Someone Authorized This?

illirica

illirica

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Date: I think it was Wednesday, but it might have been Thursday, depending on when you're from.
Personnel: Cait and the Godbait (would make a great name for a band)
Location: bait bucket 14
Purpose: Going fishing


The agent accompanying Cait to 1003's containment unit was concerned, which was a perfectly normal reaction to Cait. She was used to it. She had spent the entire walk being cheerful and pleasant, which just made the guy more worried. He had pretty good instincts. Unfortunately for him, she was authorized to be here. Not having been authorized wouldn't have stopped her, of course, but it made the paperwork people happy.

She hadn't seen the godbait since that little excursion where they'd picked up what was now considered a Kanga, so she was rather curious what the little anomaly had gotten up to in that time. Nothing so serious that L-9 had heard about it, which probably made most people happy. Strings would have been disappointed, but... of course.

Cait would just have to be disappointed on his behalf. Maybe he'd be pleased that someone had.

Who knew. Anyway, she was here to interview 1003 on the "whoops dead zone" issue, which was a conversation that would undoubtedly go off the rails before it even got started, but those were Cait's favorite conversations. The agent with her opened the door and Cait thanked him, politely, which made him give her another concerned look.

He definitely had good instincts.

[font color="33ccff"]"Good morning, sunshine!"[/font] It was not morning, and there was no sunshine here, but that was half the point. Cait had always wondered about that - wasn't a point supposed to be something that couldn't be split, mathematically? So, if there was half the point, then perhaps math was broken, and that didn't usually happen.

At least, not outside L-9.

[font color="33ccff"]"How's tricks?"[/font]
 
Ira was in a mood.

That wasn't anything new. Ira was typically 'in a mood.' It was a rarer sight to see the little Goddess in good spirits than anything else. Though, as of recently, that rare sight had become a little too familiar for Ira's liking. Her face hurt. She didn't smile this often, and she certainly didn't talk this much. It was uncomfortable. Her ability to string sentences together had been improving as well, she wasn't even trying! It was an altogether infuriating set of consequences for her actions that she was facing.

So when Ghost entered Ira's containment unit, all joy, rainbows, and irreverence, the child snarled from her seat upon her beanbag throne. She wanted to immediately snap at the woman, declaring her presence as the exact opposite of 'sunshine.' She wanted to scream about not knowing whatever the hell 'how's tricks?' meant. Most of all, she wanted to throw something at the woman for her lack of proper reverence and tribute in Ira's presence.

It was the combination of these enraging desires that caused Ira to sit in near-silence instead. She simply snarled her face and looked down upon the woman as much as possible from her vantage point. Perhaps Ghost had come bearing the purest of intentions, perhaps not, Ira cared little either way. Although they had performed a resurrection together -just a little one-, this did not endear Ira to her, yet.
 
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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]1003 looked very grumpy, which was more or less ideal as far as Cait was concerned. Of course, anything else probably would have been equally ideal as far as Cait was concerned. Cait was very good at going with the flow, or maybe she was just so much of a force of nature that she changed the flow of everything just by existing.

Or maybe that was more of a baby deity thing, which Cait wasn't. She was completely human, much to the surprise of many in the Foundation. She didn't even have a little Eldritch in her, though it was generally agreed that this was more due to not being able to choose among them than for any lack of offers or opportunities. No, the only baby deity here was 1003, which was probably fine.

[font color="33ccff"]"Aww. You're cute when you're mad."[/font] Of all the sentences that had ever been thrown in Cait's direction, this had always been one of the most infuriating. That was why she turned it on others at every available opportunity, of course. She sauntered in uninvited and took a seat on the floor next to the world-altering anomaly, crossing her legs without a care in the world. [font color="33ccff"]"Here, I brought you a little present."[/font] Not tribute, she didn't say, because they didn't have that sort of relationship. Just a little gift between friends. Or not-friends. Cait rustled around in her bag for a moment and drew out a large tube of rainbow colored glitter.

[font color="33ccff"]"It gets everywhere and it never goes away. They will absolutely hate it. How cool is that?"[/font]
 
Ira decided to ignore the comment about her appearance, for the sake of her own sanity. Because she was not cute. To acknowledge that statement in any way would be absolutely most unbecoming and unGoddesslike behavior.

So, Ira stayed perfectly still and perfectly quiet for a full minute as Ghost produced the 'present' as she called it. It was not deference, which Ira was not happy with, but it was a gift given. Gifts could imply strings and, right now, Ira hated strings. But she was a Goddess, was she not? Therefore, if strings were indeed attached, she just needed to ignore them. That's how it worked back in her waking world.

