Mycelium and spores

ʷᵉ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵍᶤᵛᵉᶰ ᵃ ᵐᶤʳᵃᶜˡᵉ.

                        ᵃ ˢᵉᶜᵒᶰᵈ ᶜʰᵃᶰᶜᵉ.

ʷᵉ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵍᶤᵛᵉᶰ ᵃ ᵐᶤʳᵃᶜˡᵉ.

                        ᵃ ˢᵉᶜᵒᶰᵈ ᶜʰᵃᶰᶜᵉ.

( mix of angst / crack from my favorite disney girl. change pronouns as needed. )

❝I’m the same person I’ve always been.❞ 

❝I’ll look at you whenever I wanna look at you.❞

❝She’s my best friend and we can do without the attitude.❞

❝I am me!❞

❝There’s nothing more you can teach me.❞

❝Why would you not come to me?❞

❝I’m a teenager. No teenager knows who they are.❞

❝Tacos!!!❞

❝I painted what I’m feeling.❞

❝I don’t need to be fixed!❞

❝What’d you just say to me?❞

❝I’m not angry anymore.❞

❝My human nature is completely under control and there’s nothin’ or nobody who could ever change that.❞

❝What’s wrong with us both liking a nice guy?❞

❝I’m so smarter than you.❞

❝How did I think I could ever compete with them?❞

❝When I own it, it doesn’t make me feel so bad.❞

❝I think it should be all of us who decide.❞ 

❝Now that I’ve heard you say it do you think I’ve been selfish?❞

❝I don’t want you to think of me like that.❞

❝The storm happened. You didn’t.❞

❝No one’s ever cared enough to say that to me.❞

❝Conversation is the most important part of a relationship.❞

❝Your job was to stay.❞

❝You think I’m a failure.❞

❝I’m so proud of you.❞

❝It’s like I don’t have a role here anymore.❞

❝Yay, school’s over!❞

❝I need to be able to talk to you.❞

❝–and that’s the day I decided change wasn’t such a good thing.❞

❝It’s okay – you had to take it out on somebody. I’m glad you felt safe enough to take it out on me.❞

❝You’re not saying no…❞

❝Why have you let me hold your hand this entire time?❞

❝I’m not giving up hope yet. I just got it.❞

❝My dad doesn’t live with us. He’s got this new family–❞

❝People make the wrong decisions. And sometimes they decide to go away for a little while. And sometimes it takes time to understand why.❞

❝You’re not alone.❞

❝I have nobody at home who helps me with my homework.❞

❝I’m sorry. I failed.❞

❝I know you wanted me to forgive him, but I didn’t. I couldn’t do it.❞

❝He doesn’t wanna go out with me.❞

❝Well, you sit with yourself for a while and try to figure it out. And you’ll blame yourself. But it isn’t your fault.❞

❝What’s wrong with who I am now?❞

❝It’s okay, [name]. Just another door closed.❞

❝Can we just calm down? This isn’t who we are.❞

❝You’re always wrong!❞

❝I don’t listen, I just stick up for you automatically.❞

❝I’m me! I’ve always been me, I’m always gonna be me, nothing’s gonna change that!❞

Send 😍 for a fluffy starter

Send 😡 for an angsty starter

Send 😉 for a suggestive starter

Send 💦 for a smutty starter

Send 😂 for a crack starter

Send ☝ for a one-liner

Even without their tweaks to the incubator, it’s side was open aside from the internal containment field that kept the environmental heat in and did allow for both of their sets of arms, if need be. With the tweaks, it could be more containable for something other than gas and heat for when the little one was bigger.  Hugh though pulled his hand back to make mild adjustments now he was shell free. 

“That…sounds nice.” Hugh smiled. He knew the loss of Straal was deep, though he was still bringing him into his work in this manner held some elegance to it. Keeping some part of lost people in life was a good way to heal. 

