And then there was Franclin
"Such a disagreeable personality" I thought to myself as I pressed a clean handkerchief against my wound. The bullet had barely grazed my shoulder, but it went deep enough that it would need some work to properly heal. My head and ribs still throbbed from the beating earlier, but no permanent damage had been done. I closed my eyes to keep the room from spinning and reflected on the past few months of events that led up to this moment while I tried to regain my strength and let the adrenaline that was still pumping through me subside.
Contacting the fractal had been such a serendipitous event. My communications unit had been designed primarily for the purpose of using zero point vacuum energy to cook toast in the lab, which it did rather unsuccessfully. Every piece of toast either vaporized or came out soggy and lukewarm, neither of which was edible even with copious amounts of strawberry jam. But the energy that I had been shuffling around was enough to awaken the fractal, which had been sleeping in a plank length cavity near the lab. After I noticed some unregulated disturbances in my toasters power signals, I recognized a pattern emerging and responded by setting up a second signal that mimicked the pattern and further refined the device into a proper communication relay, leading to my first conversation.
As we communicated over the following months I provided it enough energy to strengthen itself until it could take over another host. The fractal could only communicate on a basic level given the information I provided it at first, but it learned quickly enough to share specifications for its basic needs of energy and a host.
I didn't feel so bad that the first few days of this new host acclimation to the fractal would be painful, especially after all the grief and misery he had caused to myself and others. After some time his mind would settle into a peaceful stupor while the fractal gave him a little more insight into being a more enlightened being, but for how long would be entirely up to the host. The fractal had been able to tell me that it had "many" hosts, but they had all needed to fit a particular physiology, that of a red fox. I found it quite curious, but such is the universe. Which worked out quite well considering that the red fox who had been hurting others against their will was attracting the attention of a mafia family in the city and was scheduled for assassination after attempting to assault one of the younger members of the head boss. Fortunately nothing happened to the little one that wasn't stopped in time, but it still took a lot of money and convincing to assure them that I would handle the matter appropriately. Ultimately, they got the satisfaction of knowing that their perpetrator would suffer (though they didn't realize for how long), society was safer with a wicked sadist off the streets, the sadist in question was getting treatment instead of being killed and dumped in a swamp, the fractal got a new home and as for me, well, I might have gotten a helper if the fractal could truly control his host.
I opened my eyes, looked up and called for the fractal by name.
"Franclin. Can you hear me clearly yet?"
The red fox nodded in agreement as he examined his new body. He would need some time to learn how to fully use his new body and speech was going to take some time due to the number of muscles and training it usually took to produce sound. But what a body to work with, a fit and dare I say, handsome specimen of the fox species. I could easily see how his physical appeal had led many to be disarmed and lulled into their doom.
"Excellent, now about that assistants position I had open, are you still interested in it?"
The fox smiled excitedly as his answer and walked over to help me up while I held my shoulder. He helped pick me up and leaned into me, his warmth and sweet smelling cologne filling my nostrils. It was a pity I hadn't noticed it earlier, but the previous mind occupying the body wouldn't have gotten this close to allow me to enjoy the scent.
"We have much work to do, I have many tasks in mind that I think you are quite well equipped to handle."
As he led me to a little room in the back of the chamber where I had a small bed setup for those late night work sessions, I stumbled and was caught by two muscular arms which lifted me up off the ground.
"Hmm, you are a strong one. That will also come in handy."
Once in the smaller room, lit by a small electric lantern overhead, I removed my shirt and dressed my wounds while Franclin stood behind me holding the bandages in place as I secured them. After everything had been settled, Franclin helped me over to the bed where I pulled back the covers, slipped off my trousers and slid under the sheets. I was too tired to notice that Franklin had undressed himself and was sliding into bed next to me. The pain and throbbing injuries kept wearing away at what little strength I had left to resist the fox cuddling up next to me to sleep.
And why would I have kicked out perfectly good company anyway. Hopefully he would continue to be good company. I remember how Franclin showed me the math that allowed him to always keep his hosts under control, but wondered if there was a chance we would have to deal with the sadist he held at bay again. I was too tired to care or deal with anything else at the moment and just wanted to sleep. Besides, I had my own defenses that I still hadn't shown. Not all my tricks were so obvious, I giggled to myself.
As I slowly drifted out of consciousness with Franclin's warmth against my back and paws wrapped gently around me, I somehow felt safe even given what his host had done. This was a completely different personality than what I had been expecting, but I suppose stranger relationships have existed before.
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