(RP done on Discord)


Chip was in his lab--as usual, of course--although was between projects at the moment, so instead was tinkering with his flying saucer while his 64K TV (4x4x4K, of course, full 3D, with some liberties taken to make it look right and some ambient magic used to make it work) played a movie that he wasn't watching in the air within the lab. His hat sat on a table, amid a collection of gears, springs, and gently pulsing small crystals, and he himself was arms-deep in machinery, tongue sticking out to one side, and tail twitching behind him as he fiddled with the wires within.

"This capacitor keeps blowing," he mumbled, tossing a burnt out bit of electronics behind him, coincidentally right at the door toward any visitors that he would not notice, "Maybe what it needs is three capacitors..."


As it happened, Shoal and Fettelite were coming to deliver a crystal, and so the youma was subjected to a flying capacitor...which he ate out of the air. It burst between his teeth with an unpleasant little pop, and he coughed it back out, scaly growths on his back raising in annoyance.


Kapoodles

“No, Shoal, we don’t eat electronics!” Fettelite gently scolded while petting the suddenly coughing youma. To gently soothe him, he pulled out a piece of chocolate from one of his many, many pockets. Luckily, being powered made things easier to carry, for the crystal he held in one arm was absolutely massive.

Even now it shuttered and sparked with dark purple energy that made his hair stand on end.

“Chip, you shouldn’t toss things like that, you never know who’s gonna eat it! Oh, uh, but look! We got the thing you needed!”


Tolin

The annoyance already forgotten, Shoal consumed the little morsel, while Chip caused a loud thunk as he jerked up in surprise. "Ow!" He blurted, and the little cat-eared boy popped out of his pile of wires and looked around. "Oh hey! Wow, looks like you found a crystal!"

He clambered out of his project, a bit of wire sticking to his shirt briefly before he plucked it off and flicked it aside. "And it's a big one, too! Nice!" He grinned and nodded enthusiastically, and with a dismissive wave caused the scene of a space fighter flying through the air disappeared in an instant. "Just...set it down in the middle of the floor here."


Kapoodles

“I.. Just said that, right?” Fettelite blinked, a little confused himself on whether or not he was right with that assumptions. But no matter, grins met grins and he rocked on his heels excitedly! It seemed like the only times he truly felt excited about anything these days were when he took Shoal out on the town, or got to talk to this spunky little cat boy!

He reached over and plucked an additional wire out of Chip’s hair before setting the crystal down with a dull thump. “Yeah! Shoal found this one! It was like he knew exactly where to go with it. Maybe he already knows about these sorts of things, or that we’re trying to help him!”

A brief glance was offered to the Youma… and then a half shrug. “Or maybe he thought it looked tasty. Either way, this works, right?”


Tolin

Chip shrugged at the confusion. Maybe it had been said. He'd been too busy not listening, though.

"It's hard to say how they work. I kind of want to take one apart, but I've been told that would be unethical, which is," he waved a little hand (still holding a screwdriver) around as if to gesture to the castle, "Unexpected. But regardless! I worked out what to do about your little problem, and built it in the meantime. It's gonna need a nice big jolt of energy to get started," he rubbed his chin and considered the crystal before walking up to it and tapping it lightly with a knuckle. He listened for a moment, nodded, and continued. "And this should serve pretty well, yeah."

"First, though," Chip said, and reached into the air to pulled out...a chisel! It had some glowing bits of its own embedded into it. "Hmm...Ah, here," he muttered, and thunked the big crystal with his chisel. A sliver of it popped right off. "Yeah, that'll be perfect. Okay!" He tossed the chisel aside, and it disappeared. With the shard in hand, he walked over to a little control panel which had a few books on it (one appeared to be a botany textbook). He shifted them gracefully to the floor (via a single deft push), and flipped a switch on the panel. A faint whirring sound in the room responded, and Chip started narrating gleefully.

"So, I had the problem of needing to hold on to a few things at once to make this work, you see," he said, grinning, his eyes drifting upward to a robotic arm full of spinning gears and hydraulics that hissed softly as it shifted over to latch on to the big crystal. "So I made a robot helper first. Cool, right? I tried to make it one that walks around, but it always seemed to fall apart too easily, or run out of power, so I figured...just suck power right out of the castle's energy! But the walls get angry if I take a big burst, so this crystal's gonna help put the final bits together!"

He rubbed his hands together, and pushed a series of buttons.
Another two robot arms popped out of what looked like piles of junk. Shoal didn't seem to appreciate their appearance, and he glared at them threateningly. "Now then," Chip said, "If you would just keep your little youma friend right over there," he pointed, "We can get this working!"


