[ Yako doesn't really know Entrapta as anything other than that ridiculous goblin of a tech-stealer, but all the same, she's also one of the only people she knows who's engaged in dissecting magic and technology alike.
She also, like, doesn't know if she even has a Watch or has taken it apart yet, so this is a letter that will wing its way to her possibly a little late in the month, depending on how difficult it is for the hassled-looking Puca messenger to find someone of Entrapta's description and hand her a letter. ]
Dear Princess Entrapta,
I hope this letter doesn't have too much trouble finding you. If was wondering if you're still looking into combining magic and technology in Aefenglom. If you've learned a bit more, there's a project I might be able to use your help with.
If you're interested, you can leave a letter for me at the Coven or reach me on my watch. Thank you!
Yako Katsuragi
[ Pretend whatever passes for her watch number/contact/etc is written here. ]
[It takes a bit for the messenger to find her just because Entrapta hasn't been getting out much lately, but eventually the letter finds its way to her, and Yako receives a message on her watch at 4AM.]
[ There isn't really any way Yako could forget, but ... ]
I know. But I'm a witch who doesn't know much about magical mechanisms, so ... maybe between the two of us, and a bit of research, we can figure something out?
After the bonding "ceremony" (IE, a quick process done with as little fanfare as possible, because this bond is definitely STRICTLY for the sake of science and the sake of not exploding and/or eating people,) Morgan easily agreed to follow her new arachne friend back to her dwelling, in order to test and record some preliminary observations about the early stages of the bond relationship.
As they walk, by all appearances Morgan is still cool as a cucumber on the outside. But, truthfully? She's a bit uneasy. Stepping back into a scientific setting is an event that calls up mixed emotions for her, raising the familiar stir of scientific curiosity that butts fretfully up against the worry that this is exactly how she got herself into deep deep shit the last time, by letting herself be the center of her own scientific study.
It's not my scientific study, she insists to herself. It's Entrapta's. I'm just supplying my own observations and helping to provide data for it...
...She really fervently hopes that none of this uncertainty is making it's way into Entrapta's mind over their bond.
BAD NEWS, MORGAN, IT TOTALLY IS, and as a result Entrapta has a bit less of a spring in her step than she normally would at a time like this. She looks a bit perplexed, actually. Why would she feel uncertainty? There's no reason whatsoever to be unsure about this, it's a good idea across the board. It solves both their problems and also means she can learn more about Bonds, what's not to like?
That's the thing, though – usually when Entrapta feels unsure about something she really wants to do, it's extremely easy for her to just dismiss it like this, by going over why it's actually a great idea and just ignoring anything that doesn't feel great about it. But that's not working. Something about it just feels weird...
"... Oh!" she says suddenly, stopping in the street with one finger raised. "This is your emotion, right? Because of the Bond! You're feeling weird about this. How come?"
That means Entrapta can probably feel the brief jolt of surprise that Morgan experiences upon hearing that, too. It doesn't really show on her face though; her posture stiffens a little, and her steps falter as Entrapta stops in front of her.
"Sorry," she says in a light exhale, not even bothering to deny it. "It's not anything you're doing. I was just... Reflecting on some stuff that happened back in my own world."
Hopefully being honest without being a completely open book will be enough to deflect here. She kind of doubts it, though.
Entrapta cocks her head. "Oh, is that the stuff you were talking about before? The self-experimentation thing?" She clasps her hands together. "You should tell me more about that, so I know what kind of practices to avoid."
"Huh," says Entrapta, taking a couple of distracted steps forward. "Welllll obviously the Bond affects the brain in some way, since I'm sensing your emotions... But you know I actually don't know what a connectome is?"
"A connectome is like a highly detailed map of your brain," Morgan says, easily slipping back into her unflappable neuroscientist voice. "It shows the layout of your neural pathways, charts out every little detail of what makes you 'you'."
"Ohh, wow!" You can see all eight of Entrapta's eyes light up. "I haven't ever gotten much of a chance to study that kind of thing, do you think... you could tell me more some time?"
Morgan blinks at her, mildly surprised. "Sure. Happy to try, anyway. I probably mentioned this already, but my memory isn't always the most reliable thing. And yes, that problem is related to the issues I have with making yourself the subject of an experiment," she says with a wry smile and a sidelong glance, assuming she's accurately predicting Entrapta's next question.
"Oh, I see," says Entrapta. She taps her chin with her thumb. "So whatever you were doing that was such a bad experience affected your memory too... Okay, so it seems really unlikely that this'll have much overlap with anything like that, but I still think it would be useful to know more before we start this experiment. After all, the whole point of mistakes is to learn from them!"
[When he gets to the lap Niles is holding the end of his tail. Kind of cradling it in his arms, but less like one would hold an infant and more like one would hold a very fragile, very dangerous, incendiary weapon. The tip of his tail is bundled in a thick towel, clearly wrapped around something irregularly shaped.
He strides over to one of her lab tables and starts to unwrap it.]
I know it's fatal, but not instantly.
[The Squip had suffered for a few hours at least. When the towel is finally lifted away the sharp curved edge of a scorpion stinger juts out of the fluff. He gingerly parts the fur there, letting Entrapta see the whole bulbed structure more clearly.]
[He's only used it the one time, and as soon as the tip pierced flesh it was pretty instinctive. There had definitely been some kind of muscle he flexed but as he tries to remember how to do it all that happens is a few unsure flicks of his tail as a whole.]
