“Are you okay?” Patricia's question kicks me back into motion.
I'm in shock, I think. I mean… how?!
“Well, when an SRO and a Hologram get frisky with a humanoid heavily influenced by our power…”
That's not what I mean. I mean… How?!
Patricia sighs, “‘Gets pregnant with my kid’ is part of the fantasy that spawned me. Biology and sense take a backseat to our power. Star and Ocean went off inside us many times while we were enjoying those fantastic rods of theirs… so that portion of the fantasy manifested. Previously I'd find another host at this point, leave the woman to her new mate, but that’s not an option anymore.”
But I don't… I can't… I'm not ready….
“Well…I don't really know anything about child rearing, but we seem to be in a good place. Large space for the child to grow? Got it: Stephanie is pretty big, and you have that Demiplane. Food? Covered the same way. Help watching the little tyke? Summons and the other women on the ship. Plenty of money for other necessities as well. We're in fine shape. We absolutely can take care of him or her and are ready to do so, practically speaking.”
That's not what I mean….
“Well, if we don't want the little one, I'm sure someone will. Are orphanages still a thing? I remember how eating the older ones always seemed to ensure they were taken care of….”
Then I'd still have to go through….
“Oh, you want to kill that pure little innocent soul? Eh. I'd be okay with that, but sorry: Until the little one is out, they're part of us, and we regenerate. ‘Evicting’ the child is going to be problematic before the birth. After that, though, if you want to just kill them….”
I shudder, no I'm not committing infanticide. I'm just… I'm not looking forward to the pain of birth, of hormones running rampant through my body, mood swings, food cravings, the giant belly, cramps, and all those other effects that happen around a pregnancy.
“Yeah, well… about half of a humanoid population goes through it couple of times in a lifetime. Most of them survive it, and we CERTAINLY will.”
Ugh. You're not going to let me get the whining out of my system, then?
“Well, I did try to tell you….”
Wait, what?
“Five times, yes. You kept telling me to stuff it, shut up, and similar. I expect you just thought I was going to tease you about the decision?”
Yes. I’m sorry, Patricia. I'll at least let you speak in the future.
“Apology accepted, not that I really have much choice in the matter.”
Right, you're a prisoner in my soul.
“Sort of. Your mutant soul ate me. I am a part of you now, something more akin to a split personality. I'm not really trapped any more than you are, because I'm part of you now.”
A fragment of my personality… huh. I think I can apologize with more than just words. Hey, Patricia, can you pull up the laptop when it's not level up time?
“Yes, but it’s just reviewing your own memories; what's the point?”
It's a bit sharper, I want to double check something.
“Here you go…” the laptop appears before me, and I pull it up… there it is: In the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and available for free as part of the 3.5 System Reference Document; from Psicrystal basics: “A psicrystal is a fragment of a psionic character’s personality, brought into physical form and a semblance of life (via the Psicrystal Affinity feat).”
Now, I don't currently have a manifester level, which is required for Psycrystal Affinity. But… I think I can get one. I have Well of Miracles, and with my Spheres caster level of eight, I have a grand total of five talents known that I can change daily. The Veilweaving Sphere can get me Veils known, so… one talent for the Veilweaving Sphere, which gets me a single Veil known and the ability to shape it. Dahlia's Psionic Halo will get me an actual manifester level, and that qualifies me for Psycrystal Affinity.
Huh; I can do this with just one buff. Two would make it a little better.
“Wait… what are you planning?”
I chuckle, and spend the time resting to change up my Spheres talents known; getting the one talent I want, so I can get Veilweaving and a Veil… which I shape, getting a little halo of light around my head. Of course, I fill it with essence to my capacity limit because it's free for me to do that… and the veil in question, with the investment, gives me two Psionic powers known (I go with Force Screen and Defensive Precognition, not that it really matters).
That done, I now have a manifester level of my Veilweaver level minus three… and as my veilweaver level is set by my Spheres caster level, that means five. Good enough, although I may want to get a suitable Spheres Implement to increase that. I then cast Enable Function on myself, granting myself the Psicrystal Affinity feat. I implant a portion of my personality… focusing on Patricia; she seems ‘Friendly’...
“Wait, what?”
…and watch as a pink crystal heart materializes in front of me.
“Did it work?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she speaks into my mind, “I can see from the crystal's perspective, but I can't move.”
“Ah, that.” I concentrate for a moment, and several pink tendrils of energy grow from the crystal. “What about now?”
