<div></div><br> <br>A warm, though milder than the day before, spring day in the city of Firmament greets Selena on her way into the cooled castle. She is ushered along by two severe looking guards that invite her to a small, largely unadorned, room with a bench and a bare slab of a table.<br> <br>Selena doesn't seem to be too fussed by the orderly procedure - Though she's clearly not a frequenter of the more 'noble' end of town she's certainly not unwilling to follow along. The small room prompts a slight look of confusion, though ultimately she steps through and waits by the door, idly fidgeting for one reason or another as she waits - anticipation or otherwise.<br> <br>The door closes, only opened about five minutes of silence later by the creator doctor. She looks over her would-be patient, "A canine," she remarks, "Your partner said you were having difficulties in reproduction." She pats the table in the same fashion one would summon their family pet to hop up.<br> <br>Selena raises an eyebrow, looking back to the doctor. "We have met before - several times, actually." She notes - "And I'm not sure I'd call Flora a partner; more of a friend." Sure enough, though, she does sit herself up on the table for the doctor. "I don't suppose you ever finished the research you mentioned when Flora demonstrated her camera?"<br> <br>"I could very well die without it being complete," she says with a true hint of passion in her voice, a rare thing for her, "The more I see, the more questions are raised. Now then, describe your problem."<br> <br>Selena chuckles quietly, a smile crossing her muzzle as the doctor takes an emotional tone at all. "Well, I wish you the best of luck with your next step. As for problems, how should I put this..?" She muses, taking a few moments to consider. "Well, when I was much younger a few physicians my parents had taken me to see adamantly asserted I wouldn't be able to have children. At the time I didn't understand what made them say that and I was too young to remember much. As far as I'm aware I'm normal - well, as normal as a 'soulless' or 'gifted' can be, but I've never had as much of a libido as most of the other beings I've met. That and about half a year ago, I had a run in with a dark magician that cast a death curse on me with no obvious outward effect. I know the spell causes a being to rot, so I have a feeling that may have had some kind of impact on me as well." She coughs quietly. "I haven't noticed a lot of other differences, though. It might just be a misdiagnosis and streak of bad - or good - luck, depending on how you look at it."<br> <br>The doctor gives a soft 'hmm', "You understand, I am not your original creator, nor do I have the designs they used, nor can I even fathom the full nature of how your people have changed over generations of natural selection. I will examine for any obvious physical issues or active MATHEMAGIC." She frowns a bit when her words are so clearly overwritten by her translating device, but she gets right to it, drawing an egg like device and nudging Selena to lay back.<br> <br>Selena nods. "I'm aware, Doctor. But you did say when you landed that I was an 'Early model UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN make'. I still have no idea what you meant by that - I was hoping you could shed a little light on the subject while I'm here?" She asks, ling back as she's eased back against the table, looking over at the egg interestedly - though ultimately, she doesn't keep her eyes too fixed on it - not much to be told from the outward appearance of the device.<br> <br>"I know Flora asked you about the spell I found. I'd like to give you my thanks for letting me know what it did - it didn't help too much with transcribing it into three dimensions so I could prove it worked, but it did make me feel a little better about testing it. Now there's more research to be done as well."<br> <br>An image appears to float before the doctor's eyes, tiny and backwards. Clearly it is maent for her eyes alone. Armed with it, she begins to sweep the egg over her patient's belly, then lower and  higher again as it gives soft chimes at particular points, "You are not the first, and very far from the last time we have created things. Most live very short, but very specific lives doing precisely what they were designed to do."<br> <br>Selena manages a sort of nod from the table. "I'm not surprised, to be honest - though I pity them if theycan't live for anything other than a job... How do you justify that? They're living creatures too. But I digress, and that still doesn't tell me what you meant by the two untranslatable words. I think a priest that was there said something about the first of them being related to the word for child, but..." She shrugs. "Either way. Flora mentioned you took some blood from her when she came to visit as well. I thought I may as well offer as a point of comparison if you'd like, since if I'm here it's probably not too inconvenient."