Hugh’s head turned, watching as Paul held out the container and took it with a nod. “Sure.” He had a hunch that skin to skin contact would be a good, their warmth may be…something the little one would like? He’s wait for when Paul was ready. “I think..you should probably support him while feeding?” He suggested,

Inside, probably disturbed by their voices, Yogi wiggled around but didn’t get up, eyes blinking around though antenna stayed low to his hide. HIs little tubular mouth flexing with little ‘noot’ sounds that was low and grumbly.

Paul didn’t like to think about Justin, because he didn’t like the way it made him feel. That in itself was surely something Justin would poke fun at, and even that made him sad. He didn’t like to grieve, but it seemed there was nothing else he could do. But maybe this was a start. Maybe it could be. So while the smile Paul returned was not very substantial, he still managed it.

The smaller canister taken from him with a “Thank you,” and Paul opened the larger one and carefully poured some of the mixture into the small one, making it into a makeshift bottle. He wasn’t certain this would work, not at all, but he hoped it did. He had spent enough time on the mixture, after all. 

Hugh’s expressions shifted from inquisitive to almost a soft eyeroll at the answer; while the scans did indicate the littles one had the same toughness as an adult, especially their claws, a newly hatched had very little priorities and very empty belly. Hugh could reason some of the baby’s grumpiness may be in part to exhaustion and hunger. Food could lead to the Tardigrade wanting their company after all...

It only took a little push, Hugh tilting the other half before the top half of the Tardigrade more or less flopped out of the egg shell, to which Hugh put to the other half though it looked, in scale, like a miniaturised version of Ripper, there was a sense of adorableness to it with it’s tiny little antennas and little claws. He could judge by visual inspection, he’d just fit very well into one of their hands.

The little one made a high pitched whine, rolling onto it’s back, stretching out all of it’s arms before rolling onto it’s side again and curled it’s limbs in though it’s heavy breath remained for the moment, clearly exhausted from it’s work.

“I suppose we can’t yet know. Ripper may just be used to it.“ he mused, adults adapted quickly but who knew at this point. This little one had been dealing with it since it was dropped off which…wasn’t a lot of time but either way, it was here now and hatched. It didn’t look distressed, visually or on the scans.

Hugh’s head tilted at the suggestion, churning the name in his mind. It did fit th criteria, not a human name and not a pet name really. Far better than Ripper Jr. Though there was a mid sense he knew the name from where…. an old film, maybe? Not that it mattered, it worked. 

“Sounds good.” He nodded his approval. “So, little Yogi. Lets get his little bottle ready and see if he takes to it.” He’d allow Paul to try feeding him, if he wanted. Newborns tended to be hungry.

Paul wouldn’t go so far as to call the feeling he had paternal, but it was…awed. It was nearly paternal, he supposed, but it couldn’t be literally so, because it wasn’t. He felt some affection for the baby tardigrade, of course, but he was not the sort to think of anything as a father might. All of that said though, as irrelevant as it was, he did feel a surge of warmth as he watched the young thing separate itself from its egg. His egg. He felt proud of him, of the creature’s work. 

But there was no time for affection. It was time for them to take care of this thing, to make sure it would be able to survive in their world. They had come this far, the last thing he wanted to do was lose him so soon. He didn’t dare touch him, though, didn’t dare help in any way physically, because he knew that once he did he would be risking tainting the creature’s ability to properly adapt to this world. That wasn’t to say they wouldn’t adjust the gravity, of course, but he couldn’t help him if he fell. He nodded to Hugh’s point. They would have to wait and see. 

“I think it was from a cartoon,” he said, voice soft. “Something Justin told me about once. It…seemed like something he would have called him.” His way to bring his friend into this, in whatever small way he could. He wished he were here. He would have liked this. It would have had made him proud, happy. But he wasn’t there, and Paul would simply have to…move on. He would have to focus on that which was here now. On this tardigrade. 

“That...sounds nice.” Hugh smiled. He knew the loss of Straal was deep, though he was still bringing him into his work in this manner held some elegance to it. Keeping some part of lost people in life was a good way to heal. 