Kapoodles

“Wait, wait, did you mean take Shoal apart? Let’s…. Not do that, okay? We are trying to make him more human, not make him into sashimi, yes?” Fettelite gave a nervous laugh at that, subconsciously pulling Shoal closer to him with the gentle nudge. … Alright, he’d have to admit he was curious too, it not that curious to just disassemble his closest friend! .. But maybe if he asked later he’ll say yes.

No, no, that’s bad! This time his visibly shook the venturing thoughts from his head.

All that work, and only a tiny, itty bitty chunk was going to be used? Even Fettelite managed to pout at that giving a roll of his eyes. But what did he know of science? That was Chip’s job!

While Fettelite HAD been trying to study up on more and attempt to Better understand technomumbo jumbo, the moment Chip began to ramble, his eyes slowly began to drift apart, unfocusing entirely until Chip pointed at them.

“Should I go in there with him? Like last time?” Without even thinking about it, December hoisted Shoal up in his arms, carrying him like a nervous golden retriever, even if Shoal was too busy glaring at the robots. To him, he was still his cute, sweet lil’ baby.

“Though I think I’ve trained him enough that he’ll just stay in place… Maybe.”


Tolin

"I mean, not Shoal," Chip replied with a sensible chuckle. "No, some random one nobody knows about. But I'm not gonna do that. It'd probably hurt, and I dunno that I'd really learn anything."

"Right there, yeah. You can hold him, it's fine," the catboy affirmed with a nod and a gesture.

He continued his narration with considerable enthusiasm, but very little regard for the understanding of his audience, as the robot arms picked up the big crystal and stuck it into a box which immediately started glowing and rumbling. Two more approached Shoal, each holding a half circle device that glowed slightly. Shoal did not like those things coming near him, and barred his teeth at them.

Although Fettelite seemed content to stand there, so Shoal let them. Chip was saying something about a "neural interface at the brain stem--I'm pretty sure he's still got one in the right spot, based on the scans" in that moment.


Kapoodles

There was a high level of doubt in Chip’s words, but that wasn’t important right now! He could feel it, they were so close to finally achieving his goal! A Shoal… That could talk!!

Going towards where he was directed, Fettelite remained as still as possible, cooing comforting sounds to his Youma.

“There, there, Shoal, it’s okay, I promise… you’re gonna be just fine. These things are scary, but they aren’t going to hurt you.” He whispered with a smile, lightly bunting his head against the youma’s. Sure, sure, everyone claimed that youma were feral, cruel beasts that knew nothing but violence, but he knew Shoal. He knew Milo. It didn’t matter what Metallia’s power did to his outside, inside, it was still his dearly beloved friend.

… Yeah, that had to be true.

“This isn’t going to hurt him, right? I’d hate to be a liar…”


Tolin

"I mean, it might," Chip admitted. "But mostly just disorienting, I'm sure...I mean, suddenly that brain bucket's rattling with more stuff in it! And I'll achieve that through..." His rambling, cheerful explanation continued, as the two half circles were positioned, and then clamped onto the youma's neck rather unceremoniously. They came together with a metallic click, which startled Shoal, although he was too confused to do much of anything in that moment.

"Okay, now the fun part!" Chip declared, and hurried excitedly over to a comically large switch that was built into the box where the big crystal had been dropped. With a huge, gleeful grin, he grabbed it with both hands, and pushed it from its down position, and to the up! A fair bit of sparking, light, and vibrating could be seen, felt, and heard.

Hopefully nobody was having lunch nearby, their silverware would be rattling all over.

After a few seconds, the new collar started to glow as well, and before anyone had a chance to ask what was going on, Chip took the shard he'd broken off, and wedged it right into the collar.


Shoal looked like he was having a bad time, although he mostly didn't move. He didn't understand what was going on. That wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that he suddenly recognized that he didn't understand, which just made the confusion worse.


Kapoodles

Now that’s didn’t seem too good… Another comforting pat was placed along Shoal’s back scales as soothingly as he could. “Good boy, good boy…”

A tiny bit of regret was creeping up his own spine as Chip started scooting towards the insane part of science.

It was worth it, it was worth it, he told himself over and over, squeezing his eyes shut, and pulling Shoal just a little closer.

“We’re almost done, Shoal, Almost there, it’s okay, it’s okay…”


Tolin

Chip's goggles were over his eyes. Were they there the whole time...? No, must've done it when he went to throw the switch. He watched some gauges and computer displays that were moving around and showing numbers. "oooh," he said with his still-present grin. "It looks like it's working! Just a bit...."

There was an electronic woosh and everything went dark.

"More."

