"Legs?"

"Hmm. Two."

"Arms?"

"I think two for now, you can always change it later, right?"

"Sure. Same as with the legs."

"OK."

"Tail?"

"Yes."

"I know that, I wasn't asking about having one, I was asking about any modifications to it."

"Such as?"

"Hey, you can't go wrong with a thagomizer."

"Not helping, Taylor."

"Why not? You could do it with the same mechanism that you use for making the blades and whatnot."

"That's just..."

"...Just?"

"A really cool idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're not quite as crazy as she is."

"Hey! I'm at least as crazy as she is! Just differently crazy, she's more weapons-orientated than I am."

"Says the one who came up with a biological explosive supersonic dart launcher built into her arms?"

"I definitely want that."

"Of course, who wouldn't?"

"Back to the tail. We can add the thagomizer-maker, that's easy enough, and now I want one as well. Same length?"

"Hmm. How tall will I be? I'm taller than you are at the moment."

"I can make it any size you want, but much bigger than Ianthe and you'll have trouble with human-scale things, and there's a lower limit before it's too small for you to fit. Unless you want me to permanently modify your human body. I can do that if you want, make you like Saurial."

"No, I don't want that. I like being human. But I also like being a seven foot plus lizard."

"Who wouldn't?"

"Sane people?"

"Don't know any, if you find one, grab him and we can ask. Then sell him for future research, a real one would be worth a fortune, just from the rarity value."

"True."

"Right, back to size."

"May as well be the same size as Ianthe, then. I'm used to it now and constantly changing would be weird, especially if I learn the Family style as well."

"Which you should."

"Which I should. I'd think that the different body sizes and shapes would cause all sorts of problems with muscle memory."

"I haven't noticed much trouble."

"You're half-demon, and also refer to my previous answer of craziness. I am neither any part demon, or quite as weird as you are."

"Don't put yourself down, you're still very weird."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Hey, we could do something completely different and get rid of the legs completely. Go for a snake based design, like this."

"Shit. That's… different."

"A naga, sort of. I like it. But it's sort of a big leap from the current theme."

"Good for getting into tight spaces, though."

"That could be worth considering… Ha, reserve that for Coil. The fucker would shit a brick if he saw you come out of the ventilation system like that."

"Hee hee hee."

"Top bit's too human though."

"How about this?"

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"GAAHHH!"

"Oh, hell, she's gone again. Why does she keep doing that?"

"If you have to ask you'll never understand."

"Well, wake her up again, we were right in the middle of this."

"She's right, you really are weird sometimes."

"My cousin the bioshaper would never say such a thing!"

"Twit. OK, she's coming round. We should probably just come up with a document with tick boxes for all this later, if we add other people, it'll be quicker. You OK?"

"More or less. Please don't do things like that, you give my power a migraine."

"I thought you said you weren't getting Thinker headaches since the mods?"

"You're enough to give Scion headaches and make him want to hide under the bedclothes. Warn a girl when you're going to become an Elder God again, will you? I can close my eyes first."

"It wasn't that bad."

"NO! Do not show me again, once was enough. And stop grinning like that, it's unnatural, no one should be able to have their mouth go around past their ears."

"Sorry."

"Sure you were."

"She's being nasty to me again."

"You deserve it. Where were we?

"Tail."

"Oh, right. OK, same as yours, the fins and everything, add the thagomizer bits, maybe make it a little longer? Just to differentiate Ianthe from… Huh, still can't think of a name. Me, anyway."

"All right. Now, eye color. I personally think we want to stick with green for the moment. All Taylor's forms have that eerie yellow-orange, which is a good Family indicator. Our side of the family have green. When we come up with something else, we can use a different color for the other clan, it seems to fit the theme."

"Fine by me, I like green eyes."

"You have green eyes."

"Which is why I like them."

"Fair enough."

"Does anyone else think that some people would find this entire conversation a bit odd?"

"Only people who aren't as cool as we are."

"Very true."

"Can I have that electric eel generator organ mod as well?"

