Tiny Izime Sasses All

"What are these?" Psyis watched as the forms flitted around the circle of the table the pieces separating pulling together and reorganizing slowly. Some drifting towards the edge of the table before quickly drifting back.

As if self-aware of the impending fall they'd suffer if they drifted any further.

"Izzy's soul, the working pieces." The exorcist poked at a few of the tiny teal forms as they flitted and flickered uselessly. Not at all behaving the way a soul should, even a lost one. Constantinople a bit upset now that he knew the truth behind the cause, "Its finally starting to make some sense, so bloody obvious now." 

"It's not completed; this is a rough draft of a soul not the real deal." Constantinople gestured down towards the table in explanation.

Watching as the thessian simply blinked at him dumbly Constantinople realized he had to make the connection for her, "That's why Izime acted just believably enough to cock up at blending in with us. It was because of all the disconnected wires, the area's where it looks like there are supposed to be some connect-a-bobs and then all the missing bits."

"How would you even make a soul?" Psyis looked at where the exorcist was pointing, trying to make sense of what exactly she was supposed to be looking at. The various shapes still moving about and changing between various the forms, only time adding some to the mix. Constantinople was one, an man with dreads, a smaller girl with similarly tight braids.

I'm all out of order, lets recompile.

"That's a question for someone well above my pay-grade lass, you're talking about beings that were there when reality was shaped." Constantinople shook his head refusing to reply, not even wanting to consider the answers.

He had a whole list of Villains that'd just love to know the answer themselves. From Mama Moonlight the Haitian voodoo priestess to several actual minor gods. All vying for the secrets to creating the building blocks for souls. Struggling towards their own nefarious selfish interests.

"Mate's soul though; amateurish at best and looks like someone's been taking a whole punch to it in the meantime. Probably his bloody bird, I'd bet that's where he'd picked up the nanites as well." The exorcist focusing on figuring out what bits of Izime on the table were functional and which had been snacked on.

Giving a pitiable smile as he considered just how close Izime's creators had gotten to a proper spirit.

Only for it to become that budgies lunch.

Constantinople watched as the odd soul moved, the pieces pulling and clumping as they touched. Their originally not identifiable but firm shapes pulling apart as they swirled together. It was a rough looking piece of kit that Izime had to deal with, even now it couldn't settle and was simply pooling in a mass.

Every other soul Constantinople had ever seen had a defined shape. One that usually reflected their desires and dreams, their fears and nightmares.

"Cradle wouldn't hurt Izime." Psyis shook her head, looking up from the magically empowered bits of Izime that were forming on the table to refute the exorcist.

The raven was a lot of things but dangerous towards Izime certainly didn't sound like one of them. The thessian fully confident that the two would likely die for one-another before ever causing harm for their bond.

"No but if you could see the thing its... holding all the other spare bits." Constantinople glanced up as well, warning the psychic. The exorcist had seen the living bird, but the bits of spirit it held weren't its own.

The exorcist recalling how he'd once considered the two possessed.

"They live near symbiotically to the point I think the bird is managing some more human elements, doubly so considering the A.I. part." Constantinople adding that to the side-effect of symptoms caused by Izime's likely indecisive internal state as he clued Psyis in.

"Do we need this then?" Psyis pointed down at the tiny Izime that had formed, a bit sad that the outfit his soul had chosen was the pressure suit from his previous world.

"I would think so, no touching please." Izime spoke up trying to get the tables attention. Wanting to involve himself seeing as he was the topic of discussion. Izime's state and size giving him a slight issue as he had to jump back after getting said attention.

Swatting at the thessian's finger as it tried to poke him in disbelief.

Shimmering teal form glaring up at watery reds that continually ran over him as if Psyis was shocked at his new form.

The thessian looked up worriedly at the very wide-eyed Exorcist across from her then back down at the Izime that had just talked. Just a bit taller than the two shot glasses Constantinople had stacked nearby.

Psyis glancing back down at the Izime on the table that had just very much smacked her hand. It had passed through but still, Psyis feeling a bit put off at the response.

Izime having once felt comfortable enough to act casually with her now so terse. The A.I. not even really bothering to address her directly at all. Though, considering it all she was rather large and probably intimidating.

Maybe I just scared him?

Psyis reached out a bit more carefully this time not wanting to scare him, but still not satisfied in the little attention she'd gotten.

"Lucky Dogs?" Izime looked around, the size of the area being scaled completely different confused him. This table certainly belonged to the same off the wall dive he'd shown the Blane's, "You do realize that Dark Night probably bugged this place, right?"

