“I didn’t know you were a Resident.” Zax broke out of his surprise first.

“And we never considered you might not be one.” The furry bird-man replied. “I have many questions, but it, actually explains a lot.”

“‘We’? Others too?”

“I think you’re the exception here. The only one.” Awkward revelation.

“I’m the only hobbyist? That’s… that would explain your reaction to IRL meeting. Among other things.” Zax sighed.

“Not the only hobbyist, although they tend not to stay. I meant the only dotter. Eh, and I can see how we could seem weird to you.” Garuza chuckled. “We’ve already met though, you and I. Before I choose this career. Let’s go in my office, we have a lot to discuss.” He motioned for a door in the back labelled “staff only”. “I didn’t expect that many people, but we can manage.”

“Before we go further, you should know this meeting is being recorded.” Zax stayed a step behind.

“I thought it would.” Garuza nodded.

The others looked at each other, confirming their general confusion, before the two remaining dotters wordlessly followed; they didn’t want to leave him alone. The Residents silently argued, they didn’t want to risk catching his ire in a private space. They couldn’t leave their quarry out of sight however, so Bathor was once again pushed forward.

Meanwhile, Zax examined their host more attentively. Without visible skin, he couldn’t determine his age; he was older than them, but not enough to dull his colours. He didn’t wear any clothes or footwear, but he definitely didn’t need protection from the environment either.

His muscles were well-defined despite the mid-length fur smoothing them up; barely hinting at a lot of hidden power. He was not as large as Officer Bor, the high-ranked Enforcer, but his movements were more fluid; it was more of a swimmer’s physique. Nanites confirmed his proportions were still human, so no changes in the skeleton, joints, or posture. Definitely a metabolic enhancement, to maintain those gains, but no detectable deeper mutations.

Starting after his shoulders and above his knees, his fur was slightly darker. It was generally healthy and glossy, but it would benefit from a comb. Zax couldn’t tell if the shine was natural or a result of self-care products, but it looked silky, pleasant to touch. No obvious smell.

The top of his skull had rounded up to match his beak, but his yellow, prey bird eyes still had human size and position. It couldn’t be measured yet, but he didn’t appear to have a significant loss in facial muscle, either. He could still emote normally, which was impressive; a beak wasn’t supposed to be as flexible and stretchy as a mouth, and a pliable nose-shaped bump could still be found in its upper frame. Zax had no idea of what could lead to this, and it hadn’t happened in a while.

His hands and feet too were interesting in their own ways. For that was what they were, despite the avian features. Five fingers and toes each, with heels and wrists; the right joints folding at the right places, in the right direction, and at the right angles. No spur. The yellowed scales were like skin-tight gloves reaching the middle of human shaped forearms and calves, hiding less than the fur and letting the veins and taut sinew pop-out. Not as deep a mutation as it seemed, but it wasn’t far. His claws were black, curved, gleamed more than his fur, and were at least as long as the matching phalanx, but he didn’t seem to register their presence. They always naturally stopped just shy of the ground or stairs he treaded upon, or the door handle he grabbed and twisted.

He was not quite stealthy, but definitely not as loud as one would expect. The hobbyist couldn’t tell if it was from a mutation or training, but either way, this subtle mastery was impressive.

Zax was so engrossed in his examination, he didn’t notice the door closing behind him. The blue walled office had enough room for the four visitors, but chairs had to be brought in. Their host didn’t sit on the dedicated chair but on the front of his desk.

Once everyone was settled, an uncomfortable stillness settled. The first involved were too distracted to talk first, and none of the other dared to intrude.

Eventually, Aran’s thirst for a juicy story got the better of her:

“So, you two know each other?”

“Hm.? Yes. Remember that community of mutation enthusiasts I’m a part of?” Zax answered.

“The one where you try to decipher how mutations are decided?”

