General Protection Fault (webcomic) - Characters - Fredrick "Fred" and Persephone Physarum, The Slime Molds

Fredrick "Fred" and Persephone Physarum, The Slime Molds

Fredrick the slime mold supposedly gained sentience from living in the squalor of Fooker's cesspool of an apartment. Fred learned to speak by watching PBS and tends to have an intellectual slant(his IQ is tested as 139, but Fred thought it should be 209). Fredrick briefly served as a literature professor for an undisclosed major online university until it was revealed that he (Fred technically has no gender, but answers to male identifiers) had no teaching credentials. He was eventually hired by Dwayne as GPF Software's customer support operative.

Persephone is another slime mold that sprang into existence when Fred reproduced by mitosis, one who considers herself a female. Although she should be genetically identical to Fred, she is a different color (yellow as opposed to Fred's green) and has a very different personality. They can alter their colors at will, and there have been hints of other, different colored slime molds (possibly from another time line). Persephone often seems quite naive, but has shown the occasional hint that she is far more intelligent than she lets on.

Fred (and Persephone by association), thrives in a filthy environment, which is no problem with Fooker, but Nick and Sharon, who have allergies, require clean environments, leading to conflict with the molds. Both molds also gain nutrients from eating decomposing food, can be destroyed by cleaning products such as bleach, and, like humans, require sleep. Fred has learned that he has the ability to control people's bodies by planting pseudopods on them, and used this ability to force Trent to perform various embarrassing and illegal acts (culminating with running round the GPF offices clad only in a cape and screaming that he was 'Willy Wombat, walloper of the wicked and warden of the weak'. It is implied that Persephone can also do this, although she has never done so (Fred wanted her to help him possess Sharon and Fooker so that they could have sex, but Sharon disapproved).

Fred is manning Nick's MUTEX console in the home universe, but has mysteriously been prevented from communicating with Nick, presumably because of Pandemonium's influence.

It is thought that the slime molds in the third universe are agents for the aliens that attack the city, as two characters are seen under control of something that acts much like Fred when he takes over someone. In addition, when the two characters are knocked unconscious, two objects detach from their heads and enter a grate, leaving behind a trail of slime. Also, when the Evil Nick shows the good Nick around his base, he takes him to a room where medical help is being given to a man with blue slime dripping from his head and neck, which Fred and Persephone regularly excrete when they come in contact with something. Finally, Fooker points his gun at Persephone during the alien attack and orders her to return to Ki's purse, possibly fearing that she will be mistaken for an enemy and killed.