Your OC has some sort of backstory, right? Feel free to post it.

It's a blue harmless werewolf having the same traits of mine :3

I really need to freaking get an actual OC! Arghh!!

I have a 10,000 word backstory from a storywriter.

It's not great.

Promising start, but you can tell their interest waned at the end.

I have one but I'll just be called stupid for it

Knotty Curls, an unkempt and not-all-there poodle, who roleplays as a rambunctious peacock, Knotty Daze, named after The Good Old Naughty Days, a compilation of vintage pornos. Both are essentially the same character and the character is just me. No exaggerations, no bullshit - I'm just a ditz who likes to entertain and inspire confidence in others.

The name story can be found here.

I hope to someday start a youtube channel with a peacock sock puppet and full skits involving me harassing the general public here at my university. Like Triumph The Insult Comic Dog.

If it ever comes to it, I'll likely perform under the name Knotty and dress up as a peacock.

mildly related

Husky, a husky that is a husky wearing a top hat. The End

My fanfic series probably contains a scalesona that I can work with, once I develop, reveal, and eventually draw him with competent skill and/or commission an artist.

A Feraligatr that gets real sick of other people's shit.

Original the Character, do not steal

I have a handful of main characters.

idk, never really thought of one, guess i should make one. now that i got a actual picture and all

Sometimes,
I am a Coyote;
usually when making trouble.

Actinium-89 said:
I have a 10,000 word backstory from a storywriter.

It's not great.

“And while the Uplift Project has been hugely successful over the past fifty years,” Dr. Cavendish nodded to his fellow humans and made a half-bow to their fox-morph colleague, “it is time at last to move on. We have perfected the techniques, but in the final analysis there is only so much that can be learned by bringing our fellow mammals, or even other vertebrates, to full sapience. We must push the frontiers of knowledge to see what other forms intelligence may take out in the wider universe. And so...” He advanced the projector, and the image of a wasp appeared on the screen at the top of a half page of computations and biochemical equations. “It is time to try to uplift a member of the Arthropoda.”

• * * *

Project Notes, 11/23/2056

After four complete failures, the fifth set of test subjects is promising. #89, in particular, has taken well to the growth acceleration serum, and three others - #84, #87, and #96 - are responding in a positive fashion, if not as well as #89.

Note to Dr. Augustus: Marie, Henri, Actini, and Curie? Where are your techs getting these names? And please keep them out of the official records.

• * * *

He remembered. He had never really done that before. He had been a grub, living solely to feast on the other insects the adults of the hive brought him, mechanically functioning without a thought for the past or the future. In due course, he had finished feeding and had retreated into his pupal stage, tissues liquefying to rebuild his very body so that he could take his turn as an adult. And then something happened. He knew something was different. He knew that he was. His reforming body was being pumped full of new raw material, and he was growing, enlarged enormously past what he should have been. His brain grew, what should have been a mere series of ganglia becoming complex and interconnected, and he knew what should have happened, his new mind tracing the patterns of his DNA to compare what it was programmed to do to what was actually happening.

He reached out, the structures that should have lent themselves to close cooperation with his fellow wasps now far more powerful, and found others like himself. Three others, growing as he had grown, but they were still less developed, and he took them over, incorporated them into the greater whole that was dominated by this new consciousness of his. And there were the tiny ones, the ones who were what he should have been. Individually they were mere flecks, but they too were now part of the hive, all part of the greater mind centered on him.

There were others, though. Smaller minds, with no ability to communicate directly, somehow fuzzier in their patterns. He could read them if they were close by, though with difficulty. They thought of things that he had never known, things that his larval existence had never noticed and that his pupal self could not experience for itself. Myriads of creatures, building, exploring, learning, creating. He learned of the world, the universe, names... names? Sound patterns. That was how the fuzzy ones communicated. And each of them had a sound pattern that stood for itself alone. They had one for him. He was … Actini? Actini. The lesser nodes were Henri, Marie, and Curie. And... they seemed to have no purpose. But he had a purpose. The Hive must live, and he was the Hive, now. He could control all the lesser parts of the Hive, and soon his transformation would be complete. The pupa was nearly finished, and soon he would be an adult. The first of his altered kind. The Imago. The fuzzy minds had a sound for it, of course. Emperor. So he would be the Emperor, and the Hive would rule. For how else could he ensure its survival?

