Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Travellers (Semi-Open RP between Tara and Catrin)

Catrin decided to get a little revenge for the airlock thing and turned to Tara. “Don't forget he now has a sexy male body,” she announced. Then she took a couple of steps away from them, a little gingerly, and tried standing on one leg, then the other, and keep balance. She did quite well.

If Tara has been human, she would have blushed crimson, as it was she looked away from the hologram and started to unconsciously play with her tail again, "W-well...um...yes...I suppose he does, but it's a...um... a hologram, an image so....um...its..." She trailed off with an embarrassed laugh.

The AI however, having got over its shock nanoseconds after Catrin had spoken, replied calmly, "The visual appeal of my holographic interface has no bearing whatsoever on anything."

Tara looked over at Catrin and smiled, "The whiskers and the tail will help you maintain your balance. Smell, sight, taste, balance and proprioception are all improved over your basic humanoid, reflexes, agility and suppleness are similarly improved."

"Although very loud noises will be very painful, as will sudden bright lights. You'll also be prone to chasing after random dots of light, getting tangled in yarn or chasing mice, as well as an irrational terror and hatred of most canine species." The AI said, the last sentence held a dry humour."

Tara gave him a slight glare, "Racist stereotypes propagated by ignorant humans and started by dogs!"

"Of course, Mistress." The AI said.

Catrin turned to the AI when he spoke, very much aware that he hadn't told Tara about the force fields now occupying his hologram, but in the end, decided not to push the matter. He had made a harmless joke, after all. It wasn't exactly fair to be holding a grudge against him. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and released it.

Instead of continuing, she sat down and closed her eyes, feeling the new muscle and bone structure, and the sensory organs. Interesting. But she was used to these things, and merely smiled when the AI was done speaking, then she opened her eyes, looked at Tara and gave her a predatory smile. “I never had basic humanoid reflexes.” With her bodily awareness and control much improved thanks to the previous few minutes, she jumped straight up right from the floor, did a somersault and landed back easily. She turned back to Tara. “But yes, the reflexes you mentioned seem to be even better. Although I haven't tried taste yet.” She turned to the AI. “And those things shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm partially immune to loud noises and bright lights due to previous overexposure.” She smirked. “I can't guarantee tolerance to canines, though.”

The AI nodded, "Then it appears that apart from needing to learn how to utilise body language correctly, there is little to your new body that you do not have prior experience of."

"I am sure that you'll get the hang of it in time." Tara said with a nod, "And we have plenty of time to teach you." She walked over to the food processor and tapped something, a section slid back and a crystal flute appeared from somewhere within the machine, she placed it into the glowing alcove above it and the flute filled with a deep red liquid; her favorite wine. She took the glass and sipped it, "Mm. Not quite s good as the real thing, bu close enough to be delicious."

Catrin smiled at the AI, careful not to show all the teeth. “Yes. I've never really tried a feline body, but I do have experience in shapeshifting and then getting used to the bodies. This is actually a rather minor sensory and body build difference to me.” She nodded to Tara gratefully and then went to sit with her, not clumsily, but not quite casually yet. She was especially conscious of her new tail.

She smiled at Tara when she commented on the wine. “How so? I thought this was an exact copy of the original?” She sat back in her recliner with a nostalgic expression. “You know, I think I had most fun turning into a huge dragon once.”

Tara shrugged, "It might be an exact copy, but... I know it's fake and it just has a slight... difference to it. Might just be my imagination." She laughed at that, then her eyes widened, "A dragon, really?" She smiled, "I haven't seen a dragon in... oh, centuries."

"The Dragons of Aerin are the only surviving Elder Race alongside the Terelains." The AI explained, "But they never really recovered from the Great Cataclysm. The species has been in a slow decline for tens of thousands of years. They are few now, and highly reclusive."

Tara had a sad expression on her face, "It will be a day of mourning throughout all the Kingdom when the last dragon breathes their last, for we will then be all that remains of the Elder Days of Aerin and the First and Second Eras."

Catrin nodded. "On most worlds, dragons have been dying out. I'm surprised some still exist here, in fact. Nevertheless, a species dying out always leaves a bitter aftertaste. Perpaps because it makes one feel lonely," she mused while being acutely aware of her face and ears having a life of their own for the moment. Her ears seemed to be moving to reflect her mood.

She laughed, recalling how Tara's eyes went wide moments ago. "Yes, a dragon. That was fun. Took several days to get it to the size I wanted, then I spent several weeks hunting and flying around. It was very... liberating," she smiled at the memory. "The only downside was having to eat a lot. Oh, and the wine - I think the problem might be that with normal wines, every bottle is a little different, whereas your machine always makes the exactly same batch of excellent wine. That might feel weird."

Tara looked thoughtful, "Huh, I never thought of it like that. You might be right."

"I could program the machine to vary the wine's composition slightly with each cycle, that way you might be able to simulate the difference between bottles of wine." The AI suggested.

"You'd have to be careful not to ruin the flavour." Tara said, "But I suppose it is worth a try."

