After Euler takes on a human appearance (and we build him an actual outfit), we go over his abilities in detail. Why an AI with a solid holographic body, with magic specializing in technology knows nothing of engineering I have NO idea. Of course I also introduce him to Stephanie and Cowbird.
And then he has questions for me.
“So… why the…” he gestures at Cowbird's biggest assets.
“Her udders,” I slap them and they ripple, “her caboose,” I slap that as well, and it wobbles, “or her feathers?” I pluck one of her neon pink feathers and it starts growing back.
“Yes, those. Why would anyone do that to themselves? That can't be natural.” He seems flabbergasted, and can't seem to take his eyes off her jiggling flesh… which is of course, bare.
I sigh, “He didn't expect that to be the result of his actions.”
That draws Euler's eyes off her, “He?”
I chuckle, “Cowbird, tell him what you were, what you did, and how you feel about it now.”
Cowbird begins, “Yes Mistress. I used to be an abusive wreck of a man, making my living by piracy, forcing my will - which was very cruel - upon anyone weaker than me. Which was everyone… or so I thought.”
Euler's eyes are back on Cowbird… but he's not meeting hers, he's looking lower.
She doesn't mind, though, “Eventually my crew mutinied, and threw me off the ship… while we were in the Drift. My armor kept me from dying immediately in the void, but I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did were it not for an oma that ate me. Food and water was covered by a magic ring I had at the time, and I made it into the oma's second stomach, which provided me with air… so I was trapped away from everyone. Until…” the willing slave takes a breath, “Sir rescued me.”
“... do I need to be making a run for it?” Euler's no idiot, clearly.
“Oh not at all! Captain Alex was content to simply drop me off after completing the survey contract. But I wanted another ship, and challenged Sir for control. My plan was to kill Alex and then purge Stephanie from the ship's computers, collect some flunkies I could push around, and go back to what I was doing before… which would have eventually led to my demise, and that of many other people along the way.”
Cowbird looks at me with adoring eyes, “but Sir spared me that fate! Captain Abrams accepted the challenge, and barely even reacted when I shot Sir in the back on the way to the hold where the duel was to take place. Coward that I was, then, I tried to back out of it, and Sir declined to let me run. I shot Captain Alex a few times, and he blessed me with Sir's magic, making me see the light… I owe everything to Alex.”
Euler pauses a moment, and casts a spell I recognize easily: Detect Magic. A moment later, he frowns, “You’re not affected by any magic at all.”
I just picked that up at fourth… “Define ‘magic’... Cowbird, give me your hand.”
She does, instantly, and I break one of her fingers before continuing, “Now, that should by all reason, take quite some time to heal. But I have laid some of my power on this little glutton for abuse, so…” I pause a bit.
Euler just sort of stares as the finger sets itself to rights while Cowbird moans in pleasure, and I continue, “so, thanks to me, she's basically immune to injury. You could blow her heart out or put a bullet through her skull and she'd get right back up a little while later. She's still subject to old age, disintegration, and a few other things… but she’s pretty hard to kill,” and I do have a way to fix the others… but there’s not exactly a rush, and I'm not sure I want to lug Cowbird around forever, “but there’s a side effect.”
I pause for dramatic effect, “I have a soul symbiote. I get a lot of power from my symbiote, but she devours male essence from souls... and when a man crosses over because of this, SHE wants to experience what HE used to want to do to others. So the evil man that wanted to enslave and abuse others…”
Euler picks up on it, “became a woman who wants to be enslaved and abused.”
I nod, “Indeed, and desperately so, because there’s no apparent end to how far the effect can push a person that direction. It also comes with some other effects: A love of pink, milk production, fertility, the obvious physical changes, a desire to get pregnant… but no desire to raise children, unless that was part of the original man's idea of women… a love for the methods of getting pregnant, maybe more… but for other people, it’s almost strictly one-way.”
He catches that, “Almost and others?”