• * * *

The phone rang four times before it was picked up. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“It is precisely 4:12 am, Dr. Cavendish. At 4:09, the monitors picked up increased hormone levels and a spike in neuromuscular activity. All indications are that Henri – sorry, Experimental Subject Number 87 – is emerging from his pupa. As per your standing orders, you are being notified immediately.”

“Ah! Excellent. I will be there as soon as I can. The cameras are recording?”

“Of course, doctor. Cameras and monitors are recording everything.”

Cavendish arrived to find the facility swarming with yellow jackets. “What is going on? Where did all these bugs come from?”

Augustus, the fox-morph in charge of the facility, paused to brush a few of them out of his fur. “We're not sure, sir. Ten minutes after the first indications of #87 coming out of his pupal shell, we started noticing them. They don't actually seem to be stinging anybody as long as you don't swat at them, but they're all over the place. They seem to be trying to get into the clean room area!”

“They are?” Cavendish paused and looked closely at one of them, letting it sit on his finger. “Oh, this is amazing! Reynard, have you looked closely at them? These are Vespula maculifrons. The same species we used as the baseline. Think about it! We are using a hive species as the base for these experiments. What if they actually are a hivemind? Why else would wild wasps be coming here if they weren't somehow summoned?”

The fox turned and stared at him. “You think they're trying to help?”

“What else could it be? Open the airlock. Let them in, and let's see what happens. We have three other viable runs if this turns out to be a mistake. But I don't think it will be.”

• * * *

The little ones came when summoned, though they had trouble finding their way to the node the lesser minds had designated Henri at first. But after a time, a barrier parted, and the swarm could move in to assist. Henri pulled himself loose from his old shell and rested patiently on all six limbs as the little ones swarmed over him, cleaning the remnant bits of slime and gunk from his body while his wings expanded out to their full size.

Now, let's see. The wings began to vibrate, and then beat with a low buzz, but nothing happened until the group mind put some psychic effort into it as well. Too big to fly like the little ones, but we can manage. Good to know. Now, what else. Ah. Of course. They wish us to be like them, walking upright and manipulating things with hands. Henri tried to stand up, and managed a wobbling stance before leaning against the platform that had supported his pupa. He lifted his now uppermost limbs to stare at them. Hands, of a sort. Theirs have more fingers. But I – we? – we. We have more hands than they do. Rather than a thumb and multiple fingers, there was a triple claw, one opposite and at the center of the other pair. Henri clicked it experimentally a few times, then followed suit with the other three. He shifted his attention to the open door through which the little assistants had entered, and lowered himself back to all six limbs to move toward it. Time to open communications with the fuzzy minds.

• * * *

Outside, a clear summer morning was dawning. Deep in the bioengineering facility, the only way to tell was by looking at a clock. The techs were dutifully recording the time without thinking about that. “Dr, Cavendish? We're getting the same preliminary indications on #84 that we had before #87 hatched out. Shall we open the locks again?”

“Do so, yes. The feral wasps seem to be assisting in the process.” He paused, watching as the swarm suddenly poured back out from Clean Room #7 into the main lab and began buzzing around the door to Clean Room #4, and then inside it as the two-stage doors were cracked opened. “Oh, this is marvelous!”

• * * *

Henri carefully moved toward the door, his broad compound eyes able to see in all directions regardless of whether he stood that way or on just two legs. The minds on the other side were... eager? Content? He explored the list of concepts that the Hivemind had found among the lesser ones. Happy? Happy seemed to match.

The concept of happiness appears to be similar to that of contentment at completing a necessary task. The lesser minds communicate this concept to each other through both sound-vibrations and ... movements of the body and facial features. The Hivemind was distracted by the imminent emergence of the second nodal body. Marie is ready.

