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AptoApril 2022 Journal
3 years ago
EDIT 2022-09-01: It's done! Well, that took about four months longer than anticipated. But I'm very happy that I completed this given everything else that was going on in my life, and how slow I am at writing. I'm pretty proud of this! The large majority of these posts are about my own sonas, so you can easily see what apto means to me.
I am planning on taking part in AptoApril! How much? I don't know. My low goal is to write at least one Tweet's worth of a story focusing on the day's topic. Some of these story kernels may blossom into something more, but whatever mess of words I have by the end of the day is what I'm submitting!
By the end of this, I hope to bring some interesting ideas to light for myself (and maybe even others!) which I can play with, and to get a little bit better about posting stories that aren't perfect.
"It's just another muscle," Morri explains, as she lifts a mass of water the size of your head out from the stream without lifting a finger.
"The energy, the effort, isn't free. I can feel that muscle tire if I work it too much.
But just like a muscle, it can be built up. A good workout can make it sore just like any other muscle in the body."
She stands up, and reaches out to almost touch the floating sphere.
"But with the proper routine of exercise, care, and nutrients, it can turn from a party trick to an incredible asset."
With a shout, the sphere rockets across the stream toward a tree, and you hear the crack of splintered wood as it makes contact.
"Ow. I may have pulled the muscle, I didn't warm up like I should have."
A short exploration on what magic is and how it feels to use. I'm focusing here on the strain it puts on the body, and the limitations it presents for the user.
Synths are not efficient.
Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be unable to learn while on limited battery power? It takes serious power to train an artificial neural network. Organic neural networks are so infuriatingly efficient that you run your whole damn operating system on them! Trust me, I've tried incorporating artificially grown brain tissue into my body a number of times. But I can never get it to last very long, and I can't rely on something which could die for inexplicable reasons. So instead I have to plug into a big array of power-hungry ASICs for hours to update my models based on a week's worth of data.
Your brain is a marvel of evolution, just like the rest of your body. Autonomous self-repair systems which don't require much more than your daily caloric intake. When something goes wrong in my body, I don't have white blood cells to go fix it. I have to deal with the loss of functionality, or worse, power off entire subsystems to prevent glitches from causing even more harm!
I'm a barely-held-together collection of machines in a beta test. You are a creature optimized over thousands of generations of strenuous evolutionary pressures.
Shoutouts to WhenWolvesCryOut, who has done a lot of Apto with his character Kat that fits here. I really like how he illustrates the problems a nanite body causes, especially one which isn't always under full control. I wanted to think of similar limitations for Space-Age Morri to encounter, since I already have her abilities well fleshed out.
What feats make the most people gape in awe?
I can tell you, it's not seeing powerful beings perform things they could never do. You can keep your four-armed beasts and gripping tails, they appeal to some people, but not everyone.
What really catches peoples eyes is seeing someone overcoming challenges despite handicaps, either intrinsic or imposed. The average circus-goer doesn't understand how difficult coordinating four limbs is, but they do understand that the human mouth is not well designed for holding a handle supporting one's whole weight.
Something a little more down-to-earth for once.
Evolutionary pressure is a weird thing.
You might think that the better animal survives, but "better" is always in the context of the environment it lives in. And that environment is playing a protracted game of rock-paper-scissors with itself.
Sometimes a reset can make you realize that scissors was the better strategy all along...
Something pretty vague here, it's getting late. Don't ask me what extinct trait "scissors" are, I haven't written it yet. Take this and run with whatever trait you want!
We discarded the booster rockets which got us off Earth. Why shouldn't we discard some of those Earth genes, now that better ones are available?
— Essays on the Promethean
I couldn't think of anything for this day, so I pulled a Harmony Level quote from Civilization: Beyond Earth. The Harmony Affinity is about transforming humanity to become a native species to the planet they now inhabit. While I'm not a fan of their unique victory condition, I do love that core idea.
So little said about what twisted energies lie within my core. The gift of the Dark-types is the ability to live on the edge of insanity without falling in. The Psychics cannot reach us there, and we can drag them in if they try. We ain't afraid of no Ghosts.
Young Eevee, this beautiful insanity awaits you, should you just step into the moonlight...
There's something here; I think it's just a few sentences away from being good.
At least, it would be if we only allow for natural selection and bones of calcium.
Who doesn't dream of flight?