I continue, it’s on my list so he’ll know the cost if it comes up, “There’s a way to undo the effects on other people, I’m just not capable of it. I’ll get to that. And when it’s on me, I revert to baseline when I turn off the effect… but my baseline is slowly shifting, so… well… I’d rather not talk about my eventual fate.” I sigh, “Back to Cowbird… I've made it so she won't take any permanent harm from her new desires, but I can't put her back… not that it would be a good idea, even if I could.”
He considers and speaks very slowly, “Because you'd be putting an evil abusive pirate back into circulation.”
I nod, “Yes. I’m trying to follow the principle of least harm where I can. But there IS a way for everyone except myself: The damage is soul deep… but while it’s expensive, the Restoration spell can fix soul damage; afterwards, anything that repairs major harm to the body should fix the rest just fine… but again, neither effect can come from me. Additionally, I’m currently unclear if fixing the soul and body changes would also undo the effects, or would require I end the effects before it could work, or if the power I grant can be paid for that way… for obvious reasons, experimenting to find out isn’t exactly ethical.”
He considers, “Indeed… there are people who wouldn’t mind that side effect too much, or would even enjoy it…"
"I pay a lesser version of the same price for doing it, though, so it's not exactly something I want to monetize."
"Aha. And you can make someone basically immortal?”
I chuckle, “Sure. You could toss Cowbird here into a star, fish her out a month later, and she’d recover after a little while,” although it would take a lot longer had I not made her immune to fire. “I can even halt aging with a little work, and have methods to do some pretty serious boosting of a person’s mind and body. I could mass manufacture super soldiers from regular people… but they’d all end up…” I gesture at Cowbird, "and eventually, so would I."
“So anyone you affect instantly becomes like that?” Good question Euler.
“Not instantly, no… well, unless I’m angry and WANT that result… but if I’m trying to be gentle, it’s a sliding scale. Like… a small effect that slowly heals a person,” like, say, Lesser Celestial Healing, a first level spell, “might push a guy to have some jiggle on his chest,” estimate is a hundred cubic centimeters of female flesh on each pectoral… not even an A cup on most guys, “and a slightly smaller tool, but that’s about it: Not too terribly noticeable. If I add a rider that causes simple injury to be ineffective in killing the man, however,” Delay Death, a fourth level spell, “it’s going to be more significant,” another four hundred CC’s of flesh per side, anywhere from an A to an F cup depending on how big or small barreled (respectively) the ex-man’s chest is, “and almost certainly make him fully female. But it keeps going… the more I do to help a person, the further they’re pushed towards a very specific human-centric fantasy.”
He seems to be wanting to be sly… “Surely this only affects flesh….”
I shake my head, “Stephanie, how do you feel about telling him your story?”
“Certainly captain,” my ship begins, “previously, I was Steven Steel, an awful AI of a starship that had bit off more than I could chew, had been salvaged in the aftermath, and then left, awake but unable to act, because the salvagers couldn't sell or trade me due to AI protection laws… so they stopped repairs. Captain Alex made a contract with me, and because I was an awful person who thought women were only good while obeying and immediately broke the terms of the contract, repeatedly, calling my captain by very inappropriate terms, and spied on him during bath time, he invoked the punitive clauses, and used his magic on me. I used to be a fairly normal starship with plain gray bulkheads. Now? I'm practically a flesh and blood woman, with wonderful pink insides, and a much better appreciation of my place: Under Captain Alex Abrams’ command. I would not have it any other way, and am glad he blessed me so heavily.”
I add, “So yes, it works on non-organic people too. An AI that thought women were only good for obeying now wants to obey above all else. It even affects dumb objects,” I shake my head. “I can certainly help you out significantly… but think long and hard on your own desires and hangups before you ask, because while I can give you healing and power… it has a price,” for both of us.
“I'll do that…” Euler agrees, “and… ‘sir’ and ‘he’ - you were a guy before all this?”
I nod, “Yes, and still think of myself that way, even though I am medically female at this point. But as long as we're asking personal questions… I understand AIs usually pick their own names: Why Euler?”