Surely it worked the same here?

Finally, Ira stood up and took the tube of glitter from Ghost. Quietly, she walked away and hid it in a secret compartment inside her radio. She would retrieve it later. Ira would be lying to herself and Ghost if she did not admit that the thought of spreading chaos via a tube of something that could-not-be-removed and was-certainly-despised was absolutely glee-inducing. Turning back to Ghost, Ira nodded and decided to admit this truth. "I will create, madness. A good gift. Yes. Now- what is desired?"

Ira knew there had to be strings attached, there always were. So better to demand them presented immediately than have them sprung upon her later. She hated strings.
 
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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"Hm? Oh. Um, how about: 'Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.'"[/font] Cait giggled - there was absolutely no way that wasn't going to end up causing more problems than it solved. Of course, there was the chance that 1003 wouldn't get the reference. [font color="33ccff"]"Have they even let you watch The Godfather? Like, is that a 'no, because you're presenting as a tween and it's rated R' or a 'what the heck she's actually old enough even if she doesn't look it' or a 'there's probably worse things in her head anyway' or a 'we don't want more worse things in her head' or what?"[/font]

Really, it could have gone any of those ways. Or all of those ways. [font color="33ccff"]"Do you watch movies, like, at all? Or, better question, what do you do in here all day, and do you get bored? Because I would get bored. And I do all sorts of fun things when I'm bored. Fun for me, I mean. They'd be fun for everyone else, too, if some people had a sense of humor. Which they don't."[/font]

Of course, it had to be a particular sense of humor, and the particular sense was somewhat warped, kind of dangerous, and likely to be against the rules, with a caveat that if it wasn't against the rules of wherever she was, it was probably against the rules of physics or metaphysics whatever other ruleset she could find to break.
 
Oh it was the oldest [EXPLATIVE] request in the book of requests! And Ira would know, she was there for the first one ever made of an Eldritch being. Of course, the 'one day you may owe me something' was made by the eldritch, made by HIM, and not the other. But still, but still! It was no less infuriating.

However, without realizing it, Ira waved off the request as if she agreed to it while Cait asked if Ira had seen a movie about the father of gods. Ira hadn't seen the film, though that wasn't because of any content restrictions. The Foundation didn't care what she saw or what researchers showed her, but very few researchers wanted to sit and watch a movie with an anomaly that could kill them if she got bored and fell asleep. The last person who had been brave enough to do that with her was Isaac...

"I seen, Wargames. Isaac showed me. 'The only winning move- not to play.' I like movies. It has been, time, since last watched. No one brave enough. Maybe I fall asleep. Maybe you die? Ridiculous, I do not sleep through films. I like them, do not want miss anything. I do not get bored. Though, my options are- limited..."

It was true, Ira did not 'get bored,' as it were. She always found something to do, something to occupy her mind, even if that was screaming into the void for hours on end. That being said, she certainly enjoyed when her options for entertainment were expanded by enterprising individuals.
 
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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"Oh, yeah?"[/font] That was interesting. Super interesting. The godbait liked movies, but also apparently didn't like watching them alone, because otherwise she'd have seen, like, all the movies. If she hadn't, that meant she was waiting for someone to watch them with her, which no one ever did, because of the whole you could actually die thing.

Cait rolled her eyes, emphatically. Level two locations were full of weenies. What was the point of poking something if you already knew what it did? The potential of horrendous death was just half the fun! [font color="33ccff"]"Sometimes, you die horribly. Sometimes, you are the horrible death that happens to other people."[/font] Cait hadn't died yet, but she imagined when she did it would probably be interesting. She'd hate to die of something stupid. Whenever she went out, it was going to be legendary.

It could happen in the next hour! Of course, Cait didn't actually want to experiment with watching boring movies with 1003, mostly because then she would also have to watch boring movies. Also, she wasn't really a researcher. Too much learning, not enough doing.

[font color="33ccff"]"You wanna watch Evangelion?"[/font] It certainly wasn't boring! And it was emphatically [expletive]d up, which the godbait would probably approve of. Maybe she'd even understand it, which would be interesting too, because Cait was pretty convinced that no one understood Evangelion. That was sort of the point. Also, there were giant robots and shooty parts and weird cult behavior and divine heralds destroying the world and all that good stuff.

Yeah. This was a great idea.
 
