human
"...And if I ever see you even approach my commander again,hostile saboteur, you will suffer more than broken appendages, you will be disarmed. As in youwill not haveany arms anymore. Confirm?"
"C-confirm! Oh b-by the Host, conf-firm!"
The hapless pickpocket, held up by the collar of his shirt, was unceremoniously tossed to the ground where he tried to stumble back to his feet while holding his hands--with every finger broken--close to his chest. Once he got to his feet, he stumbled off into a run, blubbering the whole way, as other passerby in the street shrugged and went on with their own business.
The object of the pickpocket's misfortune turned to the woman at his side, needing to look down to see the shorter individual, and snapped off a crisp military salute. "Threat has been dispatched, Commander. We can continue to base."
So said Hardwall the warforged to his employer. As warforged went, Hardwall was a fairly archetypical one, a standard combat model, none of the specializations of the mithral, adamantine, or other unusual models. Composite plating made of stone and steel was overlaid on the fiber-cord bundles that made up his musculature, and he had no overt customizations or modifications that some other warforged incorporated into themselves as they aged. Small green lights shone in the pits that made his eyes, and his expression, like many other warforged, was frozen in a permanent intimidating grimace. A heavy sword, more for display than actual use given that there still was a rule of law in the city, hung unused on a belt at his hip. His only other adornment was a backpack filled with the supplies and materials his employer had purchased on this shopping trip in one of Sharn's many marketplaces.
Sharn, City of Towers, largest and most impressive city on the continent of Khorvaire, and where Hardwall had come to his current situation. Like many others of his kind (particularly the older ones) he hadn't quite taken the end of the Last War--and subsequent disbanding of all warforged armies--very well. After having fought fierce battles on the side of Breland for his entire existence, nigh-on ten years, he didn't know what to do with himself and was left purposless and displaced. Hearing that warforged could find purpose in Sharn, his small unit had migrated to the big city as one, where they parted ways and attempted to integrate into civillian life.
By chance, Hardwall had happened across the artificer in front of him. She had been looking to fill several positions in her shop, from general assistant to bodyguard, but seemed to have positive views of warforged. She had no problem giving him all the duties, and as a tireless construct, Hardwall had no problem taking all of them and then some, all in exchange for shelter and regular professional maintenance.
A year later, and Hardwall had well settled into his roles, but he still had a tendancy to be a tad 'enthusiastic' in his charge, especially where the safety of his employer was concerned.
gpt
The woman tried to keep from chuckling at the rather blunt threat her bodyguard had given. She was quite used to his fairly excessive shows of force, as well as his strange means of talking. "I thought I told you, when out shopping for supplies I'm Amy. Can you call me that for once? Just try it. Aaaaaaaamyyyyyy. Not too hard." The shorter human woman said, her voice a mixture of playful . She looked rather plain, although with a few striking features. Her hair was a stunning bright red, and her eyes were a beautiful emerald green. Other than that her features were rather ordinary, and the rest of her body was covered in a couple layers of leather and cloth, a typical outfit for an artificer who tended to work in a shop all day. Slung across her front was a bandolier with several bottles and flask hung from it, as well as several wands and some other odds and ends tucked into the pouches strapped to her belt. Over all she looked more like a wandering shop than a person at the moment.
The pair's walk continued on until they reached the modest home and workplace of the artificer. She opened the door and directed Hardwall where to put her new found supplies, already contemplating what to start with. "Let's see.. the pnuematics were still a bit off and... if I tighten that... Did you get that gnomish tincture distiller I mentioned? I completely forgot about it." She said as she moved about the entryway to her home. As she did her features shifted and changed. Her skin grew paler and paler, taking on a milky white hue, and her eye color faded as well, her irises turning to pure white. Her mussed up red hair simply faded as well, turning a dim silvery white, finally showing her true nature as a changeling. While out and about she finds her human face to be more useful, as people are less likely to trust and work with a changeling, but at home she feels comfortable enough to 'let herself go'
human
The warforged's head tilted to the side slightly, mimicking the humanoid mannerism that he had picked up on long ago. "I have not forgotten that your name is Amy, Commander." He replied in deliberately typical warforged deadpan. When she continued to walk, he settled in behind her like he was her shadow, albiet a slightly clanking shadow a couple feet taller than her. In truth, it wasn't like he was incapable of calling her by her real--or cover--names, and he did so whenever it was actually important and calling her 'Commander' would blow her cover. He didn't live ten years in the war by being stupid. The word was just familiar and comfortable to him...plus, it was amusing to observe her reactions whenever he did that.
He never told her that, of course.
When they finally reached her shop, and his employer unlocked the door and enterd, Hardwall walked in briskly after her and turned immediately to the right, where he placed his three-digited hand over a specific place on the wall. A Kundarak-made alarm rune glowed into visibility, confirming that the shop and house had been undisturbed while they were gone. Satisfied, he unshouldered the backpack and moved over to the storage cabinets as directed, and quickly began emptying the bag, one item at the time, placing every item in a neat arrangement right where it belonged. Since Hardwall had taken over housekeeping and inventory duties as well, the place had been much tidier, handled with the neat efficiency only a career military man (or construct) could muster.
When Tam asked about the item she had forgotten, Hardwall was quick to answer. "Yes, I did procure the gnomish tincture distiller. I have already placed it with the rest of your distillation apparati. I also took the liberty of acquiring the rubber seals you mentioned you might need for the pneumatic system, they are in the storage cabinets. Also, I am obliged to remind you that the special commission for Mister Bullron's expeditionary party is due in two days." The warforged rattled off all the things that him employer required, and then some, as he had learned a number of the changeling's habits and when she was liable to forget things, and was always quick to volunteer information and take initiative to help support her.
Changelings...Hardwall hadn't known Tam was a changeling when he was originally hired. It didn't take long for it to come out, but he hadn't exactly been pleased when it did. Changelings had garnered a well-deserved reputation during the Last War as the most notoriously effective spies outside of the elven bearers of the Dragonmark of Shadow, and footsoldiers like himself hated spies; an enemy who didn't give you a proper fight. It also didn't help that few officers considered it a particularly high priority to inform their warforged soldiers properly of changelings, leading them to hear exagerrated rumors that attributed more powers to the doppleganger-descended than they had. But, after spending a year with Tam and learning her precise capabilities and that she was just more or less an ordinary citizen making her way in Sharn, he had gotten comfortable with her and felt no apprehension anymore.
When Tam had walked back into view, now in her true form, Hardwall spoke up again. "Shall I prepare you a meal before opening up the shop?"
gpt
Tam finished her preparations and moved over to her workbench, pulling out the magical apparatus she had been fiddling with the past week. "I told that old blowhard it would be hard to finish this in less than a month. But he is paying good gold for it." She griped for probably the hundreth time since taking on this project. It was supposed to be a modified scrying device that drew a map of the surrounding area automatically. So far she had gotten it to draw maps rather easily. However the enchantment on it was still a bit... off. It tended to get lost as to just how far it should be looking and kept drawing wider and wider maps on top of ones it had already made."And thank you for the reminders. I don't know what kind of mess this place would be in if I hadn't hired you last year." She replied, before turning back to her device and began fiddling with it again.