<br> <br>She shakes her head, "You speak to the wrong person. I am a scholar. I do not create or decide that." She squeezes the egg and it becomes a long pointed device, "Since you are volunteering." A pinch, and new figures dance before the doctor's eyes. "You are children, in many meanings of the word, including several troubling ones."<br> <br>Selena coughs. "Sinclair, even if you are a scholar, I know you have an opinion about these things. It mightn't be your place to decide and it mightn't be mine to ask, but you have to have thought about it at some point in time." She replies, evidently still quite curious about the doctor's opinion on the matter.<br> <br>"'Several troubling ones'? Well, if you're implying that Lidiya - the furless jackal you saw a long time ago when you were taking a look at our population - was a little too close to a creator for your tastes..." she notes, shaking her head. "I'm not sure if you're implying that somewhere along the line a creator had children with a being or if there's something else entirely at work there. I'm curious about... Us. Who or what beings are in your eyes. From day one you seemed confused about our existence in the first place."<br> <br>"And why would I not be?" she asks, "The law says you should not have been made, but you have been. KNOWLEDGE as we knew it said you would die out within a generation, three with wild optimism. You were the target of a LIVING kill switch by a civilization several magnitudes greater in progress, and yet you are alive. You are each a walking miracle, if I were given to religion." Creator religions are the things of legend, each having their own gods and patrons and proscribing them with unnatural abilities in spite of all logic. Thank goodness for the creator saint church, keeping it all clean.<br> <br>Selena laughs quietly, shaking her head. "Are you implying that no creator swindles, lies or cheats?" She jabs. "Promise doesn't have anywhere near the technology you do, that's true. What makes you assume we'd die out? I don't know how we were created exactly, but you mentioned that we had far more creator 'essence' in us than was legal, too..." She notes, putting a hand to her forehead. "Well, if you're telling me Shadows really were put on Promise to wipe us out I have to wonder if they pose a threat to you as well." The wolfess pauses for a few moments. "I don't know what to assume from that. Even I know that a skrith and a squirkik can't interbreed, but the implications of being that similar to creators... Well, I suppose the saying goes, 'when you learn from the best'...<br> <br>"You realize, they will be sending the..." she pauses, "Math that will require my translator to repeat everything I say and hear back to our authorities, so what I say today may be the last I can speak on the subject." She forces the egg back into egg shape and slips it away, "Near as I have been able to determine, you were not custom made. Most things we create, we make from very simple building blocks. Do you have those? A children's game. You can make many things, but they are still just blocks, and have limits."<br> <br>Selena nods, looking a little disappointed at that comment. "That is unfortunate. I suppose that you're going to be subjected to the same laws that were mentioned as well. I suppose that's understandable, but a bit of a shame." The wolfess looks back up at the doctor for a moment. "Of course. Though the more complex the blocks get, the more things you can do with them. I'd consider likening it to kevinscoping at least in that regard. But you implied in past that if we were to break a creator down into blocks and reassemble them into a being, there's some level of those creator blocks that would normally be used. If we're far more similar to you than the other creations you've made, then it stands to reason that we'd be more similar to creators than whatever other 'blocks' you mixed in. And from what you're implying, yours are far more resilient than whatever you mixed them with. And I suppose that your rules, regulations, laws and impersonal ethics would prevent you from shedding a little light on what other meanings of 'children' you were hinting at before as well, hmm?"<br> <br>She nods lightly, "You are clever. I would watch that around your new evaluator, or you may worry him. Our 'blocks' were created by chance and refinement by fire, as it were. Those that survived carried the best 'blocks' with them, while those with poor 'blocks' died or simply never got a chance to pass them forward. Repeat this for millions of years and it is how non-created life is forged. The life we create, usually, is made of simpler blocks that we fashioned ourselves. They do not have the advantage of millions of years in testing. Imagine constructing an entire house out of children's blocks. The little defects that are endearing in a toy become life threatening and wildly insufficient. Every tiny defect magnifies. Do you understand?"