Ugh. Right. I'm pregnant. I've spent so much time hooked into my male body, it slipped my mind. Well… I'll have to have a look…
I sit down in one of the very comfortable chairs on Stephanie, disconnect from my body, and have a look.
Ugh, those giant jugs are annoying. I push them out of the way with this body's hands, and look at a decent four month baby belly… with a purple soul growing inside, a slightly different shade than my own.
“Ah, Patricia?” My real body is off right now, and I'm deep inside myself, so nobody can hear… I may as well speak aloud.
“Keep our eyes on them for a bit, please. I need a good look; this is new to me, too,” she speaks into my mind.
I wait patiently, trying vainly to remain still, fairy eyes sweeping slowly over the anomaly.
“I think I have it,” my pink partner informs me after a period of time.
“Great; what happened?” I want to know… but also don't.
“Okay, so… we were having a son, and after the Teleport, I ate a chunk of his soul, like what normally happens when I affect someone,” Patricia praters.
“I get that part… but SHE was neon pink after that,” nobody's recovered on their own before.
“Well… he's the first…or ta is, as you tend to say. Every piece of his soul has grown back,” I can tell Patricia isn't quite done…
…but I ask the obvious question anyway: “So why purple?”
She continues, “That would be because all of the femininity I left behind is still there, and growing apace with the rest of them. We're looking at a double strength soul, fully masculine and fully feminine.”
So at a guess… “physically like Ocean, then?”
I get a mental shrug back, “Probably. Before you turned the twins, Ocean was one of the two you… let in.”
“...and since then, I’ve only lain with women. Well, and Ocean again, but always with myself in a male role.”
“Right,” comes the mental reply, “So either Ocean or Star will be the father.”
Okay, so… Ocean’s child is mine, my child is either Ocean’s or Star’s, and who knows who the father is for all the other kids in the group. “We’re going to have a complicated family, aren’t we?”
“You’re a reasonable candidate for most of them…” Patricia begins, “... as are Ocean and Star. But that is what happens when you get involved in a big poly-pile.”
Ugh, “That aside… so I didn’t do permanent harm to the little one, and they’re going to be stronger for it. That’s good, at least.”
Patricia laughs in my head, “We DID change them fundamentally, though.”
I start reconnecting to my body, “Can’t be helped. Changing the past - especially when it comes to one’s own past - is ridiculously risky.”
Patricia pauses a moment as I boot up my body, “But you CAN change it. Oh, wow.”
There is a spell for it… more than one, even… but altering the past is a crazy risky idea.
I open my eyes and get up from my chair. Well… my baby is okay enough. A stupid oversight on my part will make ta a bit weird, but what’s ‘normal’ in a world several dozen alien races? Ta will be fine. I suppose I may as well check up on everyone….
I start with Patricia… because she's always nearby, and is really easy to summon…seriously, I just want her to come, and she does.
“That's because I'm in your head, a part of you, and a slave to your will,” she responds.
Which is because you tried to eat me, and lost. No sympathy on that, Patricia.
Anyway, when she arrives, I use the Conjurer's Toolbelt spell to make a handheld medical scanner… which comes out neon pink, and the handhold scanner's handle feels like an anatomically correct Barbie doll made of flesh. But it works… and shows me a crystal mounted in a tiny humanoid robot inside her. Huh. Still… the little one seems active and healthy enough? I have NO clue what I'm looking for with whatever race this little one will be called.
As I already have the scanner, and I'm in Stephanie, I start walking towards her quarters as I bring her up on the com, “Up for a checkup?”
“Of course,” she messages back instantly, “I'll be there shortly….”
I wait patiently until Stephanie shows, we go inside, and I use the same scanner on her. Whatever is inside her is growing… but it's soulless, and I can't yet tell what that mass of folded metal is going to become. But it's still growing, so… “The baby seems healthy. I'm honestly not sure what you're going to birth, but there's no soul there.”
Stephanie considers, “So about the same as the last checkup, just bigger?”
I nod, “That's about the size of it, yes.”
Stephanie asks the obvious question, “So what prompted the spontaneous checkup? You normally do this every seven days, regular as clockwork.”
I sigh, “I felt mine move.”
“But you're…” Stephanie pauses, “Oh, right. So changing shape didn't hurt the little one?”
I shake my head, “No… I can't take on a form that doesn't have a womb, and apparently that means the baby's fine,” something else hurt him, but ta recovered stronger, so… no point mentioning it.
“And how's my other little one?” She asks.
I smile, “I'll go look now…” I toss the scanner in the garbage (it cost me nothing, and it's faster to make a new one than to draw it), and head to that space between Stephanie's inner and outer hulls, where her ship-sized babies grow.
And yes, she has one growing. An Explorer, this time; basically the default base frame for players in Starfinder. Small enough for one person to fly, it can handle a crew of six, and has better maneuverability than other ships of that size... it's a decent general choice, and a fine frame... too big for Stephanie to haul around normally, though. I report back to Stephanie (including pictures), and move on, checking on everyone.
