Hello, friends. This is simply a sample of what I'm working on. This might just be my biggest project yet and I'm as scared as I am excited, so if you're expecting hasty updates, I suggest you leave this story right now. I want to finish a number of chapters so I can post them in bulk, but I also love making people wait. Not by choice, because I write when I can, but it's fun to tease you guys...
"Day eight. Bubblegum reacts when her name is spoken. She just turned her head and… What's this? She smiled! That's the first sign of emotion she has exhibited! Experiment number six two six is the only one to do this. She has exceeded all expec-"
The tape recorder clicked. The tape had come to its end, and the professor sighed. He had so much more to say. He was exhilarated, completely over the moon, because he did more than create an endless supply of gum that never lost its flavour; he created something living. She was alive. Originally a formless blob, now taking shape, that of a small girl, that of a living, breathing thing. Her cracked skin had yet to cover her pink gummy body, but the flesh started to show on day one and was spreading fast. She grew arms on day three, legs on day four, a face with eyes, a nose and a mouth on day six. Each day, she became more defined. Her skin had almost reached her elbows and knees. It was a pale violet, a sky at dusk.
Professor Dexter couldn't determine the cause of such development, but he wasn't complaining. It was always his dream to bring something to life and now he had accomplished it. Be it divine intervention, a scientific blunder, or poisonous radiation, he wasn't about to risk destroying his first living creation to find out.
The cramped room was stacked with textbooks, the desks covered with paper and flasks and beakers of stale liquids long forgotten since Bubblegum started to change shape. It was a mess and wasn't easy to come across a blank sheet of paper, but Dexter managed to find one – a bill yet to be paid – and he flipped it to scribble on the back. He had to buy more tapes later that day. As a lecturer, he made enough money to feed his science addiction, but he was more passionate about teaching than experimenting (even though he did it a lot), as he had never initially produced the results he'd wanted, usually because of an explosion that set him back financially, but with this, he had finally made something worthwhile.
Despite the hundreds of previous failures and partial successes, Dexter never gave up.
"Oh, Bubblegum, you truly are my greatest creation," he told the smiling child-like creature. It continued to beam, not showing any teeth, as he believed they had yet to form. She was only capable of making small noises, usually of protest when he tried to cut a piece of her skin off to examine. Somehow, the gummy parts of her were able to be removed without discomfort, but if he sliced an area with skin, she'd moan. She felt pain, but couldn't recoil, as she was unable to move.
Dexter continued scribbling down the things he'd later quote to his recorder and didn't notice that Bubblegum's mouth was quivering; her lips were parting.
"Daddy," she chirped.
The professor dropped his pen and his jaw as his head shot up. He gawked at Bubblegum. She had teeth, a tongue, a voice. Experiment six hundred and twenty six could speak.
Dexter rushed over to the chair he had her seated on and picked her up, swinging her around joyously. So much was happening all in one day that he was afraid he'd forget to document it, but he didn't stop to write this down. He held the little girl in his arms instead. He was almost in tears.
"I'm so proud of you. If only Bonnibel could see you," he whispered, hugging Bubblegum. It felt almost as if she had bones now, and Dexter just didn't have the heart to dissect her to better understand what was going on inside of her.
He clutched her tighter.
"Bonnibel…"
"Professor Bubblegum, can I have an extension for our assignment?"
Bubblegum, thinking that the lecture hall was empty, looked up in surprise.
"For what reason, Joshua?"
"Well, my plants haven't fully digested what I fed them. I wouldn't be able to know the full effects if I recorded everything too soon. I only need two more days," he said. Joshua was also in one of her workshop classes, where they went over the unit in further detail.
"Alright, I'll give you an extension," she said, standing and gathering her scattered notes. Joshua clumsily grabbed for the scraps of paper closest to him and handed them to her. She thanked him and then stacked them into a folder – one of the three she carried in with her – and then packed away the holographic projector. Joshua remained in front of the podium.
Bubblegum glanced at him, somewhat uncomfortably. She may be his professor, but they were also the same age. It led to either resentment from older students, or… crushes, in this case.
"Enjoy your afternoon." Hint.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Right. I'll see you soon, PB. Thanks for the extension," he stumbled.
Bubblegum smiled and nodded, ignoring the blush on her student's face as he quickly left the theatre. It had been an exhausting week for the professor, as her father had been more rowdy than usual and required her constant attention. He still wanted to conduct experiments, no matter how many times he almost burnt his hands off with acid or accidentally fell asleep while his flasks boiled over and nearly morphed into a flesh-eating virus.