Henri was left to himself as the Hivemind focused on his sibling. He looked out of the door into the larger space beyond, and then just watched as he saw the lesser minds for the first time. Their softer bodies allowed them to distort their faces in all kinds of ways, a mode of communication that he could not duplicate. But one of them - the one with the dark filaments over its whole body rather than only on top of its head - that one had mobile projections from its head. That, he could copy.

• * * *

The room hushed as the giant insect stepped out from the clean room into the main lab. Everyone stood still, waiting to see what their experiment would do now that it was complete. Cavendish sighed. “How disappointing. It's not standing upright, and after all the trouble we went to to design that modification. It seems to be operating on instincts, still.”

Augustus chuckled, his ears perking up as he watched. “Or perhaps he simply needs time. We learn to crawl before we walk, after all. He may have an adult body, but until now he didn't have legs. ”

Everyone went silent as Henri lifted his antennae up, bending them in the middle to make a V-shape. Augustus lowered his ears again, and watched as the wasp lowered his antennae to match. Another lift of his ears was copied, and a quick waggle up-and-down was also followed. “I do believe he wants to communicate, Dr. Cavendish. For a newborn, he seems quite advanced. Even if he is crawling. Now, let's get him something to eat. I suspect he's going to be hungry.”

Henri clacked his mandibles and waved his antennae up and down when he heard that. The night shift techs were still laughing at it when the day shift arrived.

• * * *

Curie finished hatching out the day after Henri and Marie had done so, and all three were calmly – and as Henri continued to insist, happily - investigating the grounds of the Institute,each accompanied by an ever-changing retinue of tiny insects. Doctors Cavendish and Augustus were monitoring the progress of Subject #89, which left the psychological team free to observe the other three and establish a rapport without the project heads getting underfoot. The process was going extremely rapidly - once the trio had learned how to make a voice using vibrations of their wings modulated by the buzzing of their tiny assistants, the team quickly discovered that they had already learned the language. “Zzzzo, Doctor Lyle. Why doezzzz thizzz zzzurprizzze you? Are your own grubzzz and pupae not able to learn?”

Deborah Lyle, whose bubbly blonde professional persona concealed a very serious mind, shook her head. “Our young ones learn as they grow, but far more slowly. Even if you were learning, thinking, while you were pupating, it has been less than a year, and all of you have learned far more than any of our children would in ten.”

“All of uzzz?” The one they called Marie was the most curious of the trio, always asking questions when he wasn't poking his antennae somewhere new. “We zzzhare what we learn, after all. Do you not do zzzo?”

“Well, of course we do. But... not so quickly as you do.”

“Your nodezzz cannot communicate without thizzz zzzound-language, then? That would zzzlow thingzzz down.”

Deborah kept her professional smile on her face, but it was a very near thing. This is important. This is one of the Differences Cavendish was looking for. “Nodes?”

“The otherzzz of your mind. The three of uzzz are nodezzz for the new mind you have made, and our Primary izzz zzzoon to emerge. But he izzz already active and awake, of courzzze.”

“So you were already awake while you were pupating?”

“Almozzt from the beginning, we think. And there izzz nothing elzzze for pupae to do but think, zzzo we learn constantly.”

Deborah nodded. “All four of you?”

“All of uzzz, yezzz. Thizzz izzz what we zzzaid already.”

The conversation was momentarily interrupted as Curie's entourage coalesced into a pair of triangular clumps on her head. “Thizzz izzz humor, yezzz! Fox-wazzzp!”

The two guards just shook their heads. Deborah giggled on cue – it wasn't the silliest thing Curie had done, but he always seemed to be sad when nobody got his jokes. “Very good. Be sure to show that to Dr. Augustus.”

• * * *

“There's something odd about the three of them.” Dr. Lyle was closeted with Augustus and Cavendish as the trio of wasps nibbled on fruit and bricks of sugar in their dining area. “Most of the time, it's Henri who experiments with conveying emotion, Marie who asks questions, and of course Curie is always making lame jokes. But once in a while, I'll catch one of them acting like one of the others – and none of them has ever used the word 'I'. They always refer to themselves as a plural group, and they include Actini in the group, even though he hasn't emerged from his pupa yet.” She sighs. “Sometimes I wonder if they are really individuals the way we understand it.”

