FIRST FOLLOW! Whoever you are, thank you so much! It means a lot to know at least someone out there thinks this is worth reading :)
Upon hearing Computer's words, Courage's eyes immediately widened, his mouth falling almost agape as though it was the most insane concept he had ever heard. That fear returned again, illogical as it was, mumbling incoherently and incessantly in the back of his mind about completely insane scenarios (even for Nowhere's standards), with the dog pushing it back as best he could. Computer did have a point that he'd had his body controlled before and been fine on the other side, but that was totally different! And Courage worded exactly that to the machine, his paws going to his sides as he gave Computer a disapproving head shake.
"That's a completely nuts idea! There's a huge difference between a mind control helmet and being possessed!" He made sure to put all the emphasis he could on the word 'possessed', his brow furrowing at the sapient computer he'd known for so long, his paws tapping against his hips as he gave the living machine an expectant expression, clearly wanting for a reply. It didn't take long for him to get one.
"Honestly, Twit, how different is it? The only difference I can think of is that one is external whilst the other is internal." Came the machine's measured response, his monitor moving from side to side to make sure they were still alone in the early dawn's light. Courage would have been fine, being just a dog and all, but would Computer be? He had his doubts, and each doubt came from the depths of his memory, long before he'd ever met the Bagges.
But that was neither here nor there, and it was now his turn to await the pink dog's response, those mechanical tentacles of his tapping against the ground with something Courage might have considered as impatience. Did Computer ever get impatient, though? The dog didn't remember ever hearing or seeing anything of the sort even in the many years they'd shared the attic.
Then again, he knew the Computer certainly had other emotions, even if he never showed them. Fear, annoyance, pride and amusement were four Courage definitely was aware of him having, and impatience was just a stepping stone away from annoyance, so the assumption was that Computer could definitely get impatient. Regardless of his thought on the matter, Courage had his own response back in a few seconds, his brow furrowing further, showing creases rarely ever shown on the dog's face. "Oooough! That difference is exactly the point! A mind control helmet doesn't stick inside your head! You're basically replacing people's brains!"
The instant response from the computer gave Courage a shock, as the machine began to laugh, giving a hearty guffaw that shook his monitor, the illuminated screen tilting back slightly as he filled the early morning air with a condescending cackle. "'Replacing people's brains'? For such a 'fraidy dog you seem to watch too many of those old horror movies. All I do is suppress the conscious mind; it's like sleeping, not an alien invasion, you twit. But if you're truly that worried then I suppose we can find a way to share your body."
The pink dog huffed in return, before annoyance very quickly became confusion at the machine's final words. 'Share his body?' He scratched at his chin, paw brushing through his fur as though it was a beard as he contemplated Computer's words, and a response to them. "And how does that work? When you possessed Muriel, you were in complete control!"
"So you think that one case covers all of them, hm, dog?" Came Computer's snide reply, his monitor tilting down to face Courage again, whose expression was still somewhere between puzzlement and annoyance. "I dunno? How do you even know you can do that?" Courage responded, folding his paws across his chest. How did something like this 'half-possession', for lack of a better word, work, and how did Computer even know he could pull something like that off? It seemed all too… convenient, and that anxiety was once more maniacally ringing alarm bells in Courage's psyche that this had to have been an utterly terrible idea.
Again, he trusted Computer, but after the Mega Muriel incident he wasn't sure he trusted him enough, especially with a real, fleshy body, and doubly so when it was his own at that. He didn't fancy being subject to those reckless stunts that nearly got the three of them killed, not again. Computer had a brash streak several miles wide and chasmic in depth, Courage had learned that day, and still didn't understand how or why a machine would seem so desperate, to the point of self-inflicted grievous bodily harm, to prove his lack of fear.
But at the same time, Courage had noted a remarkable, if subtle, change in Computer's behaviour since then. The machine, in all his haughtiness, would never admit to it of course, but Courage had definitely noticed he seemed, at least a little, less intolerably rude. Oh sure, the pair still constantly sassed and threw insults back and forth at each other, but Computer seemed more reserved somehow since that day.
Well, he guessed that settled it, and let out a sigh he hadn't even realised he'd been holding in to begin with, staring up at Computer's blue-hued screen. "...Fine. Just no 'Mega Muriel' plots again!" The dog spoke quickly, eyes glancing to the side. He had to be crazy to allow this to happen, but 'Crazy' was basically Nowhere's adopted name.