Melding mechanical and magical power was something that Tam had become quite skilled at, but it was always a difficult undertaking. And as usual she had not mentioned if Hardwall should fix her a meal, or open the shop, too lost in her work. Once she found a project, Tam focused in on it with as much determination as she could muster, sometimes with rather terrifying results. There was still a large scorch mark where one of her pet projects had blown up, a reminder to at least practice some care. But then that was before she had hired Hardwall, and her workshop was a complete mess. Now she actually knew where everything was without spending half an hour or more looking for it. She smiled slightly as she though about that first day when she had told him to clean up her shop. She had expected him to take days on it but after going to sleep that night she woke up to find it in perfect order. The first of many examples of how hard working, and dedicated to his tasks her employee was.
Finally, Tam looked up from the bronze and steel casing she had been working on. "I think this is done." She said cheerily, shifting back to her Amy face as she said it. "So let's open up shop for today. Still some daylight, and don't want to keep the customers waiting now do we?"
human
Hardwall said nothing at Tam's thanking him for his reminders. He usually didn't, as he always just considered himself to be serving his new purpose. He acknowledged the praise internally, and returned to work. In this case, cooking up a lunch for Tam. She hadn't said either way, but Hardwall was well familiar with how fleshlings needed to eat, and also how Tam seemed to forget when caught up in her own work.
Hardwall headed over to the kitchen area in the rear of the property, and set about gathering ingredients for a midday meal. Despite not having any sense of taste or smell and a limited sense of touch, Hardwall was an adequate cook. Certainly no expert or gourmet chef, but he could follow a recipe easily enough and could incorporate feedback ("A little more of this, a little less of that next time") to the point where he knew Tam's specific tastes.
By the time Tam had finished with her own task, there was a plate of lightly seasoned fried meat, some chopped vegetables, and some fruit waiting behind her on another workdesk. Hardwall was by the doorway to the workshop, where he nodded at Tam's statements. "Affirmative. I will set out the usual displays."
Hardwall turned and headed to the front of the shop, where he unlocked the main door and opened it. He hung several signs on the outside windows, and tapped the last sign thrice, which then levitated on its own and projected several colored lights into the air to float around and attract attention. Hardwall then took several choice magical baubles and stood outside the door on the side of the street, and proceeded to demonstrate them as people walked by.
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Amy/Tam for her part sat on a tall chair behind a small counter in the shop portion of her house. She made quick work of her meal, surprised even after all this time that a warforged could make something that could taste this good. Tam was a horrible cook and always succeeded in burning or undercooking whatever she made regardless of if she were following a recipe or not. For the umpteenth time she wondered just how Hardwall managed to cook with no sense of taste, smell, or any way of knowing if what he made was good or not.
Today was a rather slow day. Only a few customers came in, mostly people who wished to have rather mundane objects repaired. A few warforged that Amy recognized from the city guard came in, requesting repairs which she was more than happy to oblige. Ever since they first appeared during the war she had been fascinated by warforged "physiology" and just what made these mechanical people, for she did see them as people, worked. During the war Amy had made a bit of a name for herself repairing warforged and keeping them in top shape. She enjoyed working on them, and occasionally developed components to help improve them. Now that the war was over she had been working on several pet projects to try to make more every day add ons for warforged who wished for more civilian lives.
After the guard forged left, Amy stepped outside. "Rather slow today." She commented to Hardwall. "Seems no one needs anything fun to work on these past couple of days. Probably waiting to all come at once and force me to work hard." She quipped with a chuckle. "Seems to be how it works. Want to close early and go out and have some fun? Heard a new bar opened up nearby and I want to check it out, want to come along?"
human
Despite Hardwall showing off several of the choice wares out in front of the shop, it didn't seem to attract any significant new customers today. Oh well though, not every day was a fast one. Tam's business still did well enough. After several hours and the departure of the warforged guards (whom Hardwall had greeted and said farewell to in the same way; by pressing both of his fingers to the side the ghulra-sigil on his forehead, a unique 'salute' among warforged as a gesture of solidarity, which the guards had returned.), Hardwall paused again in the magic-item demonstrations as Tam wearing her Amy face stepped outside and mentioned going to a bar.
Hardwall tilted his head slightly. "Indeed, it does seem there are few customers to be had this day. If you wish to go out into the city, then of course I shall accompany you as escort as per my duty, Commander." Hardwall then packed up all the baubles and items he had been showing off and moved them back inside. He went around the shop and doubled-checked that everything was secure and off, before stopping by the door. Tam usually liked to to change to an appropriate outfit for whatever face she liked to wear out in the town, and while she used a human face for business as an artificer, when going out for entertainment, Hardwall knew she usually liked to switch to an elf face. He waited at the door, ready to lock up the shop when Tam finished changing and was ready to head out.
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Tam headed up stairs to her room, throwing off her artificer's outfit, and searching for something to wear. As she did, her body changed, her waist slimming, her facial features sharpening, and her hair elongating. Her ears grew out and pointed and her eyes changed to a more almond shape. Soon she was a tall, blond haired elf. Her deep hazel eyes finally picked out a simple green and while dress, the body of it a leaf green, the sleeves frilly and white. It hung down about halfway below the knees. Perfect for a night of drinking and enjoyment. She quickly dressed, noticing that her bust didn't quite fill the dress and shifting it slightly, smiling as she looked in the mirror. "Magaga, you are one... sexy elf." She giggled, using her name for her elven "face."
A few minutes later she stepped out the door, looking incredibly cheerful. "So, how do I look?" She asked Hardwall, knowing that he would probably give an odd response but not really caring. Tam always loved showing off and making herself look nice, even if it really wasn't 'her' who people admired. After all, as a changeling, any face she adopted was just as much her as her supposed 'real' form. It was part of what made her fascinated with artifice. Taking many things and changing them into one different one, the intricate details, it was like constructing a persona, only with more permanent applications.
human
Hardwall glanced "Tam" over when she came back into view. "You look like you are Magaga tonight." He said simply, recognizing her most common elf persona. As she exited the shop, Hardwall followed behind her, pausing momentarily to again place his his hand over the spot on the wall where the Kundarak ward-rune was to 're-set' it, after which he closed the door and locked it behind him before continuing after Magaga-Tam, shadowing her as he always did, looking just like what he was; a well-to-do citizen's personal warforged bodyguard.
Tam led the way through the streets of Sharn, over a few bridges and through towers in the vertically-accomplished city, until they reached the new bar that had opened up like she said. One of the bouncers, a typically-burly half-orc, narrowed his eyes at Hardwall behind Tam as the two approached. Looking at elf-persona of Magaga in front of him, the Half-orc spoke up. "...Yer pet can come in, but e'll have to wait in the corner away fr'm everyone else. This be aproperestabl'shm't, we don't like those who don't come here fer drinks, an' we don't want 'im botherin' others."
At the thought of being kept a distance away from Tam, Hardwall's head bowed forward just slightly as his fingers slowly wiggled. To the half-orc the likely meant nothing, but with Tam having been around Hardwall for a year, she could recognize the small but telltale signs that the warforged was very displeased. However, the living construct only turned his head towards Magaga-Tam, deferring to her.
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The elf looking woman narrowed her almond shaped eyes and glared at the orc "First off, he is not my 'pet' he is my bodyguard and companion. Secondly, if he is to be forced into the corner, then I guess I shall have to either find a seat near the corner, or move a table. I am sure aproperestablishment such as this would be willing to accommodate such a request no? Lastly, are you quite aware that while the warforged do not need sustenance, they are quite capable of consuming it, and may even take joy from sharing such a social venture if their proclivities are such? So he may, in fact, be here for drinks, and a place that allows the 'forged may actually gain clientele by becoming known as accepting of others, even if it loses some of the more closed minded. But then that is hardly your fault, after all you are just the bouncer." 'Tam' quickly rattled off at the orc, the subject of discrimination a rather touchy one for her. Being a changeling she did not tend to judge people based on appearances alone, and seeing such closed minded behavior tended to raise her ire.
