NOVEL SIMPLE 69 - Solid Copy
Never had a single notification filled David with such dread, and every hair on his entire body stood at attention in response to its appearance. He didn't dare speak again, and he swore he could feel the gaze of creation itself pinning him to the swampy earth.
“David?" Claire sprang to her feet with surprising agility for something so large, “What are you talking about? How did you fuck up?"
David turned his head slowly to face her, eyes wide and unblinking, "It's watching. It heard.”
"Uh…” Claire trailed off, concern clear in her voice, "Did you get some blowback on that Gloom thing you did? How many claws am I holding up?”
"You only have three claws, Claire. No, I meant the bullshit bug report I was joking about. It fucking… ‘Accepted. Message sent to recipient: Omega’. I have a new message now. Like when we hatched.”
Claire's eyes widened hugely before she suspiciously looked straight up into the sky. David mimicked the motion almost immediately after, and they hopped and stomped in circles like distrustful cavemen as they scanned their surroundings for a few heartbeats before confirming they were alone. David fired Echolocation’s around them completely at random, finding nothing and not being reassured at all by the fact.
“Are we being stupid?" Claire muttered sheepishly as she returned her gaze to the ground. David fidget nervously in place, employing a modified stationary panic where he simultaneously moved a lot but went nowhere.
“...Well?" Claire rumbled expectantly after waiting patiently for a few moments.
"Well, what?” David flattened his ears and cringed down into the grass that had been flattened all around them.
Claire sighed, "What did the message say?”
"I haven't opened it! Who knows what'll happen?” David screeched shrilly, "I didn't think Omega was actually listening, I used my Karen voice and everything! What if I open it and I explode or something?!”
Claire rolled her eyes and plodded back over to the thick bed of reeds she'd been sitting on like a pillow before settling down. The foliage hardly rustled under her as she flopped into her previous comfy spot, curling her tail around her body as she sniffed at the breeze before hissing sleepily.
“I feel like if they wanted to explode you for sass, they'd have just exploded you without bothering to send you a letter bomb. Text bomb? Trojan?" Claire grumbled thoughtfully while nibbling at an itch just below the hammer of bone at the end of her tail.
David’s anxiety returned in full force as his cringe deepened, “You're not helping! …Okay, okay I got this. It's just a message. Just gonna…”
Open message?
**SYSTEM ADMIN COMMUNIQUE**
Greetings, User David!
Your recent bug report regarding the insufficient information and unclear descriptions of the Status Panel has been received, vetted, and categorized under "Rare User Initiative."
We are pleased to inform you that in response to your feedback (and the deafening silence from 99.964% of Earth Users who find the Status Panel perfectly cromulent), we are transitioning your interface to Advanced Mode.
We hope this will result in a continuance of the wealth of data provided, and commend you on your continued top-percentile interaction. We have been enormously dismayed at the level of interactivity during this Special Integration; clearly adjustments will have to be made. Never fear! Originators have been dispatched who should arrive on-location within the next 30 days to enact our proposed changes.
Moreover, we feel compelled to commend your truly unique approach to cosmic relations. Our psychological records indicate that a mere 0.0001% of Users have ever contemplated using their mandibles on an Overseer's face. Your dental designs on the esteemed Ω have therefore placed you in a category of your own: "Users Who Bite Back at Fate."
Ξ was unspeakably amused to file this unique fantasy as you generated it. She extends her regards for the imaginative tactile response you envisioned in the form of a slight modification.
In light of your rare blend of constructive criticism and imaginative hostility, all your future Status Screen interactions will feature a tiny, detailed Overseer avatar, courtesy of Ξ. Feel free to zoom in and analyze every biteable feature. We do hope this satisfies your peculiar appetites.
**System Overseers Ω & Ξ**
By the end of the first line, David felt as if he must be having a stroke, and started over. This repeated several times as he slowly worked his way through the message before he read the entire thing one more time. Claire noted his eyes darting around rapidly as he read and simply waited patiently, though the flicking of her tail pounding a slowly deepening hole in the ground beneath it betrayed her interest.
“I think they're trolling me or something." David finally blurted out. He sagged back onto his haunches as the implications finally hit him.
Oh my God. They're people too, or else they're a really good facsimile of people. Were they sitting where I am right now, once? Does this mean you can be…employed by the System? I'm afraid to open my Status now, and what did they mean 99.96% of people found the Status cromulent? Is that even a real word? How did they know I wanted to bite them? I remember that, it was back at Woodland, I was thinking about mauling them, hitting them with Gloom…Are they listening right now? What the fuck is an Originator? What happens when they–
“Oh come on", Claire whined. “If you make me beg I'm going to thump you for it later."
David jumped in surprise as Claire banged her tail into the ground to emphasize her point. He turned and gave her a slack jawed stare that made her snort with amusement before he began to read the message aloud. He desperately tried to keep his tone neutral, but the personality in the message managed to bleed through anyway. Claire hissed worriedly at the section about the ‘Originators’ being dispatched, but barked out a genuine belly laugh at the fact David had been daydreaming about biting the Overseer. David’s ears could flatten themselves no further, but that didn't stop himself from trying.
“You literally sat around fantasizing about biting Omega in the face?! Hah!" Claire’s jaws gaped open in a toothy display of vast amusement, “What did you even imagine them looking like?!"
David shot a nervous glance at the sky again before replying guiltily, “A big ugly guy with a huge mustache in a three piece suit, with a monocle, and a couple bags of money…”
"Bahahaha!” Claire slumped over onto her side as she laughed helplessly. David was forced to bounce upward like a rabbit as her tail whipped to the side and passed below where he'd been standing to obliterate an innocent bush nearby.