"I'll dedicate a subroutine to the task." The AI replied.

Catrin smirked. "Well, that would certainly add an edge of potential surprise to your relaxing moments with wine. Maybe it would be a good idea to try out samples of the variations to find out what works and what doesn't."

She smiled at Tara. "Maybe we could even have a little party for the wine tasting and once we get sufficiently drunk, you could teach me some body language etiquette."

Tara giggled at the suggestion, "Maybe, but Terelains have a notorious resistance to alcohol. Just ask any alien whose dared to try and drink Osrian Shadowwater and got their heads blown off by the sheer potency of it." A wicked smile crossed her lips, "But a part sounds fun!"

"Hmm... Watching the drunken antics of you two girls is bound to be fun." The AI said dryly, "Just try not to throw up on anything."

Tara pulled her tongue out at the hologram, "I've never gotten that drunk! I am the epitome of lady-like decorum!" She gave him a playful glare, "If you weren't insubstantial I'd smack you for that!"

Catrin chuckled. "Well, that sounds good, because I had just started wondering how to get drunk with you - I have to drink tremendous amounts of alcohol to even start feeling tipsy. Osrian Shadowwater, hm? Can your food synthetiser make it?"

Catrin gave the AI a very dignified look. "I can metabolise almost anything. It shouldn't come to vomiting."

"The recipe is in there somewhere, though it's impossible to actually access in any way, since the methods behind making it are a closely guarded secret... but yes, the machine can make it." Tara said.

"I advise caution." The AI said, "Osrian Shadowwater is distilled from a plant only found in the shadow of the Renala mountains where they meet the shore of the Great Lake. It is the most potent alcholic drink produced in the entire Aera starsystem and, indeed, the entire Kingdom."

Tara walked over to the food processor and tapped a few keys. A small crystal tumbler came out of the machine and she put it into the slot, an inky purple-black liquid appeared inside it, "This." She said, "Is Osrian Shadowwater. Named because of where the plants it is distilled from grow, and for its colour." She handed Catrin the glass, "I don't dare attempt it."

"It is advised that you drink it in one go, and don't let it linger in your mouth." The AI said, "The variant we have access to it the weakest version we could find... but it is still strong enough that I once synthesized an entire batch to trick a warlord on a planet Tara was studying. He'd taken a... well, let's say a shine to her. She gave him a very large quantity of that drink and it killed him. Though his species didn't have a great tolerance for alcohol anyway."

Catrin noted that the AI had apparently decided to keep his newly acquired tangibility secret from Tara for now, and she simply nodded when he advised caution, then she sat straight and took the tumbler from Tara when it was handed to her. She took a good look at it and then she smelled it. She nearly flinched and looked at the AI a little suspiciously. "Don't let it linger, hm? Well... it does make sense. Hm. Does it happen to be halucinogenic, by any chance?"

"Not inherently." The AI said, "But it is very strong, so there's always the possibility."

"You... don't have to drink it." Tara said, "We could just go for a few bottles of wine."

"Well, if worst comes to worst, I can convert this room into an infirmary pretty quickly." The AI said with a grin directed at Catrin.

Thankfully, Catrin didn't tend to have hallucinations from alcohol, so she smiled at Tara, winked at the AI and drank the tumbler in one go.

It felt, interesting, partially like swallowing fire, but she had vast experience in keeping a straight face despite physical sensations, so while her digestive tract from her tounge to her stomach was burning, she gave her companions an impassive smile. "So, what does it usually do to first-time drinkers?" She felt her tongue being slightly numb while asking the question, but hopefully no-one noticed.

Both of them had expression of undisguised awe on their faces as she apparently felt nothing after drinking it, "W-well...it...they...they're usually unconscious by this point." Tara said.

"Indeed. Or at the very least retching and screaming about how much it burns." The AI said, "Your digestive tract must be one of the most resilient pieces of biology I have ever encountered."

Catrin's head started spinning a bit, so she leaned back into the recliner and grinned at the AI and Tara from there. "It's my perception of pain that is dumbed down. My head just started spinning a little, though. I think I'll close my eyes for a moment." She did, and it brought her attention back to her mouth and oesophagus. She sighed and let some healing energy pass through everything that burned, and it helped a little.

Tara laughed, "Well, we did warn you." She drank some more of her wine.

The hologram walked closer to Catrin, "Are you alright, Miss Catrin?"

Catrin had healed her digestive tract a bit, but the alcohol was starting to get into blood stream. She smiled when Tara laughed, and opened her eyes when the AI spoke to her, only to find the world rather out of focus. She wasn't even sure how far the AI's hologram was from her, and reached out to him.

The Hologram shook his head, "I believe that Miss Catrin is well and truly inebriated."

Tara walked over to Catrin and took her hand, a pulse of healing magic flowed into her body, in an attempt to alleviate the worst of her problems, "And now you see why I don't drink that stuff." She said with a smile, "When we get to the festival, try to kee away from the Shadowwater."