Still, she did want to enter, and sighed a concession. "Still, if that is your policy I must abide. Come, we shall not let this ruin a perfectly good night." She said to Hardwall, gesturing for him to follow into the establishment. Inside, it did appear to be a quite new establishment. The tables were well polished wood, with no scratches or the signs of wear on them. The counter was a long... Magaga guessed either oak or some other old hard wood, well polished and etched with fanciful decorations and swirling patterns. There were several tables around the room but Magaga gravitated toward a booth near the far corner. "Here, if you have to be 'away from people' let's at least do so at a comfortable table." She said, leading Hardwall to it, and sitting down, waiting for someone to come see to her. After all. It would be beneath such a beautiful elf to sit at the bar anyway.
human
About halfway through Magaga's tirade, the half-orc seemed to zone out. Hardwall merely watched on with his usual impassiveness. When Magaga finally said that she'd abide anyway, the half-orc seemed to snap out of it and stepped aside. "Yeah, sure whatever..." Hardwall followed behind Magaga, but turned his head towards the bouncer on his way in. Though Hardwall (like most warforged) was incapable of changing his expression, it was still effectively shooting a glare at the bouncer. The bouncer just glared back.
Once inside, Hardwall followed Magaga to the corner booth she had chosen, and sat in a seat opposite to her. He had to be careful to fit his bulk in between the seat and table without gouging something, but he managed. Shortly afterwards, a peppy halfling barmaid came up to Magaga to take her order, though Hardwall remained silent and did not order anything for himself, naturally. After the barmaid got Magaga's order, she skipped off to the bar to get it.
Hardwall, meanwhile, was casting his eyes all around the pub, scanning every patron and assessing possible and probable threats as easy as breathing. Well, if he could actually breathe, that is. Nearly every patron came up as "low threat", except for some scarred veterans on the opposite side of the pub, though they were keeping to themselves and weren't very rowdy at all.
However, another patron at the bar had taken note of Magaga and Hardwall, or at least Magaga; a male elf dressed in a suit of moderate finery, marking him as a small businessman himself. He had had a few drinks already, and the lone (mostly) Magaga caught his eye. He sauntered over to the table and with a suave confidence spoke to the changeling posing as an elf. "Why hello there milady, I couldn't help but notice you seem to be bereft of company on this fine night in this fine place. Might I sit with you, so that this tragedy may be rectified?" He spoke with a typical Khorvairian elf accent.
Hardwall, on the other hand, was staring straight at the elf. Tam could tell from the suble hitching of his shoulder-plates that he had tensed up his musculature and was prepared to act if it became necessary.
gpt
Magaga/Tam cheerily ordered a bottle of fruity red wine, and sat back in her seat, taking in the 'sights' of the bar. She could not help but notice the huge mix of people and pondered aloud "They seem to let anyone in except warforged. Heck there's a pair of shifters over there. I thought they would be considered more problematic than you. Heh, racism isn't just about race anymore. Saddening." She sighed. When her drink arrived she thanked the halfling and gave her a small tip, taking a short sip of her drink.
As the other elf came up, Magaga sat up a little more, noting Hardwall's subtle changes, and cocking her head a little toward him, a signal to stay calm for the moment. "Greetings. However I do have a little company if you see here." She said, gesturing to Hardwall. "But I would not say no to more. You seem quite well dressed. What is it that you do?" She asked him, trying to make some small talk. "I'm sure it must be something quiet interesting." Tam replied, attempting to adopt a little of a Khorvarian accent, but the strange mix of accents that was her normal voice somewhat leaking through. It made her sound like an elf who had spent a lot of time traveling though, so she was not that worried.
human
"I wouldn't know." Hardwall replied to Tam's comment about 'race'. While he knew other warforged--particularly younger ones--were more invested and concerned about such issues than him, Hardwall was one of the many grizzled veterans who didn't really care as long as he had something to do. However, when the other male elf approached the table and Hardwall noticed the shifting on Tam's head towards him, he understood the signal and relaxed back in his seat. He hadn't let his guard down, though. There was something about this elf he didn't like.
The elf, meanwhile, had taken Magaga-Tam's inquiry with gusto. "Oh, I would say it's very interesting indeed!" He said bombastically, gesturing with a hand that held a half-full glass of wine. "I import textiles and other goods from the Valenar! Considered exotic goods around here, they fetch excellent prices! Plus, I'm one of the few who can negotiate with them at all, I share some ancestry with one of the clans! Oh, but communicating with them is still alwaysinterestingat the best of times--I surely don't have to tell you how seriously they take themselves! Good thing I'm handy with a blade myself, as I've had to defeat a few of the Valenar's younger warriors in single combat from time to time just to continue business!"
The elf then slid himself into a seat next to Magaga, probably a little less smoother than he had intended, as it was obvious he'd had at least several drinks from the overdone enthusiasm in his voice and the every so slight wobbling in his movements. It was also hard to tell how much of his bragging was truth and how much was hyperbole or fabrication, though defeating Valenar warriors, even young ones, wasn't particularly likely.
The male elf then leaned in, right up against Magaga's side, and looked into her eyes. "But enough about me, tell me about yourself, my fine flower! What is your name? What is it you do? What do you enjoy? For I'm sure it will be mostenjoyablefor us to get to know each other better..."
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Tam wrinkled her sharp elven nose as the male elf leaned in close, his heavily wine scented breath blasting her face. It was tart and sour, and she knew immediately this man had quite too much to drink. "Oh, fighting Valenar warriors? That sounds.... exciting." She said, trying to scoot away from the elf a bit more. "I really don't do all that much. I am simply a secretary for some trading firm. I make enough to spend my evenings out but, I do not think that I'm quite interesting enough for you."
Tam looked rather uncomfortable at the sudden closeness. She quite enjoyed flirting and the verbal back and forth that was common place between two people out drinking, but she never did quite finish the game. Something always seemed to cut her off before anything beyond simple flirting and witty banter exchanging happened, but it was readily apparent to her that this elf was too far in his cup to take the hints. "I am afraid I might not be quite the.... 'flower' you are looking for. Besides, you seem to have had enough nectar for the evening." Tam replied, trying to convince the elf to give her a little space.
human
The warforged on the other side of the table sat still and silent, focused on watching Magaga and the male elf. He could tell the other elf was making his Commander uncomfortable, with the way she kept trying to increase the distance between them. Hardwall didn't like that.
He didn't like that at all.
The elf, meanwhile, seemed oblivious to Magaga's hints, and carried on with his blustering, and kept leaning closer to her as she scooted away. "Oh, come now, don't be like that! You are certainly interesting enough for me...and besides, of course you want to get to know me better...I can show you just how well I handle my 'sword' in person..." The man then reached down with one of his hands to put it on Magaga's thigh, and moved to reach between her legs--
ffffp-CRACK!
"Aaaauuugh!M' nove! M' nove!"
Suddenly, the elf's glass was dropped on the table and he was clutching his face with both hands as a small trickle of blood leaked between his fingers. It took a moment to realize what had happened, since it had happened so fast. But after piecing it together, Magaga would realize that Hardwall had--in one single circular motion--leaned forward across the table, reached out with his arm, grabbed the elf behind his head, pulled back to slam the elf's face into the table, all before returning to the exact sitting position he had been at before. The warforged glanced straight at Magaga/Tam, and calmly said "Threat neutralized." in his typical warforged deadpan.