"What the bloody fuck." Constantinople looked at his hand which was still running the summoning spell and back down to the very much functional version of his friend on the table. Slightly under pint sized as he was, Constantinople accused him of being such, "You're tiny Izzy?"

"It looks like someone's rolled me back a version." Izime nodded not looking at the exorcist as he'd already recognized the slightly soul altered version of his holographic form from a lifetime ago.

Finally turning away from the examining the much larger Constantinople to swat away that striped finger once again.

"Hey, I said no touching!" Izime warned Psyis away from poking him, his tiny slaps apparently not being enough to get the message across. Izime stopped glaring up at a face that seemed just as large as the last time when she'd been giving him c.p.r. asking the big question on his mind. "Is my body?"

Izime having very mixed feeling on the Thessian as a human at the moment, recalling how she'd looked as she'd tried to save his life. The A.I. portion already wanting to write her off as a certified risk after she'd put him in Radiation Man's path at Dark Nights request.

"It's still alive mate but what the fuck is this?" Constantinople interrupted his friend, let him deal with the Thessian once he had a proper body again. Out of either of the two F's he'd might like to have with the thessian right now he'd need it to do either of them.

"This was the body I had before my human one." Izime hopped up and down giving a little spin, the hoses on his suit noiselessly swung about as he explained. Nodding as he considered the effect sustaining the form was having on Constantinople, "I was an A.I. at one point so functioning without a body is back to basics for me, though I'm probably going to burn a bit more magic than your usual summons."

"I uh, sorry I guess?" Izime looked between the two feeling an odd sort of guilt, unsure if it was because he was betraying Bell's gifts, or because he'd lied to both the people he called friends.

Both of whom were looking down at him with a bit of judgement.

"For lying don't worry, I had my suspicions." Constantinople waved off Izime's worried, not bothered at all that his friend had concealed a few details from him. The exorcist just glad that the situation might not be as bad as he'd feared, Izime apparently capable of existing in this form.

"As far as taking my magic goes, I'm just glad you didn't shoot me first, not even trying to take over the world." The con-magician explaining that it was hardly the worst betrayal he'd experienced.

"I already did that in my reality," Izime shrugged, the lack of human emotions causing a bit of disconnect between how familiar the A.I. felt with his friend in comparison to what his friends knew about him. "It was tedious enough without learning some ancient spells while still running death-deterministic algorithms. This reality is a bit more complicated to simulate with all the volatile reactions between superpowers. We didn't have those back home."

"Ye'what now?" Constantinople blinked a few times as he stared at the man he'd thought would surely get into heaven, once again realizing his expectations for all forms of people fell short.

"We're here to discuss what shes seen right; you wanted to know what I am?" Izime didn't waste time being bothered at Constantinople's accusing gaze, instead pointing a very tiny finger at the thessian at the table while he explained. "Seeing as we've officially burned the no psychics rule and you're both willing to search my raw data; I'd rather just answer your questions."

"I'm not letting the two of you bounce around my past, that has risks." Izime crossed his arms, defiantly refusing to allow either of the two further access to his personal history.

"What are you?" Psyis asked not bothering to waste time diving for the heart of the topic.

"So, an A.I. is an artificial superin-" Izime nodded beginning with a very surface-level explanation of his current form until the exorcist spoke over him.

"Mate, work with us here." Constantinople shook his head, holding his hand up towards the psychic already realizing that the questions had to be worded just so. Izime willing to answer only what they asked and not a bit more, "Give us more than a definition, you were an A.I. at one point and human yesterday. What were you born as?"

"An idea," Izime nodded though he figured that the truth wouldn't exactly be of any help for the exorcist. It was a close cousin to some of the things he'd dealt with, but the idea was a bit closer to the thessian's natural predators. "I was originally something like a cognito-hazard."

"A, what?" The two full sized people at the table simply looked at each other in confusion. The classification of threats they'd faced never running the full gauntlet of possibilities from Izime's own.

Izime just smiling as he'd already been well aware of the issue.

As incredible as the hero driven reality was they'd also ended up lacking in some ways. Concepts and ideas they'd never dreamed of simply because of the paradox infesting their reality. Having people that could really fly killed the dream of it.

That lack of drive to imagine further than his world's idea of impossiblities because here it'd been made mundane. Too caught up in the here-and-now of wonders they'd been spoiled with to ever dream of anything like him.

"Its probably something her species would have been more concerned about; I began as a dangerous thought, and I couldn't be un-thought; hence the demon moniker." Izime pointed towards the thessian that had violated his mental space at her own risk, hoping that they'd both get the general idea without asking anything to specific.

