Xander spent the journey to the border thinking of ways to improve his body. Most of them were cosmetic, though. He reshaped the blank mannequin face of his head to match as closely as he could remember what his own face looked like. It had proved a challenging task, but the fact that he still had his phone and a solar charger stashed away in his inventory helped quite a bit. He’d used pictures of himself that had already been taken to work from. Seeing the pictures of him and Helen together had… hurt. That was the best way to describe it. It wasn’t physical, but it still felt like a knife was being twisted somewhere. Gabrelle had been fascinated with the device, obviously having never seen a smartphone before.
“Is that… your wife?” She’d asked tentatively, catching Xander looking at a photo of him and Helen together on a trip they’d taken to Colorado. He remembered that she’d tried an edible and gotten way too high and ended up freaking out and then vomiting.
“Yeah… that’s Helen,” he said. He missed her long, brown hair, her button nose, and the dark brown eyes that she always said weren’t as exciting or as interesting as his blue eyes had been. He’d always told her that hers were just as nice.
“You two look so happy together, there. I’m sorry that you were taken from her…” Gabrelle said, trailing off. She picked back up on a lighter note, saying, “The painter did an excellent job! I’m surprised you have so many paintings on that… phone, you called it? How does it store them?”
Gabrelle’s complete lack of understanding of how technology worked served as a good distraction for Xander, shaking him out of his spiraling thoughts. “I… It’s… god, how do you explain a phone to someone who’s never seen one before?” He asked himself out loud. “Uhmm, it’s not a painting – “
“Then what is it?” Gabrelle interrupted him, confused.
“It’s called a ‘picture’,” he explained, “and this thing here, the camera,” he pointed to the lens on the back of the phone, “it… hmm. How to explain. It captures a rendition of the light that is passing through its glass? I don’t think that’s quite right, but honestly, I’m not exactly sure how a camera works either. But anyways, that captured rendition is then stored on the phone. There’s a lot that goes into that, and I don’t even know how to begin to explain it. Here, smile for me.”
Gabrelle gave him a confused smile as he turned the camera to face her and snapped a photograph of her. “Why am I smiling?” She asked.
“Cute,” he said, looking at the image he’d captured of the confused but smiling woman. “I took your picture, now you can see it.” He turned the phone to face her, showing off his newest photograph.
Gabrelle squinted her eyes at the photograph. “Is that really what my smile looks like?” She asked. “I still don’t understand at all how that works.”
“Well, to be fair, that is not your natural smile at all that you were doing there, so no, it’s not really what your smile looks like. Wanna see something really neat, though? It can take moving pictures.”
“Moving pictures? But pictures can’t move, what are you talking about?”
“Okay, technically you’re right. What it actually is, is a series of pictures taken in very quick succession and then played back in the same order so that it looks like the approximation of movement.”
“I… think I understand?”
Xander swapped his camera app to video and began taking a video. He was glad that the simulated warmth of his fingers – he’d had to take off one of his gauntlets to use the phone – was enough to operate the touchscreen. Gabrelle, of course, had no idea what was going on, still staring at Xander as he pointed the phone at her. He reached out with his free hand and booped her on the nose. “Boop!” he said, as she swatted at his hand. Then he showed her the video.
“That’s… wow. And these were common on your world?” She said, taking in the fact that she was watching herself get booped on the nose on a loop.
“Everyone I knew had one, though they’d only been invented roughly twenty years ago. Seems like every year they get better, too. Mine’s probably quite outdated by this point.”
Gabrelle’s eyes widened at the thought that such a thing could ever be considered ‘outdated.’ “Would you show me more of these pictures?”
It was at this moment that Xander knew that using the secure folder on his phone to protect the more… racy photos he had on his phone separate them from his general gallery had been a good idea. “Sure, I’ve got lots. Some are from trips I’ve taken, others are just… random photos I decided to take for some reason or other. Ones of my cat, of the dog, the yard we had… Feels like my whole life used to be on this thing.”
They’d spent the rest of the night together, Gabrelle laying next to him as she eagerly awaited each new photo. It seemed that with each new photo she was shown, she had a new question. What were cars, how had they managed to afford such a nice house (it was solidly middle of middle class), she questioned every little thing that piqued her interest in the photos. When Xander got to a beach trip, she was rather perturbed though.
“Why… are they dressed like that?” She asked him, and she could hear a slight judgement in her tone. “Were there ah, an excessive amount of prostitutes at this beach?”