But the elf's cries of pain had attracted attention, and as he stumbled out of the booth and away from the table, a loud voice called out " 'EY! What's goin' on over 'ere?" The half-orc bouncer from before, along with a dwarf and several large humans, walked over to the table. The half-orc took one look at the elf trying to stand up, still clutching his face, and leveled a glare at Hardwall.
"Assaultin' another patron? Get out, now, both of ya." The half orc growled out as he pulled out an unusual spiked gauntlet from his belt and slid it onto his hand. "An' jus' try somethin' funny. Ya won't be the firs'weaponwe've had todisarm." The half-orc bit out at Hardwall, before touching his other hand to a small Eberron dragonshard inset into the back of the spiked gauntlet. Sparks of electricity arced between the spikes after he did so. To Tam's experienced eye though, the gauntlet actually wasn't very impressive, relatively crude work, probably that of a magewright rather than a true artificer. Still, there was little doubt it could cause problems for Hardwall if it was used against him.
Hardwall, meanwhile, simply looked back at Magaga, waiting for her cue. He figured he could probably take the bouncers on, and in fact had already worked out a plan of action if he had to, but he had a hunch that his employer would rather he didn't take any further action without prompting.
gpt
Magaga/Tam closed her eyes and tensed up as the intruding elf reached toward her thigh when the whistling of air and the sudden loud crack startled her. She almost jumped up in her seat before realising what had happened. She opened her eyes to see the elf bent over the table crying out. "You shouldn't have done that.... thank you." She whispered softly to Hardwall before the bouncer arrived. "This man was making undo advances on me... My companion was simply protecting me." She began, before looking around the room, and coming to the conclusion that.... there was no way she could talk herself out of this. "There's no need for violence. We'll leave." She said, starting to stand. However, the mix of the slight amount of alcohol she had drank and the stress caused her to stumble slightly. As she did her natural shifting ability started to 'slip' from the stress, and her eyes faded to the white on white that was the hallmark of a changeling. Being the rather light weight she was, the confusion and worry of a potentially violent altercation occuring was causing her to become bleary minded and light headed. "We are leaving. This place is not... our kind of establishment anyway." She said, starting to head toward the door, hoping the crowd would move to let her pass. "Come on Hardwall, we should get out before they do something they'll regret in the morning."
'Let's see, that gauntlet is... probably some of Eric's work. And pretty shoddy at that. If we have to fight out of here.... that's still a priority... but those guys are big.... should I change? Try to look bigger? Oh god I don't want to get in a fight.' Tam's mind raced, trying to figure out what she would have to do if things got violent, but the slightly muddled thoughts made it hard to know what to do and her thoughts kept jumping here and there. If Hardwall was paying attention to the way she seemed to be shivering slightly, and the semi erratic movement of her eyes he would know, from past experience, that his employer was lost in thoughts and would probably not be able to help much if a fight broke out.
human
Hardwall began to move out of his seat and stand up with Magaga as she tried to explain the situation, and Hardwall was prepared for all outcomes, including Magaga acquiescing to leave without further incident. Hardwall immediately prioritized carrying out exactly that to the best of his ability, which meant not provoking the bouncers further. But as Hardwall glanced towards Magaga to keep aware, he spotted that her eyes were no longer the hazel of Magaga, but the solid milky-white of Tam. The situation was getting to her, and her control was slipping.
It wouldn't exactly be a disaster if everyone discovered that she was a changeling, everyone in Sharn knew many changelings lived among them (of thethreered-light districts in Sharn, one was famous for being almost entirely populated with changelings), some who even walked openly in their true forms. But Hardwall knew that Tam was one of the many changelings who preferred their "public" identities to remain disassociated with their true nature, to better slip between the facets of society when it suited her. To that end, Hardwall took the initiative to help preserve her nature, so that she wouldn't have to abandon this particular identity and spend time crafting a new one.
"We are retreating peacably, maintain ceasefire." Hardwall declared as he moved his immense bulk around to Magaga, where he leaned slightly towards her to shield her from everyone else with his body, as he also used one of his huge hands to conceal her head and face, while he rested the other on Magaga's shoulder to help steer her towards the exit. And though his hand was formed of stone, metal, and wood, his contact with her was firm but gentle in a way that one wouldn't expect from a construct without meeting them before. He listened to her trying to evaluate the situation, but she quickly descended into confused uncertainty. "Do not change. Maintain." Hardwall said in a faint, muted voice without moving his jaw, the warforged equivalent of a whisper. The bouncers and some of the other bar patrons watched the duo head towards the door, but no one blocked their way or pursued them.
Then they were back out on the bridge-streets, with the towers of Sharn rising all around them. Hardwall straightened up a bit, but his hand remained on Magaga's shoulder and he marched behind her, guiding her to stay on course towards home. After a time of walking, after which Hardwall was confident Magaga/Tam had gotten ahold of herself again, he removed his hand from her and marched at her side instead of behind her. Hardwall looked down and sideways at his employer while he walked. While he did what he considered his job, he knew it was his fault that they got kicked out of the bar that Tam wanted to visit.
"I must apologize, Commander." Hardwall said. "I perhaps could have carried out my duty to safeguard you with more subtlety, instead of instigating the skirmish that has led to you being evicted from the establishment you wished to enjoy a social evening in." Normally, the warforged spoke in either monotone or deadpan (unless intimidating someone or in battle), but there was actually some inflection in his voice this time, which was fairly rare. Since his sculpted face was incapable of forming any kind of expression, that hint in his voice was enough to reveal that he was feeling genuinely contrite and remorseful.
gpt
Tam followed Hardwall out, worried but working on calming down directly. His hand on her shoulder served to help anchor her to the moment instead of becoming lost in her muddled thoughts. On the streets she finally managed to clear her head slightly, shaking it several times and blinking slightly. "No, you did... you did good." She assured him softly. "I was not having that much fun really. Besides, that place doesn't seem like my kind of establishment." She said. For a while she simply walked in silence next to Hardwall, thinking for a moment. "That was uncharacteristic of you, to react so harshly without a warning or any kind of indication you were going to hit him." Tam said almost absentmindedly as she shifted her features from the sultry looking elf to her more normal human appearance. By the time they reached the shop, she was Amy again.
"Ugh, why are other people so... stupid and just... words not coming to me, I may have had a bit too much." Amy said as she went to unlock the door. "You know it'd be a lot easier if I didn't have to go out to.... Never mind. Warforged don't have biological urges, nor the anatomy to handle them even if they did. That'd be a sight." She says softly with a chuckle. "I wonder.... what would.... well some kind of pump.... internal.... but how would pressure...." She stepped through the door, looking down slightly, the fingers of her left hand wiggling and moving about in the air, as if working with an invisible abacus. "That'd be.... but then...."