She scuttles around a little, much like a spider, “Okay, yes, I can move. But… well. Look at me.”
I smile, and speak, “Oh, that part is just spells. The big part was getting you a body. Here….” now, she's not a living creature, but that’s okay - the official stance on Psycrystal destruction is that they reform the next day if the actual character still has the feat - so she’ll ‘live’ as long as I do... and as long as I don't dismiss the spell giving me the feat, unshape the veil, or change out the underlying Spheres talent.
“Good to know you aren't planning on getting rid of me, and that I'm SO INCREDIBLY stable this way,” Patricia speaks into my mind.
“Still in here, huh?” I tap my left temple, “That's acceptable. Now let's see about getting you set up a bit better….”
As a Psicrystal, Share Powers is a go, and the Transparency rules mean that works well enough with spells… so I go wild, same as I did for Euler… although sadly Monstrous Regeneration and Delay Death don't work for her (she's not alive)... but she doesn't suffer her own side effect, and has no native casting, so I make her Psionic by way of the Mental Pinnacle spell, which gives her a manifester level equal to my buffed up caster level and a pool of power points based on the same… but only five powers known (all of which are Mind-affecting), and her Intelligence score isn't that great. Still, Ego Whip at the kind of augmentation she can throw out will down nearly anything that's not Charisma-based even on a successful save. Oh yes, and I can give her a considerable gamut of powers known because the Expanded Knowledge feat isn't limited to her current class list... one feat, one power known; it's limited to one level lower than the highest-level power she can manifest... but that's Psychic Crush at 5th, so I get her all of the 4th level and lower psionic powers... many of which can be augmented to effects much higher, and some of which are discounted for being on limited lists. I also give her a giant pool of power points via repeated uses of the Psionic Talent feat (it grants bonus power points - more with each use), and a very large pool of hit points by way of the Psionic Body feat.
“Now keep in mind,” I warn her, “the various tricks I'm using to make you mobile stop working if you get more than a mile from me; the buff spells will keep working, but the ability that lets you actually move will stop; and I can likewise turn that off whenever… I need to actively renew it periodically, for that matter.”
“I'm on a leash, I get it,” she Shapechanges into a human (with truly massive melons, past even Cowbird's over-inflated size, bouncing around impossibly lightly as she moves) apparently just to have eyes to roll at me, and switches to speaking aloud, “I’m part of you now, and generally know what you know. It would also work the other way around if you would just accept that.”
“No thank you,” I respond, “I don’t really want to remember… how many years of being a willing plaything for men?”
“Oh, not too long,” she bats her long eyelashes around her pink eyes, “Just four or five millenia.”
“Right… I don’t want to be swimming in that much memory from someone else,” I might drown.
She shakes her head, “Suit yourself, they’re sweet memories. Still… thank you for letting me out to ‘stretch my legs’, so to speak. I’ll behave. What are your ground rules?”
What are my ground rules? A little fuzzy… “Well, you’ve been hanging out in my head for a while, so you should have a pretty good handle on the sorts of things I don’t want you doing….”
“So no fun, then?” Patricia rolls her eyes.
“No eating; I’d like to put off having my own proportions look like,” I gesture at her chest, “and I know how hungry you get. Also nothing that can make a baby,” we have one too many on the way already.
“Hey! I have self-control! I once went three whole decades without eating anyone because I wanted to preserve the flavor of that society!” she shakes her head, “I’ll only eat people when you tell me, basically the same as we’ve been doing..”
“Great! Also, avoid getting in trouble or causing any for me,” I have enough already from my own mistakes.
She smirks at that one, “I can still hear our thoughts, you know,” right, but it’s not like I’m insulting you, “True. And you really could do the same if you’d just…”
“No thank you,” I haven’t been able to NOT see souls since you taught me how, “I don’t think I want your stream of consciousness in my head.”
“Suit yourself,” she adds, “It’s fun in here.”
“Also…” this one might be a hard sell.
“What is it you want?” Patricia seems annoyed.
“Keep yourself covered up whenever you’re not on-board ship,” she frowns, “I know we have a ‘relaxed’ dress code here, but nudity is frowned on in general, and basically everyone station-side wears EVA-rated gear in case of decompression. You’ll stand out far too much if you don’t.”
“Fine, fine…” she agrees reluctantly, “I’ll go have one of the summons adjust a suit.”
“That’ll do. Within those limits… go ahead and enjoy yourself.”
“Thank you,” she smiles for miles, and heads out the door.
Maybe this was a mistake….