As Cait spoke of sometimes dying and sometimes being the death, Ira simply nodded. She didn't really know anything about dying herself, it was an experience she had purposefully chosen not to engage in. But when it came to dealing death, well, Ira was winning the competition.

"Uh, no. What is that? New movie?" Ira responded quickly, perhaps a little too quickly. Her interest betrayed her 'stand-offish' nature, revealing the curious kid underneath. On top of that, Ira was unsure of what an 'Ee-van-geh-lee-on' was, exactly. She had heard of some weird movie names, and some films straight up made up words. 'Star Wars' was a series of three films that Isaaz had shown her as well with a lot of made-up words in them. She wasn't a huge fan of those kinds of movies, but they had made Isaac happy. So, she entertained his interests like a good friend should. Good friends pretended to enjoy things sometimes to make the other person happy, Isaac did it for her as well.

She knew for a fact that Isaac didn't like 'The Muppet Movie' but, for Ira, he sat through it three whole times. A smile graced Ira's face for a fraction of a second at the memory before a new thought came into her mind. "Ghost-? I possess no theater. Where will we view the- uh, Eev-ang-ah-lee-on?" She screwed up the pronunciation, she had to have, but it was such a weird word. It felt weird on the tongue.
 
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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"Nah, it's a series, not a movie. I mean, there is a movie! But it goes at the end, not at the beginning. It's one of the classic animes. It's... no, I'm not gonna explain it. It's better if you don't know what you're getting into."[/font]

How to, now that was a different question, but it wasn't one that was going to stop Cait. Few things stopped Cait, but that was kind of another topic. She doubted few things stopped the godbait, either, if she really didn't want to be stopped. Which, given the current situation, kind of implied that she did.

[font color="33ccff"]"And we could like... requisition a screen if you wanted, otherwise we can absolutely watch it on my phone or I can put up a projection-hex and link it onto the wall, but that'll only work if you're not automatically illusion-resistant."[/font] It wasn't a real projection, so the spell only worked if people were willing to not see through the illusion. Whether or not the godbait automatically saw through illusions was a great question, and not one that Cait was sure anyone had ever asked her, even if it was definitely one of those questions Cait would have asked.

But that was what she was doing, in her own way, and if it was less research and more [expletive] around and find out, well, that was why Cait was a field agent and not a researcher.

[font color="33ccff"]"So, how'd you end up in here, anyway?"[/font] Oh, sure, there was plenty of paperwork about that, and Cait had read the file, but that wasn't the same as getting the information from the source, or as fun.
 
That much was for certain, Ira had no idea what Ghost was getting her into. But whatever the 'older' woman had planned, Ira would be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit excited. Moving from her standing position to her little beanbag throne, Ira plopped herself down and motioned for Ghost to do- something.

"Not illusion resistant. My eyes, human. See just fine. Can see tricks, enjoy tricks. I like 'magic.'"

Ira didn't see the inherent revealing of information about herself with her answers, but that was because she did not classify such information as 'restricted.' So it mattered little to her who knew that she could experience illusions and tricks of light just like any other regular human. What she did not specify was whether or not she could choose to ignore them, to see beyond the light to the projector on the other side. Nor would she specify.

Then, a curious question. Ira knew her Foundation file, she had edited it herself, and within it were the details of her 'acquisition.' So either Ghost had not read her file, or she was acting ignorant in order to squeeze more info out of Ira. In Ira's opinion, it was more likely Ghost had simply not read it. Rather than attempt to remember exactly what lies she had told, Ira decided to tell Ghost something new.

"Originally... 'Ended up here,' because, living is difficult. Hunting wilds. Living feral. It is hard alone. Here, free food, free things, treated with respect. Mostly. I end up here, because, -here- is easier, -there- is hard. But, if -here- becomes hard. I will leave." Then, without pausing for drama, Ira added, "How you come here? End up here?"
 
Cait gave Ira a moment to get herself situated upon her throne, then made a complicated design with her fingertip on the floor beside it, which warped obligingly, bubbling upwards and inside out in a way that probably shouldn't be stared at too long, and then there was purple for a moment, and when the purple receded there was a cushion on the floor, which was lime green corduroy with little tassels on each of the corners. Cait plopped down on her stomach - just the one - and leaned her elbows on the pillow, fiddling with her phone for a bit while she got things set up.