Amy, instead of heading up to bed drifted toward her workshop, still doing her faint mumbling and mental calculations. It seemed something had caught her interest. Hardwall would have occasionally seen her do this, where she became so consumed with a task she ignored most everything around her. Although normally this was when she was presented with an interesting device or a difficult problem. Still, as Amy changed to her normal Changeling appearance and sat down at her workbench, she seemed consumed in her work. She reached her slender arms for a roll of paper and spread it out in front of her, beginning to sketch.... something. Pressure calculations and some strange mishmash of devices soon appeared on the paper, as well as a rough sketch of... it was hard to tell just quite what she was drawing, as calculations, notes, and various small mechanical parts covered up the sketch.
human
Hardwall continued walking along with Tam at a steady pace as she excused his actions, only giving a nod while he walked. "If you say so, Commander." But when she called him out on his being quick to action without warning, Hardwall actually missed a beat in his stride and stumbled slightly with a metallic clatter before he caught himself and returned to a normal walking pace. It was very hard to surprise a warforged; clearly he hadn't been expecting a question like that. "I..." He began, but whatever he was trying to say wouldn't form right for him. It wasn't unheard-of for a warforged to stammer over their words in exceptional circumstances, but it was just that, it didn't happen commonly like with fully organic beings. "I saw...how the ruffian continually engaged in physical contact with you despite your clearly obvious displeasure and avoidance. That...angered me." Hardwall kept slowing down with his speech irregularly as he answered, as if he wasn't even entirely certain what he was saying--or rather, he didn't fully understand what he was saying, which wasn't surprising considering how difficult the topic of emotions was for warforged, yet what was surprising was that it was his anger he seemed unsure of. Anger and hatred were the emotions that almost every warforged was familiar with and understood well, as they were the only emotions useful to the people who trained them to be soldiers; it was useful to hate the person you were fighting.
Hardwall walked the rest of the way to the shop with Tam in silence, though there was something off about his gait, like he wasn't concentrating on walking, though it was unlikely the tipsy Tam noticed. When they reached the door and Tam--now in her human Amy persona--moved to unlock the shop door and started babbling through her alcohol buzz, Hardwall continued to remain silent. This wasn't the first time he had seen her drunk, so he dealt with it as he always had; by staying out of Tam's way and just letting her work her buzz out. All he had to do was silently trail behind her and clean up after her. After crossing the threshold after Tam, he smoothly went about stowing everything away about the shop that needed to be stowed for the night, and locking up everything behind him. He noticed she went to her workshop instead of her bedroom, still mumbling and muttering arcane calculations. Hardwall had seen this before too, and it was best to just let her work it out. She didn't do it often, so it wouldn't be too detrimental to her daily activities, and she'd probably pass out over her work soon anyway, after which he'd relocate her to her bed properly.
With the entire building locked up and everything properly put away, Hardwall went to his own personal cupboard that contained everything he officially owned for himself. They were all practical items, mostly a few weapons, a repair kit, the salary Tam paid him, and other assorted useful items, but there were two items he was interested in that were more or 'pleasure' than practicality, if it could be called that. Only the most ignorant people didn't know that warforged actually did get bored. Oh, they could spend more time on a singular task than most people could, but eventually they'd want to do something else for awhile, and even warforged don't like standing around doing nothing, they needed something to pass the time. Officially, Hardwall's after-hours job was to be a nightguard for the shop, but with the locks, security wards, and the fact there hadn't been a break-in in over a year, he could do other things while on the watch.
With the two items in question, a somewhat thick slip of parchment and a gameboard, Hardwall set up in the main shop where he could listen best to all parts of the building for an intruder (as well as Tam in her workshop, or rather, he would notice when he couldn't hear her working anymore). He placed the circular gameboard on the table and set up a series of gamepieces on one side. Though the game could involve two, three, or four players, all the other sides were left empty. He then laid out the sheet of parchment on the table next to the board, retrieved a quill and inkpot, and then wrote out on the parchment in neat warforged writing;
I have arrived and am ready to play. How many others are present tonight?
Hardwall stared at the parchment he had written on for a minute, and then, of it's own accord, the inkwritten words faded away, and new equally-neat words began writing themselves on the parchment before his very eyes.
There are seven of us tonight. Whipfist, Toadsticker, Brigade, and Heat are otherwise engaged. We have two newcomers. One has played the game before. Would you like to match him?
Hardwall waited for the writing that had been written onto the enchanted parchment that matched his to fade away, before he wrote in his response.Affirmative.Newcomers were unusual, two newcomers was impressive. Hardwall was always pleased to match wits with some he had not before.
Hardwall then looked back to the gameboard and pressed his metal thumb to the Eberron dragonshard inset in the center, which glowed softly. A few moments later, ghostly, illusory pieces began appearing on the opposite side of the board, representing the positions of the pieces on the second gameboard that, like the parchment, matched the one in Hardwall's possession. When Hardwall had taken time off for himself once (more like Tam insisted point-blank that he take a break and go explore the city some), he had met several other warforged employed throughout the city who had formed a nighttime club when they were not working, as warforged often liked to stick together. They all knew how to play a boardgame that was common around Khorvaire, and they all enjoyed it to match wits against each other and keep their minds sharp. Hardwall visited them in person when he could, but he also insisted himself that he remain in Tam's shop most of the time as her nightguard, as he considered it his duty. While Hardwall didn't often have use for the money Tam paid him, he had commissioned her to create something that would allow him to play with them while remaining here. The result were the two gameboards and two pieces of parchment, which incidentally became one of her shop's more popular items for the rich elite and netted her a tidy profit.
Hardwall then glanced back to the parchment. More writing was appearing on it, though it was brief. It merely saidI am, and then showed a unique rune. It was the warforged on the other end drawing his ghulra for Hardwall. When the ink faded, Hardwall responded in kind, drawing the rune that was etched into his own forehead, before writingI look forward to seeing how you think.
The parchment responded withAs do I. You have the first move.
Hardwall made his move.
gpt
Tam continued her strange frenzied work, moving at a frantic if uncoordinated pace. Occasionally a part would confound her as she fumbled about with her tired and slightly drunken fingers. Soon a slightly cylindrical shape began to take form. It was crude looking, made of several rings of interlocking metal, some rather mismatched as Tam had not bothered to quite make sure the pieces fit together perfectly. Inside a series of tubes and pistons linked to the rings. "Damn it! Ow!" She cursed, pulling her hand back from a link she had been working on, sucking on her finger gently and blinking slightly. Due to her tired, befuddled state she was making several mistakes but she continued to press on. "No, that goes... but then... how much?" She muttered softly, her eyes slowly closing more and more before finally, with a loud *THUNK* she fell forward onto the table, passing out on her seat, scattering a few of the smaller cogs, pipes, metallic rings and some strange tubing she had laid out. After several minutes a soft, delicate snoring issued from the hunched over Tam, her arms resting on the table around her head, twitching occasionally reacting to something in her dreams, or just an unconscious muscle twitch one could not tell. As she snored softly she started slowly sliding off the side of her chair, barely supported by her position on her workbench, although her precarious perch would not last long.
human
Some time into his game, Hardwall heard a quietthunkfrom elsewhere in the building, almost quiet enough that he missed it. However, he did hear it, which meant investigating it. Quickly, he scribbled a note onto the parchment saying he needed to walk away for a moment and would return soon, then he got out of the chair he was sitting in and walked out of the shop area of the building into the rear living areas. As he walked closer to where he heard the thunk come from, he also heard a windy buzzing sound, one he knew all to well. Tam was asleep, and snoring.
The warforged quickly, but quietly made for Tam's workshop, turning the corner into the doorway in enough time to see her begin to slip sideways off her desk. With a brief burst of speed and yet with a lightness in his step that was quiet enough to not wake up Tam, Hardwall crossed the remaining distance in little more than a second. In just enough time, he reached the side of her workbench, crouched, and shoot his arms out to catch Tam as she began to fall, lowering his arms as she fell into them to gradually and softly stop her from hitting the floor, all to keep her from waking up.
