As I gasped awake, very disoriented as I tried to place myself chronologically and physically, a voice I could only describe as ‘disillusioned college student after an all nighter on a group project with a particularly bad group.’ It took my brain a few seconds to process what they were saying, but on the third or fourth repetition, I picked out, “you up? Quick question: what did I fucking say at the end of my message?”

Seeing as I was in the middle of a massive headache, my only response was a long groan.

Off to the side of my bed, spinning on a chair, my visitor said, “exactly! Not to make me come need to deal with you earlier. And what did you do? Have someone try to murder you, violently disembowel them, then have a panic attack and pass out for a day.”

Voice mostly working, I crankily cut back, “aren’t I important enough now for it to be an assassination?”

The spinning stopped and the person I presumed to be Miracleworker stared into my eyes for a long few second, then completely lost control. He started laughing like a maniac and slipped off the chair. Hitting the ground didn’t stop him, as he repeatedly slapped the ground while choking for air. While wiping tears from his eyes after a solid minute of uninterrupted laughing, he chuckled, “holy shit, that's a good one- need to remember that if I even get fuck up like you did. And it’s even better because it’s fucking true!”

Getting his attention with a cough, I flatly asked, “I assume you know what's going on with that; am I going to get interrogated anytime soon?”

Slumping back into the chair, he sighed, “well, they’ll probably want to… But you can just decline. They won’t fucking tell you that, and will probably try to do the usual intimidation tactics, but they have no actual legal power over you. I would recommend looking up the relevant treaties and law so you can cite them. These islands also have a few special laws that give us MGs even more freedom.”

“Yay… Also, another important question: what do you want me to call you?”

Facepalming, he offered, “uhhh, MiricleWorker, dude, fucker- anything really. Just say it pointedly and with a tinge of exasperation and I’ll know you’re talking about me.”

“Alright So, Wallace-”

“Uggghhh…”

“-My Semiseelie said you had stuff to talk about? I really feel like I could use a hand to help with the rest of the mess.”

“Fuck my life… You know what? Sure, whatever.” Slowly picking up steam, Miracleworker continued, “any ideas on that front? Are you thinking biological or mechanical? Will you be boring and settle for something worse or on par with your old equipment, or do something fun with the opportunity?”

Taking a deep breath, I asked, “would doing one of the more involved things off [Bio-Aug Initializer] solve the issue faster?”

Eyes lighting up in excitement, he enthusiastically responded, “yup! Well, it depends on what you choose and how you go through with applying it. The more strictly biological ones- say werewolves, vampires, human plus stuff- typically require souping yourself. Since that would melt you down and rebuild you, the arm would come back. Assuming the morph has the standard limb arrangement. Not that I’ve ever seen someone take one that didn’t… If you end up with a more literally built up morph, you would probably want to make a replacement arm before going through with it so everything is incorporated properly.”

“Huh. Next question since you seem to know at least a little about what you’re talking about: should I choose something that synergizes with my perks or something to fill a gap?”

Fully into doctor mode, he explained, “the system prefers specialization, so using this opportunity to delve deeper on something you’ve invested in is probably the best idea; it also gives it more of an ontological connection to you. Hang on.” From out of nowhere, a clipboard stacked with papers appeared in Miracleworker’s hands. After flipping through a few pages, he looked up. “From what I see on here, you’re using chemical weapons. A bit of a strange choice- maybe an elemental of some kind?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Ahhh… That’s a bit out there… And I only have like three perks for that sort of thing anyway.”

“Dammit. When is someone going to choose some cool shit? You’re all so boring and too tied to being human.”

Confused at the apparent hypocrisy, I poked, “why don’t you choose one of the more interesting things then?”

With a sigh, he deflated and defeatedly said, “I would if I could, but I’ve already basically rebuilt my entire body twice over. This sort of messing with yourself gets so much more expensive the more you do it, and now I’m at the point where even minor changes would be prohibitively expensive. And there's the slight issue that my Semieseelie warned me if I did try to change myself, I’d probably get removed from existence.

“Anyway, if you haven’t invested in chemical weapons, what did you spec into?”

“Cyber warfare.”

“Huh, did you manage to sneak that in since your last interviews about your powers? My document didn’t mention that.”

“Nope. Where did you get the document?”

“From SEYA’s MG database. They really try to keep that stuff up to date given how most MGs get to a point where they could wipe out a city in a few minutes should they be sufficiently motivated.”

Taking a second to check the room for bugs, I explained, “ah, yeah. I hacked that and deleted any mentions of me having those perks. They were trying to be clever by having a hidden observation room with a truth-sensor… I didn’t like that they didn’t trust me, so I reciprocated.”

Blinking a few times, MiracleWorker just shrugged, “huh. Well it’s not my problem. Digital stuff… I can work with that.” Flipping to a seemingly random page in the mess of a clipboard, he started scribbling and muttering, “not a lot of mythology or well defined cultural understanding to use as a base, but we can make up for that. Lots of options- probably best to build off existing design choices. Not adventurous enough to break away from being humanoid… Best option is probably to make use of some clever puns or homophones.”

Watching someone go into a spiral of word-play induced madness was not something I expected to have happen today, but it was pretty funny, so I let it go on for a few minutes. Eventually, my curiosity won over the entertainment value and I asked, “why are you worrying about all that stuff?”

Miracleworker flailed in genuine surprise before collecting himself and answering, “the more meaning you can shove into controlling the expression of the morph, the better. For example if I go with a really fuckin’ easy example- say werewolf again- you and everyone else already have ideas of how that would look and work. On the other hand, if your morph was more niche- say an OC you made up years ago and were too embarrassed to show anyone- only you would know what it would look like and do. And, while you know exactly what you want, there is no social concept of it to draw structure from, so you have to make up for that with more prepwork.

“I’m trying to pin down an idea that hasn’t been put in the collective consciousness. Sure, there are ideas of digital monsters, ghosts, and cryptids in general, but they’re all wildly different and super niche. Now, if we base the morph on a computer or internet term that’s also tangentially related to a separately understood concept, we can draw on that outside idea to settle things in by twisting it to fit the digital theming.”

“So… like a ‘dæmon’?”

“What?”

Gesturing broadly as I explained, “well, despite… this… demons are typically depicted as humanoid figures plus tails, horns, and maybe wings. Play a part in a lot of stories and culture. Anyway, they also have a strong theme of pacts or contracts but in a manipulative way- like devils, I guess- and helping for a cost in general. D-ae-mons are a computer term for programs running in the background, I think.

“I already have a built-in computer, horns, tail, am manipulative, enjoy screwing with people, do bad stuff, and avoid the consequences of my actions… so it's a good fit.”

Suddenly much more subdued, Miracleworker muttered, “fucking hell, already?”

After taking a moment to let out a tired sigh, he spoke up, “alright, here’s what we’re going to do: tell your friends you’re awake and bored so they come distract you. Before I come back to continue in, say, three days, look through these-” He briefly paused to summon a ream of written, typed, and scribbled notes, “and figure out if and how you want to go through with the morph idea. Additionally, maybe try to figure out what you’re doing about the missing arm. I can probably get whatever you design attached fairly easily- and feel free to hit me up for design ideas if you can’t think of anything. Please try to have some fun with it.”