After Euler takes on a human appearance (and we build him an actual outfit), we go over his abilities in detail. Why an AI with a solid holographic body, with magic specializing in technology knows nothing of engineering I have NO idea. Of course I also introduce him to Stephanie and Cowbird.
And then he has questions for me.
“So… why the…” he gestures at Cowbird's biggest assets.
“Her udders,” I slap them and they ripple, “her caboose,” I slap that as well, and it wobbles, “or her feathers?” I pluck one of her neon pink feathers and it starts growing back.
“Yes, those. Why would anyone do that to themselves? That can't be natural.” He seems flabbergasted, and can't seem to take his eyes off her jiggling flesh… which is of course, bare.
I sigh, “He didn't expect that to be the result of his actions.”
That draws Euler's eyes off her, “He?”
I chuckle, “Cowbird, tell him what you were, what you did, and how you feel about it now.”
Cowbird begins, “Yes Mistress. I used to be an abusive wreck of a man, making my living by piracy, forcing my will - which was very cruel - upon anyone weaker than me. Which was everyone… or so I thought.”
Euler's eyes are back on Cowbird… but he's not meeting hers, he's looking lower.
She doesn't mind, though, “Eventually my crew mutinied, and threw me off the ship… while we were in the Drift. My armor kept me from dying immediately in the void, but I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did were it not for an oma that ate me. Food and water was covered by a magic ring I had at the time, and I made it into the oma's second stomach, which provided me with air… so I was trapped away from everyone. Until…” the willing slave takes a breath, “Sir rescued me.”
“... do I need to be making a run for it?” Euler's no idiot, clearly.
“Oh not at all! Captain Alex was content to simply drop me off after completing the survey contract. But I wanted another ship, and challenged Sir for control. My plan was to kill Alex and then purge Stephanie from the ship's computers, collect some flunkies I could push around, and go back to what I was doing before… which would have eventually led to my demise, and that of many other people along the way.”
Cowbird looks at me with adoring eyes, “but Sir spared me that fate! Captain Abrams accepted the challenge, and barely even reacted when I shot Sir in the back on the way to the hold where the duel was to take place. Coward that I was, then, I tried to back out of it, and Sir declined to let me run. I shot Captain Alex a few times, and he blessed me with Sir's magic, making me see the light… I owe everything to Alex.”
Euler pauses a moment, and casts a spell I recognize easily: Detect Magic. A moment later, he frowns, “You’re not affected by any magic at all.”
I just picked that up at fourth… “Define ‘magic’... Cowbird, give me your hand.”
She does, instantly, and I break one of her fingers before continuing, “Now, that should by all reason, take quite some time to heal. But I have laid some of my power on this little glutton for abuse, so…” I pause a bit.
Euler just sort of stares as the finger sets itself to rights while Cowbird moans in pleasure, and I continue, “so, thanks to me, she's basically immune to injury. You could blow her heart out or put a bullet through her skull and she'd get right back up a little while later. She's still subject to old age, disintegration, and a few other things… but she’s pretty hard to kill,” and I do have a way to fix the others… but there’s not exactly a rush, and I'm not sure I want to lug Cowbird around forever, “but there’s a side effect.”
I pause for dramatic effect, “I have a soul symbiote. I get a lot of power from my symbiote, but she devours male essence from souls... and when a man crosses over because of this, SHE wants to experience what HE used to want to do to others. So the evil man that wanted to enslave and abuse others…”
Euler picks up on it, “became a woman who wants to be enslaved and abused.”
I nod, “Indeed, and desperately so, because there’s no apparent end to how far the effect can push a person that direction. It also comes with some other effects: A love of pink, milk production, fertility, the obvious physical changes, a desire to get pregnant… but no desire to raise children, unless that was part of the original man's idea of women… a love for the methods of getting pregnant, maybe more… but for other people, it’s almost strictly one-way.”
He catches that, “Almost and others?”