Cavendish nodded. “They do seem to be telepathic with each other. Perhaps that keeps them from thinking of themselves as separate beings.” He smiled. “And there is so much to learn about them! They are every bit as different from mammals as I had hoped!”

Lyle looked in the direction of the trio, her eyes unfocused at the intervening wall. “I just hope they are not too different...”

• * * *

Experiment #89 was the largest of the successful uplifts, and had taken the longest to mature in consequence. Actini finally emerged from his pupal shell a week after Curie had done so. The techs and the project heads watched as the huge wasp slowly and carefully pulled himself from his old shell, attended by the three other uplifted wasps and the usual swarm of normal wasps who hovered around, darting in and out to clean a spot of fluid or groom a wayward sensory hair. To the humans and uplifts of the project, it was eerily silent aside from the soft buzzing of the smaller wasps. Once Actini was free and groomed, the quartet crouched, each on all six limbs with their heads together, antennae touching and tapping at each other, for several hours. Cavendish had attempted to interrupt after the first half hour, but retreated when the swarm of small wasps barred his way. Only one actually stung him, and that one appeared to use almost no venom, but the warning was clear.The scientists were allowed to watch, but not interfere.

It was just past noon when the four separated, Marie and Curie helping Actini to an upright stance while Henri stood and stepped outside of the room. Cavendish hurried forward. “Is everything all right?”

Henri waved his antennae up and down, a gesture that signified a nod. “We are ready, Doctor. What tazzkzz do you have for uzz?”

“For now, we wish to learn from you while you learn of us, Henri. When you are ready, each of you can join our society and take up whatever careers you feel suited for. Will Actini be ready to speak with us soon?”

It is as we have speculated. They do see us as separate beings, rather than as one mind. This is why Dr. Lyle would ask the same question of different nodes. She really did not know that she had asked us before. Should we tell them, or not? The thought flashed between the four brains in only a moment. We can always tell them later, if we choose. We shall do nothing irrevocable for now. “Zzoon, Dr. Cavendizzh. Our Primary izz zztill learning the wayzz of the adult body. That one izz larger than the rezzt of uzz and rezzpondzz differently.:

Cavendish nodded. “Understandable. We look forward to it. Not that you three haven't been fascinating, you understand, but he is different from the three of you, and we are curious about that.”

Lyle spoke up next. “You call him your Primary? What do you mean by that?”

“He izz the largezzt and mozzt developed. He hazz alwayzz been our center. What you would call the queen of a hive, except that none of uzz izz female.” There was a brief pause as the group mind pondered the implications of that for the first time. “Why izz that?”

“Hmm?” Cavendish hadn't expected the question so quickly. “Oh. It was easier to do the uplift procedures on males. Now that we have had some successful results, we will be able to expand the program to generate female uplifts as well.”

“Exzellent. We will be happy to azzizzt, of courzze.”

“That's settled, then.” Augustus nodded in turn. “Take whatever time you need to get Actini settled in. We'll be ready to speak to him whenever he's ready.”

• * * *

Actini was significantly larger than the other wasps, and between the immobile features and the looming presence, he was far more intimidating than the shorter trio. Even the project heads felt out of their depth when the smaller wasps allowed them in to speak with him.

“Zzo you wizzh to zzpeak with thizz node. We are ready. There izz zztill much to learn, but we can begin. What tazzkzz have you created us to perform?”

Dr. Cavendish was puzzled by the question. “We created you to learn how you would think. We do not have specific tasks in mind for any of you other than that. Eventually, we hope that you will become part of society and choose work – tasks, if you will – for yourselves. You four represent a new type of intelligence; all thinking creatures up until now have been vertebrates, and perhaps cephalopods. You are something new, and we are already learning from you.”

“Zzo you wizzh uzz to choose our own tazzkzz?”

Dr. Lyle smiled. “We hope you will want to do so, yes.”

“Then we zzhall do zzo. Henri will have the tazzk of helping you learn of uzz. Marie will help uzz learn of the world. Curie will learn of you, yourzzelvezz. And thizz one zzhall coordinate. When thezze tazzkzz are complete, we zhall choozze new onezz.” The giant wasp settled himself back, his tiny attendents buzzing around him, cleaning and grooming.

