The Task of the Red Witch

“Five to ten minutes successfully tested with serum. No known way to purposefully reconnect with body -- all reunion attempts have been spontaneous and without warning. (Note of prolonged nausea spell after reunion.)

“Chase serum with watermelon punch to offset taste.”

A child being ill-prepared for a common pop quiz is one thing. A princess and queen-in-development should not be ill-prepared at all. At most, a princess should be at least somewhat knowledgeable of their circumstances and their duties by the time they reach the throne, whether it be right on time or more abrupt than expected.

I was fine with the current queen in ruling, but if I would have known that my money was mainly being used for defenses and security rather than advancement in the people’s education and in the education of her own, then I would have been a little more harsh about her. …To be honest, I am harsher about her in that respect. Because now look where we are.

And sure, it’s always tough when someone loses a loved one. But she’s been on the throne for several months now. We’ve got a queen that hardly knows her ABCs and she’s got no excuse for it due to the fact that she supposedly had the best tutoring spat at her. What was she doing all that while? Dreaming of becoming the pauper and swapping for a day? It’s understandable to a degree. She’s a child. But even children know when it’s time to stop and learn.

There’s a king in the west that was able to strategize a peaceful takeover of a neighboring area. A brilliant mind at work. And how old was he? Fifteen. The same exact age. Our queen doesn’t even know the current  standings with the nations around us.

 You can’t tell me that the queen that’s got her pampered derriere sitting on the throne right now isn’t capable of the same thing. You know what that’s called? Laziness shining through. She was lazy up till now, and now it’s too late to play catch-up. Her people know. She’s now in the spotlight and she doesn’t know one single line, and the directors have to stand in her place with a script. 

The immersion and depth of this performance is lost, and it’s hilarious to not only us, but the other cast members behind the scenes. It’s just a matter of time before the whole thing is met with tomatoes to the face or a hooked cane around her neck.

Granted, that last bit is never funny, not in the least—unless you’re talking about a tyrant—but our nation is a joke because of her. We were already teetering because of the backwards reactions of the commonfolk to the advancements in modifications, and now we’ve gone full-tilt with Queen Rue.

In cases like these, the next-in-line is always crowned and then just put on display as the promising little doll of the future until the heir to the throne is well-trained and old enough to carry out their own official duties without heavy support from the council. 

Seeing a babe on the throne is a rarity and it's always a trying time for the kingdom, the council, and the newly-appointed heir to become settled and begin taking respectable strides in the world of politics again.

The Queen herself is terrified, plain and simple. She knows what her position and power should be, but no one treats her that way, myself included. It's hard to take someone who doesn't understand the basics  of proper court manners seriously about anything. And the fact that she is so young and inexperienced means that she also somewhat understands that others can take advantage of her easily.

All of that fear and pressure builds up and she's become an irritable, panicky thing that tears up at the slightest occurrence that doesn't go her way.

It's sad and entertaining, really.

And it's how you would expect if you had a fifteen-year-old ruler. She rules some things, but not without being spoon-fed by her council and advisors that slobber down her neck. To be honest, I won't be surprised that a lot of her most recent, more sound rulings were more of her council at work than herself. 

If anything, I probably scared him more often with my more dangerous studies that involved ingesting different mixes of chemicals and ingredients than he ever scared me. 

My father was the first to learn how to successfully transfer a functioning soul to a non-organic body and still give the soul the capability to move said body as though it were their own.

He's also done extensive studies on behavior modification, and has learned two separate ways that can placate anxious or agitated subjects.

These advancements spooked the Queen herself and she once demanded he stand before her and give her one reason why he shouldn't be denounced as a witch and killed before a public standing.

To which he responded:

"One day, your people might riot against your rule--and there will be no known way to keep them at peace without civil war...and a royal execution."

My father is known for his discovery for taking realtime souls--or "data." That's his word for souls--and transferring them to a non-organic container, like Findler's soul and his golem body. 

I'm looking to expand on his discovery. Why only transfer data from an organic material to a non-organic material? I want to know if it's possible to -trade- data between two currently-functioning, organic bodies. And would it be possible to modify the data of one to behave a certain way without transference to another body? What about combining two to make one compiled set of data? And beyond that, is it possible to keep or instill human thoughts and emotions during this process? 

The one who keeps her nose in everyone's business, Queen Ro', is adamant about telling everyone that modifications are not possible and does what she can to completely squander the attempts of anyone who might be dabbling in modifications. They're labeled as witches who birth irreversible glitches, and as such they're punished heavily depending on what "crimes" they've committed. (My father got away from being denounced as a witch by the skin of his teeth, mainly because his findings were able to aid the authorities and keep nobles happy. ...Oh, and it keeps the streets somewhat safer for everyone else, but that's secondary in the eyes of those in power.)

But let's be honest, any ruler afraid of change is a ruler that can't adapt themselves. She's either too scared for things to change and doesn't think that she can continue to rule without question if modifications are rampant throughout the countryside, or she believes she's too dull in the mind to understand how to modify things herself and will be eventually outsmarted from her position. And if you ask me, I'm about 87% sure she'd be too dull to keep up. 

It wasn't entirely her fault she left me behind. She was only following her father's instructions to not talk to me. He said I was too dangerous, too risky to be around. .

But we wouldn't have gotten along anyhow, growing up. I met her again years later and attempted to speak to her. What little conversation we did have, she was incredibly boring. And then when she learned my name finally, she took off in the other direction like I had blood all over me.