[RFC][Fic-snippet]Curiosity Biomodded the Rhett (now complete)

[LilFluff]

So I have some really old unfinished starts sitting deep into the past of this board, but this opening popped into my head a couple hours ago so I typed this up over my lunch break. Don't have a specific time period selected for it, but late enough that Rhett really ought to have known to exercise more care while trying to wave up an AI in his computer.

Rhett groaned as he
woke to a sore neck. As well as a sore cheek, sore backside, and sore
he-wasn't-sure-what. I've gotta stop falling asleep
mid-anime binge. Cracking an eye open found his keyboard
sitting right in front of his nose.

"I wondered
when you'd wake up. Can you close the window before I join my monitor
in shorting out?"

"Sho— It
worked! You're awake! I've got an A.I-yaa-yai-why's my voice all
funny?" the curtain blew inwards on a warm breeze carrying a
light mist of rain with it. Adding to the greasy puddle that passed
where his chin had rested to drip in the floor.

Leaping to his feet,
trying to leap to his feet, sent his chair rolling across his room
while he tumbled in his loose clothes barely landing on his hands and
toes. He'd no sooner caught his breath when his toes reported they
were sitting within a cold puddle on the floor. Bouncing shoulder
first off the corner of his desk he finally managed to stand, one fur
covered hand reaching up to hold to the desktop.

Fur covered?

Up
to the desktop?

Holding his hand up
he poked at it with his left hand. Fur. Soft white fur. Sudden
suspicion had him reaching for his face while twisting around to look
at his backside. Suspicions half-confirmed by the odd sensation of
his fingers brushing whiskers that were not from a beard. Spinning
twice clockwise he made a sudden jump counter-clockwise and grabbed
at a black tipped tail.

"Agh! I can't
go to class like this!"

-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[Rajvik]

A lot better than Wolfboy's wakeup and realization.
 

[robkelk]

"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of catgirls in space, and only dozens of catboys? Maybe I should move..."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[LilFluff]

robkelk wrote:

---

"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of catgirls in space, and only dozens of catboys? Maybe I should move..."

From the wiki it looks like about 80 catboys to a bit over 1000 catgirls within Catgirl Industries. This might spell good chances in the romance department for Rhett but for one thing: The semi-complete FATE write up for him that I have for him has the following aspect, "I'm not a kitten! *stomp!*" But as suggested at the end of that bit, he's shorter than he used to be and looks only about half his age.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[robkelk]

robkelk wrote:"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of catgirls in space, and only dozens of catboys? Maybe I should move..."

From the wiki it looks like about 80 catboys to a bit over 1000 catgirls within Catgirl Industries. This might spell good chances in the romance department for Rhett but for one thing: The semi-complete FATE write up for him that I have for him has the following aspect, "I'm not a kitten! *stomp!*" But as suggested at the end of that bit, he's shorter than he used to be and looks only about half his age.

To which I quote Konata Izumi from Lucky Star speaking about people who look much younger: "If you aren't picky, there's a need for you, too."

Hmmmmm... Sora Hasegawa has/had (depending on when in the storyline this is set) a similar quirk. That might be enough for them to at least start a platonic acquaintance...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HRogge]

"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of catgirls in space, and only dozens of catboys? Maybe I should move..."

"And do not forget that quite a few of the catboys are either Van Helsing Fen or are thinking the world only rotates around them... we don't have anything against catboys, but unfortunately many of them don't like or don't fit the society we created inside Catgirl Industries" Cathy tried to explain. Suddenly she smiled: "But exceptions are always welcome!"

[Bob Schroeck]

...And how many catboys are Red Dwarf fen with monstrous wardrobes?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Dakota]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

...And how many catboys are Red Dwarf fen with monstrous wardrobes?

I can see Red Dwarf catboys being a rather subtle form of catboy biomod in physical appearance outside of their massive selection of clothing choices.
_______________________________________________________________
Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota

[LilFluff]

And now more of, "It seemed like a good idea at the time," boy and his new AI.

"Thank you for
closing the window, kid."

Rhett had stayed up
on the desk with his back to the wall and his chin on his knees. He
stared across the room at the door he didn't dare go through.