“But we wish to learn from all of you, Actini. Not just Henri.”

“That would be ineffizzient, Doctor Lyle. Henri will be zzuffizzient for thizz tazzk. Each of uzz will zzpezzializze. Izz thizz not how your zzociety workzz?”

“Well, yes, but we have more than one person on many jobs.”

“Redundanzzy is uzzeful, but we are only four for now. When there are more of uzz, then perhapzz we can duplicate thizz tazzk.”

And with that, he stopped talking. Henri wandered in a moment later. “Zzo, what quezztionzz do you have today, doctors?”

• * * *

“Dr. Cavendish? Can we talk to you for a moment? There's something strange going on.”

The project head looked up from his desk to see one of the junior techs, a leopard-morph... Evans, wasn't it...? with another cat, a cougar he didn't recognize. “What seems to be the problem, Miss Evans?”

“This is Robert Thomson, he's in the computing division. I was curious as to how the wasps were managing to speak as well as they do, so I asked him to run a simulation on their voices. And... well, I'd better let him tell it.”

Cavendish looked at the other cat. “They seem to be telepathic with the smaller wasps. I think we all assumed that they were modulating their own buzzings with those to produce proper words.”

Thomson shook his head. “Debbie mentioned that, so I tried to model things on that basis. But it doesn't work.”

“It doesn't?”

“No, sir. Short version is, what they're doing is simply not possible without a voicebox. Wasp wings can only vibrate so fast, and there are frequencies in the recorded sounds that they simply cannot generate that way. I've compared the audio spectra of the two. They're not even remotely close. So I had Debbie do some multiple-microphone recordings of their conversations and analyzed that.”

“And what did you find from that?”

Thomson stared at his boss, his ears flat. “That the sound source is centered in mid-air in front of their faces. The wing buzzing is a feint. It sounds crazy, but the only explanation I've come up with is that they are somehow manipulating the air itself. They seem to be telepathic – and they may just be telekinetic as well. It would certainly explain how they could fly, which also doesn't model properly.”

“Computer models of insect flight have never worked, Thomson...”

“Bumblebees can't fly? Old story, sir. Turns out that original model didn't know about vortex lift. But we know about that now, and even with that our human-sized insects can't fly. Unless they're lifting themselves with mind-power rather than wing-power.”

“Could they be doing this subconsciously?”

Thomson shrugged. “That's Dr. Lyle's department, sir. I'm going to write up an official report on this, of course. But we thought you should know about it as soon as possible.”

Cavendish nodded. “You're right. I'll call her in right now, and you can tell her what you just told me.”

• * * *

Dr. Lyle and Dr. Augustus listened to the report in silence. Lyle shook herself when it was done. “This is worrisome. Disturbing, even.”

Augustus was practically bouncing in his chair. “Disturbing? This is fantastic! This is the first demonstrable proof of psychic ability that we have ever achieved! If they can be trained to do this consciouslymmmf...!”

Lyle had grabbed his muzzle to shut him up. “Doctor. This may be a fascinating new field of study, but I am the psychologist here. If they are doing this consciously already, they are concealing the ability from us for reasons that we may not yet comprehend – for make no mistake, they are very alien in their thought processes. If they are not, then making them conscious of it gives them a serious weapon should they decide they do not agree with our aims. My recommendation is that we study this, find out how it works, and how to block it if we can. For at the moment, they have an ability that we cannot counter short of killing them. And if they can consciously block bullets and other projectiles, that may be difficult as well.”

Augustus huffed when the psychologist let go, his ears level and eyebrows lowered. “Really, Amanda. That was uncalled for.” He sighed. “But you are on the project for a reason. Very well. For now we shall study, and not tell them what is going on. Dr. Cavendish?”

“I am afraid I must concur. Some of the evasive answers that Henri has provided make a good deal more sense now. Do not let on that we know until we have an effective counter.” He looked at Evans and Thomson, “This is top secret from this point on. Mr. Thomson, put your analysis on a flash drive and erase it from the computer network. Marie has proven quite adept at breaking through security walls already. And tell no one else what you have discovered. Write your report offline, and submit it eyes only to the three of us. Miss Evans, that goes for you as well. No computer records, erase any emails on the subject, and maintain secrecy. Understood?”