Computer seemed rather surprised by Courage's response, or at least as surprised as could be gleaned from the body language of a six-legged computer monitor with no visible face, but raised on of his limbs regardless. Courage watched with increasing anxiety as it snaked around the back of his head, before the sensation of it clamping down on the base of his skull became all too uncomfortably present.
Immediately, the dog felt pressure throughout his body, and every one of his nerves felt like they were ablaze, his vision blurring at the edges as he stared up at the monitor in front of him with pure adrenal terror running riot instantly through his system. He could make out two shapes on the screen before him; His own head and the computer's own monitor, highlighted in a purple that was draining from the PC icon into the dog one, before the screen dimmed and the computer fell to the ground, drained of all life.
Courage felt his limbs trembling, quivering like jelly amidst an earthquake, before one snapped upward, seemingly of its own accord, and pulled away the claw still gripping his neck. He felt his legs moving too, taking wobbly steps like a newborn fawn, and his other paw clench and unclench. It was… a strange sensation, to say the least, like feeling his own body moving about in a dream with no conscious influence from himself. His body stumbled further forward, tilting slightly to glance down at the now-dark monitor of the computer.
The face that stared back was barely even recognizable as his own, and not just some lookalike.
It was definitely actually him, that much was certain, but his eyes and fur were vastly different; Huge swathes of his pink fluff had become a desaturated magenta tone, spread mostly across his right side, though patchy blobs were present across the left of his body as well. His paw pads on the right were also now a bright, almost neon, blue that completely mismatched with the regular dark purple of the left, and all his fur upon that same right side seemed dully illuminated with that tell-tale blue glow that Computer had given Muriel after taking her over. He also noted the pinkish-purple hue his nose and ear had taken on upon the right side too.
His eyes were the biggest change, though;
His irises, once a dark amethyst purple, were now a blend of blue and lilac rings around his pupils. On the right, where Computer seemed to be most present, his pupil seemed to have become a milky white, with blue containing it and purple containing that in return. On the left? His pupil was the same, regular blackness that it always was, encapsulated by the reverse of the right - with purple inside a ring of blue.
He also quickly noticed that his vision was rather blurry; not quite blindingly so, yet obvious enough that he had to squint slightly, giving him a, as of the current moment, rather nasty-looking grimace of an expression that, at least, the pink dog mused, was befitting of at least Computer's generally stinky attitude.
Speaking of which, the dog's head tilted, and his eyes had control wrested away from them as the squint somehow grew even deeper and even less pleasant to look at, the dog, or at least his passenger, finding their voice moments later.
"Well, I've stooped to this level now, it seems. Are you in here, Twit, or did your brain fry like the egg it is?" It was certainly bizarre to hear Computer's haughty, British accent escape his own snout, made even more weird by the fact he felt his own vocal cords moving to accommodate the alien accent. It almost stopped the dog responding, it was so peculiar, in fact, but reality came crashing down a moment later and he took control of his throat once more, managing to force a nod as well. "Mhm, mhm!"
"That's good, I suppose. Saves being bored all alone in a meat body instead of a metal one." Again, the feeling of control being taken against his will, albeit in a non-forceful way, was the most peculiar sensation Courage thought he'd ever felt; and he'd been turned into a computer program before! At least Computer had kept his promise, at least for the time being, though he worried intensely that the machine might not keep on it forever; the urge for freedom had called Computer once, who was to say it wouldn't happen again?
Regardless, the dog tilted himself unsteadily, both halves of him unused to such a peculiar arrangement, Courage trying to move in one direction whilst Computer tried in another, landing them firmly on their rump instead. "Listen, dog, if we're to do this then we need to… eugh… work together. That or I just take the body over completely, and I'm fairly certain you don't want that." Computer's voice escaped their now-shared body again, that unpleasant scowl that flitted across their face once more reflecting in the dark glass of Computer's empty shell. Courage was about to retort that it would make more sense for him to control the body, seeing as it was his after all, but he decided to bite his tongue, not wanting to agitate the former machine whilst they were currently inhabiting the same space. So instead he simply gave a defeated-sounding 'Okay, okay.'
Neither of the two of them had realised just how difficult trying to control the same limbs with independent minds was, and it took a lot of falls back on their rump (Courage dreaded the bruises) before they were finally able to keep themselves standing upright again. Computer was, of course, complaining and muttering to himself all the while about 'stupid flesh creatures' as they worked through the most basic of the body's motor controls, tentatively taking small steps both forward and backward as they began to find a rhythm that worked for the pair of them.
