Mini-Plot: Egg Baby Assignment

[codicies]

Who: Teens Attending Lofty Heights (or anyone, really. See inside for an opportunity to let adults participate)
What: Egg Baby Assignment
When: February 6 through February 13
Where: Lofty Heights & anywhere else
Content Warnings: Simulated child care



Valentine's Day is coming up, and love is in the air —

— And on a completely unrelated note, the faculty of Lofty Heights has deemed this the perfect time to educate their high schoolers about just how difficult childcare can be.

Students will be partnered up, either with another player character or an NPC. The pair will get a baby doll that will keep track of how well they're taking care of it. A day or two into the assignment, the doll will develop a random superpower that the parents will need to manage without harming the doll.

In addition to caring for the baby, students will be expected to budget for supplies, as well as the cost of any damage their baby's superpower might inadvertently cause.

---

So What is This Doll Like?

The simulation doll is a human-shaped baby doll. Its skin comes in a variety of colors to match the parents' preference, even distinctly non-human colors. Assume whatever color your character prefers is available.

It is designed to feel like a real baby, and thus is much heavier than the average doll. The baby will come with a plastic bottle and 2 cloth diapers, all equipped with sensors, so students can go through the motions of feeding and changing without needing actual baby supplies.

It is enhanced with both magic and technology, and is designed to keep track of how well it is being cared for. While the doll can track when it is being nurtured, neglected, or abused, it is not sentient and does not have thoughts or feelings. It is only collecting data.

The doll has a shrill cry, and must be tended to and soothed to make it stop. Sometimes a bottle or a change will do the trick, other times students will have to get more creative -- holding it, rocking it, singing to it, et cetera. Of course, the doll will make other noises, too. When the doll detects that it's been dutifully nurtured, it will laugh and burble happily.

Around one or two days into the assignment, the doll will develop a random superpower. This can be anything you want. Maybe it starts spitting fire, maybe it starts teleporting short distances, maybe its shrill cries suddenly become percussive blasts of sound. These superpowers may cause minor damage at worst, and students will need to find a way to manage those powers & minimize damage without doing anything that would hurt an actual baby.

(For example, if your baby is spitting fire, you cannot simply cover the doll's mouth to keep the fire in as that would suffocate a real baby.)

Being powered by both magic and technology, the doll cannot be hacked or altered. Any attempt to hack the doll will cause it to shut down, effectively "killing" it for the remainder of the assignment. Needless to say, this will result in failure.

At the end of the assignment, teachers will take the dolls back and load their stored data to determine students' scores.

So What's This About Budgeting?

The Lofty Heights faculty worked so hard on this assignment... they can have a little Pro-Guild Propaganda, as a treat.

Students will be given a workbook to go along with the doll. They must keep track of how many times they feed or change it, and track how much these supplies will cost based on the prices listed in the workbook.

(Obviously, players aren't expected to ACTUALLY keep track of these numbers. Unless you're into that, I guess. But this is 100% flavor text.)

Interestingly enough, there are two sets of prices listed in the book. In one column, there's the actual price for the item listed on store shelves. In the second column, there's a significantly cheaper price listed -- guild members get the cheaper price, as the guild will help subsidize the care of metahuman children.

Moreover, there's also a guide to budgeting for any damage your doll's superpower may have caused. For unaligned, there's a chart for calculating the hypothetical cost of damage based on what your doll's superpower is and how well you've been able to manage & keep it under control.

Alongside that chart, there is also the option for insurance to pay for any damage the baby causes, based on real-world prices at that time. However, the insurance premium is extremely expensive for unaligned parents, while the guild rates are far more affordable.

The workbook elaborates on the affordable guild rates, providing statistics and actuarial analysis on parents of metahumans. On average, unaligned parents are far more expensive to insure, due to the unaligned parents having fewer resources.

What resources, you ask? There is information in the workbook detailing all kinds of resources guild members have access to, including subsidized childcare, access to affordable health care and counseling, and a number of others.

All in all, the two main takeaways from this assignment appear to be: 1. Childcare is difficult, and 2. If you do decide to become a parent, you're gonna want to join a guild.

Wow! This Plot is Dumb and I Don't Want to Do It!

That's fine! Here are some options for you:

• Your character cared for the doll offscreen.
• Your character's partner is an NPC who decided to do 100% of the childcare themselves.
• Your character declined to do it this semester, and will be required to do this assignment at a later time.
• Your character just ignored the doll and failed the assignment.
• Your character is paying someone else to care for the doll.

Wow! This Plot Sounds Fun and I'd Love to Do It, but My Character is an Adult!

 

Rich students will pay you to take care of the doll for them.

 

Comments

QUESTIONS?

[codicies]

I tried to give you all a lot of room to play on this one, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them here!