Ocean’s little body is carrying… basically a copy of ta, also purple-souled: A metal skeleton-like frame with a zillion mechanical ants. Star's big body is carrying a tiny fighter… the wings curl, fortunately; she'll probably be able to pass the little guy without issues. Star's little body has a hologram core growing inside… which should result in an easy birth (although I honestly have no idea how a holographic body produces real matter…). Cowbird has a pink-souled metal skeleton with a swarm of metal ants inside her… but with six limbs, two of which I expect are wings. Linda has something that looks like a normal baby growing in her… although that skeleton is metal. Euler's baby seems to be a perfectly normal, human baby… which is particularly bizarre, as the little girl is successfully growing as a flesh and blood person inside of a matrix of solid light.
Are the laws of physics off crying in a corner? I think they might be.
Of course, there’s one more baby I need to properly check up on, and tools miniaturize just fine, so….
I disconnect from my body, conjure a suitable miniaturized tool inside myself, scan the belly in front of me… and see…
Two little arms wiggling slightly. Two little legs doing the same. Oh, ta is breathing… or at least practicing (there's no actual air inside the placenta). Huh… and ta already has visible chest bumps, that go well with the obvious start of a rod between the legs. Great… and… wait, are those wing nubs? I think they are… but I suppose that makes sense: Ta’s host is a winged fey right now, ta could be soaking up some of that power…. oh my. If the little one is soaking up all of my totally not magical spells this body is under… well, I may not need to worry about ta getting hurt. And if the little baby gets some of my class features - even my first level ones - ta’s going to be really hard to keep contained. I can’t know that until the little one gets out, though… and maybe not even then: My effects aren’t magical, which means they don’t detect by way of things like Detect Magic or Arcane Sight; I’ll probably need to identify them by way of just seeing their effects… which of course, I’ve taken pains to hide for myself. Ugh. I never thought that might become a problem. Well… Ta seems healthy… there’s little in the way of clues as to whether Star or Ocean is the father here, given that Ta is flesh and blood. Hmm. Well… maybe the little one will be able to shift, and that will make it clearer? Although not necessarily: Ocean and Star are cut from the same cloth, and it’s not like they have the same kind of genetics as a humanoid, so… I may never know.
But then, I don’t have to know: They’ll be available for support whenever.
I toss the scanner into a waste chute, hook back up to my body, open my eyes, and see something I did NOT expect: A missile heading straight for us through the fake windows….
Ugh. Right. I'm pregnant. I've spent so much time hooked into my male body, it slipped my mind. Well… I'll have to have a look…
I sit down in one of the very comfortable chairs on Stephanie, disconnect from my body, and have a look.
Ugh, those giant jugs are annoying. I push them out of the way with this body's hands, and look at a decent four month baby belly… with a purple soul growing inside, a slightly different shade than my own.
“Ah, Patricia?” My real body is off right now, and I'm deep inside myself, so nobody can hear… I may as well speak aloud.
“Keep our eyes on them for a bit, please. I need a good look; this is new to me, too,” she speaks into my mind.
I wait patiently, trying vainly to remain still, fairy eyes sweeping slowly over the anomaly.
“I think I have it,” my pink partner informs me after a period of time.
“Great; what happened?” I want to know… but also don't.
“Okay, so… we were having a son, and after the Teleport, I ate a chunk of his soul, like what normally happens when I affect someone,” Patricia praters.
“I get that part… but SHE was neon pink after that,” nobody's recovered on their own before.
“Well… he's the first…or ta is, as you tend to say. Every piece of his soul has grown back,” I can tell Patricia isn't quite done…
…but I ask the obvious question anyway: “So why purple?”
She continues, “That would be because all of the femininity I left behind is still there, and growing apace with the rest of them. We're looking at a double strength soul, fully masculine and fully feminine.”
So at a guess… “physically like Ocean, then?”
I get a mental shrug back, “Probably. Before you turned the twins, Ocean was one of the two you… let in.”
“...and since then, I’ve only lain with women. Well, and Ocean again, but always with myself in a male role.”
“Right,” comes the mental reply, “So either Ocean or Star will be the father.”
Okay, so… Ocean’s child is mine, my child is either Ocean’s or Star’s, and who knows who the father is for all the other kids in the group. “We’re going to have a complicated family, aren’t we?”
“You’re a reasonable candidate for most of them…” Patricia begins, “... as are Ocean and Star. But that is what happens when you get involved in a big poly-pile.”
Ugh, “That aside… so I didn’t do permanent harm to the little one, and they’re going to be stronger for it. That’s good, at least.”
Patricia laughs in my head, “We DID change them fundamentally, though.”
I start reconnecting to my body, “Can’t be helped. Changing the past - especially when it comes to one’s own past - is ridiculously risky.”
Patricia pauses a moment as I boot up my body, “But you CAN change it. Oh, wow.”