It took a good while for them to simply get walking about in a manner that didn't make it look like their legs were lame, long enough so that people were starting to mill about on the street and the sun had moved up a little further into the sky. Computer kept their eyes trained on his monitor like a hawk at this point, clearly feeling quite on edge by the influx of people. He didn't exactly fancy their chances at defending his monitor from a thief when they could barely walk like a normal flesh-creature, and he didn't exactly fancy spending the rest of the Twit's lifespan stuck sharing a body with him either; the idea of living the monotonous life the dog led outside of the occasional ghoul or freak would have probably made him desire nonexistence after a few days, if even that.
Eventually, Computer let out an extremely agitated-sounding huff, clearly finding that the 'sharing' thing had been an absolutely terrible idea for them both, which he made abundantly clear moments later.
"Listen, Twit, it would be far easier for us both if you just let me control the entire body; I got used to your 'mommy's' body with ease when I had full control, and right now time is working against us both." Computer glared at their reflection, though it seemed the expression was born less of anger and more of annoyance and a desire to get them actually moving about properly; Courage never, ever wore a collar, so he, rightfully so, was worried someone would call the pound, even if he wouldn't voice that concern; and with the Farmer generally not caring about the dog at the best of times, and his wife being in the hospital, that was the last place he wanted them to find themselves.
Courage was silent for a good few moments, before eventually a "fine!" that Computer hadn't uttered escaped from their shared muzzle; they could figure things out properly after, for now the only thing that really mattered was getting to Muriel, at least for the pink pooch.
Immediately, Computer felt Courage's grip on the left side of their shared body fade into the background, and with a few experimental flexes of his front paws and squats on his hindlegs, the former machine let out a deep, almost sinister-sounding laugh, a grin growing across his face. "Much better. See? It's not that hard, dog." Computer's paws fell on his screen, and despite the small stature of his current host, he lifted the hunk of plastic and glass off the pavement like it was little more than a styrofoam model, that smirk on his face unfaltering as he turned and rounded the nearby alleyway, glancing about to see if anyone was watching him.
When he was certain that nobody was, he found a little, tucked-away area in the alley and placed his now-empty monitor down, hiding it as best he could with whatever was lying about near it, leaving only the slightest bit of the yellow-tinged plastic visible, or, at least, as much that would let him see it still even with his terrible, blurry eyesight. Seriously, what was with this dog's vision?
Turning about face regardless, he made his way back out of the alley, again making sure nobody was spying on him, and rounding the edge of the building back to the main entrance. He seemed rather surprised when the door slid open, tilting his head slightly; weren't these things designed only for humans to trigger? Then again, considering the quack of a doctor they'd hired to be the hospital physician (Computer genuinely didn't understand how that loon had kept his job, based on the Twit's memoirs and what little he'd seen of the man) they'd probably cut more than a few corners. He wasn't about to complain though, and thus stepped inside, still squinting all the while.
The first thing he noticed was how cool the air in here was compared to even the early sun outside. Of course, for anyone else anywhere else that wouldn't have come as much of a surprise, but to Computer the fact this place was Air Conditioned was further proof that there was something bizarre going on with whoever ran the place. They could afford to run Air-Con in Nowhere of all places, but they couldn't afford to hire a doctor that wasn't a complete headcase? The whole concept was highly suspect to him.
Shoving the wandering thoughts out his head, he decided he'd spend time mulling conspiracies about the incompetency of Nowhere's medical system after, and set off down the halls, accompanied only by the hum of his glow and the tapping of their shared body's paws against the floor. "And how do we find her, exactly, Twit?" He questioned aloud, only for a wordless twitch of his nose and involuntary sniff to point out the way. He should have probably guessed that the Twit would have had her scent on speed-dial…
And thus off he went, following the annoying spasming of his nostrils and the assorted smells of medications and sickness that assaulted them, his expression becoming increasingly disgusted all the while. 'At least the ability to smell with a human nose wasn't so frankly overwhelming,' was his main thought on the matter, and it didn't change at all even as their incredible sense of smell drew them to a specific door. One Courage had never seen before, way past that quack doctor's office.
Computer could almost feel Courage's own hesitation overtaking them both, but he swallowed it down, and with a glance from side to side, slinked through the door and into the room beyond.
The sight that they entered into immediately threatened to tear Courage's heart in half.
Again, thank you for the first follow for this silly little story of mine! Seeing that little 1 made me inordinately happy.
Next chapter's going to probably be a bit darker in tone, and is going to cover a character death, so be forewarned.
See you all in chapter 7