“Yes, among other things. He’s also there.” He said simply. “We’ve had many enlightening discussions on the topic. Mutations are an easy way to identify someone, so we care a lot about anonymity. Asking for or freely giving personal information is between rude and taboo.” The other visitors frowned at that wording. “Especially if it’s not yours. I identified Mister Garuza here because he tried to be funny by using an actual picture of his own bust as profile portrait.”

“Actually, it was for the Carlovekish Principle.” The aforementioned party interjected, raising a finger.

“Uh. It worked better than I would have thought.” The dotter blinked.

“The what?” Aran didn’t like being kept out of the loop.

“The Carlovekish Principle. Named after the first person who formally described it.” the hobbyist explained. “Without diving in the details, it’s the idea that seeing yourself as what you want to be makes your mutation more likely to lean in that direction. That includes how you introduce yourself and how others think of you.”

“Wearing clothes altered for the future you?” SG proposed in a small voice.

“Well caught.” Zax nodded. “If it’s on purpose and deviates enough from a normal outfit, it could work, yes.”

“It’s one of the most common recommendations among my colleagues.” Garuza nodded along. “Don’t expect all custom-made clothes to heed this principle though, most people don’t have such a precise idea of what they want.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Zax leaned forward, interested:

“Guess you did more than that? Your username, for a start.”

“Exactly. Plus all the basics, and mostly target projection. Thanks to my job at the time, I had a precise idea of what I wanted. I made various representations or had them made, printed and displayed everywhere I could in my personal space. Busts, close ups of different parts, artistic renditions… The works, preferably by myself. Even animations and a VR avatar, once I was able.”

“Awesome.” Zax muttered under his breath. “I can see the head is extremely close, but what about the rest?”

“Eh.” His large hand made a so-so move. “Great except for the feathers. The colour is spot on though.”

Zax took a few seconds to catch on: he was aiming for feathers, but he got fur instead. He was incredibly close to his goal, and he was an impressive specimen even without that, so this complaint was nothing short of ludicrous.

Funny guy.

“I’m not surprised you have so much success.” He chuckled. “And how do we know each other, besides that? Sorry, but I really can’t place you.”

The man’s back tensed so much his shoulders cracked, loudly. He kept a calm face, but the nanites picked up signs of emotional backlash. He glanced at the audience before answering:

“I am not allowed to give personal details about before my Residency was put in action.” He was a dotter before? “I can, however, talk about the activation that made it happen, as its details are mentioned in the relocation process. Especially since you were present.”

“I was?” Zax blinked, then frowned and thought about it, ignoring his host bracing himself for… something.

Despite his hobby, he hadn’t seen a lot of major activations in person, and this man was definitely not one of his childhood friends. That limited the list to three possibilities. One was a still a dotter a few months ago, and her mutation was reptilian. The last one happened in the Core, which was too recent and couldn’t be related for reasons he’d prefer to avoid recalling. That only left…

His eyebrows flew to the top of his head as dots connected.

“Yes. That’s me.” The man confirmed when their eyes met again.

Zax eyed him up and down with new eyes, but all he could say was:

“I would’ve never recognised you. You’ve changed a lot since.” His voice sounded far away to his ears.

The obvious euphemism defused some of the heavy atmosphere.

“In more ways than one.” Garuza chuckled, relieved at the lack of explosion. “I never thought playing, or having fun in general, could lead to an activation. I kept looking for other games to do it, which led me to other ways to activate, which led me to our forum… Now, ‘playing to activate’ is literally my livelihood.” He spread his arms with a proud, but strained smile, showing everything around them. The whole building and probably beyond. “One could say, our meeting paved my way to this life. I am infinitely grateful for that.”

“It paved my way to mine too, sort of.” Zax forced himself to kept going. “So, I take it, from your reactions so far, there’s a reason you never contacted me, and you know what happened on my side? What happened on yours?”

“Ah, yes. When your mediator friend described the talented hobbyist who wanted to meet me, I thought it might be you.” He nodded toward the sole other Resident in the room. “No harm done if you weren’t, and it seemed like an interesting encounter regardless.”