Once the warforged was sure his employer was still sound asleep, Hardwall then gingerly scooped up Tam in his arms in a way most people wouldn't think warforged to be capable of. He freed up one of his hands just enough to try and pick up some of the unassembled pieces of...whatever Tam was working on...that had gotten scattered around from her unplanned slumbering. Hardwall caught a glimpse of some of the pieces of parchment with arcane formulae on them that Tam had scribbled down, and Hardwall recognized a few of them as enchantments designed to integrate with a warforged. So, she was making a new warforged component of some kind. Hardwall did not, however, recognize the vaugely cylindrical device that was taking shape in the center of the scattered parts. Figuring that Tam would tell him about it when she finished it, if she wanted to, Hardwall put it from his mind and carried Tam out of the workshop and up the stairs to her bedroom as slowly and quietly as he could manage. Once there, he laid out Tam on her bed, and pulled the covers over her, knowing that fleshlings needed to be insulated while in their resting state. With his task complete, Hardwall exited the room and returned to the shop, where he continued to play the boardgame with the other warforged throughout the night.
***
In the morning when Tam awoke, she would find herself not at her desk, where she last remembered being, but neatly tucked into her own bed. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened, this wasn't the first time Hardwall had taken care of Tam when she overworked herself. She could also then smell the scent of food wafting up from downstairs. Hardwall must have started cooking her breakfast already.
gpt
"Uuuugggnnn, where...." Tam groaned as she awoke to the warm smell of food wafting up from downstairs. After blinking blearily for a moment she shook her head and got out of bed. Although tumbled out of bed would be a more apt description. She yawned and stretched slightly, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a long, tired sounding yawn. "I should get more sleep...." she muttered to herself blearily. As Tam went down the stairs she heard the unmistakable sounds of Hardwall working in the kitchen. Even when he was trying to be quite the sound of metal on metal as he used the utensils was impossible to completely silence. "How long did I sleep?" She called to him as she reached the bottom of the stairs and headed into the kitchen. "I feel like a Lightning Rail ran into me...." She complained softly, stretching again and taking in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of eggs and sausage, one of her favorite breakfast meals.
As Hardwall finished cooking she sat down in a chair she commented a bit more cheerily. "And what is the occasion that you felt I deserved my favorite foods? I told you not to cook it too often or I might get fat." She said with a chuckle, knowing that while she could gain weight, the ability of a changeling to change their body shape meant that even if she did it would not be noticeable, or even matter. Still she liked to at least make an effort to 'watch her figure' like other people did. "And how was your game last night? Board still working well I hope?" She asked in a chipper conversational tone, having cheered up a lot after waking up a bit more and getting something to eat.
After a few moments Tam remembered where she had been last night and what she had been working on and blushed a little. "Oh umm.... thank you for getting me to bed last night but... did you see any odd notes or... machinery in my workshop last night? Anything.... out of the ordinary or.... strange?" She asked, trying to see if Hardwall had seen, or more importantly had figured out what Tam had been constructing last night.
human
Hardwall looked over from the stove he was working on as Tam came down the stairs in a groggy stupor. It was always curious to Hardwall about how most fleshlings went through such a stage of poor functioning in the period of time immediately after awakening. He always wondered why they couldn't simply always operate in ideal capacity at all times, so long as they were properly maintained. At her comment on how she felt, Hardwall tilted his head at her as he flipped an egg in a pan offhand. "I highly doubt that. If you were to be stuck by a Lightning Rail moving at speed, I believe you would not survive the experience to know what it felt like."
After Tam sat down at a table and Hardwall presented her with the finished meal, she asked him why he had cooked a 'fattening' meal for her, in what Hardwall had come to recognize as a 'playful' voice. "Your natural changeling abilities are sufficient to counteract weight gain." Hardwall responded in a casual tone, for a warforged at least. "...And you were quite distressed last night, partially as a result of my actions, so I decided to prepare a meal that you would particularly enjoy." He continued, in a noticiably more measured tone. Internally, Hardwall was thinking to himself. He had come to notice how, over time, he seemed to be going to greater and greater extents to ensure that his employer was content and comfortable. He wasn't quite sure why that was, but by now he was beginning to be aware that he was forming some kind of attachment to Tam beyond simply employer and employee. He found himself working for her not because it was a job, but because hewantedto. He just didn't know why that was, or even what kind of attachment he was beginning to feel towards her. Warforged weren't exactly commonly taught about such things, mostly because many people had no idea warforged were even capable of more complex feelings than battlerage or simple loyalty.
As Hardwall went about cleaning up the utensils he'd used, he glanced back in Tam's direction as she inquired about what he knew about what Tam had been working on last night. While her tone wasn't one he heard very often, he could tell that Tam was speaking in a hesitant or 'embarrased' way, a tone usually reserved for when one fleshling didn't want another to know about something, though Hardwall couldn't fathom what Tam didn't want him to know about what she had been working on. "I recognized several equations and diagrams as the foundations for a warforged-compatible customization, though I could not discern its purpose, as it appears to be an entirely new one you are creating. When you finish it, you will inform me about it if you intend to, I suppose." Hardwall answered in full truth. "Also to inform you, I noticed some pieces of it had been scattered around, so I picked them up and organized them on the desk for when you return to it." He finished.
gpt
Tam nodded, a little relieved. Although why she had been worried she had no idea. Hardwall probably would not have recognized what she was building, or realised the implications even if she had somehow managed to finish it. "Well yes I.... I'm working on a warforged component just... an idea that popped into my head." She admitted. "And thank you for picking up the pieces. Some of those might have been a pain to replace. So how late was I up anyway?" She asked as she got up, taking her plate over to wash it clean. She washed her plate in silence for a moment then finally concluding something in her head. "I think today we should leave the shop closed. I doubt we'd get many customers today, and I want to finish this new project. When I get done um...." Tam took in a deep breath then let it out, steeling her nerves. "Would you be willing to help me test it? I will need a 'forged to try it out with."
As Tam was talking she fidgeted and rocked back and forth slightly on her feet, her body language conveying her nervousness and a little unease, but her voice spoke with more determination than she seemed to feel. A strange mix of emotions playing across her rather plain white face. Her eyes not quite looking at Hardwall directly but glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, or stealing glances when she thought he wouldn't see. This was quite different from her usual more confident or eclectic personality, but then as a Changeling she sometimes had strange moods or behavior swings as the feeling struck. Or over accenting emotions simply to display them better. Besides, she felt more free to show her emotions around Hardwall, after all, he certainly had little body language so she had to do more than enough for the both of them.
human
Hardwall was not surprised, as Tam often had new and creative ideas come to her in flashes, he was familiar with her bursts of genius when working on projects. As Hardwall finished cleaning up the things he had used, he answered "You stayed up for three hours after you began your work, which was indeed three hours longer than you should have been up." With everything put away, he turned to face Tam and watched her as she continued talking, and slipped into what he recognized as a nervous mood. It wasn't one he saw often in the extroverted and energetic changeling, and he couldn't imagine why she would be nervous now, about a new warforged component.
Hardwall tilted his head at her. "Very well, if you wish to keep the shop closed today, I could assist you in getting your projects in order, and run errands if you need it. And of course, I would be willing to test out a new component you make, your ideas are always useful and clever...but why do you seem apprehensive about this? I have tested components for you before..." Hardwall asked, trying to figure out just why his employer was acting strange. He knew she might not actually tell him, she didn't always do so, but he figured it was harmless to inquire. And he was wondering just what the component was supposed to be, anyway.
gpt
"Well it's just.... this one might not be.... safe? And it certainly is.... unorthodox let's just go with that." Tam resolved, trying to calm down. After all. She had decided she was going to make this, and she was not about to back out now. Besides.... there surely had to be some use for a.... well for a warforged phallus she had to admit what she was building. "I think I can finish it on my own. If there are any chores that need done I would say do them. If there is nothing then you have the day free. It is past time you get a vacation." She said with a light chuckle, working her way back to her former cheery self. "It will be a while before I am finished though. After all if it could be unsafe I want to make sure it's done right before testing...." She said, almost more to herself then Hardwall.
