Science Experiments: A Tale of Two Antagonists

Inque

"Not my fault if people...drop things..." My smile grows slightly, turning on my heel again to walk down the sidewalk. "You didn't notice my wandering hands in my dance around puddles?" I say smirking, amusement in my voice. "Mymy, I must be good at it if you didn't hear it."

Edgar:

"...Most times... I attempt to hear as little as possible outdoors."I informed her, though why I was telling her that was... unknown to me. I mean, one does not typically go around broadcasting their least favourite things to do... or their incompetencies... and... well, the outdoors was... not something I was competent at. "And really you shouldn't steal. It's... not..."I didn't quite know how to finish that sentence. I mean.... certainly most people deserved to have things stolen from them... but there was just something about it... why steal and risk being caught when you could earn your money legally, and orchestrate larger embezzlement schemes that would in the long run net you more?

I walked along, headed to the local grocery. Or rather, cannery would be more appropriate, considering the typical contents.

Inque

"Such a stick in the mud. A bump on a log. A do nothing. Can't let me have any fun invading privacies, can you..." I tease slightly, just to bring back his spiteful memories. "I had offered to steal for you, and you had said issues of spending all of your supply. What's wrong with acquiring more?" Because, honestly, I didn't see why it was such an issue.

Edgar:

Muscles furrowed distastefully with regards to that comment. "Theft and... and invasion are vastly different. If one wants to amalgamate funds illegally, it's best to do it in a more... private and large scale manner, however. In short... you could have been caught. And why be caught for petty theft, when you could be caught for something more... notable?" I replied as we walked.

"I do things. I just do them... discreetly." I added.

Inque

"I do them /discreetly/," I mimic him, doing little finger quotations. "You, and twenty four others, didn't notice. So what's the problem?" There, signs for cans. Judging from the school, that's all they had here, which was odd... They had to have raw foods to get into the cans to begin with... why not just sell that? It's more expensive than canned whatever, normally.

Edgar:

"You could have been... seen. Someone could have seen you and you could be reported to the government and then we'd both be arrested for something stupid." Of course, I have very little idea of how exactly the whole seeing thing works, but the principle of it seems clear enough. "It's just... not foolproof enough I feel."

I ducked into the store that I'd been directing us towards. I liked it because in addition to it's canned foods, it also maintained a fresh fish section, where one could purchase lox.

"Do you possess any food preferences?"I asked, even though I knew that ordinarily she did not consume food, that didn't mean that it couldn't be an enjoyable endeavour while she was obliged to maintain her host. I find that if you are going to go through the trouble of consuming something it at least better be something enjoyable.

Inque

"But I'm not this girl. I could just ditch her and stay at your government building and get some other host to just as easily leave as I entered. So its foolproof for me," I mutter, looking at all the cans. And fish. At least something was 'fresh' around here. "And I don't eat, so flavors don't matter to me. I'll make this girl eat whatever. Not like it's going to kill her."

Edgar:

My government building. I liked that. Nice choice of words there. "I had not considered that. In that case, I no longer have issues with it." I said, walking right up to the fish counter. The man who worked here has had to deal with me for several years now, so it wasn't as... frustrating to interact with him as it was to deal with the others.

"Good afternoon, I would like a half pound of lox...Market price today is irrelevant." I stated. The man complied and rather quickly I had a half pound of lox in hand for bagels.

"If you really don't care, then, just get a basket and I'll hand you things." The pleasant thing about this store in particular was that they never changed the locations of anything. So... when I'd figured out where everything good was, I could just revisit the same places over and over. No guesswork involved.

Inque

I get the basket, waiting behind him for whatever he might pick up. Always fun, playing slave... "Whatever you'd like," I say bored. Glad to see you're so strong to your morals, Face dear....

Edgar:

I went through and picked up the usual things. Bagels, Boilable noodles, assorted other edibles. It doesn't take terribly long, and with the exception of the salmon, I know that it's going to average out to about 36 rectangles. "So what is our plan for tomorrow?"I asked as we stood in the checkout line.

Inque

"Isn't there school?" I ask him. "And waiting for whatever to be delivered..." I adjust the basket to the other arm. Weakness annoyed me, but it was better than my form. Hopefully he was picking stuff out for two; this seemed sort of light. But whatever. Money now, and I knew how school lunch worked after observing, so it didn't matter.

Edgar:

"Of course there's school. I was referring to the organic progression of... this whole... thing. How do we proceed? I could draw out a calendar." I proposed as we approached the little counter where the cashier inventoried our goods and charged us money.

The other employees here had shifted over the past several years, so not all of them could really... manage without being somewhat dumbstruck, but whatever. The teller in question seemed to have managed alright, and I spent 42 rectangles total when you add in the fish.

Inque

"Well I dunno. Just let stuff happen?" I propose. "We've established an every other day schedule for our deal. You can practice torture on this girl, or we could secure her to the chair for a time for me to be free. That could really happen whenever, even for science or just time out..." My consciousness wanders as we exit the store.