Then all the lights came back on, and Chip was right there, holding a little doctor light/magnifying glass thing, and was standing on one of the robot arms, looking right at Shoal's face. Shoal resisted the urge to bite, although did blink, and look away when the light shown in his eyes.


Kapoodles

“M-more?! The power’s out, how can you do more?” In the next second the lights came back and Fettelite peeked opened an eye. Everything felt incredibly uncertain… But atleast Shoal didn’t seem in pain.

Ignoring Chip and his harassment of his youma, Fettelite shifted Shoal around in his arms, moving to cradle him instead and look closer into his face.

“How can you tell it worked? He looks exactly the same.”


Tolin

"Well, yeah," Chip agreed, "It's not really something that'll change what he looks like, although his eyes reacted a little different..." He paused. "What do you think, Shoal?"

The youma looked up at his captain, then at the little catboy. A tiny voice, like one might imagine for a fantasy Kobold, declared, "Really wanna eat you." Even Shoal looked surprised at him saying that. Chip didn't seem to mind the threat, in fact, he laughed and fist pumped.

"Oh yeah! I am the greatest!" Chip declared.


Kapoodles

Fettelite looked on curiously, not expecting Shoal to react except his standard growl..

And then a voice. A tiny… silly voice came out.. And he gasped, entirely, utterly, and inexplicably shocked!

“You… What did you say?” He whispered, giving Shoal a tiny head bunt. “Did you say something? … Do you know who I am…?”


Tolin

Chip looked very pleased with himself, but waited, grinning as Shoal looked around, every direction. "Speak? I speak! I...think?" Head tilted to the side, then he looked up at Fettelite. "I know you," he agreed, eyes narrowed slightly.


Kapoodles

“You do… You do!” It was Fettelite’s turn to celebrate, and he swung around in circles. “You’re my friend! My Shoal! You know this right? And what’s my name, do you know that?”


Tolin

Shoal considered for a moment then declared, "Shoal." A blink. "No...that's my name...You're... Fettelite." He spoke the word carefully, as if trying to pull the syllables together, but he did say it


Kapoodles

“That’s right! It’s me! It’s Fettelite!” Again, he jumped around, then nuzzled his youma hard, absolutely blown away by this weird magic that Chip managed to come up with.

“H-how does this work? How long can he talk? Is it forever? I-is he able to become human again??”


Tolin

The youma seemed genuinely pleased at the attention, rather than just...trusting acceptance. "That's you!" He agreed.

"The collar on his neck makes a crystalline lattice that..." Chip started to explain, but then paused. "You know, don't worry about the how...Unfortunately, it won't last all the time. About an hour a day is about it. The form of a youma isn't really meant for this kind of thing...and Chaos is really only good at tearing things apart, so I dunno how to make him human again, but I'll keep looking for an answer there."


Kapoodles

“It isss, it is!” Fettelite repeated, again nuzzling the youma in his arms. If His heart could burst out of his chest in joy, it definitely would have done so! He could hear it, the joy in that squeaky little voice!

The news of it’s shortness curved his happiness, but only slightly. An hour a day was more than they had in… Months, really.

“How do I talk to him then? Is there a button to activate it?”


Tolin

"Yeh, right here," Chip replied, and hovered a finger near a little spot on it. "Although it might trip on its own if Shoal is trying really hard to think something, though I dunno how that might happen. Bad situations, probably..."


Kapoodles

He made a little note of that, nodding to himself. Maybe an hour before bed would be a good time. They could talk and laugh and just… Fall asleep as actual friends instead of master and pet. His chest seemed to tighten just a little bit, and a soft, held breath was let go.

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind… Can I go back to my room for now with him? I want to… You know… Talk to him more one on one, alone. I knew him when he was still human… Is that okay? I can bring him back another day for more sciencey stuff.”


Tolin

"Yeah that's fine," Chip agreed, nodding. "Lemme know how it goes!"

Shoal, meanwhile, was turning his head back and forth as the other two spoke, marveling at the fact that he mostly followed what they were saying. What a strange feeling! Was this what the humans usually felt like? He was too mystified to interrupt...or even to have much desire to act on that primal urge to eat the cat.

Why did he want to eat the cat, anyway? It seemed like the cat was helping him, after all...Strange. He puzzled over that, but couldn't figure it out.


Kapoodles

“Okay, I will!” He nodded in return, before hoisting Shoal back up to his normal dog carrying position. “C’mon, Shoal, we’re going back to my room! I’ll show you the bed I made for you and all the snacks you like to eat! We’ll have a good time!”

With that, he gave a little half wave to Chip, and dashed right on out the room, heading towards his own.