She nodded along with Ira's explanation in the absent sort of way that made it seem like she wasn't really listening, but she was fully aware that wasn't going to fool the godbait, nor was it intended to. "Huh. I guess that makes sense." Did it? Sure, why not - everything made sense somehow, you just sometimes had to look at it funny. The godbait still had a bit of that feral nature to her, Cait thought. And... well, what kid didn't want things to be easier?

Cait wasn't at all surprised when the question was turned around on her - that was fair play, as far as she was concerned. There were a lot of ways not to answer, sure, and Cait sure wasn't going to talk about why she was here recently, with the whole Pepper thing going on - and even talking to the godbait about I was here to see you after the bit with Annie was likely to lead to questions she didn't feel like answering.

But she didn't have to talk about that, because Ira probably wasn't interested in why are you here today, anyway. She sought the answer she'd given: how'd you get here in the first place, why?

She was probably used to dealing with security people and L-14 staff, people who were careful and didn't give too much away in case it came and bit them in the [expletive]. Cait wasn't L-14 though. If you thought something might bite, you wanted to know how hard. [Expletive] around and find out, as the saying went - but you didn't get to find out unless you did the first part.

So, she answered.

"Well... I was a bit older than you look, but still pretty much a kid. And I wanted to impress someone, and none of the other stuff I'd tried had worked, so I figured out how to do magic, because I thought magic could fix anything. And the magic worked, but I didn't get the attention I was hoping for. I did get the attention of the Foundation when they found out, and they invited me to come in and work with them. And then I spent a while trying to figure out if the lesson I was supposed to learn from all that was magic doesn't fix everything or if it was magic does fix everything, just not in the way you expected. And then I decided that was stupid and the lesson I'd rather learn was just more magic."

She'd been moving her fingers while speaking, doing some sort of complicated thing above her phone screen with a bit of string strung with crystal beads, cait's cradle forming under her fingertips for a moment before the string dissolved into nothingness and the wall in front of them shimmered with an illusion of Cait's phone screen, which was currently ready to play.

"Subtitles or dubbed?" Another one of those little questions that could mean way more than it did, depending on how the answer went and what it implied.
 
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Ira listened intently as Ghost spoke, the words the 'older' woman said seemed to tug on ancient memories stored away inside the little Goddess's head. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions so ancient they made all of time seem as though it were a single breath. Ira could almost see the formation of 'magic' at her fingertips, her mind's eye playing the memories in real-time.

But, they didn't feel like her memories.

Nodding, Ira replied to Ghost, "Magic sounds, strange. Strings of reality tugged and pulled and twisted and- hmmh... In waking world, impossible. Magic, impossible. Sad, maybe, maybe should change that. I know not." Then, to answer her question, "Oh, um, subtitles. I should- uhg, I should practice reading." Ira certainly didn't want to practice reading, but Cody was starting to introduce her to more and more material and Ira wanted to be able to get through it faster. It wasn't productive to spend a week on a single book.

Standing up, Ira gestured for Ghost to sit in front of her beanbag throne. Walking over to her dresser, Ira searched for something for a few moments before finding it with a little happy noise. Withdrawing a small comb of bone, Ira moved back over to her beanbag and sat behind Ghost. Gently, Ira began combing Ghost's hair as the show started. It began with a song, interesting, Ira thought, most movies don't start with music.

She couldn't understand the song, but that was fine. Music was music, even if the words weren't recognizable. While it played and Ira brushed Ghost's hair, Ira spoke, "In my waking world, for myself, I do this. For Isaac as well, I would. It is calming. Do you have siblings? Significant other? Egg carrier?"
 
"I don't know, I think if you changed it so it were possible, it wouldn't be magic." Not being conventionally possible was one of the things that made it magic and not just sufficiently advanced science. Cait left most of the definitions to the researchers, anyway. She knew what worked for her, and that was good enough.

The godbait's gesture was demanding, but coherent enough. Cait wanted to see what she'd do about it, so she sat down where she'd been intended to. The comb through her hair was kind of a surprise, but not an un pleasant one. It gave 1003 something to do with her hands, anyway, while she was watching the movie. Cait didn't speak a word of Japanese either, but that didn't stop her from singing along with the opening song. She had an excellent sense of phonetics and could reproduce just about anything without having the slightest idea what it actually meant.

She had a feeling that was one of the reasons Gail had picked a mockingbird, when it came to Nimsy. There were probably other reasons, because there always were, but it fit well enough. Nimsy wasn't here, though, unless she decided to drop in. Probably not right now, though.