Hugh’s head turned, watching as Paul held out the container and took it with a nod. “Sure.” He had a hunch that skin to skin contact would be a good, their warmth may be...something the little one would like? He’s wait for when Paul was ready. “I think..you should probably support him while feeding?” He suggested,

The Witcher:

“Tardigrade’s minds are….closer to humans than they are to…what you’d call animals.” They spoke, plopping down the PADD they had though trailed it around the surface beside them, vaguely listening to the two surfaces scrape against each other. “they may not have a humanoid form but that doesn’t make them less than.” 

They could…understand why humans, or other humanoid species would think so. Just as most would pass JahSepp off as just fungal spores in the air. They didn’t over think on what they’d mention would do but they hoped that if he was to conduct comparative tests, that he knew more of what his subject was capable of mentally. It was not primal beast like the KallaRar.

They shook their head at his question. “No, but i am thinking on how to…label things to a…category. The Stella Plants are a constant multiverse plant, even out of phase of other worlds. Any drive tech would use them for fuel.” They watched though as they span the PADD but blinked as it shot off the other end of the desk and clattered to the floor. “No other plants would be the same for spore tech.” they finished, their tone a little more slower as their eyes remained where their PADD’s direction was.

That made sense, he supposed, with what little he knew about the tardigrade. Of course, they’d done a thorough scan of the thing’s physiology, so he was aware that its brain was remarkable in the way that it more resembled a human’s than an animal’s. It was so…active. It was animal in nature, but the way that its brain worked was far greater than the normal animal’s. “We realized that as we studied it. For something so closely resembling what we know of as a microscopic animal, it is…astonishingly complex.” 

He was in awe of it, the same way he was in awe of every cell that made up the network. Perhaps he had an odd way of showing it, a way of leaving destruction in his wake, harming a creature within an inch of its life, but it had not been intentional. Never, not for a moment, had it been intentional. At least, at the very least, he had never intended it. He changed his biology to make up for it, and he hoped it meant something. Anything. 

They nodded softly, “I need to learn more words first... then i can give you information more properly and neatly.” They didn’t need an expert to know that, while they could hold a conversation with a good direction, they were fully open to making things overly complicated or under complicated and miss things. A mess that would probably confuse Paul more than anything. 

They contemplated on going and picking it up though with their unsteady gait with gravity on this ship, they could anticipate going down was easy than getting up. They’d probably wind up sitting on the floor.

Hugh’s lips curled upwards though nodded. “Well, we can’t keep calling him ‘baby tardigrade’ and i’m sure you’ll do better than Landry’s naming skills, that’s for sure.” he spoke. “Just…. nothing human like ‘Phil’ or pet-typical like Bubbles.” The little one was neither one nor the other. It was also his subtle way of getting Paul away from jumping to naming it after one of his science hero’s because there would be very few that would understand those choices, let alone a little alien that would or could respond to it one day. 

The half of the egg fell back free as the little feet pushed again. Hugh waited till it was out of contact before reaching into the little incubator and pulled it away fully. While it the back end, he was mildly surprised to see the little one had a much darker hide than Ripper, almost black though with lighter markings that disappeared up his back. An odd contrast with the multicolored egg shell he was supporting. 

A little complaint as it’s clawed foot skidded echoed from within that made his lips curl. 

“Is gravity much lighter or heavier in the network in comparison to here?” Hugh asked, it suddenly occurring to him on a possibility that this could be a little harder for it in an alien gravity

Paul smiled softly to his partner, taking the note on avoiding human names into consideration. “No, I don’t suppose we can.” Though what he was to name it, he didn’t know. This sort of thing, creativity, naming something in any way that was not binomial, was not his area of expertise. Justin would have been better at this, but Justin was dead. His heart ached for his friend, an ache that was still too new. He wished he were hear, wished he could help, but…he couldn’t. All Paul had was his best attempt at putting himself in his mindset. Not human, but not too pet-like, nor too crass. He would pick something…fun. 

He put that thought to the back of his mind as the egg finally hatched, a surge of excitement flooding through him. He took a step closer, though he still kept his distance as he watched the thing free itself with Hugh’s help. He experienced the same surprise as it became visible, having assumed it would look like Ripper. Not only that, but the thing was almost disappointing when compared to the shell it had hatched from. Still, these were unimportant things, far less important than the creature itself. 

