Frost 13th, 4622
"Maybe there's just some things you haven't seen yet," suggested his companion with a light shrug, something of a sarcastic rise to her brow and tilt to her head.
"That's ridiculous," Arkash dismissed. "I've seen everythin', know everythin'."
"Okay," Izzy returned with a roll of her eye. "Well after you've talked to her, you can tell me all about how she isn't a golem. Okay?" She pat him on the shoulder then, as if to make light of his uppity attitude toward the machine. "We really do need arms though, so I'm gonna track some down. Meet back at the chariot when you're done?"
Arkash exhaled deeply through his nose as he directed his gaze to the golem's bust on the front wall. "Alright," he agreed uneasily. "Be careful," he warned as he looked back at Izzy, who was on her way already. A wave of her hand relayed her compliance, but she didn't look back at the Rath.
Arkash was alone with Freida; the mechanical travesty.
He turned fully to face her while he stood on the shallow sands, burning rivulets burying his feet the more he uncomfortably shifted. He stayed there for some time, measuring the facility before him and what its capabilities were... Until the roar of gunshots erupted in the marketplace behind him.
Such was typical of Badland settlements, the lands were rife with gang wars, and it wasn't often that such violence stayed for the sake of civility.
Gunshots didn't normally bother the Rath, but as defenseless and injured as he was, he wasn't looking to involve himself in any violence. So, he returned his gaze to the building and approached with a brief adjustment of his hood.
As he came close, the white of gears and the churn of motors sprung to life, and the golem bust seemed to throb with power as its own working parts awoke. "Welcome to Freida's Corrective Services, valued customer!" Called a child's voice from the flower pedal horn atop her head. Her mouth did not move. "Will you be paying for a past service today or commissioning a new service?"
Arkash blinked. "...You're not real."
There was a long silence, spanning seconds as the machine processed his words. "Sorry, I don't have that," she said. "Will you be paying for a past service today or commissioning a new service?" She asked again in a slightly different tone.
Arkash was quiet, evidently confused.
"I see we have not made any transactions in the past. Are you here for corrective services?" Asked the same young girl's voice when Arkash failed to provide an answer.
"Yes," he replied at last.
"...Great! I just need to ask you a few questions before we begin. Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready," Arkash answered again.
"...Great! What part of you is being serviced today?"
"My arm," he answered.
"...Great! How much of your arm?"
"Everything below the elbow."
"...Great! Which arm?"
"My right." Izzy didn't lie, Freida did seem easy to talk to when he just answered her questions.
"...Great! Do you have any material preferences?"
"...I guess steel?"
Freida was quiet for a moment, long silence spanned Arkash's declaration and her reply.
"Hello?" He asked when he grew impatient.
"Just a second," Freida replied.
"Everything alright?" he asked in response.
"Will you be requesting full or partial service?"
"What do you mean?"
"Full service includes casing and naturalization; the commission will look like the real thing, but it will be heavier and more expensive. Partial service includes the bare necessities of the functioning commission, but it looks less appealing and isn't as durable."
Arkash weighed his options. "Partial service; I really just need an extra hand right now."
"...Great! I have enough steel in stock." She paused again, silence spanning just a few seconds before her voice sounded again as the Rath opened his mouth. "Does your arm require fine motor skills?"
"Uh, yeah." Arkash returned somewhat sarcastically.
"How fine on a scale of one to ten? Ten is as close as possible to the real thing whereas one is able to form a fist at most."
"Ten," Arkash answered without pause.
"...Great! Would you like any additional features such as built-in weaponry?"
"...No thank you," he returned.
"...Great!" The golem said again, spanning another long silence that Arkash waited through. "Alright, I have all the specifications of your commission ready to go! Will you be paying now or later?"
A deeper exhale flared the Rath's nostrils. "I can pay now, but I can return it if I don't like it right?"
"That's correct!" chirped the young girl's voice as a metallic hatch opened beside her. "Your payment due is... Seven-Hundred-And-Eighty-Eight Dunari Farthings."
Arkash rose a brow, then nodded as he collected his purse. A quick look around confirmed he was still alone before he knelt in the sand and counted out the change. With the correct funds counted, he dropped them in their receptacle and the hatch closed.
"Thank you for your payment of... Eight-Hundred-And-Fourteen Dunari Farthings. Your account has been credited Twenty-Six Dunari Farthings."
Arkash cursed under his breath, and the large metallic door to the left clicked and swung open slightly.
"Please close the door once you're inside and await further instructions. Thank you for choosing Freida, and have a great day!"
Cautiously, he eyes the opening of that dark room, looked back at Freida, back at the metallic door, then sighed. Closer he crept, and quietly pushed open the heavy door to get a look inside the room. It was mostly stone, illuminated by a single electronic light bulb on the wall. There was an operating table in the middle of the room of mediocre quality and cleanliness and a chair in the corner of similar quality. A number of metallic plates were placed strategically across the ceiling, separated like islands in a sea of stone.
Arkash exhaled, then stepped inside as he pulled the door shut. Mindful of his tail, he turned before the door could fully close, then let the handle go.
