A great deal of the process of Animation required focus. One had to reach out into the Astral plane, and touch upon the less tangible things, the Djed, the soul. It was hard to do amidst distraction. That was one reason it was always performed in a private, closed off space like Tock's home. It was also difficult to do if one was too tired, or hungry, two states that seemed to plague Tock eternally lately. She was pushing herself too hard, working full time, going to school, and trying to squeeze in time for her personal projects. Tonight hadn't been the first time she nearly passed out from exhaustion. It was made all the worse by the gnawing in her stomach from lack of food.
All of these physical sensations were distractions that she had to fight past. She needed to be focused on the things that would be transferred: the spiritual energy, the memories, the capacity for movement. Making sure those things could be transferred required a clear mind.
As she reached out and found the swelling energy of Satevis' soul, something happened. As soon as she touched it, his body began to glow, and somehow... the Djed began to flow. She frowned, confused, and watched as the energy flowed with shocking ease from one circle to the next. Then her eyes widened, and a grin touched her lips. The Glyphs were working. With a tired mind and the distraction of an empty stomach, she expected to have to fight harder to get the Djed to flow, but the runes for balance and equality made it so much more natural.
It was like the motion of water between two containers, something Tock had been studying in her gadgeteering classes. Water naturally wanted to flow from high to low, and when two glass vials were connected with a tube, the water would equalize between them all on its own. The flow simply continued until the water level on each side was balance and even.
It was like that, the flow between the circles. The addition of the runes created a natural flow of spiritual energy. The Djed wanted to flow from one circle to the other, and the yaq runes kept it from overflowing or escaping the circles. With the energy flowing so firmly, Tock was able to form the puppet's Soulcore faster than she ever had before. Before she knew it she was shaping its persona, programming it with directives for obedience and love. It was all so simple all so natural.
Then she had to pause, for the next stages she needed to program from her own mind. She closed off the flow, and asked Satevis to get up so she could take his place in the circle. Once she was there herself, the flow was even easier. The concepts she needed to teach the puppet, the commands she would use via hand motions, the poses it had to know, all had to come from her own mind, since she hadn't explained the specific poses and signals to Satevis. The aid of the runes made it so the knowledge she was instilling ended up taking half the time. It was amazing.
She worked through the muscle memory the puppet would need, going through the motions as the puppet mimicked her in the other circle. With the Glyphs for balance and equality, it was like she was the puppet. Normally, when she worked an Automaton through muscle motions, there was some lag. She would raise her arm, and the creation would follow with the slightest delay. But today, the motions were in perfect unison. It was like looking in a mirror (save for the fact that the puppet was 1/16 her size), her creation raising and lowering its arms, moving its legs, and following through the poses she worked through.
It was well into the wee hours of the morning, past midnight, before she finished and gave the creation the final spark of life. She hopped over to Satevis and wrapped her arms around him, exhausted yet satisfied. "Yer a Daddy, love," she whispered in his ear. While she had done the programming, it was his soul that had formed the Soulcore, and his mind that the main persona had come from. There was a connection between him, Tock, and the puppet. It had a piece of his soul and mind, but her programming and style of movement.
Tock clung to Satevis, tired beyond belief, and gently kissed his neck. Then she started to drift off, falling asleep right there in his arms.