A Tinker's Job

Chapter 6

"i'm just as in the dark as you are," you said simply. "i'm azar's engineer, not his assistant. it was an educated guess, you could say a hypothesis."

"you're the main orchestrator for this project," he snapped. "how can you not know anything?"

"balladeer," you raised your voice, making him grunt and fall silent. "i'm in charge of only the inventing process. whatever the akademia decides for you, whether it's using you or letting you take over, i don't know. i'm making an educated guess based on their past behaviors."

"tch... fine. then, i have an order for you."

you mentally rolled your eyes, "what is it?"

"find out the sage's plans once i become a god and report back to me. i'm sure you can do that, no?"

"i'll try," you said honestly. "i don't even know if that's possible, but i'll see it done."

this would be a good time to ask the sages for inside info for cyno and al haitham's plan.

"perfect," he offered you a small smile – whether that was a smirk or a genuine smile, you couldn't assume. "thank you."

"of course," you said, giving him a smile of your own. "shall we get to work then?"

he was unusually very quiet and still, complying with every direction you gave him. other times when you tried to lift his arm to strap a mechanical device around him, he'd wave you off or slap your hand away. this time, he allowed you to move him around as you saw fit.

scaramouche internally was in a state of calm, which even surprised him. he wasn't bothered by your touch at all, in fact when your hand made contact with his skin it made him shiver slightly. he saw you yawn from the mirror, and that was when he decided to initiate a conversation with you. let's not make this awkward, he coached himself.

"are you getting enough rest?"

you looked up from inserting the cords, eyes slightly wide from hearing him talk. even though the mirror was in front of him and he could watch what you were doing, he preferred to look back at you without it.

"well?"

"ah sorry," you cleared your throat. "it's just that you don't normally have conversations with me. yes, i've been getting enough rest."

"you look tired," he said bluntly. "long days?"

"well," you confessed. "i had a lot of thinking to do last night. and a lot of the blueprints needed adjustments. so i spent a lot of time looking at them."

"i see," he thought out loud. "how long do you think it will take until it's done."

please say it'll take longer, he thought. wait, what?

"it should take another couple days to finish if i work at this pace."

damn it. he didn't reply, mostly confused with why he was feeling disappointed that you'd probably leave his side after a few more days. mentally he hit himself, we need to stay focused on the plan. not some mere engineer.

"i see."

"you're all done for now," you said, tapping his back and wiggling the plugs to make sure they were secure. "how does it feel?"

he stood up and moved around, "it feels okay."

"sounds good," you smiled. "i'd wait at least another hour to get adjusted. move around a bit too just so you get used to it."

he nodded at you, "okay."

you sent him a small smile, standing up and adjusting part of the back-end of the robot. he admired the handiwork you did on his back, seeing all the cords flowing with the power of the gnosis. it made him happy, and yet he felt so empty. now he finally got what he was looking for: a ton of power, having and using a gnosis, and becoming the god he was born to be. but, why did he slightly feel unsatisfied?

his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud clang. "Aah! Ouch!"

you uttered a string of swear words under your breath, holding your wrist between your legs and feeling the pain. he immediately stood up, walking towards you.

"what happened?"

"one of the parts that i was trying to attach fell on my hand," you groaned.

"let me see."

you held your hand up, scaramouche being able to see the large bruise that was beginning to farm. he gently took it in his hand, running his cold hand lightly over the welt. then, you felt something coat your palm. you looked at him, seeing him rub some cryo condensed slime on your hand and wrap it with a small handkerchief.

"stop being so careless," he scolded you, then clicked his tongue in annoyance. "go take a break until your hand feels better."

"m-my lord?"