"Thank you," called the girl's voice from... Seemingly everywhere. "Please take a seat on the table and lay down when you're ready."
Arkash did just that after waddling the brief space from the door to the table. He propped his tail over the edge, then laid back with his left hand on his stomach. "...Now what?"
"Now, I need to collect some measurements," she explained as one of the metallic plates above him slid away to reveal a collection of mechanical arms of many joints. "Please comply with my golems as they measure you; we want to make sure we get the right proportions."
Uncomfortably, Arkash lifted his arm for the machine's leisure and let the calipers and tape wrap and stretch along his body as needed. When they were done, they withdrew into the ceiling.
"...Great! I'm ready to begin. Please hold very still through the procedure and make sure your right arm is visible. When you're ready, let me know and I'll initiate the procedure."
Arkash did just that with a grunt as he struggled his green robe aside, then nodded his head where it lay on the table. "I'm ready."
Just a second later, a number of mechanical arms deployed from the ceiling, and the rich, smoky scent of a forge wafted into the room. Various pieces of steel were deployed ready to be attached when his stump was seized by two of the arms. His nose curled as they made a clean incision and scalped the end of his limb before they manually plugged the base of the limb into his nervous system. Arkash's jaws parted to scream and his whole body jerked but remained caught in the firm hold of those arms. "Fuck," he cursed as tears welled in his eye.
But that was it, the hardest part of the experience. The rest came easily, and in mere moments, his limbs had been constructed from the base to the tips of his fingers. Next came a variety of mounted artificing tools as Arkash recognized, and they drew some form of etheric blue line through an installed nexus in the base of the limb, and motioned it through his metallic, skeletal fingers. The entire thing appeared mapped in a blue glow before it was further submerged in more metallic plating.
And just like that, the work was done.
The arms released him not even ten minutes after he sat down, and the voice called again "Service complete! You might be tender for a few days, but feel free to try out your commission and come back for maintenance whenever needed." The door's latch clicked, and Arkash sat up to inspect his arm. It turned over as his natural one would have in that motion. he rotate his wrist to look at the hollow palm, then curled his fingers individually at different strengths. he balled and opened a fist repeatedly, and found it to function no different than his biological arm did.
"It's perfect," he said as he stepped off the table. "Thank you so much," spoke the Rath at the ceiling to no reply before he stepped out of the room. The door shut behind him, and the whirring of gears and motors died down as Arkash put some distance between himself and the facility.
Dormant once more, Freida waited for her next customer.
"Maybe there's just some things you haven't seen yet," suggested his companion with a light shrug, something of a sarcastic rise to her brow and tilt to her head.
"That's ridiculous," Arkash dismissed. "I've seen everythin', know everythin'."
"Okay," Izzy returned with a roll of her eye. "Well after you've talked to her, you can tell me all about how she isn't a golem. Okay?" She pat him on the shoulder then, as if to make light of his uppity attitude toward the machine. "We really do need arms though, so I'm gonna track some down. Meet back at the chariot when you're done?"
Arkash exhaled deeply through his nose as he directed his gaze to the golem's bust on the front wall. "Alright," he agreed uneasily. "Be careful," he warned as he looked back at Izzy, who was on her way already. A wave of her hand relayed her compliance, but she didn't look back at the Rath.
Arkash was alone with Freida; the mechanical travesty.
He turned fully to face her while he stood on the shallow sands, burning rivulets burying his feet the more he uncomfortably shifted. He stayed there for some time, measuring the facility before him and what its capabilities were... Until the roar of gunshots erupted in the marketplace behind him.
Such was typical of Badland settlements, the lands were rife with gang wars, and it wasn't often that such violence stayed for the sake of civility.
Gunshots didn't normally bother the Rath, but as defenseless and injured as he was, he wasn't looking to involve himself in any violence. So, he returned his gaze to the building and approached with a brief adjustment of his hood.
As he came close, the white of gears and the churn of motors sprung to life, and the golem bust seemed to throb with power as its own working parts awoke. "Welcome to Freida's Corrective Services, valued customer!" Called a child's voice from the flower pedal horn atop her head. Her mouth did not move. "Will you be paying for a past service today or commissioning a new service?"
Arkash blinked. "...You're not real."
There was a long silence, spanning seconds as the machine processed his words. "Sorry, I don't have that," she said. "Will you be paying for a past service today or commissioning a new service?" She asked again in a slightly different tone.
Arkash was quiet, evidently confused.
"I see we have not made any transactions in the past. Are you here for corrective services?" Asked the same young girl's voice when Arkash failed to provide an answer.
"Yes," he replied at last.
"...Great! I just need to ask you a few questions before we begin. Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready," Arkash answered again.
"...Great! What part of you is being serviced today?"
"My arm," he answered.
"...Great! How much of your arm?"
"Everything below the elbow."
"...Great! Which arm?"
"My right." Izzy didn't lie, Freida did seem easy to talk to when he just answered her questions.
"...Great! Do you have any material preferences?"