"OK. Just through the hands?"

"For now. It'll be interesting to see how well it works. How much voltage will it produce?"

"Um… I think, based on what I've read about it and the much better efficiency that my redesigned electrocytes produce… Maybe around five thousand volts at a few amps or so? An electric eel, a really big one, can do about nine hundred or thereabouts, at up to around an amp. You'll be able to sustain it for quite a while as well, the fish can only do really short bursts because it takes a lot of energy. I've also added a sort of capacitor stack to it which will make it possible to produce a short, really high current discharge."

"Cool."

"And extremely lethal. It's DC which is much more dangerous. You'll have to be very careful if you use it, you could kill a normal human instantly."

"Ah, good point. Maybe I shouldn't..."

"The dart gun would do the same, from a couple of hundred yards at least, you just have to learn how to use it properly, same as with any weapon. You're already strong enough to just pull someone's head off which, oddly enough, would also be pretty lethal."

"Another good point. OK, shove that in as well, you'll have to teach me."

"No problem. I'll set it up so the default is just a disabling shock, it'll take deliberate effort to go past that."

"Do not accidentally zap my computers, I just got them."

"I'll be good."

"Now I'm worried, you've got that weird smug grin. Stop it."

"I was just thinking about shaking hands with dear mister Calvert, a proper politician's handshake, the free hand on his shoulder… I bet I could make him dance for me."

"You might get the chance. OK, I think that's about it. I've got some other ideas and I'm still working on the organic laser, but we can always retrofit later. Sure you don't want a tail in your human form? It's sort of cool."

"I'll pass for the moment."

"All right. Let me know if you change your mind. I have all sorts of ideas for other upgrades as well."

"Because you're MAD! HA HA HA HA!"

"Yeeesss. I'm not entirely sure which one of us is genuinely mad, to be honest."

"Can't be me, Mathter, I'm merely your thervant."

"Good Igor."

"Mathter is too kind."

"She is. OK, we can make some more parts now that's all settled, the spine and skull are done, let's do the pelvis next. I had a couple of ideas for minor mods that should make the muscle attachments more efficient, I want to test it on Lisa's one, then if it works as well as I'm hoping, we can modify Ianthe there the same."

"Does anyone else think it's weird the way she's been watching us? Like a curious cat. Why did you leave her active anyway?"

"I like her, she's cute."

"You would. I like her as well, but even so it's just the tiniest bit creepy."

"Leave my perversion of the natural order alone, she just wants to watch her sister being built. There, there, Ianthe, she didn't mean it."

"Now she's rubbing her head on your hand."

"She's learning certain new behavior patterns. Still only as smart as a good dog, but maybe one day I can figure out how to make one that's truly sentient."

"If the PRT ever finds out they'll lose their collective shit, you know."

"By then we'll have our underwater city of reptilian horror deep in the abyss, where the Family can live and warp the very fabric of the universe! Demon magic for all!"

"… I worry about you sometimes, Taylor, I really, really do."

"You started it, I seem to recall, with Über and Leet."

"It was funny when I said it. It's slightly more scary when you say it, especially looking like that."

"I told you I was working on tentacles."

"You did. Please put them away or I'll fall over again."

"Hey, that gives me an idea!"

"Oh, hell."

"Maybe, if we need to really sell the whole Mythos thing you seem to have run with, we could use a shoggoth or two?"

"Oh, for god's… Pick her up and put her in the chair, I think we're done with her input for now. She probably needs the rest anyway after running around most of the day trolling the shit out of Brockton."

"True. Right, she'll keep for now. Where were we, oh, yes, pelvis. OK, make it wider there, and then make a structure like this right there."

"Like this?"

"Perfect."

"It's your dad's birthday tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Yes. I've finished his coat. It's really nice."

"Should be, after all the build up. Think he'd be interested in the strength upgrades?"

"I can ask. He's a little worried about us, though."

"Danny's a good man, he'll get used to it. OK, now change the hip sockets like this..."