Claire was... Scared. She'd not talked to Reggie since yesterday, not since things had gone from "Ha ha let's contact this out-of-town god for help with our science fair project", to Claire, in a cave, with her best friend since pre-school wearing a Divine artifact, gazing into the eyes of a Lampade. That was real. That wasn't just her and Reggie playing with toys to make some science project, that was- Pando dew and *gods* know what sort of science, twisted into something that could do the impossible.
And that was their science fair project. For all the teachers to see. And- And they'd cheated! With god magic! But she couldn't say anything about it without just making it worse, so she just got her fur settles down and got her backpack on. She had plenty of notes to read out on how the, "originator", as Reggie called it, worked- She still didn't get it. But she got on the bus, and sat by her friend. Reggie looked at her, and gestured to the wristwatch. "We are gonna knock this out of the WORLD." He said, giggling to himself. He was still playing with it, listening to the beeps and whirrs and *noises* of it, all through the bus ride. Eventually, Claire had enough. "I- I know what you said yesterday, but is this a good idea?" She asked, looking at Reggie.
Reggie looked at her like she stopped being a Nekomata and started being an Imp. "Dude! It's gonna be fine. I tested it a ton last night, it's fun being an Imp. This could help like, so many people! Just walk a mile in someone else's shoes! Or, another origins shoes I guess? It'd mean you could just *try out* being a different origin. It could help- Just- ***SO MANY PEOPLE!***" He shouted this out to the entirety of the skybus, loud enough that the Draconis flying it stuck his head in the window. "If it's loud enough for me to hear over the wind, it's loud enough to bother the other kids." He said, earning a sheepish 'Sorry' from Reggie before getting back to flying.
She sighed. "I- Look, I get that? But you're 12 and I'm 13. There's like, no way we can actually change the world with this. You're gonna have to give it to some god or something- Maybe Kaynan will ask for it back, even." She said, looking around nervously. Kaynan could probably do that. Definitely do it, even, he'd just wriggle one weird wriggly arm in and snatch it right from Reggie and they'd get an F in living and get thrown to the zombies and the spiders and the endermen and- "Ugh! It just feels bad." She said.
Reggie shook his head. "It's FIIIINE, Claire, fine- It was your idea! Why are you being all wonky about it?"
They were at the science fair by then, looking at the various booths and stands. There was... So much going on. One kid had a magic baking soda volcano, another had a pet robot dog thing, a third had like five cluckshrooms in different hats- There were wizzing devices and whirling contraptions and- Reggie leaned on her. "Too much noise?"
Her ears flicked. "Mhm." She grabbed onto his arm as they slowly marched to their designated booth. Reggie slowly pulled out a pair of headphones, and passed them over. The clamor of the room was a nice low mumble now, and her tension went away. "Right, okay, my brain isn't eeping at me anymore. Let's rehearse, get ready to show it off."
And so they rehearsed, miming various origins, ignoring the confused looks from others. They had props, they had papers and papers of explanation, and Reggie even had a list of ways it could help the world. It was around through the fifth time going over it all (and Reggies third weird human soda, which left him all Buzzing And Shaking for some reason), and she looked over the crowd. Argon Rattlescale finally arrived. He had a clipboard, and slowly looked over the papers written on their post-it board.
"Originator... Change the world... Change into different... Origins? Rolander, DuClaire, you're... Aware that medical transorigination is already a thing? And, this... it's an interesting exploration of this hypothetical device, but also such a thing could never exist. I'm willing to give points for creativity, mind, hypotheticals like this are rare for this fair." He said, looking the entire exhibit over.
Reggie shook his head. "Not possible you say? I've got it right here!" He said, raising the wristwatch to the sky, and wiggling it around. Claire clapped. "It's real, it's a working model, Reggie made it himself!" She said, looking up at it.
Rattlescale shook his head. "... I'm tempted to not even let you demonstrate that, if that actually works then I can't think of any ethical way for it to."
Reggie grumbled a bit. "See what you thinky, It's gonna be great! Just watch, name an origin, any origin!" He called out, as Claire nodded and jumped on stage, waggling signage in Reggies direction with catlike grace.
"Anything, come on, we're just lil guys, come ooooon!" She called out, to an increasingly impatient Rattlescale. He huffed. "Alright, if you're certain about this... Imp."
Reggie nodded. And he pushed the button. There was a flash of amber- Everyone took cover, the entire Gymnasium-turned-expo, as Reggie shrunk down and down, spine aching as it extends to a tail, skeleton throbbing as he shrinks down teenier and tinier until he was left as a barely-half-a-block-tall-imp. "Tadaa!" He said, jumping around before leaping onto Claires shoulder. "Told ya so!" He yelled, before changing back.
Rattlescale was staring, awed. "... Can you do more than one? How quickly can you change?"
Reggie obliged. "Well, my good sir, simply observe!" He changed. His skin extruded iron and his tendons twisted to cable, and he was a construct. His back split to wings and his hands and feet hardened. Tengu. His skin turned to shell, and his hands to claws. Karkinos. And all in seconds, painful painful seconds. But once the ache was over, and he was human, he turned to professor Rattlescale. "Well? Huh?" He asked, smirking. A+ for sure.
Rattlescale rumbled a bit. "How did you make it?" He asked, finger reaching out just a bit.
Reggie flinched back, ever so slightly. "We were out of ideas, my notebook in a creek, so we took a shot and said our prayers. Buuut, I got this from it!" He said, playing with the watch some more.
"That's... Holy then? You shouldn't have that. It's a good science fair project but it's a bit, dangerous, for children."
Reggie blanched. "I, invented it, my guy. I know how to use it, how not to use it. I'm not gonna go robbing banks with it."
Rattlescale sighed. "That's, good that you have such a head on your shoulders, but I still don't think it's a good idea to let twelve year olds have divine technology."
Reggie scowled. "I- I prayed for this, I was granted the idea! Literally a god says for me to have it!"
Rattlescale scowled back. "I think any other divine is going to have issue with that!" He said, reaching for the watch. "Just, hand it over. We can sort this mess out, *later.*"
Reggie leaped back, and Claire joined the scowling contest. "Dude you said for us to try! We spent- All night, all of this morning, doing nothing but work on this!" She said, growling a bit.
Rattlescale just gave a stern look. "I will write you up for this, this is serious."
Reggie stood his ground. "Then- Do it! Call in the vice principal! I am NOT handing over the watch."
Rattlescale left, and Reggie sat on the chair. Claire looked at him. "... Are you- Are you actually in trouble?" She asked, and he groaned, fitting his face to his hands. "I don't- I don't know. I was so PROUD of this and now they're going to- I dunno, call my parents?" He groaned. "They won't understand, Claire! They'll take the Originator and kill it and DISSECT it and, ugh..."
Claire looked at him. "Kill it?"
"It's got Pando dew and weird plants in it, It feels alive at least."
Claire didn't know how to respond to that. "Maybe you should just give it over? This sounds freaky."
He almost startles at the idea. "Claire- No! A literal god of knowledge said to make it! It's like, my duty and stuff!"
Claire sighed. "That's not really how it works? If you insist, I don't think they... Can just, take it? You made it, it's yours."
He nodded, and nodded. "Yeah, just, just mine. Juuuust mine."
Claire leaned down against him. "Now, cool it, guy! Someone had too much human soda."
But then the doors actually did open, Vice Principal Kobbsley on Rattlescales head. "Reggie Rolander and Claire DuClaire to the front, please! I reiterate, Reggie Rolander and Claire DuClaire to the front!" The imp yelled out. "Oohhhhh cungadero..." The two kids said in unison.