Both cats nodded. “Understood, sir.”

• * * *

Assimilation of data, Stage One, complete. Temporary task for Nodes Henri and Marie will be to continue to inquire about irrelevancies to keep the mammals off guard. Stage Two incomplete. Motivations and emtions of the mammals still not fully understood. Incomplete task is... irritating. Statistical analysis indicates, however, that the members of the Project may not be a proper sample. Completion of Stage Two may be impossible before initiation of Stage Three.

Project directors continue to put off the question of inititation of breeding stock. Speculation: They do not intend to do so for reasons of their own. Conclusion: unless successful resolution to difficulty is obtained soon, Stage Three will be necessary. Task: prepare intial groundwork for Stage Three, beginning immediately. Stage Three must be completed before the end of October or it will have to be postponed until April at earliest. Winter months are a time of vulnerability.

• * * *

Dr. Lyle sighed yet again as she watched the cameras. “Actini just stands there, twenty hours a day. He eats, and he spends an hour or so in physical activity every day, but he refuses to interact on his own, and when we initiate contact he breaks it off as soon as he can. The other three seem to be developing nicely, but that one... nothing. If he were a human, I'd say he was autistic.”

Cavendish turned to face her from where he was watching the same video feed. “Could that be the problem? Something as mundane as that?”

Lyle shook her head. “I don't think so. The other three constantly talk about him and mention things he's told them, even though no such conversations appear on the cameras. I believe that the problem is that he prefers to communicate telepathically, and we simply cannot hear him when he does that. And I've run the recordings through the tabulator again. None of the four has ever referred to themselves as 'I' in the six months they've been awake. That has to mean something... but what?”

Thomson entered the room in time to hear the end of that statement. “I have the latest report on their telekinesis, Doctors. May I ask, what is it that has to mean something?”

Lyle repeated her comment. “None of them has ever used the word 'I',”

Thomson looked at the psychologist. “Seems obvious to me. They're telepathic, and more or less a hive-mind. Actini is the main processor core; the other three are periphals designated for input/output. But since they're all one computer, they don't refer to themselves separately any more than you or I would refer to our hands or eyes as separate entities from ourselves.”

Lyle stared at the feline. “That... Jack, how fast can you give me the basics of computer AI research? That may be the missing factor in analyzing their behavior.”

Thomson shrugged. “Depends how technical you need it to be, Doctor. It--” All three of them turned to stare at the monitors as Actini suddenly broke his silence.

“NO! They muzzt not! The Hivezz muzzt be protected!” The control room erupted in pandemonium as the ever-present wasps suddenly went berserk, stinging the techs on duty. They had barely gotten out when the monitors went blank – the crash of broken walls and falling debris told the story of why they were off-line.

Cavendish dropped his clipboard. “What in...? Get me the exterior cameras, something, quick!”

Thomson was already typing commands into the computers, and the screens lit up again with views from the perimeter security cameras. The four wasps could be seen leaving the wreckage of the facility, flying in formation in the middle of a debris cloud of rubble and broken equipment from the lab. The cougar's yowling snarl broke the shock of the two humans.

Lyle's voice was shaken. “Well, I'd say that answers the question of how much they are capable of.”

Cavendish nodded. “But what brought this on? What was he talking about?”

Thomson's voice was hushed. “I may have passed it on the way to work this morning. They had a fumigation tent around an old abandoned building. If there were wasp nests there...”

“Protecting the hives...?” Lyle and Cavendish stared at each other. “Oh, my God...”

• * * *

They hit the work site in a cloud of fury and flying debris, The fumigation tent lasted only a few seconds before it vanished in tatters. Actini's voice thundered out like an avenging angel's. “You dare!? You would zzlaughter the Hivezz!? They zzaid they wizzhed to learn from uzz! Liezz!” The workmen scrambled to safety as the enraged wasp dropped a wall on their trucks. “We will kill their larvae!” The telekinetic cloud moved on as the wasps sought their revenge.