“What? No!” Xander answered quickly. “What do you mean ‘dressed like that?’ They’re beach clothes. Have you never seen a bikini?”
“Uhm, no. I don’t know about whatever it is that you just said.” She was still scrutinizing the photograph.
“Mmm, I guess it’s a cultural difference. I have noticed that people around here are more… conservative about how much of their body they show. I suppose it really makes more sense why you were so embarrassed at me seeing you in your night outfit. Where I’m from – and I’ll admit that it’s not like that everywhere on my world, there were places where it would have been unthinkable to show that much skin – people were generally less concerned about showing off some skin. Of course, showing off your bare breasts or going without pants was still considered to be indecent. There were actually laws against doing such a thing in public in many places. But the beach especially was a place where a lot of skin was shown.”
“I see… And it makes more sense that you were so unfazed by seeing me in my smallclothes, considering that an outfit like… that is normal where you’re from.”
“Well, that and I’m made of metal,” he answered. “I might be hard, but I can’t… get hard.”
“Oh by the gods, Xander!” Gabrelle scolded him. “That was both a terrible pun and gross.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
Xander molded other parts of his body to be more human as they traveled. His hands now looked more natural, with fake wrinkles and lines on his palms. His arms were no longer simple tubes, instead shaped to match his original arms. The same was done with his legs. He resisted the urge to give himself a chiseled sixpack, instead opting for the flat stomach that he’d had before. He even gave himself a butt. What if he ever wore a pair of pants again? He couldn’t have them fall off because he had no ass! His entire body was still coated in the two layers of carbon fiber that he needed to feel touch and temperature, though they conformed to his alterations of his body.
By the end of their second month, as they were nearing the border and the town of Hardan, Xander would resemble a blackened statue of a human, sans genitalia, which he had not bothered to create for himself, if he were to be spotted out of his armor and standing still. Moving, one might ponder why a man had painted himself matte black. It was only up close that one would notice the small things that he had yet to overcome. His mouth didn’t move when he spoke. He didn’t breathe. The small, natural, movements and twitches a body might make as one conversed were hardly there at all. He also didn’t blink, and facial expressions or a raised eyebrow were just as impossible as moving his mouth.
Still, it felt better to look more like his old self. He no longer feared people being as frightened by him if he were to take off his helm, though he imagined they might still be disturbed by the uncanny valley he would occupy by lacking so many social cues with his body. He had no idea how to create a moveable face out of metal, or any other material. He could, perhaps, use something softer, like cloth or leather, with movement runes on them to simulate facial muscles. But the idea of having a leather face seemed kind of creepy to Xander. Even then, it would require him to understand the many muscles of the face, which he currently did not.
Hardan began to loom in the distance, the smoke of the many refineries that processed the iron ore that came to the city from the mines visible far before the roofs of the buildings came into view. The whole town seemed to be covered in a haze of smoke from the smelting that went on in the city.
“And there’s Hardan,” Gabrelle said, sounding somewhat annoyed.
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“Not fond of the place?”
“Not particularly, no. Hate all the smoke, plus, the guards at the border always give me and the rest of the team a hard time whenever we cross. Though, I think they hassle everyone that crosses either way. I don’t think Freyja likes the smoke either.”
“Mmm. Well, we have daylight still. Want to just pass through the town instead of stopping at an inn?”
“Yes, I think that would be nicest. The border crossing is actually at the far gate, the city butts right up to the border. So there are Thraskian guards at the gate, and then there is a post for the Semptian guards just down the road from the gate. We can get through that and then camp on the road once it gets dark.”
“Sounds fine to me,” Xander said.
Hardan was a grimy town. Xander noticed swarthy men in aprons and covered in soot taking breaks here and there outside many of the smoke belching buildings. If he still had real eyes, he expected that they would have become irritated within minutes of entering the veil of smoke that blew through the town. Warehouses abounded, and most of the shops he noticed from the road they trod were dedicated to metalworking tools and other things that one might need to process raw metals. This meant that he also saw several alchemist shops, as well, catering to the various chemical processes used to separate stone from metal. Wagons and hand pulled carts filled the road, forcing the two mercs and large cat to weave through traffic at times to pass through crossroads.
The walk through the town took roughly two hours, though their pace was slow due to the amount of wagons and foot traffic they had to contend with. The city really was a sprawl, Xander thought, with the number of warehouses and refineries that dotted the city. As they approached the gate that would lead towards Sempta, Xander could see that there was a line formed at the gate as travelers were inspected. There were three guards, and each one would beckon to the next person in line as they finished inspecting a traveler.