On every level of society, man fights to gain the smallest edge over his fellow man. The paranoid are laughed at, but it's the paranoid who survive. Those who back up their brains, who reinforce their skeletons, who enhance their vision, who have a backup body just in case; it's these who rise to the top in the City.
Only fools aren't paranoid.
Cyberpunk inspiration is obvious.
There's a reason Artificial and Synthetic Intelligence has become so integral to the research process. Craft a specialized hash and generate a few dozen with a few parameters nudged here and there, and leave them to argue for a while. Usually you'll see them weed out the bad data and reach a consensus in a day or so, but sometimes there's a hidden but fundamental insight that the quorum brings to the surface. Around 20% of the most important discoveries of the last ten years were made by SIs, and 80% were possible due to their contributions.
Inspired in part by Dhruv/Legion from Ralts Bloodthorne's "Behold, Humanity!"/"Tales from the Terran Confederacy", as well as the general idea of SI's from the same series.
*Yawn* Hmm~, that was a good nap. I feel pretty full too. I love sunny days like this when I can just relax and photosynthesize. There's honestly nothing better.
..?
Yeah, yeah, I'll be there. Just... five more minutes.
I'm thinking Leafeon here, but wrote the story for any sapient plant/plant-adjacent.
<Insert typical "taur in a world built for anthros" description>
- I immediately loved posexe's Elastic Gummy. Sylveon is an attractive feral form to take since it can manipulate objects easily with its feelers. Add to that all the sensitive and stretchy rubber abilities, and I started fantasizing a lot about this.
- If you want a story which explores those abilities in depth, the pleasure of your body being stretched and contorted to ridiculous lengths, then definitely check out Harbingers of Change. I would call the first few episodes "questionable", what with the temporary drone TF.
A little hurried snippet from a AI Dungeon playthrough I did nearly a year ago with Morriana. Shi can transform between a mer-cougar and an anthro cougar form, but has more control with hir necklace.
A seahorse head is mounted above the mantle of the fireplace.
Another snippet from the same playthrough. Started with the AI's words, then edited to actually make sense.
That's where you come in. Desperate times call for measures like these. These are the access codes to the M-Ark-01, our flagship. Our hope is that by you inhabiting the core and optimizing its vast arsenal of weapons and compute, you could find a way out of this mess with minimal loss of life.
You've shown yourself to be quite effective when inhabiting much smaller ships, and we'd hate to waste that ability in a corvette.
Are you in?
I'm not a big macro fan, but here's where necessity could call for taking up a large presence.
I have to be careful, though; this kind of treatment can quickly go to one's head.
Saving lives is the most "heaven-sent" we see happen in our mortal plane. What if they looked the part?
For what could possibly be more true?
A revelation or a deception?
Internet? Not feasible. Even at light-speed, ping times are in hours at this distance, and that limited inter-planetary bandwidth is not for personal recreation.
Well, it's time to down-clock my processors, tune into a terrestrial radio station, and bathe in the familiar warmth of my home star as I let physics bring me safely to my destination.
This one took a bit. Relaxing with an unusual form? Not that hard, I'm especially drawn to my Making a Sale series. But I wanted to find an unusual form or ability which means you have no choice but to take it easy, and between pooltoy and space travel, space travel was the less obvious choice.
But I live for this.
Branching off of my "Heaven Sent" answer.
Up next...
Ears and voice are the obvious ones here. I have a pretty good singing voice irl and I'm confident in it, so I have a lot of experience in getting attention and compliments because of it. You know what? Maybe I'll write and record something on behalf of Demo someday...
Slimes have some interesting taste, that's for certain.
Andrew scraped at his arm, but that just gave the thing access to his other hand. Now with both limbs covered in the silvery liquid, Andrew could only watch as it flowed slowly up his arm, and around his shoulders. A burning chill struck him in the back of the neck, as it invaded his body. A moment later it reached his spinal chord, and he lost all control of his body and fell like a board face first into the puddle.
Not totally sure if these are the exact events that lead to Andi becoming a sybiotic union. But it's probably close.
And when he learned of the fate that was about to befall him, he knew he had to make an escape.
DnD-obsessed scientists "uplift" a panther to create an approximate displacer beast. The origins of future-setting Demoveo. He still has trust issues with humans.
"A day? That's a lot of time to get dressed. And I've never seen you wear clothes."
"It's a figure of speech. You are aware of why spaceflight cost more for you than your wife, right?"
"Yeah, it's weight. Weight is expensive."