Edgar:

"And you are comfortable with just... 'letting stuff happen'? I mean... Really? How is that safe? How is that a good idea to not have a plan?" I asked as we walked. "I figured that we could tie her to the plumbing again this evening while we work on trying to figure out how to fabricate a skeleton for you... Some kind of calcifying substance..." I stated as we continued back towards the house. "And there is also homework to be done..." I added almost as an afterthought. I'd read if the opprtunity presented itself but... until then... I had more important things to be doing.

Inque

"You said organic. Things usually 'just happen' in nature..." Don't confuse me now, sheesh. The body forces out a yawn, which is good. The girl will most likely stay asleep when I leave her then.

"Skeleton? I simply want a more controllable form. I rather like my metamorphic self," I say displeased, going along beside him.

Edgar:

"Ah. I see. ...Hm. So... then really we're just looking for something that bonds your molecules a bit more tightly, instead of dealing with... all of that... human nonsense. That... that simplifies things... in a way." I replied regarding the skeleton information. It then meant that I didn't have to figure out a way to suitably replicate other tissues and whatnot as well, as long as I could get the molecules to cling to each other a bit harder.

"Can't organic things be constructed under laboratory conditions? Cultivated and genetically treated to optimise the desired outcomes? Why can't we do the same thing in this situation?" I asked.

Inque

"Certain things can be controlled, maybe. Other things, not so much. Like the seasons, or your lack-there-of," I point out, teasing. "Can't simply just go with the flow, Face? Let things work out however they may work out for once?" I go on ahead a bit, spotting the familiar street.

Edgar:

"I don't know what seasons are, but I am sure that if Auda had them, one could find a way to manipulate them." I stated calmly. "I just like to have some directionality when I do things... I like to know where things are suppoused to go, and then, if they deviate... then clearly, there would be a feasible way to get it back on track. I don't like not knowing what I'm doing, essentially." I expounded, bordering on unnecessary.

Inque

"Want long term goals then?" I ask over my shoulder, stopping at our door to which he had the key to. "I'll have my ideal form at some point thanks to you, and you'll have your dictatorship over Auda with your torture chambers that all of this practice will really add up to some scarred victims and multiple hundreds dead. Happy?"

Edgar:

"Yes but those are exceptionally long term goals. There's an infinite set of actions and reactions that could set off a chain of events and despite running to the same final step, the trip there could have been hideously... distasteful. Why simply be content with knowing the end result when one is perfectly capable of knowing every single step and optimising the experience for most convenience?" I replied. I opened the door and ducked inside.

Next time we had money for home improvement I was installing a larger door. Ducking all the time was one of the most annoying things about architecture.

Inque

"Well I know you're getting there. I've experienced it," I say simply, entering our flat and kicking off my shoes, throwing my bag down by my little space laid out by the blanket and then flopping down onto my pillow.
"Ohright..." Rolling over, I empty my pockets, whatever rectangles I had collected over the walk to the grocery store and then to home making a neat little pile on the floor. "So tie this girly up so I may exit?" I ask him, sitting up.

Edgar:

I picked up the income that she had generated via dubious means. "Of course I will." I stated calmly and proceeded to wrap her limbs thoroughly in duct tape.

While we were walking home I had to wonder about cornstarch. It served to stiffen non newtonian fluids generally... so... theoretically it was something worth trying... hm.

"What if anything do you know of cornstarch?" I asked while wrapping duct tape.

Inque

Hm. This would hurt when I went to take all of this off, wouldn't it? Nothing like duct tape stuck on skin for a long time... Whatever, I didn't need to feel it.

"...A starch of corn...?" I say as I carefully make sure there aren't any signals coming from the reticular formation. Girl's body was exhausted, so she'd probably stay unconscious on her own.

I withdraw my control slowly, concentrating to her stomach... "May want to step away now," I murmur, though it's very slurred, as I don't have a grip upon such functions as well as before. Though nothing was in her stomach, so it wouldn't be like it would cause a mess. Naturally, the stomach clenches when too much is within.

I prevent the signal to alert her awake before... /I'd/ like to say it as simply 'stepping out', though it's nothing like slipping out of a dress. She remains slack upon the floor, head on the pillow. "May want to cover her head with a pillowcase or something. I'd like to be able to see what science is being given to me, which requires light," I say lightly. "Don't want her seeing you, if she wakes up naturally."

Her body temperature has my molecules in a craze. I can move faster, though I feel that my body's angles are even more off from normal, and I feel more towards the liquid side of the scale, though still solid. More like hot wax, perhaps, compared to the usual doughy feel.

Edgar:

Pillowcase. Right. That would be productive. I retreated upstairs for a moment to acquire my own pillowcase, which was not important to me. The pillow was still just as soft.

I encased the girl's head in the case, and wrapped duct tape around the base of it, not tightly, but enough to keep the pillowcase affixed in the event that she did stir.

"Cornstarch is often used as a thickening agent in less complex non-newtonian compounds... It would be worth it to at least try this, considering it's simplicity." I explained succinctly.

I should have thought of that sooner.

Inque

Same thing as last time, then? A slight bore, though it might work better, and be more simple, as he said, it was 'worth it to at least try', I guess. "You have to guillotine a part of me again," I say, then think a moment. "We have some of that stuff?" I didn't remember seeing it in our grocery shopping.