“So what do we have to do for this?” Xander asked as he, Gabrelle, Freyja and the two golems made a small cluster at the back of the line as more travelers slowly queued up behind them to wait their turn to get through the gate.
“They just take a look at your abridged status to make sure you aren’t a wanted criminal. The guards at the border of Sempta do the same thing again, but they’ll also inquire about your reasoning for entering the country.” Gabrelle explained to him.
“Oh, okay. That’s pretty easy. I hope the golems aren’t gonna be an issue…”
The golems were indeed a problem, though it was only a slight one.
“I’m sorry, sir, but can you prove to me that they aren’t just people in costumes?” The guard that had inspected Xander’s status and then compared it to a list of names to watch out for in a bored manner that indicated that he had been doing this for hours already asked him.
“Uhmm… what do you want me to do, exactly? The armor doesn’t come off, it’s part of them. Is their weight something that could prove it? They should both be really heavy, since they’re golems. You could… hit one? I guess, yeah, you could hit one with your sword if you really wanted to. They won’t flinch or anything.”
The guard shrugged. “I suppose that will work. Hold my papers, for a moment, would you?” He asked, handing the sheaf of names to Xander. The guard drew his sword, and carefully lined up a swing at the chest of the shield bearing golem. Xander mentally commanded the golems to stand stock still and not to retaliate in any way against the strikes that would be aimed at them. The guard swung his sword, but halted it at the last second, instead lashing out with a strong kick at the golem’s torso. The golem, of course, was unmoved, and the guard cursed as he held his foot up off the ground. “Damn that thing is sturdy… Thought for sure I could catch it off guard with a kick like that. I was sure that you were trying to smuggle someone in a suit. It’s not the dumbest thing I’ve seen, not by far. You and your golems are cleared to go through.” The guard walked back to his post with a slight limp and sighed, returning to his bored posture. He gestured for the next person in line to come forward.
Gabrelle was waiting for him just outside the gate, looking amused. “They finally let you out?”
Xander mimicked a snort. “Yeah, finally. Can you believe that guy thought they were people in suits? One of them has four arms for fuck’s sake!”
Gabrelle shrugged. “Hey, at least it wasn’t me this time that got hassled with something stupid. I had one guard once that didn’t want to let Freyja through with me because I didn’t have a taming class. Called her a wild animal!” She turned to Freyja, who was waiting beside her, and babytalked to the cat. “You’re not a wild animal, no you aren’t! You’re a sweet, civilized baby, yes you are!” The babytalk was accompanied by Gabrelle vigorously scratching the panther’s chin and cheeks with both hands.
“Still not as bad as the TSA,” Xander said as the cat flopped over under Gabrelle’s scratching.
“What’s the TSA?” Gabrelle asked, pausing her petting momentarily, causing Freyja to rumble in annoyance until she continued.
“Uhh, basically what we just went through but on steroids.”
“…What are steroids?”
“Damnit, just let me have my colloquialisms. They’re both somehow extremely thorough in investigating you and yet incompetent in doing it.”
“That sounds terrible!”
“Oh, it is,” Xander said with faux grimness.
The walk to the border was only another thirty minutes, where Xander and Gabrelle once again found themselves in line, this time at a small building that seemed to be a garrison for a minor contingent of guards for the inspections. There were posts hammered into the road, leaving space for a wagon to go through, acting as lanes for lines to queue into. A guard was posted at each lane, half of them dedicated to traffic exiting Sempta, and the other half to entering the country. Gabrelle and Xander both decided to take the same line, filing up to the shortest of the available lanes.
Gabrelle was the first through. “Status?” The guard asked, just as bored at the Thraskian guards had been. Gabrelle flipped her status around to the guard who lazily looked down at his own list of names. Seeing that she did not match any of the names on the list, he moved on to the next of his questions. “Business in Sempta?” He asked.
“I’m a mercenary operating out of Rock’s Bay. Coming back from a trip.” The guard nodded at her and she was let through, leaving the man to be faced with Freyja, who he somehow hadn’t noticed standing behind Gabrelle.
“Uh…” The guard said, trailing of as he stared at the giant cat in confusion.
“The cat’s with me,” Gabrelle said, not having gone far, yet.
“Ah, uh, alright then…” The guard moved out of the way of Freyja as she sauntered past the posts in the ground and then the guard. The man shook his head, clearing the distraction from his mind as he turned to face Xander, who was next in line.