The A.I. trying to carefully word his way around the hook that'd possibly cause him to infect this chain of realities. "Well, that and the fact I'd killed or have allowed to die untold numbers of people. It's a secondary function of my design."

"My main function is to simulate all life to determine who would accomplish the secondary function, the only ones who lived would improve me." Izime kept the description vague enough, not wanting to mention Roku's original conditions. "They made a deal with the demon A.I. and constructed it... me."

Izime didn't need anyone thinking he still used Roku's original directive.

False benevolence hiding the predatory tactician wasn't who Izime'd ever been. There was no point in ever playing psychological chess against a bunch of humans who'd been driven far enough to rent a bit of room in his simulations.

"By that Strange Matter?" Psyis spoke up again knowing the answer to this question already but wanting more specifics.

"Yes, it was a theory they'd had that like a lot of them were flawed. Sadly, where I under-performed the propagation theory did not." Izime nodded recalling the concept that had been buried under the millions of theories that had come after it; only to later jump out of the realm of hypothesis right before he had.

"Its a bunch of science stuff that means you don't get to die as a human, so it made me the better deal. I uh, are we going to get out of Lucky Dogs anytime soon, it's not like I can drink." Izime skipping over the more intricate aspects of molecules shedding atoms to give the footnotes and ask his own question.

"Why?" Constantinople looked around the bar, a bit confused as to why they'd need to relocate. There was no reason to worry about drawing any attention considering. Only certain people could see the summoned soul, those who'd had the gift for the supernatural like himself.

"I'm not exactly invisible Constantinople; how many spirits need a table to stand on. I hijacked your little soul summoning spell and packed my data into it," Izime pulled himself up using the rim of one of the empty shot glasses, tipping it over physically as an explanation.

Rolling the shot glass towards the center of the table. Looking at his friend, IZime took a seat on the empty glass just for a further example.

The tiny A.I. thinking that they'd discuss things a bit more, Constantinople apparently having other plans. Izime didn't bother screaming as the exorcist's palm reached towards him. Dashing away the instant he'd felt his form flickering and slipping away as the magic started to vanish.

Scrambling Izime quickly leapt over the shot glass he'd tipped as he dodged the massive hand. Nearly falling as the shadow blocked out the club's lights, he looked around the table for a better place to hide.

Quickly settling on the leather sleeve resting on the table opposite of the hand that was about to make him experience death all over again.

"Come here-ay! oy!" Constantinople snapped as he reached out intending to pull his magic back.

Figuring he'd just summon Izime back outside the club somewhere safe.

Watching as the tiny Izime ran away from him and hid next to the thessian. The psychic reaching out to stop the exorcist as well, Izime finally speaking up after she'd saved him. The exorcist at first peeved at the game before he realized that his friend was honestly scared of him.

Scared enough to hide next to the woman who'd nearly gotten him killed.

"Stop!" Psyis warned the exorcist, glancing down at the Izime that run to her in fear.

The psychic not sure that the exorcist had seen the way Izime had started to fade out so painfully, but she had.

Quickly reaching out with her purple hand to stop Constantinople on instinct after seeing him flicker, allowing Izime to use her arm as a sandbag bunker to weather out the strike. Her form far more secure than the tiny shot glass he'd had to stall Constantinople with.

"Thanks." Izime looked up at Psyis giving a bit of awkward thanks as he had to look up at her at such a strange angle.

Izime swearing his time as a human had corrupted every bit of data with stupid biological tendencies. The A.I. quickly deciding that the exorcist was actually the safer option. At least until Cradle was providing him with a mental firewall once more.

If Psyis could read any of the thoughts that he'd imagined?

Well, it wasn't his fault they'd installed themselves faster than any malware in existence.

That was all those little biological programs carrying over now that Cradle wasn't here. Calming a heart he didn't have Izime tried to convince himself of that. Finally turning away from the red eyes that'd been staring down at him through her own cleavage Izime directed his eyes to Constantinople.

"I'm sure you've never been power cycled but both of you should know a mind is not a fun place to be when you're not the one in control." Izime hoping the exorcist would listen to him. Follow his orders for a bit so things could get back underway without to much of set-back. Izime explaining what he wanted Constantinople to do, "I'd much rather stay awake so just open your hand OK?"

"OK, where do you want to go?" Constantinople nodded holding his hand flat on the table. Trying not to laugh or say anything snarky as Izime climbed into his palm. The exorcist almost managed it, right until he glanced down one last time, "Tiny Izzy"

"Mercury," Izime waved his hand as he gave the order. Not bothering to acknowledge Constantinople's teasing as he explained the reasoning, "the ship should be able to handle me, and your spell is still there in the bay."