OTA; network post (tiktok + OurPowers)

[faceguy]

A: tiktok | un: neonleon

[Leo posts a tiktok using the Reba McIntyre I'm A Survivor sound with the caption:

"my partner ditched me with our robobaby but i think im doing ok #singledad"

The video shows him dribbling real milk all over the baby's face and clumsily trying to put on a cloth diaper with the holes in the wrong spots. Finally he holds the baby over a filled bathtub just before the video cuts off.

(He did not actually put the electronic baby in a bathtub.)

He's in his human disguise for all of this, though only his hands are ever visible.]

B: OurPowers | text | dn: Leon (he/him)

soooo my baby gained the power to shrink and now I can't find it

do you think if I step on it I'll flunk?

text | dn: Danny

[formerspybrat]

did you see it shrink/where it shrunk?

[faceguy]

it was laying on the bed but what if it rolled off?

maybe I should find a magnifying glass

[formerspybrat]

i've got one around here somewhere if you don't.

you want help looking for it?

[faceguy]

yeah sure
just be careful when u come in! I wouldn't put it past this thing to be on the move. I think its plotting against me.

Text >>> Action

[formerspybrat]

gotcha

be there in a sec. try to hide any sharp objects, don't want it going all Chucky behind your back.

[Action]

[It takes Danny a hot minute to eventually knock at Leo's door. For someone that had only been here for about a month, he sure had managed to amass quite a collection of crap to shove in one "junk" drawer, but eventually, he'd dig up that magnifying glass. And as he waits for an answer he can't help twirling the thing between his fingers, using some light telekinesis to make the movement more fluid than it had any right to be.]

[faceguy]

[Yeah, he isn't taking any chances with potentially living dolls. Leo puts away his swords and anything else that could be feasibly used for murder while he waits for Danny.

Once he hears the knock, he tiptoes over, squinting at his feet to make sure he doesn't step on his baby.]

Hey, thanks. [He spots the magnifying glass spinning his hands and grins.] Let's see if we can find this thing.

[formerspybrat]

No prob. [He holds the magnifying glass out for Leo to take, figuring he knows his room and where to start looking best. Watching his step he cautiously enters the room, half wishing he could just levitate in the case the thing really is on the move, but that probably wouldn't fit with his claims that he could barely bend a spoon. Ah, the inconveniences of going back into the mutant closet.]

So how small is the thing, ya' think? Like grape-sized? Rice? Grain of sand?

[fluttersinoceanswind]

[At the start - Closed to Nico]

[Erika actually groaned when she heard what the assignment was, and she almost let out a scream when the teacher said that unlike some of the other classes, she wasn't letting them choose their partners for this. What sense did that make? Why would she be having a baby with a guy she didn't know anyway? At least if she could've chosen her partner she could be doing this with Tsubomi!

Either way, she had the fake baby in her arms now, rocking her back and forth in her arms to keep her from crying as she walked over to this Nico person. ]

So, uh... I guess we're stuck working together for this? [She pauses, frowning a little. ] No offense, but I really wish they would've let us just choose our partner for this.

[Powers time! OTA]

[Things were going pretty well with this whole baby thing as far as Erika was concerned. Sure, she got woken up in the middle of the night like... four times and she was a little cranky. But all and all the actual taking care of the baby thing wasn't all that hard at all.

Just annoying. And pretty constant. Even at school which was really annoying the teachers but it was for an assignment she couldn't just leave the baby in the hotel room with Coffret!

...Actually, if he could hold the baby she absolutely would've done that but that's not the point.

Anyway she was trying to pay attention to her school work while having the baby on up against her chest when she started crying... and then a blast of fire shot out of her mouth and singed her hair. And the empty desk behind her.]

Hey wait why is the baby belching fire!?

[Ourpowers, text; Display Name: Erika Kurumi; OTA]

OKAY I GET IT I'LL JOIN UP WITH THE ALLIANCE CAN I GET SOME HELP WITH THE SUPERPOWERED FIRE BELCHING BABY BEFORE MY EVERYTHING IN MY ROOM GETS BURNT!

[demigoth]

[ Nico’s not thrilled at the situation either - if he had to choose a partner, he’d rather it be someone he know, like Will or Dylan or Serrure. But they’re not all in his class, so he can’t really hold it against her for not being them.

It would still be easier if she wasn’t his partner. If he didn’t have a partner, then it wouldn’t matter what grade he got. Now, he’ll have to put an effort in. He’s not going to drag her onto his quest to grief every teacher as if they’re personally responsible for this stupid school, even if she’s rude. ]

That sounds offensive to me.

[ She’s doesn’t know him, what in Hades could he have done? ]

[fluttersinoceanswind]

[Erika giggles a little nervously. Great, good job girl just shove that foot in your mouth even harder why don't you? ]

Sorry. I'm just frustrated by this whole... everything. Even without our teacher setting it up that we pretty much just... uh...