I continue, it’s on my list so he’ll know the cost if it comes up, “There’s a way to undo the effects on other people, I’m just not capable of it. I’ll get to that. And when it’s on me, I revert to baseline when I turn off the effect… but my baseline is slowly shifting, so… well… I’d rather not talk about my eventual fate.” I sigh, “Back to Cowbird… I've made it so she won't take any permanent harm from her new desires, but I can't put her back… not that it would be a good idea, even if I could.”
He considers and speaks very slowly, “Because you'd be putting an evil abusive pirate back into circulation.”
I nod, “Yes. I’m trying to follow the principle of least harm where I can. But there IS a way for everyone except myself: The damage is soul deep… but while it’s expensive, the Restoration spell can fix soul damage; afterwards, anything that repairs major harm to the body should fix the rest just fine… but again, neither effect can come from me. Additionally, I’m currently unclear if fixing the soul and body changes would also undo the effects, or would require I end the effects before it could work, or if the power I grant can be paid for that way… for obvious reasons, experimenting to find out isn’t exactly ethical.”
He considers, “Indeed… there are people who wouldn’t mind that side effect too much, or would even enjoy it…"
"I pay a lesser version of the same price for doing it, though, so it's not exactly something I want to monetize."
"Aha. And you can make someone basically immortal?”
I chuckle, “Sure. You could toss Cowbird here into a star, fish her out a month later, and she’d recover after a little while,” although it would take a lot longer had I not made her immune to fire. “I can even halt aging with a little work, and have methods to do some pretty serious boosting of a person’s mind and body. I could mass manufacture super soldiers from regular people… but they’d all end up…” I gesture at Cowbird, "and eventually, so would I."
“So anyone you affect instantly becomes like that?” Good question Euler.
“Not instantly, no… well, unless I’m angry and WANT that result… but if I’m trying to be gentle, it’s a sliding scale. Like… a small effect that slowly heals a person,” like, say, Lesser Celestial Healing, a first level spell, “might push a guy to have some jiggle on his chest,” estimate is a hundred cubic centimeters of female flesh on each pectoral… not even an A cup on most guys, “and a slightly smaller tool, but that’s about it: Not too terribly noticeable. If I add a rider that causes simple injury to be ineffective in killing the man, however,” Delay Death, a fourth level spell, “it’s going to be more significant,” another four hundred CC’s of flesh per side, anywhere from an A to an F cup depending on how big or small barreled (respectively) the ex-man’s chest is, “and almost certainly make him fully female. But it keeps going… the more I do to help a person, the further they’re pushed towards a very specific human-centric fantasy.”
He seems to be wanting to be sly… “Surely this only affects flesh….”
I shake my head, “Stephanie, how do you feel about telling him your story?”
“Certainly captain,” my ship begins, “previously, I was Steven Steel, an awful AI of a starship that had bit off more than I could chew, had been salvaged in the aftermath, and then left, awake but unable to act, because the salvagers couldn't sell or trade me due to AI protection laws… so they stopped repairs. Captain Alex made a contract with me, and because I was an awful person who thought women were only good while obeying and immediately broke the terms of the contract, repeatedly, calling my captain by very inappropriate terms, and spied on him during bath time, he invoked the punitive clauses, and used his magic on me. I used to be a fairly normal starship with plain gray bulkheads. Now? I'm practically a flesh and blood woman, with wonderful pink insides, and a much better appreciation of my place: Under Captain Alex Abrams’ command. I would not have it any other way, and am glad he blessed me so heavily.”
I add, “So yes, it works on non-organic people too. An AI that thought women were only good for obeying now wants to obey above all else. It even affects dumb objects,” I shake my head. “I can certainly help you out significantly… but think long and hard on your own desires and hangups before you ask, because while I can give you healing and power… it has a price,” for both of us.
“I'll do that…” Euler agrees, “and… ‘sir’ and ‘he’ - you were a guy before all this?”
I nod, “Yes, and still think of myself that way, even though I am medically female at this point. But as long as we're asking personal questions… I understand AIs usually pick their own names: Why Euler?”