“We didn’t notice any difficulties with Ripper,” he answered Hugh, though he certainly wished he could give him a more definite answer. Ripper had seemed to manage their gravity well enough, so he could assume that this new one would as well. 

The little one made a high pitched whine, rolling onto it’s back, stretching out all of it’s arms before rolling onto it’s side again and curled it’s limbs in though it’s heavy breath remained for the moment, clearly exhausted from it’s work.

“I suppose we can’t yet know. Ripper may just be used to it.“ he mused, adults adapted quickly but who knew at this point. This little one had been dealing with it since it was dropped off which...wasn’t a lot of time but either way, it was here now and hatched. It didn’t look distressed, visually or on the scans.

Hugh’s head tilted at the suggestion, churning the name in his mind. It did fit th criteria, not a human name and not a pet name really. Far better than Ripper Jr. Though there was a mid sense he knew the name from where.... an old film, maybe? Not that it mattered, it worked. 

Their navy blue gaze lingered on his face for a moment, before they dropped their hand, nodding to his agreement but they hoped it was helpful in what conflict he had with himself; they didn’t ask and he looked to be focusing on the map so they didn’t carry the topic any further than that. 

They purse their lips thoughtfully. “Not on the inside of a collapse. I would not be able to jump out at the collapse without mycelium pathways and connections. There are dead universes but death of universes, I’ve only seen through from the outside.” They spoke. The differences between the two were vastly different, but there was mild connections of relevance. Both still fascinating to anyone of science. 

“The words I would describe would be…Quiet. Bright. Quick.” They listed. “A collapsing Universe cannot be saved indefinitely. Not even the Q can change that.” Nether of their species sought each other out. Simply due to the fact nether of them cared for it and had no reason for interference. At best, A Q could try and keep a universe going but…that’d take the toll on themselves; in a way, it wasn’t worth their wellbeing in the long run. Not that they delved much into the Q Continuum either.

“Life goes on, in one form or another. Versions of you, this ship, will always exist in one universe or another.” They assured, “Some universes, changes are slight. such as no war with Michael Burnham as the Captain of Discovery, or they could be as drastic as the Terran Universe.”

His eyes scanned the map, studying it, blue eyes following paths of universes. They were beautiful, and it was something pleasant to do as they answered him, as they discussed the death of universes. They were so beautiful. He nodded at their answer, thinking over what they said, picturing them outside of a dying universe. He wondered how it felt, how terrible it was. “Of course,” he said, acknowledging that they would not be able to see the death from the inside. But he wanted to know what it was like to see. 

Quiet, bright, quick. Like a flash, once living, and then…nothing. Once alive, and then dead. Like the blowing out of a candle. And there was nothing that could be done about it. They said it, that it could not be saved. “What does it feel like?” he asked, voice softer. “To watch it die?” Somewhat emotional, but a genuine curiosity as well. Then there was a moment of pause before he added, “…I don’t know what Q are.” As much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t. There were a lot of things he hadn’t yet learned about, things he hadn’t had time to figure out. 

Chaos did have it’s beauty. In the void of space, no sound in it’s furious winds of energy and matter. it’s dregs of it’s world building up for the final pop once it had reached it’s point of no return. Misha’s head tilted. 

“Melancholy Awe.” They spoke after a moment, “With the sudden release of energy on that magnitude, the sky lightens up and the plants brighten until redistribution. But, I tend to view in a live map, such as this.” Nodding to the holo infront. 

They chuckled softly “A  multidimensional species that lives in a state of near omnipotence.  Q is their name and species. One Q got bored and rearranged a planet’s continents.” Just to put it in perspective on the scale this species had on this universe and the next. But the topic wasn’t important. If he did he could research Starfleet’s running's with Q later. 