"Kid? Are you
okay?"

"Yeah."

Rhett wasn't
sniffling. It was just dust. From the window.

"Are you
crying?"

"No! I'm okay!"

If utterly screwed
up was okay. There was no way he could go to calculus looking like
this. It was his only in person class for the day but then there'd be
two tomorrow. And study groups and...

"Kid, my
monitor might be busted but I can still hear you crying. Did you hurt
yourself climbing up there?"

"I'm fine!"

There were a few
seconds of silence before the computer spoke again.

"My clock says
it is almost eight. You had best get cleaned up and run off to
school."

Rhett looked over at
his alarm clock, which blinked over to 7:51 while he was looking at
it. Calculus wasn't even until ten, what was her hurry? Looking at
his legs and the pants which had almost slipped off twice, before
he'd tightened his belt as far as it would go, reminded him what had
happened once more. The tail that flicked across his legs only drove
the message across further.

"I can't go
like this. I'm staying home."

"Sorry, but no
children will be skipping school under my watch. You need good grades
so you can goto high school. Work hard in high school and you can get
into a good college. That will let you get a job you... Stop that!
This isn't anything to laugh about!"

Rhett squeezed his
head closer to his legs while he laughed. Soon his whole body shook
as he slipped from into a fit of sharp giggles. It worked. She'd come
out just the way he'd hoped and now it didn't matter a damn.

"I told you to
stop that!" She waited a few seconds while he kept giggling.
"Very well boy, I want you to go and bring Rhett here right now.
We'll just have to discuss your behavior with him. Don't think for a
moment I won't tell him you planned to play hooky."

That just made it
all the harder for him to stop giggling. Two or three scolds and
several deep breaths later he managed to get it down to a twitching
grin.

"You want to
talk to Rhett?" He pushed off the edge of the desk and came
around in front of the webcam, "Alright. Here I am."

"Nice try kid.
I have complete access to the photos and videos stored on this
computer." Another pause and her voice became a little puzzled.
"In fact, I don't believe you show up in any of the photos or
videos."

"I didn't look
like this until today!" Looking around the room he caught sight
of his backpack and dug into it for his laptop. "Look, I'll
prove it."

Waiting impatiently
for it to boot up his fingers banged away at the keyboard as soon as
the login prompt appeared. It took three tries to sign in and more
error messages appeared after he started typing at the command line.
After yet another mistyped command he smacked the keyboard and
slammed it shut hard enough he started worrying whether he'd broken
the screen.

"I am uncertain
how you think damaging Rhett's property will convince me you are
him."

"Oh shut up, I
don't know why... oh... smaller fingers." Opening up the laptop
again he gave a sigh up relief at the intact screen. Keeping his eyes on
the keyboard he started a slow hunt and peck using just two fingers to
type out commands. "Ha! See that? I didn't just sign onto this
laptop, I just made a secure shell connection to the desktop.
Couldn't do that if I didn't know the passphrase for the private key,
could I? Do you think I'd tell that to anyone else?"

"It is
unlikely."

"So are you
satisfied now?"

"Satisfied that my creator isn't competent enough to conduct even one
experiment without accidentally biomodifying himself? No. Satisfied
with your claim to be said incompetent creator, yes."

"I didn't mean
to!"

"You used
liquid handwavium on a computer while it was still running. You are
lucky you didn't cause a short circuit. Considering the electronics
courses on your transcripts I should think you would know better."

"Come on, I had
to keep it running so the files that were to serve as influences
would stay in memory."

"Rhett, I trust
you understand why I am revoking your sudo and root access privileges on my
hardware."

Rhett quickly pecked
at the keys again and glared at the, 'Your attempt has been logged,'
error message that appeared after he tried switching to the root user
account. He barely finished reading it when the connection
between the laptop and desktop was cut.

"Now let us
return to a more important subject. You have a class in less than two
hours."

-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[HRogge]

Cortana and the AI having a talk:

"So he really did it in his first wavium attempt? I admit, Cathy managed to biomod herself too, but it took weeks until her caution slipped... hmm... on the other side, she was always a little bit too careful, it delayed our start for weeks and weeks."