"Exactly. So why carry around a terrestrial frame when I can just make one when I land?"
"...oh."
"Now you see how my ship is so small."
Morri travels light. (Double entendre intended.)
My eyes can gaze far, far deeper now.
You can feel them in your soul, can't you?
An impure chimera stalks. It claims sanity. You should not believe it.
Yes, that's my torso. I'm sorry, but furniture just gets in my way when I try to move around. It's fine though, I've heard it's very comfortable. I've had guests just fall asleep on top of me before. Don't worry about it, I've got length and limbs to spare.
Noodle plush? Noodle plush.
You are meant to feel the cool water beneath you, regulating your body temperature, its gentle motions massaging your underside.
You are meant to Float.
Excerpt from a short (3 paragraph) TF thing I wrote. Summer pooltoy moods strike hard.
You had to say it, didn't you? No qualifications, no exceptions, nothing about preserving the laws of physics or non-contradiction. Individuals incompatible with the new universe fractured into another plane of existence, separated forever from their friends and loved ones.
The chaos. The deaths from confusion. The deaths from misunderstandings. The deaths from allergies. The deaths from the square-cubed law.
You had to say it, didn't you? "I wish everyone was their sona."
Wishes have consequences. Don't invite Tier 4+ characters piloted by former mortals into your backyard, m'kay?
Out of all the TF stuff I like, TFs involving suits are my favorite. Here, as you can guess, the suit is sentient, and as it embraces and changes the host's body, it begins to take over more and more.
Sidenote: You can read the final result in any way you like, but the way I imagine it (and the way I read many images like this), the suit is not sapient (it has an animalistic intelligence) and so it cannot replace or override the higher intelligence of the host, it cannot destroy the host's memories or core beliefs. In this excerpt, since the head isn't on yet, the changed parts are totally disconnected from the host's control. Once the head is on and the mental merge is complete, the host's high-level functions assert themselves.
But instead of leaving those traits behind when he had the opportunity, he embraced them. They are a part of his story, a story he can use to help others. What was a disability became an ability.
Because if just one more person can learn to love their own body, then it was worth it.
FIN.
What is this?
I am planning on taking part in AptoApril! How much? I don't know. My low goal is to write at least one Tweet's worth of a story focusing on the day's topic. Some of these story kernels may blossom into something more, but whatever mess of words I have by the end of the day is what I'm submitting!
By the end of this, I hope to bring some interesting ideas to light for myself (and maybe even others!) which I can play with, and to get a little bit better about posting stories that aren't perfect.
01. Magic
"It's just another muscle," Morri explains, as she lifts a mass of water the size of your head out from the stream without lifting a finger.
"The energy, the effort, isn't free. I can feel that muscle tire if I work it too much.
But just like a muscle, it can be built up. A good workout can make it sore just like any other muscle in the body."
She stands up, and reaches out to almost touch the floating sphere.
"But with the proper routine of exercise, care, and nutrients, it can turn from a party trick to an incredible asset."
With a shout, the sphere rockets across the stream toward a tree, and you hear the crack of splintered wood as it makes contact.
"Ow. I may have pulled the muscle, I didn't warm up like I should have."
A short exploration on what magic is and how it feels to use. I'm focusing here on the strain it puts on the body, and the limitations it presents for the user.
02. Science
Synths are not efficient.
Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be unable to learn while on limited battery power? It takes serious power to train an artificial neural network. Organic neural networks are so infuriatingly efficient that you run your whole damn operating system on them! Trust me, I've tried incorporating artificially grown brain tissue into my body a number of times. But I can never get it to last very long, and I can't rely on something which could die for inexplicable reasons. So instead I have to plug into a big array of power-hungry ASICs for hours to update my models based on a week's worth of data.
Your brain is a marvel of evolution, just like the rest of your body. Autonomous self-repair systems which don't require much more than your daily caloric intake. When something goes wrong in my body, I don't have white blood cells to go fix it. I have to deal with the loss of functionality, or worse, power off entire subsystems to prevent glitches from causing even more harm!
I'm a barely-held-together collection of machines in a beta test. You are a creature optimized over thousands of generations of strenuous evolutionary pressures.
Shoutouts to WhenWolvesCryOut, who has done a lot of Apto with his character Kat that fits here. I really like how he illustrates the problems a nanite body causes, especially one which isn't always under full control. I wanted to think of similar limitations for Space-Age Morri to encounter, since I already have her abilities well fleshed out.