Ira seemed to be one of those talking during movies people rather than one of those we will watch in silence until it ends people, which was perfectly fine with Cait. She listened to the inquiry, responding with, of course:

"Egg carrier?"

It took her a minute, but...

...Actually, she liked it.

She liked it a lot. It was inhuman, and in being inhuman, created a whole lot of distance that was... good, in a way. That was definitely a situation that Cait had wanted some distance from. Maybe this was one of those questions not to answer, but then the godbait would just be petulant, and Cait had told her enough already. "Oh. Um... no. My egg carrier didn't really want anything to do with me." She shook her head - quickly, though not too much so that the comb wouldn't catch, but she didn't want 1003 to get the wrong idea about that. "I have my team, yeah? You met them. They're my people."

Cait didn't mind. It was a good setup, and she was happy with them. And there was Strings, too, but she wasn't going to bring him up with the godbait right at this moment. That was the sort of conversation that she wanted to ease into a little more, and have a better feel for 1003 beforehand so she'd know what went wrong when it inevitably did.

"Does your, yourself? Like it? When you do that." Her other self? Cait thought that was probably what Ira was getting at, but it was an interesting question. She hadn't really thought as much about the 1003 Reunion Scene.

It was probably disastrous, one way or another. And, speaking of disastrous:

"And, like... has anyone ever told you how human reproduction works?"
 
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Ira thought about Ghost's opinion of magic for a moment, then agreed with it. If magic was the spontaneous alteration of reality by means unintelligible, then making it intelligible would make it not entirely 'magic' anymore. Even if that meant that magic was not possible in her waking world. Ira decided that would be ok, magic could stay here. It made this dreaming world just a little more wonderful.

A little more magical.

There was some sort of monster on the show, it looked almost flesh-like to Ira. But it was difficult to focus on the show itself as the monster's design appeared far too inefficient. Ira could make something way better. Ghost spoke about her team and Ira specifically didn't press further about them. They were Ghost's friends, like Cody and Pepper were Ira's friends. But two friends, and possibly a third with Ghost if the silvery haired woman wanted to continue visiting Ira, was getting close to Ira's limit. She didn't want more of the Locusts here.

Continuing to brush Ghost's hair, Ira responded, "Yes, I do. This motion, SHE taught to me and Her." Each word was said with slightly different emphasis on slightly different syllables, "Important, SHE said. Bonding. Every morning, I comb and- speak of dreams. Every evening, She combs and- ah- sings to sleep. Calming." Then, as Ghost asked her disastrous question, Ira answered disastrously, "Ugh, yes. I know of [EXPLITIVE]. Hear guards talk for years. Always about [EXPLITIVE] this, [EXPLITIVE]-ing that, [EXPLITIVE]-er... On and on."

Then, as if to prove her knowledge, Ira continued, "Egg host transports egg, to- uh, designated location. Egg carrier ritualizes, with, uh, host. There's- lots of smashing. Then, egg carrier holds egg for... Nine weeks? Deposits egg back, designated location. Egg hatches. Newborn lizard child emerges. Lizard child sheds skin-? I know little past that."
 
This was fascinating.

Oh, not the bit with the [expletives], Cait could hear that anywhere. But the other bit, about the hosts and the carriers and the transference of the egg and the lizard child, that was really neat.

"Huh. Okay... so, that is awesome and I think it's great, but, yeah, not how it works with humans." Cait leaned back for a minute, a very L-9 sort of grin crossing her features for a moment. "Now, I'm strictly forbidden from interfering with L-14's anomalies while I'm here, so I suppose I probably can't answer, but you should absolutely ask Cody about this. Next time you see him. I think it would be really educational for both of you. And he's a researcher, so this is like, totally his thing, yeah? Great, good plan."

[Expletive]-ing with the anomaly was one thing, but [expletive]-ing with management was all well and good, as far as Cait was concerned. Besides, it would be good for everyone involved, especially Pepper. Given the whole situation with her and Cody, it was bound to come up sooner or later, right? And Cait was very graciously saving Pepper from having to explain that one by remorselessly throwing Cody under the proverbial bus.

It was just a shame she wouldn't get to be there when the godbait asked him.

"Were you ever a lizard child?"
 
Ira looked a little disappointed when Ghost told her that was not how humans worked. She had been so certain. A gentle "Oh..." Escaped her lips as she continued to brush Ghost's hair, a little slower now as she sank into thought. If that wasn't how they worked, then how did-?