“Are you okay?” Patricia's question kicks me back into motion.
I'm in shock, I think. I mean… how?!
“Well, when an SRO and a Hologram get frisky with a humanoid heavily influenced by our power…”
That's not what I mean. I mean… How?!
Patricia sighs, “‘Gets pregnant with my kid’ is part of the fantasy that spawned me. Biology and sense take a backseat to our power. Star and Ocean went off inside us many times while we were enjoying those fantastic rods of theirs… so that portion of the fantasy manifested. Previously I'd find another host at this point, leave the woman to her new mate, but that’s not an option anymore.”
But I don't… I can't… I'm not ready….
“Well…I don't really know anything about child rearing, but we seem to be in a good place. Large space for the child to grow? Got it: Stephanie is pretty big, and you have that Demiplane. Food? Covered the same way. Help watching the little tyke? Summons and the other women on the ship. Plenty of money for other necessities as well. We're in fine shape. We absolutely can take care of him or her and are ready to do so, practically speaking.”
That's not what I mean….
“Well, if we don't want the little one, I'm sure someone will. Are orphanages still a thing? I remember how eating the older ones always seemed to ensure they were taken care of….”
Then I'd still have to go through….
“Oh, you want to kill that pure little innocent soul? Eh. I'd be okay with that, but sorry: Until the little one is out, they're part of us, and we regenerate. ‘Evicting’ the child is going to be problematic before the birth. After that, though, if you want to just kill them….”
I shudder, no I'm not committing infanticide. I'm just… I'm not looking forward to the pain of birth, of hormones running rampant through my body, mood swings, food cravings, the giant belly, cramps, and all those other effects that happen around a pregnancy.
“Yeah, well… about half of a humanoid population goes through it couple of times in a lifetime. Most of them survive it, and we CERTAINLY will.”
Ugh. You're not going to let me get the whining out of my system, then?
“Well, I did try to tell you….”
Wait, what?
“Five times, yes. You kept telling me to stuff it, shut up, and similar. I expect you just thought I was going to tease you about the decision?”
Yes. I’m sorry, Patricia. I'll at least let you speak in the future.
“Apology accepted, not that I really have much choice in the matter.”
Right, you're a prisoner in my soul.
“Sort of. Your mutant soul ate me. I am a part of you now, something more akin to a split personality. I'm not really trapped any more than you are, because I'm part of you now.”
A fragment of my personality… huh. I think I can apologize with more than just words. Hey, Patricia, can you pull up the laptop when it's not level up time?
“Yes, but it’s just reviewing your own memories; what's the point?”
It's a bit sharper, I want to double check something.
“Here you go…” the laptop appears before me, and I pull it up… there it is: In the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and available for free as part of the 3.5 System Reference Document; from Psicrystal basics: “A psicrystal is a fragment of a psionic character’s personality, brought into physical form and a semblance of life (via the Psicrystal Affinity feat).”
Now, I don't currently have a manifester level, which is required for Psycrystal Affinity. But… I think I can get one. I have Well of Miracles, and with my Spheres caster level of eight, I have a grand total of five talents known that I can change daily. The Veilweaving Sphere can get me Veils known, so… one talent for the Veilweaving Sphere, which gets me a single Veil known and the ability to shape it. Dahlia's Psionic Halo will get me an actual manifester level, and that qualifies me for Psycrystal Affinity.
Huh; I can do this with just one buff. Two would make it a little better.
“Wait… what are you planning?”
I chuckle, and spend the time resting to change up my Spheres talents known; getting the one talent I want, so I can get Veilweaving and a Veil… which I shape, getting a little halo of light around my head. Of course, I fill it with essence to my capacity limit because it's free for me to do that… and the veil in question, with the investment, gives me two Psionic powers known (I go with Force Screen and Defensive Precognition, not that it really matters).
That done, I now have a manifester level of my Veilweaver level minus three… and as my veilweaver level is set by my Spheres caster level, that means five. Good enough, although I may want to get a suitable Spheres Implement to increase that. I then cast Enable Function on myself, granting myself the Psicrystal Affinity feat. I implant a portion of my personality… focusing on Patricia; she seems ‘Friendly’...
“Wait, what?”
…and watch as a pink crystal heart materializes in front of me.
“Did it work?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she speaks into my mind, “I can see from the crystal's perspective, but I can't move.”
“Ah, that.” I concentrate for a moment, and several pink tendrils of energy grow from the crystal. “What about now?”