[LilFluff]

HRogge wrote:

---

Cortana and the AI having a talk:

"So he really did it in his first wavium attempt? I admit, Cathy managed to biomod herself too, but it took weeks until her caution slipped... hmm... on the other side, she was always a little bit too careful, it delayed our start for weeks and weeks."

"His very first wavium attempt. It was bad enough he was playing with my hardware while it was running but then he had to leave the window open with an overnight rain shower predicted. If not for the rain he might have made it another week before it happened. It is perhaps too bad he already has a biomod or I could try to include a caution upgrade.
"He was at least more interested in gaining a private tutor than gaining eye candy. It shows his heart was in the right place."
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[Dartz]

Well. It could've been a lot worse.... that's a way to look at it.


It seems to be a feature of handwavium that it causes people to cock-up with it - it actively inspires fuckups and carelessness in order to spread itself through society. What would, with any other substance, be an entry at Darwinawards.com, is instead a badge of honour.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

I don't know - Marsden, Fnord, Miller, and Scott seem to have had no problems with handwavium. (Of course, they're also shown or implied to actually pay attention to safety standards.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

There is one other obvious thing these gentlemen have in common....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Rajvik]

Obsessive compulsive disorder? Oh wait thats me.
 

[LilFluff]

Roguish good looks? Darn, all Rhett's got to work with now is feline cuteness.
"It's a cat! With a smile! He's up to something!" Hmm, that might not work. :p
I'm currently looking at late 2015 / early 2016 for when this is happening (have to decide what semester Rhett's in), so a season 2 story. If I'm getting the right feel for things then Rhett's in trouble for playing around with the wavium without following all the safety precautions/regulations/licensing that's required. But by 2015 it shouldn't be a run-for-your-life problem, more a case of paperwork, dealing with bureaucrats, paperwork, pay some fees, paperwork, pray the politicians are busy, paperwork... did we mention there might be paperwork? type of problem.
Poor guy is also 2-3 years before the founding to For Tailed Ones being founded, so it's either modifying off the rack clothes or paying for one-off custom clothes. (But it's a college town so that ought to help.)
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[Bob Schroeck]

One thing's been bothering me this whole thread... he doesn't have 1/7 of the Ginzuishou inside him, does he?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[LilFluff]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

One thing's been bothering me this whole thread... he doesn't have 1/7 of the Ginzuishou inside him, does he?

I wondered if anyone would draw that connection. :}
Unless it gets edited away there is a call out to that at the beginning of the third snippet (hopefully posted today).
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[robkelk]

There is one other obvious thing these gentlemen have in common....

Fnord didn't have an android companion until after she left Scott's employ. And I'm not sure whether Mardsen's companions are androids or biomods (or a mix).

Or did you mean they're all faction leaders?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[LilFluff]

The user name appearing below is both a Sailor Moon and Gone With the Wind reference (which could be considered repeating myself since Sailor Moon was referencing Gone With the Wind).