03. Circus
What feats make the most people gape in awe?
I can tell you, it's not seeing powerful beings perform things they could never do. You can keep your four-armed beasts and gripping tails, they appeal to some people, but not everyone.
What really catches peoples eyes is seeing someone overcoming challenges despite handicaps, either intrinsic or imposed. The average circus-goer doesn't understand how difficult coordinating four limbs is, but they do understand that the human mouth is not well designed for holding a handle supporting one's whole weight.
Something a little more down-to-earth for once.
04. Past
Evolutionary pressure is a weird thing.
You might think that the better animal survives, but "better" is always in the context of the environment it lives in. And that environment is playing a protracted game of rock-paper-scissors with itself.
Sometimes a reset can make you realize that scissors was the better strategy all along...
Something pretty vague here, it's getting late. Don't ask me what extinct trait "scissors" are, I haven't written it yet. Take this and run with whatever trait you want!
05. Future
Credit to the writers at Firaxis:We discarded the booster rockets which got us off Earth. Why shouldn't we discard some of those Earth genes, now that better ones are available?
— Essays on the Promethean
I couldn't think of anything for this day, so I pulled a Harmony Level quote from Civilization: Beyond Earth. The Harmony Affinity is about transforming humanity to become a native species to the planet they now inhabit. While I'm not a fan of their unique victory condition, I do love that core idea.
06. Dark
"Dark Pulse: The user releases a horrible aura imbued with dark thoughts. This may also make the target flinch."So little said about what twisted energies lie within my core. The gift of the Dark-types is the ability to live on the edge of insanity without falling in. The Psychics cannot reach us there, and we can drag them in if they try. We ain't afraid of no Ghosts.
Young Eevee, this beautiful insanity awaits you, should you just step into the moonlight...
There's something here; I think it's just a few sentences away from being good.
07. Light
Wings have always been a commitment to a species. A skeleton light enough to efficiently fly is necessarily far more fragile. Add to that the square-cubed law, and human-sized flight is outright impossible.At least, it would be if we only allow for natural selection and bones of calcium.
Who doesn't dream of flight?
08. City
The face of the City is pristine and clean, but it doesn't take much to look beyond it.On every level of society, man fights to gain the smallest edge over his fellow man. The paranoid are laughed at, but it's the paranoid who survive. Those who back up their brains, who reinforce their skeletons, who enhance their vision, who have a backup body just in case; it's these who rise to the top in the City.
Only fools aren't paranoid.
Cyberpunk inspiration is obvious.
09. Scholar
The hard part of research isn't finding the information, it's figuring out what information is actually relevant.There's a reason Artificial and Synthetic Intelligence has become so integral to the research process. Craft a specialized hash and generate a few dozen with a few parameters nudged here and there, and leave them to argue for a while. Usually you'll see them weed out the bad data and reach a consensus in a day or so, but sometimes there's a hidden but fundamental insight that the quorum brings to the surface. Around 20% of the most important discoveries of the last ten years were made by SIs, and 80% were possible due to their contributions.
Inspired in part by Dhruv/Legion from Ralts Bloodthorne's "Behold, Humanity!"/"Tales from the Terran Confederacy", as well as the general idea of SI's from the same series.
10. Slacker
...zzZZzz... Huh..? Oh, hey.*Yawn* Hmm~, that was a good nap. I feel pretty full too. I love sunny days like this when I can just relax and photosynthesize. There's honestly nothing better.
..?
Yeah, yeah, I'll be there. Just... five more minutes.
I'm thinking Leafeon here, but wrote the story for any sapient plant/plant-adjacent.
11. Frustration
<Insert typical "taur in a world built for anthros" story><Insert typical "taur in a world built for anthros" description>
12. Elation
No story segment, I have two other pieces I want to shout out here instead of a cheap copy I make:- I immediately loved posexe's Elastic Gummy. Sylveon is an attractive feral form to take since it can manipulate objects easily with its feelers. Add to that all the sensitive and stretchy rubber abilities, and I started fantasizing a lot about this.
- If you want a story which explores those abilities in depth, the pleasure of your body being stretched and contorted to ridiculous lengths, then definitely check out Harbingers of Change. I would call the first few episodes "questionable", what with the temporary drone TF.
