Issue 1 Downtime

Will, in her space suit, opened the door and strode in, dramatically, placing her hands on her hips and striking a pose.

"I... what?" Sara asks, blinking at Space-Suit Will.

"Like it? It's the latest fashion in 2042 or whatever."

"That's not fashion. That's just... distracting."

"Actually, it's an anti-distraction technique whipped up by our very own Dr. Bowen," she smiled.

"Sorry, but that's just not working then. At least not for the people around you..." she smiles back.

"Well, maybe it's just not FOR you, then," she teased, trying to stick out her tongue--only to have t bump up against the faceplate of the helmet.

"No, I think it's very much for me from the looks of it." she chuckles.

"Cheeky," she grinned, doing one more twirl, slower this time.

"You're the one in a skin-tight suit."

A short pause.

"Why are you in a skin-tight suit anyway?"

"It's kinda a makeshift solution. Dr. Bowen says it will keep me in my shape without having to find more liquid nitrogen on a regular basis, until I get to the point where I can focus on it myself.

Basically, it's a big person-shaped mold."

"Oh! That's good. I was wondering how long you'd be able to hold on to the whole 'frozen' thing."

"It's hard, because, hey, things don't wanna be frozen!

And, as there's not a walk in freezer or somewhere I can hang right now, or a collection of various shaped containers that were convenient, this was the best solution.

He said Bobby had the same problem when he first manifested."

"Well you managed to stay frozen surprisingly long, but this seems much more convenient, yes." she smiles.

"That's Will-Power," she grinned, winking.

"It's...Dr. Bowen's theory is I ended up...skipping some steps."

"Well I dunno what steps there are, but it seems like it alright. Hell you skipped to something your older self thinks is impossible."

"I have several suggestions what older me can do, quite frankly, and almost all of them involve removing his own spine."

"He... didn't really take this future too well, no..."

"Well, honestly? Screw him. The world sucks, there's no need to be a dick about it."

"Yeah... It's just awful that... well... that you turned into him, you know? I mean, can't really blame it on anything but this world, because you're just not like that."

"And I don't wanna be like that. I'm gonna do everything I can to kinda separate myself from him. He's a huge...well, let's just say what comes out of his mouth has disturbing similarities to what comes out of OTHER orifices.

Might even change my codename to get away from him."

"I always thought Gwion worked pretty well, but I guess that makes sense." she nods.

"Well, Gwion becomes Taliesin, and you don't wanna be married to someone like HIM, right?" she smiled.

"Not really, no..."

"Thanks for turning him down, by the way. I was...well, I was more or less aware of what was going on, on some level."

"Yeah well it was a retarded idea anyway and... he was kinda creepy about the whole thing even without the pretense of helping you."

"Yeah.

Still, if Kurt Wagner ever comes along and suggests it, you have my permission to go along," she teased.

"Yeah, you wish!" she laughs.

Again, a try to stick the tongue out, and AGAIN a fail.

"Geez," she laughed, unfastening the faceplate for a moment to stick her tongue out.

"Anyway, yeah. No more Gwion, I'm thinking. Maybe something that reflects the steps..."

She chuckles at Will accidentally licking the faceplate. Again.

"You mean the steps you skipped?"

"Well, yeah.

Dr. Bowen's theory is something like this:

I started off as a normal dude, right? Then I became a normal dude who could do minor shifting tricks, like, changing hair color. Then I transitioned into a normal dude who could do minor shifting tricks who also had a clay form. Then I basically became a dude made out of clay.

Now, the theory is I've kinda jumped to 'clay shaped like a dude', skipping over any gradual transition that may have occurred.

Does that make....any sense to you?" she asked.

"...kinda, I guess? I still think you're just you, but I see what you mean."

"Well, I'm me in a whole McManus-mental-state way, but it's the physical stuff, right?

Still ME, just, like, slightly different. Like, it would have been a normal part of aging, but Nina screwed it up."

"I don't know. It seems more like something you didn't know about yourself yet. I mean, otherwise older you probably would have gotten to that point, right?"

"The theory Dr. Bowen has is that he eased into it--like you grow taller inch by inch, not shooting up half a foot overnight."

"But then you could still reach the top shelf. But Professor Bowen knows more about this than me. I just think it's something you just weren't aware of and not some... physical development. I mean... it is, but because you change yourself all the time. It's like you can literally be what you think you are, you know?"

"It is possible, of course, that Taliesin is just a stick in the mud and uncreative.

It's hard to get ANY sense of it without, like, a lab."

"Well there's one here, but... kinda full of dust."

"Yeah...not sure we should go pokin' around other people's stuff, anyway.

Anyway, I was thinking, you know, some kind of name to do with the actual clay cells. Like....I dunno...modello....no, that's no good..."

"Somatic? I dunno... picking names is hard."