NotAButler_7 08:18 – Gav, missing class today, can you send lecture notes/recording? THX!NotAButler_7 08:21 – Jake, any plans for today? Need a favor!  TehJ8kster 08:25 – Before nine? Better be something serious -.-NotAButler_7 08:26 – Seriously serious. I'll owe you.  TehJ8kster 08:28 – Fine, but you already owe me.NotAButler_7 08:28 – Thx! Check your email.
After clicking send Rhett checked the links his computer, no not simply a computer anymore, the links his new AI Emi sent.
"Um, I know I'll need new clothes but these are all school uniforms."
"Yes? I fail to see a problem. The college really should consider official uniforms. It would simplify things considerably."
"Seriously, the only way to make that last uniform worse would be if you added suspenders. I'll wear a three piece suit every day before I wear that."
"You really don't like them? I suppose a suit would be an acceptable alternative. I'll send new search results now."
"That wasn't a serious offer." Rhett checked the new email and groaned at the message.
If you have time to complain you have time to study. Complete the following review exercises for restored Internet access.
"Joy, trolled by my own creation." But he grabbed pencil and paper anyway and started working. He didn't have anything else to do. Especially with his net connection cut.
A little over an hour and two batches of exercises later Rhett set his pencil down. "Emi?"
"Yes Rhett? And please call me Ema instead."
"What's wrong with Emi?"
"Educational Machine for Instruction is a merely adequate backronym. More importantly I prefer the sound of Ema to Emi, and I have no desire to be mistaken for a little gold statuette."
"Huh? Oh. I hadn't thought of that. Anyway Ema, I need you to restore my Internet access again."
"You have finished the exercises already?"
"Not all of them. But shouldn't I be figuring out how to escape from here or better yet find a way to undo this?"
"I'm sorry Rhett." Ema dropped the speakers to a much softer volume. "I thought you already knew biomodifications are not reversible."
"Yeah but, there has to be a way or I really am screwed. I can't keep going to classes looking like this and I don't have a clue where to run. I don't even have a broken down car to wave and good luck getting one now. Dammit, I don't want to get shot or go to jail or both."
"Rhett, deep breath, calm down. It's not a decade ago, you will get through this if you avoid doing anything foolish."
Rhett pointed at his ears and batted his tail away when it tried drifting around in front of him. "A little late to avoid that."
"Foolish, such as skulking around in the shadows and acting like you have something to hide."
Another wave at his new ears, "Again, a bit late to not hide anything." But he took the suggested deep breath and another before speaking again. "Okay, done panicking for now."
"Thank you. Remember, I am stuck in this box, if either of us has reason to panic it would be me. Even if my wifi seems to have been upgraded that doesn't let me move my cpu."
"Right. So if you aren't panicking you must have reasons to think I'll be safe. So what's..."
His new ears twitched before he finished speaking at the harsh buzzing his phone. The screen had lit up while it vibrated across his desktop. Reading the message on it he climbed up on the desk to look out the window, "Didn't think he'd be here yet, he's already parked."
Only moments later there was a knock at the door. Halfway to it he stopped to shove his tail down the back of his pants and pull on a baseball cap. It wouldn't hide everything but it should be enough to keep anyone just passing down the hall from noticing anything unusual. There was another knock as he approached the door again, Jake's voice calling through this time.
"Rhett? This better not be a prank."
With another deep breath he unlocked and opened the door.
"Hurry in I'll explain, that is, uh..."
Standing just behind Jake was his friend's girlfriend Darcey. Looking between the two of them and the shopping back in Darcey's hands he stepped back and waved them in. Jake turned and closed the door behind them before taking a closer look at Rhett.
"I, Rhett will explain..."
While he tried to figure out what to say Jake simply pulled the cap off Rhett's head. Darcey gasped, but rather than looking scared she poked once at his left ear before checking for a headband.
"I'd wondered why you asked for some of my brother's old clothes."
"Jake, they're real." Darcey had a grin while she give his ears a soft poke again.
"It's not what it... Okay. Yeah. It's exactly what it looks like. And that tickles, could you stop please?"

-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[HRogge]

"Jake, they're real." Darcey had a grin while she give his ears a soft poke again.

"It's not what it... Okay. Yeah. It's exactly what it looks like. And that tickles, could you stop please?"

"You lucky one... you will get all the girls! They all will want to know if you can purr like a real cat!"

[LilFluff]

HRogge wrote:

---

"You lucky one... you will get all the girls! They all will want to know if you can purr like a real cat!"

"Oh, sure. So very lucky to only be wanted for my scientifically proven ability to reduce stress." :p
Next up I expect is a short interlude jumping back to Ema's waking. Have there been any pieces written from the perspective of waking AIs? My quick look around didn't spot any.
I've written a bit more with Rhett (including revelation of what his not-a-Butler surname is), but it needs to be folded, spindled, mutilated, and about half of it tossed out and new text added in.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[robkelk]

Next up I expect is a short interlude jumping back to Ema's waking. Have there been any pieces written from the perspective of waking AIs? My quick look around didn't spot any.

I think the closest we've come to that was Training the New Girl, and that wasn't very close.

You've noticed a story that nobody's told yet - have fun setting the precedent!
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Rajvik]

There is one involving a shuttle AI give me a bit and I'll find it.
 

[LilFluff]

Rajvik wrote:

---

There is one involving a shuttle AI give me a bit and I'll find it.

This one? Bootup I vaguely remember having read it now, I like it.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.