Tam slowly drifted back to her workshop, thinking to herself, this time far more coherently. As she got into the shop she paused for a moment to note how Hardwall had put things away, as organized as always. She say down at the bench with her partly completed project and began working. This time, no longer troubled by the fog of alcohol or lack of sleep she worked much faster, correcting errors and mistakes she made last night, muttering about her own stupidity. "Now why did I think that would work.... this should be.... now that's just all wrong.... there we.... no this sigil should be.... and that goes.... so then...." The object took place, appearing now as a roughly 11" long.... 'for ease of constructing internal systems.' Tam told herself, slightly tapering cylinder, made of several small interlocking rings that could slide and move against each other. There was a flexible rubber based tube inside of it, but at the moment this did little more than add a center to the component upon which the rings were more easily affixed, although Tam had plans. After all this was simply the first trial. At the base were several bits of arcane sigildry and some connectors, designed to link to a Warforged, and, Tam hopped, grant the component at least a rudimentary version of the sense of touch experienced by Warforged. It could easily pick up changes in temperature, something Tam felt might be important. Unfortunately she had no way of easily "warming it up" so she was a little leery. Still, viewing it in all of its glory certainly was causing a reaction as Tam blushed at the component. She pushed a button on the base which caused the hose to 'curl up' and retract the rings, turning it into a small, somewhat bulgy plate that looked as if it would fit over a warforged's "crotch plate." Tam sighed as she hefted it "Well, here goes." She said, walking off to find Hardwall.
human
Hardwall was silent for a moment at he stared at Tam, in what she could probably feel seemed like the warforged equivalent of 'blinking' before he spoke up again. "I see...well, I trust you and your skills, and in that you will be able to minimize any risk in this new project of yours." At being informed that he officially had the day free after any wayward chores, Hardwall tilted his head again. That was slightly unexpected, but as he thought to himself, there were some things in the city he could do to occupy himself. "Very well. I only need to set some of the inventory in order for the day, and then I shall go about the city. When the sun begins to set, if I have not already returned, I will likely be on East Thrush Street." Hardwall told Tam, and then turned to set the foodstores in order--making sure there was an adequate lunch and a dinner somewhat prepared ahead of time for Tam, and locked up some of the more valuable things in a safe, retrieved some money from his own personal storage, and then left the shop.
Hardwall meandered around some warforged-friendly shops for a few hours, though he didn't really buy much--Tam personally handled almost all of his upgrades and customizations, and he liked it that way. Still, there were a few little things he liked to do himself, just to keep himself familiar with his own functioning. There was just something oddly satisfying about personally modifying one's own body. He purchased a few plant-fiber-cords and two shiny new steel plates, after which he found a place where he could sit down with his tools and work on himself. Very delicately, he stripped off the stone-and-metal composite plates that covered one of his arms, and used the tools to strand the new fiber-cords into the existing fiber-bundles that made up the muscles in his arms. As he worked, he could actually feel his partially-living body begin to incorporate the new material. He then reintegrated the composite plating onto his arm, then took one of the two new steel plates and began fashioning it around his forearm, merging it with the existing plating. He then repeated the whole process with his other arm. When he was done, both his arms felt just a smidge stronger, and his forearms looked like they had shiny bracers built into them. Finally, he etched a dwarven rune on each of his forearms, one for 'defense' and one for 'protection'.
After his personal maintenance, Hardwall then made his way down to another warforged hangout he knew of, near East Thrush Street; an all-warforged wrestling/boxing ring. Though it certainly looked brutal, given how the warforged could beat each other up much more harshly than fleshlings could, it was all in good sport--mainly a way for ex-soldier warforged to keep their skills sharp--and the warforged avoided seriously damaging each other. Plus, there was an entrance fee that covered a stock of oils of repair to patch the 'forged up after a bout. Still, due to how itlooked, it was an oddly popular spectator sport for certain elements of Sharn's living society. There was a decent turnout today, with fleshlings in the benches all shouting, cheering, and making bets. Hardwall went to the warforged organizer of the ring, paid the entrance fee, and went in. He managed to win his first two rounds against two models of warforged a bit bigger and heavier than he was, one of which was an adamantine brute. He hadn't seemed to have forged himself into a Juggernaut yet, though he certinly fought like one. Tam's employee had faced such warforged in battle before, and had knowledge of weak points he could exploit. Hardwall lost his third round, however, against a warforged that was of thinner build than he was, with shinier and more sophisticated plating, likely a newer model than the usual soldier warforged. The smaller, more advanced 'forged was just too fast for Hardwall, dancing around him and peppering him with hammerblows from his metal fists, and all too soon Hardwall felt the dreadfully familiar sensation of falling inert from accumulated damage...and then, from his perspective, immediately waking back up with a splash of repair-oil after he had been dragged out and some time had passed. He had to admit though, the younger 'forged had taught him some new things that he wanted to start practicing himself. Hardwall collected his small winnings from his first two fights, got himself fully patched up and good as new, and started walking down the street, making his way back towards the shop on the most likely path that Tam might use to get to the street. By now, the sun had long sunk past the skyline of the City of Towers, and the bridge-streets connecting the towers were rapidly darkening, while street workers went about unshuttering everbright lanterns.
gpt
Tam walked through the shop/house first, looking around for Hardwall, but not finding him. After a few minutes she remembered he said he would be "on East Thrush Street" which was a place Tam was rather familiar with. He was probably going to that arena again. Tam sighed softly and got her tool belt. "Just my luck he managed to enjoy himself a little too much and get something to dinged or dented for my component to work. I know they have repairs there but magical oil is no substitute for a good, professional repair job." Tam muttered to herself, working up a little bit of indignation to try to hide her embarrassment as she readied to head out. The new component found its home in a leather pouch hanging from Tam's hip. She was pretty certain it would stand up to some bumping and bruising, and this pouch could be sealed through magical means that made it hard to pickpocket, after all it would be a horrible development if some thief made off with her.... test product. And even worse if word of it made it to her peers. Especially in this untested and potentially... well dangerous state.
As Tam walked through the streets, she moved mostly through muscle memory. Her mind was lost in thoughts about what it was she had built, why she had built it, and what this might mean. After all, would Hardwall like this component? Would it even have a real use? Surely there were Warforged who would want a little... well some way to share in the intense physical feelings that the more flesh based races could experience. Or was she really just developing it for.... why was she developing it? There had been stories of people falling in love with Warforged but this was.... well this was taking it a bit further. After all, what if he didn't feel the same. Could he feel the same? Worse, would he tell her if he did not? Do they understand the social intricacies or the meanings behind what this could be? Then again, did many normal "people." Tam had never been a philosopher, or so she told herself, but these question did ask themselves. After all, how could they not. While Tam was lost in thought, she plowed right into the back of, and tumbled over, a rather stocky dwarf who had stopped for some reason.