[She shakes her head, trailing off. Yeah, maybe she shouldn't finish that sentence.]

Anyway, it'd just be a lot easier if I were doing this with my best friend.

[demigoth]

[ That we pretty much just what? He doesn't know how that gap is meant to be filled in, and he's not sure that he wants to know. But he does want to know. So he can rip off the band-aid of being insulted instead of pretending that this is somehow polite. ]

It'd be a lot easier if you stopped making it difficult. I'm not going to Zeus the baby off the floating island.

[fluttersinoceanswind]

[Okay, Erika has no idea why this Nico guy is mentioning Zeus of all ancient gods, but she's at least not so dumb that she doesn't get what "Zeus the baby off the floating island" means. ]

I didn't think you were going to do that! My problem's not even with you it's with the assignment!

[But okay, okay. Stop making this difficult. Right, okay, she can do that. ]

Let's just... figure out how we're doing to deal with this. Should we just switch who takes the baby with them each day or what?

[demigoth]

The other kids acted like it's a normal assignment.

[ What would Nico know? The teacher said "it's that time of year" like they all knew this was coming. Maybe the ones that kept the syllabus do. He thinks he's heard of it. ]

I'm okay with switching days. It can't be that hard. It's a doll.

[fluttersinoceanswind]

[She frowns, because yeah he did have a point there. ]

Yeah, I don't know why the rest of them aren't more upset about this.

[But either way, he's at least okay with the whole switching thing, so that's good. Means that she'll actually manage to get some sleep. ]

Okay. Want to take it first or should I do that?

[demigoth]

Because it's February. They've been going here for over 5 months. Their spirits are broken.

[ It sounds like the same teenaged grumble, but there's something in the delivery that might be a sense of humor. If you squint. ]

Which do you think is worse?

Ourpowers

[bag_has_snapped]

Erika?!

[fluttersinoceanswind]

TSUBOMI MY FAKE BABY IS A MONSTER AND IT KEEPS SETTING ALL MY FABRIC ON FIRE! IF I DIDN'T KNOW BETTER I'D THINK IT WAS DOING IN ON PURPOSE!

[Fortunately it's not doing it right this second but it was only a matter of time. ]

[bag_has_snapped]

WHAT?! WHY?! I?!

THAT’S NOT FAIR!

[fluttersinoceanswind]

[ This next response takes a few minutes, but then.]

I don't think it's supposed to be fair.

Also on roof now so baby won't burn down room but IT'S COLD and I don't wanna do this anymore!

[bag_has_snapped]

How did it get on the roof?!

This is ridiculous!

[fluttersinoceanswind]

I ran up here to get it away from flammable stuff!

Dylan Brock | OTA | will match style

[codicies]

01. Closed to Thad

[ The class has broken into groups by now. Dylan's cradling the doll carefully, looking over the instructions and the accessories that come with it. ]

Okay, so how do you want to do this? Switch off every day?

-

02. Around Town (Any of the cities) - OTA

[ Your eyes do not deceive you: This 15 year old child is carrying around a life-size baby doll. At the very least, with his own powers, he's able to whip up a baby sling with ooze, so his arms are still free to go about his business. Poking his head in a bookstore, grabbing snacks from a convenience store, picking through vinyl records at music shops and antique stores.

He seems to be doing a pretty good job of it... right until it starts spitting up something purple and corrosive, or the doll starts to cry. ]

Oh, god — seriously? [ He tries to duck away into a nearby bathroom before too much of the gross spit-up gets everywhere.] Shh, shh, it's okay.

-

03. The Descendant (Safehouse) - OTA

[ It takes a village, right? This "parenting" thing is gonna be a Team Effort. Together with his friends, they're holed up in the safehouse above the Descendant trying to earn that A.

The dolls are propped up on the couch, on a blanket that should protect the furniture from any destructive powers the dolls might exhibit. Dylan's catty corner from them, trying to keep them calm and happy with a little serenade.

Dylan discovered a couple nights back that his doll seemed to enjoy the sound of his guitar, so he dragged it to Central City with him. He's never played in front of his friends before, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

And so here he is now, plucking gently at the strings and softly singing Freebird. He's been practicing; Even though it's kind of a dumbed-down "for beginners" version of the song, he doesn't sound half bad. ]

01

[mirror_soldier]

[Following suit, Thad is also meticulously studying the instructions and accessories. After a moment of thinking the question over, he nods.]

Switching off seems like it would be the best way to divvy up the responsibility...I've never taken care of anything before, though.

[Except for a dog, sort of. Honestly, Helen was the one who took care of Iven the most.]

Would it be possible to work together with it after school?