There is a spell for it… more than one, even… but altering the past is a crazy risky idea.
I open my eyes and get up from my chair. Well… my baby is okay enough. A stupid oversight on my part will make ta a bit weird, but what’s ‘normal’ in a world several dozen alien races? Ta will be fine. I suppose I may as well check up on everyone….
I start with Patricia… because she's always nearby, and is really easy to summon…seriously, I just want her to come, and she does.
“That's because I'm in your head, a part of you, and a slave to your will,” she responds.
Which is because you tried to eat me, and lost. No sympathy on that, Patricia.
Anyway, when she arrives, I use the Conjurer's Toolbelt spell to make a handheld medical scanner… which comes out neon pink, and the handhold scanner's handle feels like an anatomically correct Barbie doll made of flesh. But it works… and shows me a crystal mounted in a tiny humanoid robot inside her. Huh. Still… the little one seems active and healthy enough? I have NO clue what I'm looking for with whatever race this little one will be called.
As I already have the scanner, and I'm in Stephanie, I start walking towards her quarters as I bring her up on the com, “Up for a checkup?”
“Of course,” she messages back instantly, “I'll be there shortly….”
I wait patiently until Stephanie shows, we go inside, and I use the same scanner on her. Whatever is inside her is growing… but it's soulless, and I can't yet tell what that mass of folded metal is going to become. But it's still growing, so… “The baby seems healthy. I'm honestly not sure what you're going to birth, but there's no soul there.”
Stephanie considers, “So about the same as the last checkup, just bigger?”
I nod, “That's about the size of it, yes.”
Stephanie asks the obvious question, “So what prompted the spontaneous checkup? You normally do this every seven days, regular as clockwork.”
I sigh, “I felt mine move.”
“But you're…” Stephanie pauses, “Oh, right. So changing shape didn't hurt the little one?”
I shake my head, “No… I can't take on a form that doesn't have a womb, and apparently that means the baby's fine,” something else hurt him, but ta recovered stronger, so… no point mentioning it.
“And how's my other little one?” She asks.
I smile, “I'll go look now…” I toss the scanner in the garbage (it cost me nothing, and it's faster to make a new one than to draw it), and head to that space between Stephanie's inner and outer hulls, where her ship-sized babies grow.
And yes, she has one growing. An Explorer, this time; basically the default base frame for players in Starfinder. Small enough for one person to fly, it can handle a crew of six, and has better maneuverability than other ships of that size... it's a decent general choice, and a fine frame... too big for Stephanie to haul around normally, though. I report back to Stephanie (including pictures), and move on, checking on everyone.
Ocean’s little body is carrying… basically a copy of ta, also purple-souled: A metal skeleton-like frame with a zillion mechanical ants. Star's big body is carrying a tiny fighter… the wings curl, fortunately; she'll probably be able to pass the little guy without issues. Star's little body has a hologram core growing inside… which should result in an easy birth (although I honestly have no idea how a holographic body produces real matter…). Cowbird has a pink-souled metal skeleton with a swarm of metal ants inside her… but with six limbs, two of which I expect are wings. Linda has something that looks like a normal baby growing in her… although that skeleton is metal. Euler's baby seems to be a perfectly normal, human baby… which is particularly bizarre, as the little girl is successfully growing as a flesh and blood person inside of a matrix of solid light.
Are the laws of physics off crying in a corner? I think they might be.
Of course, there’s one more baby I need to properly check up on, and tools miniaturize just fine, so….
I disconnect from my body, conjure a suitable miniaturized tool inside myself, scan the belly in front of me… and see…
Two little arms wiggling slightly. Two little legs doing the same. Oh, ta is breathing… or at least practicing (there's no actual air inside the placenta). Huh… and ta already has visible chest bumps, that go well with the obvious start of a rod between the legs. Great… and… wait, are those wing nubs? I think they are… but I suppose that makes sense: Ta’s host is a winged fey right now, ta could be soaking up some of that power…. oh my. If the little one is soaking up all of my totally not magical spells this body is under… well, I may not need to worry about ta getting hurt. And if the little baby gets some of my class features - even my first level ones - ta’s going to be really hard to keep contained. I can’t know that until the little one gets out, though… and maybe not even then: My effects aren’t magical, which means they don’t detect by way of things like Detect Magic or Arcane Sight; I’ll probably need to identify them by way of just seeing their effects… which of course, I’ve taken pains to hide for myself. Ugh. I never thought that might become a problem. Well… Ta seems healthy… there’s little in the way of clues as to whether Star or Ocean is the father here, given that Ta is flesh and blood. Hmm. Well… maybe the little one will be able to shift, and that will make it clearer? Although not necessarily: Ocean and Star are cut from the same cloth, and it’s not like they have the same kind of genetics as a humanoid, so… I may never know.
But then, I don’t have to know: They’ll be available for support whenever.
I toss the scanner into a waste chute, hook back up to my body, open my eyes, and see something I did NOT expect: A missile heading straight for us through the fake windows….