Do you have something I could sting? It felt like a reflex more than a deliberate action.
[ She scuttles away to her cupboards and drawers, occasionally glancing back at Niles – at one point she comes back, examines the end of his tail more closely, and then afterwards sets aside the test tube – eventually she comes back with a piece of waxed cotton and a glass beaker. She holds up the beaker with two hands, and with the other two holds the cloth over the top of it. ]
Okay! Go ahead and sting!
This took so long because i fell into a youtube hole of 'slow motion scorpion sting' footage.
[He grabs the end of his tail again and lines it up with the beaker. When he lets it go the stinger wobbles a little, and he makes a few mock strikes, watching the arc of the point. The motion he uses is a strange, fluid sort of flick. It causes a hard to follow oval trajectory rather than a straight jab, but after a few slow, slightly clumsy test moves he narrows his eyes and strikes for real.
This time the motion of his tail is a whip-like blur, and the stinger pierces through the cotton as if it were nothing. As he anticipated, flexing that unknown muscle was automatic once the strike landed. He arches his back and tenses slightly all over in an attempt to push more venom out although he's not sure it works that way. It certainly feels like that's how it works, and as he stands in a pseudo full body flex, a stream of clear fluid empties into the beaker.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
LETTER
She also, like, doesn't know if she even has a Watch or has taken it apart yet, so this is a letter that will wing its way to her possibly a little late in the month, depending on how difficult it is for the hassled-looking Puca messenger to find someone of Entrapta's description and hand her a letter. ]
Dear Princess Entrapta,
I hope this letter doesn't have too much trouble finding you. If was wondering if you're still looking into combining magic and technology in Aefenglom. If you've learned a bit more, there's a project I might be able to use your help with.
If you're interested, you can leave a letter for me at the Coven or reach me on my watch. Thank you!
Yako Katsuragi
[ Pretend whatever passes for her watch number/contact/etc is written here. ]
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THIS IS ENTRAPTA WHAT IS YOUR PROJECT
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Or that’s the theory, anyway.
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I'M NOT A WITCH THOUGH YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT
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I know. But I'm a witch who doesn't know much about magical mechanisms, so ... maybe between the two of us, and a bit of research, we can figure something out?
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MEET ME AT MY LAB
[ She includes the address, but no suggested time. ]
Set to a day or two after speed dating?
As they walk, by all appearances Morgan is still cool as a cucumber on the outside. But, truthfully? She's a bit uneasy. Stepping back into a scientific setting is an event that calls up mixed emotions for her, raising the familiar stir of scientific curiosity that butts fretfully up against the worry that this is exactly how she got herself into deep deep shit the last time, by letting herself be the center of her own scientific study.
It's not my scientific study, she insists to herself. It's Entrapta's. I'm just supplying my own observations and helping to provide data for it...
...She really fervently hopes that none of this uncertainty is making it's way into Entrapta's mind over their bond.
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That's the thing, though – usually when Entrapta feels unsure about something she really wants to do, it's extremely easy for her to just dismiss it like this, by going over why it's actually a great idea and just ignoring anything that doesn't feel great about it. But that's not working. Something about it just feels weird...
"... Oh!" she says suddenly, stopping in the street with one finger raised. "This is your emotion, right? Because of the Bond! You're feeling weird about this. How come?"
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"Sorry," she says in a light exhale, not even bothering to deny it. "It's not anything you're doing. I was just... Reflecting on some stuff that happened back in my own world."
Hopefully being honest without being a completely open book will be enough to deflect here. She kind of doubts it, though.
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"As long as you're not planning on messing with my brain's connectomes in any way, I don't think it'll pose a problem."
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BRING IT TO MY LAB
in person
He strides over to one of her lab tables and starts to unwrap it.]
I know it's fatal, but not instantly.
[The Squip had suffered for a few hours at least. When the towel is finally lifted away the sharp curved edge of a scorpion stinger juts out of the fluff. He gingerly parts the fur there, letting Entrapta see the whole bulbed structure more clearly.]
Re: in person
Wow, I wouldn't have anticipated you were gonna grow this! I have so many questions – aaahh but those can wait, haha!
[ She produces a test tube from somewhere about her person.]
Can you extrude a sample for me or do I need to extract one?
ashdfie I just realized the image link is broken above
[He's only used it the one time, and as soon as the tip pierced flesh it was pretty instinctive. There had definitely been some kind of muscle he flexed but as he tries to remember how to do it all that happens is a few unsure flicks of his tail as a whole.]
Do you have something I could sting? It felt like a reflex more than a deliberate action.
((This is what he looks like now, he's got all the parts.))
lmao yeah i was just like 'its fine ive already seen it'
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Maybe if it's leather or sturdy cloth?
[He figures the resistance is probably what triggers it.]
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Okay! Go ahead and sting!
This took so long because i fell into a youtube hole of 'slow motion scorpion sting' footage.
This time the motion of his tail is a whip-like blur, and the stinger pierces through the cotton as if it were nothing. As he anticipated, flexing that unknown muscle was automatic once the strike landed. He arches his back and tenses slightly all over in an attempt to push more venom out although he's not sure it works that way. It certainly feels like that's how it works, and as he stands in a pseudo full body flex, a stream of clear fluid empties into the beaker.]
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