• * * *

New Haverford's Chief of Police was already having a bad day when the first call was bounced to her office. “We've got one of the high mucky-mucks from the BioGene facility on the line, Chief. Says it's urgent.”

“Oh, lovely. I already had a headache.” She sighed. “Put him through...” She listened for a bit. “Slow down. You're telling me that your facility was wrecked by an experiment that developed psychic powers, and it's heading into the city to avenge pest control of wasps?”

“That's it exacly, Chief O'Brien. We believe that...”

“Look, whoever you are, I don't need prank calls trying to feed me comic book plots. I am going to have words with my sergeant for putting you through, and if you call back, I am going to throw the book at you.” She slammed down the reciever. “Kowalski!”

Her assistant stuck his head in the door. “Chief?”

“What the hell were you thinking, putting that crank call through?”

“Chief, the caller ID said it was from BioGene. Wasn't it?”

“Must've been some bored junior employee then. Started telling me that giant wasps were going to attack the city.”

“Umm... Chief? You'd better take a look at the KVTV feed.”

The screen in the outer office showed the quartet of giant wasps surrounded by a debris cloud that now included broken girders and shards of glass. Panicked people, humans and uplifts both, were scattering in all directions trying to escape from the things. The scroll at the bottom of the screen was repeating 'Breaking News' and 'Live Feed.' The Chief just sighed. “Call them back...”

• * * *

“So far, most of the damage has been done to garden centers and pest control companies, Dr. Cavendish. So apparently you were right about what set them off. But that doesn't help us stop them. So far, we've tried light arms and insecticide – the bullets they just catch and add to that debris cloud they're using, while the poison gets wafted away, usually blown back on whoever launched it. We've called for assistance from the National Guard, but they're still getting the heavy weapons prepped and I don't think we really want to have tanks firing in populated areas anyway.”

“One of my technicians does have a suggestion, Chief. He's been trying to analyze how they do the psychic powers thing, and he's pretty sure that it involves microwaves...”

O'Brien rolled her eyes. “So, what, we hit them with a cell tower? They've already got the remains of two of them swooping around bashing down walls as they head across town.”

Thomson joined the conversation. “Not microwaves, exactly. But it's close to what the military uses for targeting radar. So if you can get the Air Force or an Air National Guard unit up there, and have them do a pass with the radars lit, that might disrupt them long enough to deal with things.”

“I suppose that's worth a try, then. Kowalski, get hold of the airport and have them find out who we call to arrange that.”

• * * *

The rampage continued, moving across the north side of downtown, Actini continuing to announce his displeasure. “Murdererzz of grubzz! Zzellerzz of death! You zhall not dezztroy any more of uzz!” The blizzard of debris surrounded the four, providing both defense from incoming bullets and a weapon against their chosen targets. They were currently heading toward a branch of the Orkin company, moving west along Wilshire Boulevard. The leading edge of the cloud edged into the intersection of Wilshire and Carpenter, the traffic lights disintegrating at the onslaught. Cars abandoned in panic were quickly battered into uselessness, glass smashed, tires punctured, metal gouged and dented by bricks, concrete blocks, and whatever other bits of heavy material had been swept up already.

Arthropod hearing is limited, but insect hunters have exceptionally good eyesight for detecting movement. And so it was that the inbound jet fighter was noticed even before an uplifted fox or mouse would have heard it,

Aircraft. Military type. Missile attack, possibly heavy machine guns. The hivemind shifted its defenses to deflect a missile when the unthinkable happened. For the first time ever, the four found themselves truly alone in their own heads as a powerful radar pulse disrupted their telepathic bonding. What is happening? What have they done to us?

• * * *

The debris shield dropped to the ground in a cacaphony of noise as the plane swept past. O'Brien whooped in delight as Thomson's idea was vindicated. “It's working!” She pushed the send button. “All units, move in and secure the wasps before they recover!”

“Sorry, Chief, they're still airborne. Do we have permission to risk killing them?”

“Damn straight you do! Shut them down however you have to before the wreck more of the business district!”

