there's only so much I can turn into

[mswoods]

The thirteen-year-old girl is coming back home from school, on foot.

There's a cat following her. It's been following her for a while, but from a distance.

She decides to be friendly. She stops and turns around to look at it. It stops as well. "Mow?"

The girl's face- changes. It's still a human face, mostly, but now there's something different about it. More feline than anything. Whiskers grow, her pupils dilate and her eyes get a bit rounder, her bones move under her skin, their shape changing a bit. "Mew," she says, vocal apparatus having changed a bit, apparently.

The cat blinks and approaches cautiously. "Moow...?"

She doesn't giggle, but she feels like giggling. She's talking to a kitty! Well, kinda talking to a kitty, it's not like she can understand kitty-speech. But still! "Maw!"

Comments

[mrwoods]

"As far as I can tell, no hidden depths, only other creative uses. Same memory slash training slash precision limits, though. I have a few useful shifts pretty much instinctive by now, and I've created some personal vocabulary for the qualia involved that English doesn't have and started keeping a diary with recipes for other stuff."

[taste_tester]

"Ooh, personal vocabulary!"

[mrwoods]

"Yes! Wanna see?" He's asking it out of courtesy, he doesn't wait for an answer before going upstairs to grab his notebook because of course she does.

...it's pure gibberish.

"I'm afraid I don't really have a dictionary," he says apologetically. "If you boop me I could show you what some of these meant but I think it'd take a few years for you to memorise them all."

[taste_tester]

She boops him. "I'm a quick learner."

[mrwoods]

So maybe it's time for him to teach her!

The first recipes are mostly basic general stuff, like how to turn some kind of tissue into some other kind, or how to rupture tissue without causing too much damage and pain, mostly the building blocks for more complex stuff.

[taste_tester]

She is in fact a very quick learner.

[mrwoods]

He notices this! "Wow okay you gotta teach me your trick, does your magic-copy power make you magic-learn other stuff too?"

[taste_tester]

"I've always been good at learning things. My personality trait that gave rise to my magic is mimicry, remember?"

[mrwoods]

"So it's not something teachable? That's disappointing," he sighs.

[taste_tester]

"Well..."

[mrwoods]

"That's promising."

[taste_tester]

"I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you."

[mrwoods]

"...that is less promising. I like being alive quite a lot."

[taste_tester]

"Okay, strictly speaking I would not have to kill you. But I would sure have to do something whether you liked it or not."

[mrwoods]

"Terrifying yet intriguing."

[taste_tester]

"Lemme know which wins."

[mrwoods]

"...is there anything more you can tell me about the non-murderous something before I make this decision?"

He does not seem to totally believe her. He does not seem to totally disbelieve her either.

[taste_tester]

"I'm walking a fine line as-is."

[mrwoods]

"Can you at least tell me whether you predict I'd take this bargain if I knew what it was? ...is this a dumb question? You probably do predict I'd take it or you wouldn't be offering it."

[taste_tester]

"Bingo."

[mrwoods]

He sighs. "Alright, then, there's a reason I was ever so good a student. Tell me."

[taste_tester]

"You sure? 'Cause if I tell you and you do something stupid like run away screaming your head off I really do have to kill you."

[mrwoods]

"You do remember my power was related to wanting to be in control of my body and my self, yes? I will do no such thing."

[taste_tester]

"Right then. Wanna be a vampire?"

[mrwoods]

"...is being a vampire the murder or the non-murder option? I'm genuinely curious."