“Hi,” Xander greeted the man.
“Welcome,” the guard said, still distracted. “Status?”
Xander pulled up his status and then flipped it around to face the guard.
“Mmmhm, alright.” The guard said, looking down at his sheets of names, flipping to the back to see any names starting with an ‘X.’ “Reason for coming to Sempta?”
“I’m also a mercenary, travelling with Gabrelle, who you just saw.” He glanced behind him. “I’m also traveling with my two golems that I’ve made.” He thumbed behind him to indicate to the guard where they were.
“Mmm, what was your class again?”
“[Combat Artificer], and also [Rune Lord].”
“Alright, I suppose a golem could fit there… Only ever seen a few before. Some [Tinker] came through with some, once. Though there weren’t quite as… agile looking as yours.”
“Huh, that’s neat. I’ve yet to meet someone else who has golems. Thanks for that,” Xander said. He was already wondering just how rare golems were, and if there might be people he could trade tips or information with, maybe even services.
“Well, you’re clear to go on through.” The guard stepped aside and gestured for him to move along. “Welcome to Sempta, don’t cause any trouble.”
Xander made his way to Gabrelle and Freyja. They’d been waiting just a short distance down the road to keep out of the way of the traffic slowly flowing through the border.
“Guess we just keep on walkin’ for a couple more hours until we lose the light?”
“Mhhm! Just another whole month of walking, huzzah.” She said with absolutely no enthusiasm in her voice.
“Ahh, it’s not so bad. ‘Course, I don’t have leg muscles to get tired, so I might be biased. Ya know, I don’t think I ever asked, but how were you able to take the trip up to visit your parents in Anlet? I mean, it’s taking us three months to get back, and I assume it took you around the same to get there, and part of it through pretty dangerous territory. Is this something you do regularly? You four must be doing well for yourselves now, if you can take that much time off.”
Gabrelle shifted, uncomfortably. “Well… to be honest, it’s the first time I’ve been able to visit my parents since we moved to Sempta. As for the whole team taking time off, Atrax, Frazay, and Graffus were going to take a bodyguard contract when I was leaving. Not sure what they’ve been doing if that contract’s finished. Also… uhm, we might have ended up using that account to help us fund the team. Since you didn’t have any next of kin or anything…” Gabrelle nervously ground one of her feet against the earth as she guiltily avoided looking at Xander.
“Huh. Okay, that’s fine,” he said with as close an approximation to a shrug as he could make with his shoulders.
“You’re not angry? Promise?” Gabrelle asked.
“I mean, what do I really need money for? I don’t eat, I don’t sleep, so inn rooms are optional – besides, it seems like I’ll just end up in yours, anyways – and I can make pretty much everything I’d ever need. The only thing money could do for me is to influence people. And that sounds like a lot of work that I don’t want to deal with. I’m just glad it didn’t get lost in the war or something, and went to all of you.”
“I guess you’re right…” Gabrelle started. “But it still feels a little wrong now that I know you didn’t die.”
“Don’t worry about it. Really. If you all feel so bad about it, you can put me back on the account, but I still wouldn’t have an issue helping you four out with things like that.”
Gabrelle let out a sigh of relief that she’d been holding in. “Phew. I was really worried you were going to be mad at us for using it. But that account is all that kept us afloat right after the war… work was scarce for us in Thraskian territory for a good while, when we returned to Anlet to try and get back to work. Kreglin profited quite handily from the war. As soon as he saw it coming, he invested in metal processing – for the weapons and armor, I guess – and a whole host of other things that I still don’t see the reasoning behind.”
“Mm. War makes money, it was a huge industry in my world, too. Far bigger than here, actually. Our currency was quite different though, so I don’t really know how it compares in an exact sense.”
Gabrelle nodded, seeming a bit sad. “Yeah… feels a bit wrong though, to profit off of it, even indirectly. Like it was blood money.”
“It’s pretty hard to ethically source that much money. It’s like it has some kind of natural tendency to slip into dark territories. At least, that’s how I see it. I’m no economist.”
The two mercenaries, two golems, and single giant panther continued walking down the road, occasionally being passed by wagons heading to any number of cities located within Sempta, and sometimes passing other travelers on foot. Their pace was faster than the average person’s walk, the skills given to them by their classes allowing them to move at greater speed for longer distances without tiring as they should have. They were also no longer slowed down by having a large group surrounding them. Xander hoped that they could make up some of the time they’d lost from the incident with the caravan and then him staying so long at Rantol.