• * * *

Actini recovered first, picking up what he could of the debris shield alone, but it was a shadow of the cloud of destruction they'd wielded together. Curie darted off in the direction of Biogene as his unfinished task took priority in his reduced mind, but Henri and Marie stayed close beside their Primary as the plane looped around for another pass. Actini followed Curie, unwilling to allow any of the Hivemind components to get too far away.

Even at reduced capacity, though, he realized that they had done as much of this task as they safely could for the moment. He buzzed Curie until he rejoined the formation, then led the way as they escaped. They stayed low, Actini concentrating on protecting them from the newly heartened defenders until they could get out of range. Fortunately for the wasps, they were not too far from the river and were able to escape down the forested green belt before the fighter could come in for another pass.

It took only a couple of minutes for the four interwoven minds to re-establish their bond. A most unpleasant experience. But we have some insight as to what the poor mammals must deal with. How horrid it must be for them to be alone in their own heads all the time. New task to be implemented once our next generation is provided for: determine a way to let the mammals be brought into the Hive.

• * * *

“Well, it wasn't a total loss, Mr. President. We did learn something about how psychic powers work, if we can duplicate the ability in a vertebrate nervous system...”

“At the cost of five billion dollars worth of damage to New Haverford, Dr. Cavendish. This is not something we want to repeat. No more arthropod uplifts until you have the telekinesis thing figured out.”

“What about --”

“And no squids, either. Stick with vertebrates, or I will find a way to have you arrested for all this. Just be glad we still need you.” At least until we find those four things you created. “My people will be in touch.”

• * * *

“And we should have everything unloaded ahead of schedule, Mr. Vespers. It should all be set up by Friday.”

The man at the other end of the video conference link smiled. “Excellent news, Robert! Give your people a bonus for a job well done, and add it to the final invoice, please. We may want to hire you again in the future, and we want to keep a top-notch crew happy. We'll talk again on Monday if nothing else comes up in the meantime.”

Henri shut down his end of the video link. Actini considered the situation. A simple thing to replace one image with another. And all is on schedule again.

Promising start, but you can tell their interest waned at the end.

wow, that was surprisingly in-depth. I like it!

Ryuzaki_Izawa said:
I have one but I'll just be called stupid for it

well, it's probably better than "Anne O. Character".

Ratte said:
I have a handful of main characters.

I've already seen yours Ratte. I think I follow your FA.

Ace said:
I've already seen yours Ratte. I think I follow your FA.

I do not recognize your name.

Even then, my tumblr has a lot more information than my FA does about all of my characters and other story-related content.

I'm a gay horse that farts on Patchis face.

elaborate backstory

Here you go.

Growing up in a mostly lawless Wasteland that's living in the shadows of a bygone era. Rusty quickly learned how to adapt and survive in a place where everything wants you dead. Never really being close to anyone and never finding any direction in life. Rusty became a Lone Wolf, always wandering. He is skilled in Bushcraft and Fighting, which has helped him stay alive up until this point, but not without earning a few scars. He is hardly, if ever, found unarmed.

Rustyy said:
Growing up in a mostly lawless Wasteland that's living in the shadows of a bygone era. Rusty quickly learned how to adapt and survive in a place where everything wants you dead. Never really being close to anyone and never finding any direction in life. Rusty became a Lone Wolf, always wandering. He is skilled in Bushcraft and Fighting, which has helped him stay alive up until this point, but not without earning a few scars. He is hardly, if ever, found unarmed.

So basically he'd be right at home in Nuclear Throne?

Ryuzaki_Izawa said:
So basically he'd be right at home in Nuclear Throne?

I guess

A wolf I named Ruffles (could'nt think of a better name), also his brother Jase. Then there's a fox named Birch. And a raccoon named Ricky. Ricky is the lead singer/guitarist for a hard-rock classic hard-rock type band (kind of like Molly Hatchet or Aerosmith).
The others aren't so defined yet

Peekaboo said:
I'm a gay horse that farts on Patchis face.

This is never not funny.

a fennec fox that isn't a living cock warmer

mexcian with no grace whatsoever

Peekaboo said:
I'm a gay horse that farts on Patchis face.

this triggers me so bad.