which I I can probably hide those two things if I need to but I just I like the idea of having some part of the new me that can't be hidden. They'll also be subtle enough that even if I can't get good at changing them back to fully human they aren't super noticeable.* "I think I'd like Memphis eyes, assuming they are better then my humanoid forms ones?" said Lily just slightly unsure."Well both of them will be much better then your current set of eyes," said Nira gesturing at Lily's glasses, "but yes they should be better. Memphis eyes are better then what they are based on, and they are based on a very powerful mutated version of a shadow cat. They have excellent night vision and with a bit of mana can even see in pitch blackness."The only downside is that your peripheral vision will be harder to react to. It won't be smaller because of our upgrades, but compared to motion directly in front of you it won't trigger the same brain response and will take some getting used to. Actually, that is something I didn't quite cover, your brain will be different in both forms with more differences in your Memphis brain. It won't be a major issue, it'll just take some adjustment.""No, that's fine, I'd like to have Memphis eyes in my default humanoid form. What colour will they be?" asked Lily."Either, orange, blue, or green. I don't recommend blue though, it will make your eyes quite sensitive to sunlight and due to the basics of cat eyes you won't even get better night vision. Unless you have a particular attachment to blue, I suggest picking one of the others. Furthermore, heterochromia isn't an option in a Memphis. It causes some issues with the genetics in the eyes so we don't offer it. If you want to change the colour of just one eye you can use cosmetics for it later," explained Nira.*Hmm. Blue is probably the colour I would have picked if there is no issue with it and I don't want green eyes, so probably orange? Orange or blue certainly but am I willing to give have less then ideal eyes? I had to get used to glasses basically my whole life, do I really want imperfections in the perfect eyes I'm getting? No. No I don't want that. Besides, Nira said I there are cosmetics for them so I can change them to blue if I really want later on.*"I'll go with orange eyes please. I don't have an interest in green and I don't want to compromise them by making them blue," said Lily."Ok, good good," said Nira as she pulled out a tablet and started entering Lily's choice. "What about hair? The shadow cat heritage means Memphis hair pretty much only comes in black. We could change it, but that would be your only change to your Memphis body we could make if we did. Black colouring is pretty well stuck in the body. An alternative would be to change only your humanoid forms hair, but that would put a bit of stress on your soul, surprisingly more than just leaving it black instead of letting it stay brown, not to mention other colours."*Sounds like I don't really have a choice in the matter.* "I'll just go with the black hair, I imagine it can be dyed pretty easily and it should work well with my shadow affinity," said Lily.Nira noted it down, "Now that you've brought up your affinity which have you decided to add in?""Paper first, then shadow then space," said Lily.Nira looked over the choice of magical affinities, "That can be a powerful combination, just be careful, those will take quite a bit of training to get good use out of. You won't be able to do anything too fancy right at the start with those three.""That's fine, I picked them for that reason. Plus I have some confidence in paper," said Lily."Alright. Back to your humanoid form, anything else you want to carry over? Any changes you want to make? We still have hmm your soul can probably handle two or three changes without any issue. Memphis default changes included in that," asked Nira.*Hmm, is there anything I want? Claws could be nice but I think I'd rather practice summoning them in human form rather than keep them around all the time. My ears and tail will stick around and I already grabbed the eyes. Is there even anything else? Bones I guess but I have no idea how that would work. Fur? Yuck, I don't want to even think about that direction.* "Is there even anything else I could carry over? Most things I can think of wouldn't work all that well except for claws which I don't want as a default," explained Lily."Oh yes there is actually, the main one is whiskers, a Memphis can use them to track electrical signals, even bioelectricity, so they might be worthwhile. Other than that you could take Memphis ligaments and probably get away with it. It would make you more flexible but take a bit more focus to stay standing still. Hmm, your new muscles should mean it wouldn't be noticeable." Mumbled Nira.*Hmm, the ligaments I don't know that I want them, feels like an accident waiting to happen. Whiskers though I wonder how noticeable they'd be? That and how annoying it would be with electricity EVERYWHER. It might be nice to have while I'm out helping Kat but imagine it'd be a big issue back on Earth.*"How hard is it to cut off the sensations from those whiskers? There is a lot of electricity back in our home dimension and I feel like there is a risk of going crazy if I had them permanently," said Lily. *That and I can't decide if they'd look cute or not.*"It would likely be hell at first but something you could get used to," said Nira musing. "You can think of it like smells. You can't smell yourself or your room, but it certainly does smell like something. The it will be the same, you can learn to ignore it if it gets too much, but until you start to ignore it things won't be great for you" *That's not necessarily what I want to hear. Another thing to put on the backburner then? I don't want to go crazy or something like that then again I'll be stuck as a Memphis for a while and I'll have to get used to it anyway* "Will I need to get used to it in both forms or will one be enough?" asked Lily.Nira glanced at her data pad for a second as she thought of an accurate response, "Hmm from what I know, there will be quite a lot of overlap, but you'll need at least some time to get used to it in both forms because the brains are a bit too different for something like that. The humanoid brain doesn't have electric sensing by default so it has to be added in a special way to make things feel natural. It will probably be worse in your Memphis form though so it won't take long or be too bad if it carries over."*Hmmm* "How hard would it be to transform just the whiskers if I wanted to have them around later on. If that question makes sense?" asked Lily."Yes, I get what you're saying. As for that well certainly on the more difficult end of things. You don't really have an equivalent to help the transformation along. Nails to claws, hair to fur, sharpening teeth, oh yes teeth I'll need to ask about those. Anyway, the point is you're almost but not quite growing a new arm. If that makes sense? You have to not only grow one, but get used to the sensations from it, which will be harder if you're using partial transformation for it," explained Nira.
