Growth Drive Time! My computer, which I use for everything, recently died at the exact same time a whole bunch of other awful (and more relevantly, expensive) nonsense happened. I hate to do it, but just about the only way I can get a replacement is to start running a growth drive... albeit with my own unique spin.

See, this drive has two parts. The first is the sketches (culminating in one much nicer picture at the end) done by  heckley who is being very nice.

The second is the stories. Every stage of this drive will feature an end picture... and a little story of what happens in the intervening time.

That said, even though I need money, that's not the only way to contribute. Just about everything you can do will affect this growth drive and how the story pans out.

Favorites
Comments
Signal Boosts
Anything you can think of

It'll all affect the development of this lovely little dear one way or another. And yes, what specifically you say in those comments will matter.

Our target is rather amorphous, currently, so the usual 'bid on what you want changed' counter can't be implemented... yet. Instead, our first part will be a vote on her starting state. The first choice is what basic body type will be taken completely out of control. You can vote for her to mimic any character in my gallery, or, if you donate, mimic the body type of any character you'd like to contribute.

https://ko-fi.com/D1D17VW8

Well, I'll just get to Part 0 of the story and hope part 1 is less of a mess.

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“Fellows... I have bad news,” The gryphon made his announcement as he entered the breakroom. Calling an official employee meeting was rare enough behavior from him; paired with a somber tone, he was barely recognizable.

The various employees scattered about immediately asked what was wrong, only to get an answer they never expected.

“We... are out of money.”

“What? But what about Ubermass?! We sell out of that constantly!” A huge, fiery-maned horse rummaging for a soda stood up in a flash, unwittingly carrying the vending machine with him.

“Our dedication to keeping prices acceptable left us with low margins, most of which was spent on protecting against scalpers and corporate espionage.”

“But I've stopped every invasion with one claw behind my back and hilariously under budget!” A softly glowing shark in a security t-shirt protested.

“YOU cost us billions in reconstruction efforts after what you did to that city and we're still paying it off.”

“I didn't work for you at the time and you didn't have to pay it...” the shark mumbled.

“But what about our partnership with ConHugeCo? Surely we could afford even that with their help,” A large-haired husky in a suit quietly asked over her tea.

“First off, they're not called that. Second off, YOU were the one supposed to negotiate that but you took a vacation.”

“Oh yeah...” the dog sank her head into her chest amidst the chorus of stares.

“What happened to all the savings you had when I joined up?” A dark-eyed woman, the smallest person in the room, looked up from her book.

“Spent on various research projects. Sometimes by me. I'm not blameless, here,” the meeting leader's wings drooped, as contrition momentarily overrode determination on his face... “Which brings me to the primary point:”

“We are all a bunch of fuckups.”

An awkward silence followed, punctuated only by the vending machine falling off the horse's arm and landing on the floor with a crash.

“We're destructive, we're mediocre at business, and our constant desire for 'save the world' sheninagans is keeping us away from productive business models. In order for this business to continue, we need a Miracle.”

The silence held for a moment, before the husky peeked her head out to ask an awkward question, “...So do I have to go back to that one place where-” only to be interrupted.

“FORTUNATELY! I have one!” the gryphon flashed a smile, a bit of his old showmanship returning as he pulled in a cart from one of the labs.

“Behold! Miracle Matter!”

A tiny pool of small black goo sat in a petri dish on top of the cart.

“I feel like this is exactly what we've been doing and therefore won't solve anything,” the horse spoke first.

“Yyyyes, it does look that way, but Miracle Matter has three advantages! The first: it's really, really marketable. It makes a great adhesive, sealant, rubber-substitute, whatever. It's incredibly stable once dried and should be an easy sell both industrially and to consumers,” the gryphon leaned against the cart and made his spiel.

“Oh, hey, that would be different. Not having to spend like half the distribution budget on preventing the apocalypse,” the horse added his commentary.

“The second: past a certain volume it hits critical mass and can LITERALLY manufacture itself.”

“Nevermind.”

“The third: it'll be the first time we don't have to carefully watch everything that happens to one of our products. There's no way this can get completely out of control. All we have to do is get enough seed money for this one last product and we'll be fine!”

“I don't like the idea of begging, but I guess we'll do what we must.”

---

The black goo moved. Arranging itself into a pattern that felt natural, moving, trying to see the world, but not quite thinking, not yet. The waves of conversation washed over it. It could tell something important was happening, but it was too small to contribute... or be noticed. If it was more like the figures in front of it, if it was bigger...

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