The town had endured many of Dexter's mistakes with a graciousness Bubblegum believed he didn't always deserve, but was thankful for. They lived among monsters in a place called Blade. It was on the border of the Grass Lands. Trolls, ogres, fairies, goblins, wizards, werewolves, even beings that were once inanimate objects, all lived there. It was very accommodating and no one discriminated against another species, especially Bubblegum, the only creature made of candy, with her father, one of the last humans in Ooo. They were both rare delicacies, but they were also vastly respected by the townsfolk.
Dexter was once the top scientist. He came up with all kinds of useful inventions after Bubblegum developed a brain, a conscience, a personality, and blossomed into a young woman. Her body structure was human-like, though her life expectancy was unknown, as was her intellectual capacity. Dexter taught Bubblegum all he knew, and soon, she came to know more than him in just eighteen short years. She was the greatest scientific mind the town had ever seen and she made sure to contribute the best she could, what with her father's deteriorating health.
Bubblegum didn't like to admit it, but her father was going mad. He used to always accept his failures, which outnumbered the successes by far, but now he dubbed everything a success. His burnt toast, so black that it was like chewing a slab of charcoal, was a success. Cutting his finger while attempting to chop vegetables for dinner without Bubblegum's knowledge was a success. Sometimes he wasn't even doing anything other than snoozing in his old recliner and Bubblegum would be on the couch knitting or reviewing her students' reports and he would wake up, jump to his feet and shout, "Another success!" Then he'd collapse back into his chair and go to sleep again.
Dexter was dying and it only got harder to deal with. His delirium was difficult to keep in check, yes, but Bubblegum loved her father and would stay with him until he was at peace. His death was inevitable, like any other. The earth was a hostile environment now and few humans survived the Mushroom War.
Stories of the world before the war were passed down from father and mother to son and daughter until they reached Dexter. Sadly, he was unable to produce a biological offspring with his late wife, but he had Bubblegum to share his history with. She had always been fond of his stories.
"Bonnie Bear," he croaked one day from his chair. Bubblegum, the tip of her pen between her pale lips, glanced at the wrinkled prune sprawled out in his throne.
"Yes, Father?" she replied absently, studying the paper on her lap. She was in charge of a number of classes, all science-based. Between marking assessments and attempting to stay ahead with her readings so as not to fall behind on the content she was to teach, Bubblegum didn't have much time to humour Dexter's upsetting and delusional rambles.
She gave into his loveably pathetic cry for attention this time and stopped working to meet his withered gaze. She wasn't expecting him to be awake, wide-eyed and alert.
"I've been dreaming about a little candy man. He is a helper, like an elf used to be back when Santa was more than a memory. He ceased to exist, but his legacy lived on long before the Great War. What Santa was to an elf is what you are to this candy man. He will be your helper in Christmas colours, because you will become a legacy; the Cosmic Owl told me so."
"Dad, you saw the owl?" Bubblegum asked, now interested and a tad worried. "You didn't see how you'll die, did you?"
"No point, darling. I already know how and where I'll die. The owl doesn't need to show me something that obvious."
Bubblegum opened her mouth to further question Dexter's dream, but his head lolled to the side and a string of drool sailed down his chin.
He was asleep.
"It was sweat!" Dexter announced as he sprung awake. Bubblegum was placing his breakfast on the nightstand and she hardly reacted to his sudden outburst. She was used to them at this point.
"Good morning, Dad."
"Bonnibel, sweat!" he cried.
"Do you need a towel?"
"No, no, my sweat is in you! That's got to be it, that's why you took the human shape, have my DNA. I was sweating as I made you."
"I know. You figured that out after you could afford the DNA tests, and I was just as thrilled by it as I am now," Bubblegum said irritably, cutting Dexter's toast into strips.
"You were able to grow back the missing gum because of stem cells. They aren't cheap, darling. You're an expensive treasure. Sit with me." He patted the spot by his knees on his bed.
The gaps in his memory were getting bigger. This was the fifth time he'd talked about the stem cells he'd used to mould her and it still hurt Bubblegum with each mention. The fact that she was never meant to become more than a service product was constantly being shoved in her face. It made her bitter to think that even today she was still inclined to help people, to sacrifice her happiness to put theirs first, just like she would have endlessly had to sacrifice pieces of herself if she had not evolved.
She sat by her father and he cupped her hands between his. His fingers were rough and dry, like sandpaper. He stared at her, wearing a toothless grin.
"You look so much like my sister. You have her heart, I know it. And your mother, well, she would've loved you so much. She always said if we had a child together, she hoped they'd have my eyes. Well Bon, good news: blue as the sky!"
Bubblegum wasn't sure if Dexter was speaking to her or an imaginary image of his wife.
Interested?