Nodding at Ghost's suggestion to ask Cody, Ira decided she'd do exactly that. Cody knew everything there was about this strange little ball of green and blue called Earth, he'd surely know everything about the reproduction of species upon it. How difficult could it be? Certainly it wasn't any more strange or difficult than she initially believed.

Then, Ghost asked a question that gave Ira pause. She didn't stop brushing Ghost's hair, gently combing again and again and again, but, she did cease to make noise. Watching the show with the annoying little black-haired boy and cool giant robots, Ira thought about the closest thing she had to 'lizard child.' Quietly, she spoke, "No. As I am, always. Know not younger. Know not older. Only, me. I think- once, SHE was young. A lizard child. But, even I remember not that. So long ago. So, so, so long..."

Then, a consideration came into Ira's head unbidden. As a child might ask every little thing that pops into their head, so too Ira asked, "Will you ever have, uhm, lizard child? If yes, how many?"
 
Ira sounded... lost. Not locationally, more... emotionally. Spiritually, even. There was a part of her that she didn't know about, and she definitely had feelings about that. Cait considered turning around and giving her a hug, but she didn't know how the godbait was going to react to that, and Cait didn't exactly want to get a sudden unexpected promotion to cult leader.

Not that that wouldn't have been funny, of course, but Cait already had a job, and she liked it quite a lot.

Fortunately, the godbait had managed to distract herself, with a question that made Cait laugh. "Me? No. Absolutely not." Maybe she'd have left it there, but the godbait seemed to need a little more explanation about this sort of thing. "For one, my job is super dangerous, yeah? You were there, with Annie - that's the sort of thing we do all the time. Sometimes people don't make it. And that wouldn't be fair to a lizard child. But also, like, I don't want a lizard child. I'm happy to be the fun auntie to other people's lizard children. But I won't have my own."
 
Ira 'mhm'ed and nodded as Ghost spoke, smiling ever so gently when Ghost said 'Absolutely not.' Ira didn't bother hiding her smile as she normally might, Ghost wasn't looking directly at her. They were still watching their show, after all.

For a few more minutes, Ira focused on the animation playing on the wall. Her mind was vast, but without access to a body just as vast it turned slowly. She needed time to think over what she wanted to say, and Ira disliked repeating herself. Then, keeping her combing motions calm and rhythmic, Ira spoke, "I think, great mother, you would be. I would know. I am mother. Many, many, maaaaany children. So many I have. All they need, love, steady hand, guiding light. You, these things, you are. Fun Anty though- acceptable. Whatever 'anty' is."

Then, quieter, but without hesitation, Ira added, "Maybe one day, my children, you meet? They would like you. I know it."
 
"I don't know if most people would agree with you there." Of course, that was assuming people in the more human sense. Human people, human children. The godbait's children - weird to think of her as having them, but hey, stranger things had happened - anyway, they wouldn't be human, yeah? They'd be more like her, different. Maybe they needed chaos to thrive.

Strings had left Nimsy with them because of that, after all. He'd said it was important, for her. Maybe the same was true in this case. Still, Cait didn't want to be a mother. She had no idea how to be a mother. It wasn't exactly like she'd had any great examples of that, after all.

"I'd like to meet them, some day." Not to be a mother, but yeah - fun auntie. Cait could absolutely pull that off, even with lizard children.

Maybe especially with lizard children.

And because she could read between the lines, Cait smiled and added "I like you, too, godbait."
 
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Ira nodded as Ghost finished speaking and continued to watch the show. Ira wasn't entirely following what was happening all to well, but there were colorful lights and the giant purple robot was interesting. It looked like a machine and then it looked like flesh, a somewhat novel concept! She wouldn't make it that way if it were up to her.

Her mind ran through a thousand scenarios about making a metal act and react like bone and flesh. It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't energy efficient. Rather than changing the material, changing how the material formed and its density was far more effective. Growing bone hexagonally, increasing the tensile strength, and pushing the structures smaller and closer together, these things would increase strength. Not too strong though, because things that did not bend would break.

Suddenly, Ira realized she might've been in her thoughts a little too much as the opening song came on for the third time, or, was it the fourth? Ira couldn't tell. Stopping her brushing, Ira walked around and handed the brush to Ghost. Then, acting as if Ghost could read her mind, Ira set herself down in front of the woman and asked, "Ghost, what is your name? Ghost is not name. Not human name. This much I know. Or, mhm, give me something- something more human. To call you. I know humankind is, strange, about names. Maybe not want say true names. But, well, give something better than Ghost."
 
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