13. Transformation
You drag yourself onto the beach. You pull your necklace out of your bag and put it on. Immediately your tail splits back into your legs, and your gills close up again. You throw the trident into the sand.A little hurried snippet from a AI Dungeon playthrough I did nearly a year ago with Morriana. Shi can transform between a mer-cougar and an anthro cougar form, but has more control with hir necklace.
14. Cottage
Nestled in a deep ocean alcove, your parents' house is modest, but comforting. The ocean vents keep the house warm and provide power to the stove. The house itself is covered in a thick layer of sand and coral, with beautiful aquamarine curtains hanging from the windows.A seahorse head is mounted above the mantle of the fireplace.
Another snippet from the same playthrough. Started with the AI's words, then edited to actually make sense.
15. Big
The separatist fleet is only a few days out! We haven't much time to prepare, and we need a unified front fast.That's where you come in. Desperate times call for measures like these. These are the access codes to the M-Ark-01, our flagship. Our hope is that by you inhabiting the core and optimizing its vast arsenal of weapons and compute, you could find a way out of this mess with minimal loss of life.
You've shown yourself to be quite effective when inhabiting much smaller ships, and we'd hate to waste that ability in a corvette.
Are you in?
I'm not a big macro fan, but here's where necessity could call for taking up a large presence.
16. Heaven Sent
There's hardly a mission I'm not mistaken for an actual angel. It's by design, though. The bright hard-light wings, the white combat frame, the halo comm ring, it all ties together the aesthetic. Even if it is sometimes more form over function, getting the targets to calm down and trust the rescue units are an important design consideration.I have to be careful, though; this kind of treatment can quickly go to one's head.
Saving lives is the most "heaven-sent" we see happen in our mortal plane. What if they looked the part?
17. Hellbent
Why do men shrink at my appearance? Do they see cloven hooves and horns and immediately think "demon"? Have you not read what your own Bible says about hind's feet in high places? They are God's gift to me, giving me study footing in this unstable world. Take my hand, and I will give you this gift as well. Cast off your shame with your clothes and live according to your nature.For what could possibly be more true?
A revelation or a deception?
18. Relaxing
Space is vast. This much is common knowledge. And while FTL drives have brought the systems of our galaxy closer together, warp is dangerous in the gravity wells of stars. It still takes days upon entering the T'nuom-Ata system before reaching Earth, and what can I do in this minimal chassis?Internet? Not feasible. Even at light-speed, ping times are in hours at this distance, and that limited inter-planetary bandwidth is not for personal recreation.
Well, it's time to down-clock my processors, tune into a terrestrial radio station, and bathe in the familiar warmth of my home star as I let physics bring me safely to my destination.
This one took a bit. Relaxing with an unusual form? Not that hard, I'm especially drawn to my Making a Sale series. But I wanted to find an unusual form or ability which means you have no choice but to take it easy, and between pooltoy and space travel, space travel was the less obvious choice.
19. Stressful
Shells continue to rain down around me. My pathing software is working overtime, and the overlay in my vision showing my planned movements writhes as microadjustments are made as shells overhead are buffeted by the air. My head snaps down automatically based on a baked intelligence recognizing a rifle barrel off to my left. The shot passes through where my head was a fraction of a second before, and I make a quick wing-assisted jump to make it harder to track me for a few seconds. Death is everywhere.But I live for this.
Branching off of my "Heaven Sent" answer.
20. Sound
The hybrid music scene has taken off recently, ever since the monstrous single Limb from Limb by The Displaced ensnared the number one spot on the charts. The Displaced have tentacles firmly wrapped around the number one slot for now, but there are new bands chomping at the bit to steal the crown.Up next...
Ears and voice are the obvious ones here. I have a pretty good singing voice irl and I'm confident in it, so I have a lot of experience in getting attention and compliments because of it. You know what? Maybe I'll write and record something on behalf of Demo someday...
21. Taste
Mmm... Nothing like diving behind restaurants for the day's spoiled meat. We don't have any digestive tract to speak of, so the more rotten the better. Oooo, there's rotten fruit too! Score!Slimes have some interesting taste, that's for certain.
22. Touch
"Ah, what the fuck‽ Get this thing off of me!"Andrew scraped at his arm, but that just gave the thing access to his other hand. Now with both limbs covered in the silvery liquid, Andrew could only watch as it flowed slowly up his arm, and around his shoulders. A burning chill struck him in the back of the neck, as it invaded his body. A moment later it reached his spinal chord, and he lost all control of his body and fell like a board face first into the puddle.