Hugh nodded softly. If anything, he had complete trust that Paul would cobble together a good system to ensure it’s health and their care. They had plentiful reason now given they were the ones with the spores and the drive; alien species or not, they two now had the most experience. Hugh a small hope that perhaps the Tardigrades imprinted on primary carers that’d certainly ensure their care.

“I’m sure it’ll be a long while before it’s developed enough for the network travel independently.” Sure, it’ll get to understanding it in their jumps; Ripper had reacted quite intently so he didn’t expect less with it’s little version here. 

As the hour ticked by, the egg cracked more and more until it’s lower half was almost detached though now the lower end of the creature was firmly in view, little clawed toes on four of it’s eight limbs wiggling and relaxing though he kept a finger on the shell to keep it from rolling as it wiggled again, the feet trying to find a grip though it looked like it was trying to reverse out. 

“I think we’re close.” He mused, “Think of a name for it?”

“Of course,” he agreed. While he was sure that network travel would be something that was instinctual to the creature, that didn’t mean it would be ready fresh from the egg. There were some species that walked hours after birth, but humans didn’t start walking for a year. He wasn’t sure which side the tardigrade would end on when it came to using the network. 

Between tinkering and fidgeting over the hour, Paul’s attention was brought to the egg as it hatched, as the tardigrade moved within it, head turning sharply with every small sound. Every crack, the shell became less and less intact, and he became excited in a way he almost certainly wouldn’t have been had it been a human child. The egg became to crack further, exposing parts of the small creature within, and Paul moved closer to it, to watch it closer. 

The half of the egg fell back free as the little feet pushed again. Hugh waited till it was out of contact before reaching into the little incubator and pulled it away fully. While it the back end, he was mildly surprised to see the little one had a much darker hide than Ripper, almost black though with lighter markings that disappeared up his back. An odd contrast with the multicolored egg shell he was supporting. 

A little complaint as it’s clawed foot skidded echoed from within that made his lips curl. 

Their nose wrinkled up. “Poison tree. We leave the Tardigrades to keep those in check. It kills us on contact” So they didn’t venture into much more since they avoided such volatile material. They’d leave it up to anyone brave enough to handle it to study it away from them or any other jahSepp. 

They rocked happily though said nothing. Paul seemed very chirpy with them and their conversation but they didn’t know what else to say to carry that on but they were glad he seemed to mull on their further topic.

“Maybe…you should look to what the Tardigrade could do and…compare? It’s brain function and… and…” they paused, not finding the correct word. Their nose wrinkled, “it’s braining process? It doesn’t…see the world and time as liney as you humans. Big picture. Single view like yours is unfamiliar?” They estimated. 

Their limited rage of words irked them more than they’d like but they felt they had gotten enough across for him to understand where they’re coming from. So many words for brain and it’s functions and that was just in English. 

“Yes.” They stated, “Hardly a bad thing.” They were they could give a proper answer for him. There was still a lot to cover in terms of flora in the network which…was still going to be tough but they were sure once they were advanced enough themselves, they’d find ways to properly educate him on the network’s floral range, probably with pictures. 

Poison tree. He nodded in response, making a note of the information despite the fact that he would certainly not have a reason to make use of it in any way that wasn’t just having it. That didn’t bother him, though, as there were many things he knew that had no use in his mind but to be something that was known. That was enough. Besides, it was part of the network, so it was something that was important to him. 

Their suggestion cause him to purse his lips in thought. “I should,” he said. Though he wasn’t so sure he could learn what the tardigrade would do without more experiments. He could do some, though, as they said. He could learn, looking through the scans they’d done, comparing what they’d learned from the creature and what he had gathered from himself. There would certainly be something interesting to learn in comparing their brains. “Its perspective,” he agreed with a nod. Their words weren’t entirely clear, but he understood what they meant. “The way it sees the world. I’ve had…a little experience with that.” 

(And he would, in the future, have more experience with that.)

They could...understand why humans, or other humanoid species would think so. Just as most would pass JahSepp off as just fungal spores in the air. They didn’t over think on what they’d mention would do but they hoped that if he was to conduct comparative tests, that he knew more of what his subject was capable of mentally. It was not primal beast like the KallaRar.