“Alright, time out.” Aran stood up and made a “T” with her hands. “It’s a touching reunion, and I’m sure it’s interesting, but would you mind getting everyone up to date? What in the stars are you talking about? Were you star-crossed lovers or something?”

“I am not allowed to discuss the details.” Garuza repeated.

“I am.” Zax countered. “Remember that Ghost Hand story? I was part of a team with two Residents and another dotter to make a game, it was bought by a big company in the Circle, but I was left out of it?” He recapped. “He was the other dotter in the group.”

“The one who brought the game to the attention of that company because it activated him?” Aran glared accusingly at the fidgeting offender, who pointedly looked away.

“The one. Apparently, the activation impacted him more than the game. Or the company, or he wouldn’t have left.”

“They told me your guardians wouldn’t let you sign with us, despite the caretakers and many opportunities they offered.” The furry man pushed off his desk and paced in front of them as talked. “It was weird, but I just thought maybe there had been a miscommunication somewhere. I proposed to help, but they threw some legal mumbo-jumbo to say it would void your contract and endanger mine. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity and I had no reason to doubt them.” His eyes stayed down as he shook his head, burdened with regrets.

It was an obvious manipulation in retrospect, but Zax couldn’t blame him for falling for it. They knew what they were doing and what strings to pull.

“Years later, some colleagues asked me about a pirate version of that old game running around, but I didn’t give it much credit. I was just a beta-tester, and it was a job for the legal team. It was a popular game, so it wasn’t the first time. I only realised how serious this case was when I was investigated and interrogated. I still had my original copy, untouched since, so proving my innocence was easy, but it shook me. I had never seen that aspect of the company, but I just put it down to how seriously they took corporate spying. Then, way later, the investigation was dropped, even if the pirate version was still out there, and was still being updated, and no one had been punished for it. Even the media stopped talking about it, just like that. That’s when I knew something was wrong. I investigated on my own, and I eventually found out the truth. What they had done to you. I confronted them, of course. My superiors. Do you want to know what they had to say for themselves?”

He was still looking at the ground, but his expression made everyone flinch. His hackles went straight up. His hands were clasped so tight some scales split under the strain. A heavy silence settled in the room, only broken by his shivering deep breath. Nobody dared to move or answer, in case a sudden noise made that shimmering rage explode.

“‘It’s just business’. It was all they needed. They despoiled a child. They lied to me. They lied to countless people. They snuffed untold futures. Without a care in the world. For business.” A very human growl overlapped the last word. He took a long inspiration to release the tension, calm down, and conclude: “I left soon after. I already had a plan to change job and become an activation coach, so it wasn’t a hard decision to make. I rushed a few things, is all. And I still couldn’t contact you, because that part of their employment contract it still legally binding. Most first contacts with a former dotter had a clause like that.”

A short silence ensued, but the tension was like him; depleted.

“I wanted to see you, to tell you; I’m sorry I let that happen.” He looked back up, straight in Zax’s eyes. “I know it’s irrational, I did the best I could with what I knew at the time, but the regrets are still there. And now I discover you even helped me after that.”

“I did?”

“He did?” Someone else called out.

“Your personal theory and some of your case-by-case analysis gave sense to a lot of cases that gave me a headache.” He nodded. “Pretty sure I’m not the only one either. It significantly raised my skills and my renown, and it would have been a lot harder to build what I did without your support. It’s one of the few things all my colleagues agree on.”

“Uh.” Zax was stumped. The previous explanation fit with his personal experiences and his expectations, but surprises kept falling from the stars. “But I’m just a hobbyist…”

“Well, safe to say, it doesn’t have to stay that way.” The furred bodybuilder chuckled. “I wanted to repay my debt by helping you become a Resident, if that was what you wanted. I have a large network of contacts to find fitting lodgings and employment, and I could make an activation program to make you eligible for relocation. I now know you don’t need me for the program, but the rest still stands. I would love to work here with you.”

As an afterthought, he added:

“By the way, how come you never made an activation plan for yourself? You don’t look mutated at all; I couldn’t believe you were him at first.”