“I was frustrated okay!" David growled in chagrin.
“I've never been so frustrated I wanted to bite a god in the face so hard another god noticed it! Pffthahaha!” Claire flopped fully onto her side and kicked her feet helplessly, “Wait! Is that why you thought you might explode?"
David declined to comment as he suddenly found an extremely interesting scent to investigate as Claire slowly got a hold of herself.
“They're not gods", David sniffed finally. “They're Overseers, there's a difference."
“Yeah, I mean technically. Functionally? Maybe not so much, at least as far as I can tell." Claire wheezed as she pulled herself back upright and eyed the darkening sky. She yawned and clacked her jaws together several times meaningfully.
“Well go ahead and open it, let's see what you got out of it besides an ominous message."
David nodded slowly and braced himself before calling up his Status. It appeared as normal for a brief second before flickering, blurring at the edges and phasing out, only to snap back into place weirdly. David thought it seemed much more solid somehow, despite apparently being invisible and intangible.
User: David Fisher
Species: Twilight Corruptor Ω
Rank: E
Health: 190/190
Stamina: 425/425 (++)
Level: 11
Exp:1172/1750
Special: Echolocation D
Pts: 11
Storage: 1 Mutagen
Traits: 4/4
Nocturnal E: +12% Damage, Stam Regen, Exp Gain at night.
[3/10]
Echolocation D: Manipulate high-frequency sound waves to see with more than just your eyes. Multi-stage ability: Repeated uses against the same enemy builds Combat Expertise, and may trigger an Echo.
[7/10]
Flight D: Allows for flight and gliding. Mild Stamina drain. (stam+)
[4/10]
Small: Your form is small, weighing no more than 115lbs. (stam+)
[n/a]
Abilities: 4/4
Screech E: You emit a loud screech, damaging enemies in a cone. Low Stam consumption.
[5/10]
Moonsong F: A soothing melody that adds a greatly increased Regeneration rate to yourself and your allies for a short time. Moderate Stam consumption.
[5/10]
Gloom C: Your wingbeats spread Dusk powder with every flap. Enemies under the effect of Gloom are inflicted with visual hallucinations. Stacks up to 8 times.
[7/10]
Nocturnal Strike C: A quick, lunging attack that steals a small percentage of the target's Stamina.
[6/10]
Mutagens: 5/5 (1 stored)
Ancestral Terror Mutagen C: Your body deepens its primal bond, fortifying your strength and weakening the resolve of enemies that can perceive you. Your gaze may trap enemies in instinctive Terror.
[1/10]
Soporalytic Mutagen E: Your attacks have a moderate chance to inflict paralytic sedation, inducing muscle spasms and rendering targets unconscious.
[9/10]
Secretive Mutagen E: You become more elusive, making you harder to track and detect.
[8/10]
Apical Mutagen C: Assert your dominance, add bonus effects to Abilities dictated by Ability Type. [Control: Drain a small percentage of Enemy Health and Stamina] [Offense: Sunders a percentage of Enemy Defenses]
[3/10]
Corruptor Bloodline A: Ancestral memory of venomous shadow-stalkers that move with preternatural swiftness, unseen. Afflictions you inflict fester and intensify. Provides intrinsic control of affliction delivery.
[1/3]
Okay, shows my points and my ‘storage’ now I guess? Mutagens have level trackers now…that's actually really nice. I feel like that should have been baseline, honestly. Feels like I can expand all the categories to get into the specifics of I wanted to, that's weird, it didnt work like that before did it? What happens if I focus on…
–You have 1 Mutagen in storage–
–Would you like to sell Corrosive Mutagen C for 15Pts?–
Noooo, I need that one! That one’s good! Shit…does this mean I can purposely move something into Storage? What if I–
–Move Secretive Mutagen E to Storage?
–This action will deduct 5Pts–
“Whoa, now there's a double edged sword." David muttered in shock, "No thank you, I might need those for when I Evolve again.”
"Hrm? What's the little Overseer thingy look like? Is it the ugly mustache guy you imagined?” Claire yawned again as she visibly contemplated tucking her head over her shoulder.
“Oh, what? I hadn't even looked for it yet." David suddenly began hunting through his Status for the ‘avatar’ he'd been promised, curious to see what it would look like.
When David found it, his mouth fell open in a mix of awe and instinctive dread. The creature, lounging at the bottom of his panel as if reclining on an unseen floor, raised its bulk to meet his stare with an unsettling calm. It was animate, yet seemed to prefer stillness, its scaly mass carefully tucked beneath the text hovering above, as if it knew its boundaries. Words failed David as he slowly recognized the being's identity; on each of its multitude of foreheads, a dark crimson glow outlined a symbol with a horseshoe's curve, unmistakable and ominous. Then, in a moment that sent a shudder through David's core, hundreds of tiny eyes began to open across its body, each one finding and holding his gaze. He instantly had to wrestle down an ancient, animal urge to show his belly and whine.
“Claire?” David asked in a bizarrely calm voice.
Claire jerked slightly as if she had been falling asleep, her eyes flicking back open to focus onto him, “Yeah?"
"What's it called when a dragon has, like, a million different types of heads but no wings?”
Claire thought for a moment, "A Hydra?”
"Good to know.” David whispered as the tiny caricature slowly laid back down, eyes closing, and promptly fell asleep.