<br> <br>Selena coughs. quietly. "I appreciate the tip, Doctor. And yes, I do - I've seen some nasty accidents in my own classroom when a being tries to cast a spell from a flawed equation. It's not a perfect analogy, but whenever something important is changed, the effects are always noticable." She replies with an intrigued nod. "One thing that I never really understood is why parents like mine never have children that are 'half and half', though. Mom was a fox, and... Well. I suppose you can tell which of my parents I took after."<br> <br>After a stretch, she moves to sit up again. "The changes are just too much to be from one block, unless they're like a coat of paint. But that's probably stretching for answers. Do you have any recommendations, though? Is there nothing wrong with me at all, or..?" she asks tentatively.<br> <br>"You are closer than you would think," she advises, "There are certain markers I have isolated, blocks, if you will, that appear entirely divorced from your apparent species. Aside from the obvious physical features, you are largely identical on the inside." A sudden 'ding' emits from her pocket and she twitches her fingers oddly, manipulating the machine spirits that seem to dwell around her at all times. "The MATH you feared has already had its effect and you appear to have healed with only minor scarring. That will reduce your chances, but not eliminate them. I couldn't say for certain, but some of these other numbers seem incorrect. You appear healthy, overall. I will require further study of how you are all supposed to look before I can render safe judgement."<br> <br>Selena nods back to the doctor again with a respectful smile. "Well, you mentioned we had a lot of creator 'blocks' in us. You gave away the similarity already, but I'd have thought appearance took up more of those 'blocks'... She replies thoughtfully. "Incorrect? Well, I doubt I can offer any insight. You probably know I'm curious about a lot of these thigns by now, but I suppose you won't be able to offer me answers if I asked you at a later date what you had meant." The wolfess chuckles wryly, features softening a little. "Thank you, though. Even my own work never becomes relevant to you, knowing that even you don't know everything gives me some hope that I might be able to turn up something that even you haven't some day. Probably not, but I can dream - either way, I have a feeling that revealing that some of your spells worked in three dimensions is going to be something I'll be remembered for - I hope."<br> <br>"Nature is very prudent at times," she says wistfully, "Allow me to give an example. On Earth, the difference between the blocks of a dog and a creator is only 20%, 10% with cats. Most of the blocks define how to live, and we all, at least earth children as we are, live and grow the same basic way. It works, why change it, and so it hasn't changed. Of course, the creatures native to this world are a different situation entirely." Ah darn, she's in lecture mode, probably didn't hear a thing.<br> <br>Selena smiles, not seeming to mind the creator lecturing her - more likely appreciating it despite the significant chance she hasn't been heard. "That would probably make sense if we knew more about those 'blocks' you mentioned, no doubt. At some point I could try to pick up some native animals for you to research, but they're far from domesticated. Life is a fascinating thing, and to think how little we know about it... It's humbling, in a way."<br> <br>She considers a moment, then suggests, "Let us return to the notion of the children's block. Let us imagine a block labeled 'A' 'B' and 'C'. Looking at them they are very different. Even a toddler could point one out from the other, could they not?"<br> <br>Selena nods. "Of course. What the letter represents might be completely unknown, but their appearance would be different enough to distinguish them." She replies, leaning forwards a little. "Please, go on?"<br> <br>"Precisely, but that is just a thin layer of ink. It is barely even a hint of the true nature of the block, which is wood, simple wood all the way through, almost entirely identical." Lesson time appears to be over as she is already turning for the door without a goodbye.<br> <br>Selena chuckles, shaking her head a little as the creator departs as quickly as she entered, waving politely as she moves to the exit as well. "Thank you for your time, Sinclair. It's been enlightening." she calls after the woman before turning back to the guards that had escorted her in. "Well, I suppose that concludes my business here." She murmurs to nobody in particular, looking at one of the expectantly.