Not totally sure if these are the exact events that lead to Andi becoming a sybiotic union. But it's probably close.
23. Cultural
Fate was not kind to many an unfortunate panther cub on that forsaken station. DEMO.V3.0 was the sole survivor of a third litter of panther cubs artificially inseminated with a mutated genome for a cruel joke. Born with an extra pair of legs the rest of his form wasn't designed to work with, and an intelligence greater than the rest of his species. Purposefully infected with an alien parasite when he was just three years old. He did not understand why his human captors did what they did, but he did come to learn their language, written and spoken.And when he learned of the fate that was about to befall him, he knew he had to make an escape.
DnD-obsessed scientists "uplift" a panther to create an approximate displacer beast. The origins of future-setting Demoveo. He still has trust issues with humans.
24. Small
"Alright, I need a day to get dressed.""A day? That's a lot of time to get dressed. And I've never seen you wear clothes."
"It's a figure of speech. You are aware of why spaceflight cost more for you than your wife, right?"
"Yeah, it's weight. Weight is expensive."
"Exactly. So why carry around a terrestrial frame when I can just make one when I land?"
"...oh."
"Now you see how my ship is so small."
Morri travels light. (Double entendre intended.)
25. Strange
Oh? You don't recognize me? Hmm... Well, my condition isn't degenerative, in fact by definition it's exactly the opposite.~ This so-called "corruption" has only given new function to every part of my body. I have lost nothing but my weakness. My new legs carry me just as fast, but now can twist and bind yours. My extra hands can also grasp and write, but also rip and tear. So can my new maw, not to mention secreting new substances which will carry you off into a mouth-foaming ecstasy.My eyes can gaze far, far deeper now.
You can feel them in your soul, can't you?
An impure chimera stalks. It claims sanity. You should not believe it.
26. Welcome
Come on in! I'm glad you could make it. Have a seat anywhere.Yes, that's my torso. I'm sorry, but furniture just gets in my way when I try to move around. It's fine though, I've heard it's very comfortable. I've had guests just fall asleep on top of me before. Don't worry about it, I've got length and limbs to spare.
Noodle plush? Noodle plush.
27. Wonderful
You are meant to feel the sun beating down on your rubber back, permeating your translucent body, heating the air inside you to a wonderful warmth.You are meant to feel the cool water beneath you, regulating your body temperature, its gentle motions massaging your underside.
You are meant to Float.
Excerpt from a short (3 paragraph) TF thing I wrote. Summer pooltoy moods strike hard.
28. Wish
The world did not end in a bang. It did not end in a whisper. It ended with a wish.You had to say it, didn't you? No qualifications, no exceptions, nothing about preserving the laws of physics or non-contradiction. Individuals incompatible with the new universe fractured into another plane of existence, separated forever from their friends and loved ones.
The chaos. The deaths from confusion. The deaths from misunderstandings. The deaths from allergies. The deaths from the square-cubed law.
You had to say it, didn't you? "I wish everyone was their sona."
Wishes have consequences. Don't invite Tier 4+ characters piloted by former mortals into your backyard, m'kay?
29. Embrace
I pull the suit up one leg, then the other. My toes splay out into the paws digits, gently swelling into place. The warmth spreads into my foot, the digitigrade paw happily engulfing my formally platigrade foot, coaxing it into its new shape. The right shape. I stifle a giggle as the paw wiggles its toes playfully... wait, I didn't do that. Agh-Out of all the TF stuff I like, TFs involving suits are my favorite. Here, as you can guess, the suit is sentient, and as it embraces and changes the host's body, it begins to take over more and more.
Sidenote: You can read the final result in any way you like, but the way I imagine it (and the way I read many images like this), the suit is not sapient (it has an animalistic intelligence) and so it cannot replace or override the higher intelligence of the host, it cannot destroy the host's memories or core beliefs. In this excerpt, since the head isn't on yet, the changed parts are totally disconnected from the host's control. Once the head is on and the mental merge is complete, the host's high-level functions assert themselves.
30. Community
It took a lot of work to overcome the circumstances of his birth. A pather with two extra, awkward legs, a tentacle parasite he couldn't control, and an human intelligence without a voice to speak.But instead of leaving those traits behind when he had the opportunity, he embraced them. They are a part of his story, a story he can use to help others. What was a disability became an ability.
Because if just one more person can learn to love their own body, then it was worth it.
FIN.