"...I guess steel?"
Freida was quiet for a moment, long silence spanned Arkash's declaration and her reply.
"Hello?" He asked when he grew impatient.
"Just a second," Freida replied.
"Everything alright?" he asked in response.
"Will you be requesting full or partial service?"
"What do you mean?"
"Full service includes casing and naturalization; the commission will look like the real thing, but it will be heavier and more expensive. Partial service includes the bare necessities of the functioning commission, but it looks less appealing and isn't as durable."
Arkash weighed his options. "Partial service; I really just need an extra hand right now."
"...Great! I have enough steel in stock." She paused again, silence spanning just a few seconds before her voice sounded again as the Rath opened his mouth. "Does your arm require fine motor skills?"
"Uh, yeah." Arkash returned somewhat sarcastically.
"How fine on a scale of one to ten? Ten is as close as possible to the real thing whereas one is able to form a fist at most."
"Ten," Arkash answered without pause.
"...Great! Would you like any additional features such as built-in weaponry?"
"...No thank you," he returned.
"...Great!" The golem said again, spanning another long silence that Arkash waited through. "Alright, I have all the specifications of your commission ready to go! Will you be paying now or later?"
A deeper exhale flared the Rath's nostrils. "I can pay now, but I can return it if I don't like it right?"
"That's correct!" chirped the young girl's voice as a metallic hatch opened beside her. "Your payment due is... Seven-Hundred-And-Eighty-Eight Dunari Farthings."
Arkash rose a brow, then nodded as he collected his purse. A quick look around confirmed he was still alone before he knelt in the sand and counted out the change. With the correct funds counted, he dropped them in their receptacle and the hatch closed.
"Thank you for your payment of... Eight-Hundred-And-Fourteen Dunari Farthings. Your account has been credited Twenty-Six Dunari Farthings."
Arkash cursed under his breath, and the large metallic door to the left clicked and swung open slightly.
"Please close the door once you're inside and await further instructions. Thank you for choosing Freida, and have a great day!"
Cautiously, he eyes the opening of that dark room, looked back at Freida, back at the metallic door, then sighed. Closer he crept, and quietly pushed open the heavy door to get a look inside the room. It was mostly stone, illuminated by a single electronic light bulb on the wall. There was an operating table in the middle of the room of mediocre quality and cleanliness and a chair in the corner of similar quality. A number of metallic plates were placed strategically across the ceiling, separated like islands in a sea of stone.
Arkash exhaled, then stepped inside as he pulled the door shut. Mindful of his tail, he turned before the door could fully close, then let the handle go.
"Thank you," called the girl's voice from... Seemingly everywhere. "Please take a seat on the table and lay down when you're ready."
Arkash did just that after waddling the brief space from the door to the table. He propped his tail over the edge, then laid back with his left hand on his stomach. "...Now what?"
"Now, I need to collect some measurements," she explained as one of the metallic plates above him slid away to reveal a collection of mechanical arms of many joints. "Please comply with my golems as they measure you; we want to make sure we get the right proportions."
Uncomfortably, Arkash lifted his arm for the machine's leisure and let the calipers and tape wrap and stretch along his body as needed. When they were done, they withdrew into the ceiling.
"...Great! I'm ready to begin. Please hold very still through the procedure and make sure your right arm is visible. When you're ready, let me know and I'll initiate the procedure."
Arkash did just that with a grunt as he struggled his green robe aside, then nodded his head where it lay on the table. "I'm ready."
Just a second later, a number of mechanical arms deployed from the ceiling, and the rich, smoky scent of a forge wafted into the room. Various pieces of steel were deployed ready to be attached when his stump was seized by two of the arms. His nose curled as they made a clean incision and scalped the end of his limb before they manually plugged the base of the limb into his nervous system. Arkash's jaws parted to scream and his whole body jerked but remained caught in the firm hold of those arms. "Fuck," he cursed as tears welled in his eye.
But that was it, the hardest part of the experience. The rest came easily, and in mere moments, his limbs had been constructed from the base to the tips of his fingers. Next came a variety of mounted artificing tools as Arkash recognized, and they drew some form of etheric blue line through an installed nexus in the base of the limb, and motioned it through his metallic, skeletal fingers. The entire thing appeared mapped in a blue glow before it was further submerged in more metallic plating.
And just like that, the work was done.
The arms released him not even ten minutes after he sat down, and the voice called again "Service complete! You might be tender for a few days, but feel free to try out your commission and come back for maintenance whenever needed." The door's latch clicked, and Arkash sat up to inspect his arm. It turned over as his natural one would have in that motion. he rotate his wrist to look at the hollow palm, then curled his fingers individually at different strengths. he balled and opened a fist repeatedly, and found it to function no different than his biological arm did.
"It's perfect," he said as he stepped off the table. "Thank you so much," spoke the Rath at the ceiling to no reply before he stepped out of the room. The door shut behind him, and the whirring of gears and motors died down as Arkash put some distance between himself and the facility.
Dormant once more, Freida waited for her next customer.
Image source.