She scuttles around a little, much like a spider, “Okay, yes, I can move. But… well. Look at me.”
I smile, and speak, “Oh, that part is just spells. The big part was getting you a body. Here….” now, she's not a living creature, but that’s okay - the official stance on Psycrystal destruction is that they reform the next day if the actual character still has the feat - so she’ll ‘live’ as long as I do... and as long as I don't dismiss the spell giving me the feat, unshape the veil, or change out the underlying Spheres talent.
“Good to know you aren't planning on getting rid of me, and that I'm SO INCREDIBLY stable this way,” Patricia speaks into my mind.
“Still in here, huh?” I tap my left temple, “That's acceptable. Now let's see about getting you set up a bit better….”
As a Psicrystal, Share Powers is a go, and the Transparency rules mean that works well enough with spells… so I go wild, same as I did for Euler… although sadly Monstrous Regeneration and Delay Death don't work for her (she's not alive)... but she doesn't suffer her own side effect, and has no native casting, so I make her Psionic by way of the Mental Pinnacle spell, which gives her a manifester level equal to my buffed up caster level and a pool of power points based on the same… but only five powers known (all of which are Mind-affecting), and her Intelligence score isn't that great. Still, Ego Whip at the kind of augmentation she can throw out will down nearly anything that's not Charisma-based even on a successful save. Oh yes, and I can give her a considerable gamut of powers known because the Expanded Knowledge feat isn't limited to her current class list... one feat, one power known; it's limited to one level lower than the highest-level power she can manifest... but that's Psychic Crush at 5th, so I get her all of the 4th level and lower psionic powers... many of which can be augmented to effects much higher, and some of which are discounted for being on limited lists. I also give her a giant pool of power points via repeated uses of the Psionic Talent feat (it grants bonus power points - more with each use), and a very large pool of hit points by way of the Psionic Body feat.
“Now keep in mind,” I warn her, “the various tricks I'm using to make you mobile stop working if you get more than a mile from me; the buff spells will keep working, but the ability that lets you actually move will stop; and I can likewise turn that off whenever… I need to actively renew it periodically, for that matter.”
“I'm on a leash, I get it,” she Shapechanges into a human (with truly massive melons, past even Cowbird's over-inflated size, bouncing around impossibly lightly as she moves) apparently just to have eyes to roll at me, and switches to speaking aloud, “I’m part of you now, and generally know what you know. It would also work the other way around if you would just accept that.”
“No thank you,” I respond, “I don’t really want to remember… how many years of being a willing plaything for men?”
“Oh, not too long,” she bats her long eyelashes around her pink eyes, “Just four or five millenia.”
“Right… I don’t want to be swimming in that much memory from someone else,” I might drown.
She shakes her head, “Suit yourself, they’re sweet memories. Still… thank you for letting me out to ‘stretch my legs’, so to speak. I’ll behave. What are your ground rules?”
What are my ground rules? A little fuzzy… “Well, you’ve been hanging out in my head for a while, so you should have a pretty good handle on the sorts of things I don’t want you doing….”
“So no fun, then?” Patricia rolls her eyes.
“No eating; I’d like to put off having my own proportions look like,” I gesture at her chest, “and I know how hungry you get. Also nothing that can make a baby,” we have one too many on the way already.
“Hey! I have self-control! I once went three whole decades without eating anyone because I wanted to preserve the flavor of that society!” she shakes her head, “I’ll only eat people when you tell me, basically the same as we’ve been doing..”
“Great! Also, avoid getting in trouble or causing any for me,” I have enough already from my own mistakes.
She smirks at that one, “I can still hear our thoughts, you know,” right, but it’s not like I’m insulting you, “True. And you really could do the same if you’d just…”
“No thank you,” I haven’t been able to NOT see souls since you taught me how, “I don’t think I want your stream of consciousness in my head.”
“Suit yourself,” she adds, “It’s fun in here.”
“Also…” this one might be a hard sell.
“What is it you want?” Patricia seems annoyed.
“Keep yourself covered up whenever you’re not on-board ship,” she frowns, “I know we have a ‘relaxed’ dress code here, but nudity is frowned on in general, and basically everyone station-side wears EVA-rated gear in case of decompression. You’ll stand out far too much if you don’t.”
“Fine, fine…” she agrees reluctantly, “I’ll go have one of the summons adjust a suit.”
“That’ll do. Within those limits… go ahead and enjoy yourself.”
“Thank you,” she smiles for miles, and heads out the door.
Maybe this was a mistake….