"Eeeeeh, Wha'ter ye doin'? Don' go ha knockin' in teh odders like dat." He growled at the slim looking "human" who had tumbled into him and now lay sprawled on the walkway. A few people stopped to see what was happening. "I'm so sorry I didn't..." Tam began. "Ah carse yeh didn'. No one does Lass. Buh jus caese yer not payin' 'ttention, why yer runnin' tah me?" His words were slurred and stumbling, but somewhat angry. Tam figured this man was drunk, or inebriated in some kind of way. However, a sick looking handaxe hung from his belt and from the way his hand was flexing he might go for it if provoked. Slowly she started to stand. "Ssshit back dewn 'ere. I hain' done wit yeeeww." He said. Tam looked around, knowing this should be the path Hardwall would be on, and hoping he might show up in time to help so she did not have to use one of the 'self defense tools' she had hidden in her outfit on this obviously angry, surly dwarf.
human
If Hardwall was not an attentive warforged, there are many things he might have missed throughout his life, not the least of which a few things during the war that would have probably killed him. But the warforged was quite attentive, and was often able to notice what others don't. Furthermore, he never let his guard down, ever. So even when innocently walking through a crowded bridge-street between Towers in Sharn, Hardwall's eyes were looking to and fro, looking at each and every citizen that he passed, looking for anything that might affect him. It wasn't like he expected trouble, it almost wasn't even 'conscious', it was more like a well-worn, easy habit.
So when he walked through part of the street that had a human female spilled on her bottom, with an unsteady dwarf gesturing at her and scolding her, Hardwall noticed three very important things; One, the human female was wearing Tam's workshop outfit. Two, the 'human's' face was Tam's Amy persona. And three, the dwarf was most certainlynotacting in a friendly manner, and Amy/Tam looked worried. Furthermore, the swaying dwarf was reaching for an axe on his hip.
These noticed things combined to make Hardwall a very unhappy warforged.
Hadwall approached the dwarf from behind, casting his shadow over both him and Amy from the light of the everbright lanterns illuminating the walkway. He then reached down and tapped the dwarf on the shoulder to get him to turn around. "Excuse me." Hardwal grated out in his somewhat metallic voice. Despite being much larger than the dwarf and looking rather intimidating in posture, Hardwall knew better than to deliberately provoke a dwarf like that. Most of the time, when something bigger than them tries to intimidate them, they just get even angrier. So, instead, Hardwall took a different tack. "I believe that whatever your quarrel with the lady is, she did not mean whatever it is happened, and I am quite sure she has already apologized to you for any mistake. Now, unless you are injured or require monetary compensation for damaged property, the best course of action here would be to let it go and return everyone to their own business. This isn't worth a fight, friend." Hardwall said smoothly and calmly.
gpt
The dwarf looked toward Hardwall, then looked up at him, his eyes narrowing, but slightly out of focus. "Is it nah? Tha's wha ye beliii....beriv...think?" He said, clearly confused by the sudden interjection of the warforged in front of him. Tam/Amy took this opportunity to stand up, looking thankfully toward Hardwall. "As I was trying to say, I was not looking where I was going and foolishly ran into you. I apologize sincerely to you for that, and for any other offense I may have caused. But my friend here needs me to come with him now and I hate to keep him waiting. Would you excuse me?" She spoke quickly, stepping around the dwarf to Hardwall and taking him by the arm. "Now you needed me to check you after those ring fights right? You have to be more restrained, you could do some serious damage..." She said, attempting to bluff her way away from the now bewildered dwarf. "Let's go!" She whispered slightly to Hardwall as she started leading him back toward her shop.
After they had gone a little ways Tam sighed, visibly trying to relax. "Thanks, you showing up then really saved me there. I'm not sure what that guy was going to do." She said, leaning a little on Hardwall. It was a little strange walking right next to him, almost arm in arm as she had hastily linked arms with him to try to lead him off. Now she noticed that they looked almost like... well like two people walking casually arm in arm and that was.... strange. Then she remembered the device she still had with her and blushed a little. 'Well, I guess this is no weirder than what I was planning on is it?' She thought to herself. "So, thank you for your timely assistance." She said, getting a little quieter as they finished walking to her shop. As they got inside she paused for a moment. "Oh, ummm, I still need some help testing this new.... component. Can you meet me in my room? It might be the best spot to test this." She asked, trying hard not to blush in anticipation. "I'll meet you up there in a few minutes. I just had a thought of something we might need."
Tam's room was a rather large room, occupying most of the upper story of the shop. In it a variety of clothes were strewn about the floor, from practical day to day wear to a few more elegant outfits, and even a few pieces of.... exotic garments. On one wall was a large full body mirror, flanked by a pair of bureaus. On top of them were sketches of various races, with emphasis put to the prominent features of each race. Against the far wall rested a large bed covered in large fluffy looking comforters and quilts, and a pile of pillows. Across from the mirror was a small work bench with a few nicknacks and pieces of machinery strewn on it. It looked like a wind up toy of some kind was being constructed, in the shape of a small dancer. The only other features of the room were a few chairs and a small end table near the bed. The room looked very lived in, and was a little haphazard and cluttered but not messy, simply untidy.
human
To Hardwall's satisfaction, Amy immediately took the opportunity he had given her to get up and extract herself from the confrontation with the dwarf. He wasn't quite expecting her to actually take his bulky, buff-looking arm into her own to lead him away. As a warforged, Hardwall only had a rudimentary sense of touch; while he could tell that the flesh of Amy's arm around his was soft, nothing really ever felt 'pleasant' or 'unpleasant' in a tactile way to him. He never imagined or even thought of what a sense of touch would be like for fleshlings, how the sensation of his cold, hard, stone-and-metal-plated arm would feel to her. Amy's scolding of him for going to the ring fights again, on the other hand, wasn't really unexpected. "I did not sustain any severe damage this time..." He tried to explain with perhaps a little bit of indignation. But in truth, Hardwall liked how much Tam cared for him, even when it was 'overbearing'. He had never met someone so committed to his own personal wellbeing, like he was to hers, which made it a unique experience. After they had walked out of earshot of the irate dwarf, Hardwall turned his head to look down at Amy at his side, as she thanked him for getting her out of that situation. "Of course. I would be a poor bodyguard if I could not prevent harm to you from an inebriated dwarf."
As he looked at her, he also noticed that her cheeks had started to get a slight shade of pink, and she kept looking away from him, refusing to meet his eyes. After they finally reached her shop again and entered it to set their things down and settle in, Amy brought up that mysterious new component she kept mentioning, how she wanted to test it out (rather suddenly) and that her bedroom would be the best place to do so. Again, her cheeks took on a slight rosy tinge and she looked everywhere but at his eyes, before she vanished up the stairs. Now, Hardwall had been around Tam for over a year, and knew her mannerisms and tics well, in almost any form she took. But she was behavingverystrangely. In fact, as he thought back, she had been acting unusually since this morning, when she first asked if he had seen the new component she was working on. Something had Tam unsettled, and it seemed to center around her mysterious project. Hardwall couldn't even guess what was going on with her, he only hoped she wasn't troubled or distressed.
After Hardwall took a minute to put everything away and tidy up the shop, he started to head up the stairs to meet Tam. But as he walked and thought, another oddity of the situation struck him. It was very,veryirregular that Tam wanted to test the new component in her own bedroom. Components for warforged typically enhanced some offensive or defensive aspect, and as such were often somewhat dangerous and needed to be tested in the safety of the space in the back of Tam's workshop set aside for the purpose. No matter how he turned things over in his head, Hardwall could not come up with a satisfactory explanation for all the unusual behavior of Tam, and that worried him. Still, he arrived at the door to Tam's room and knocked (a politeness that he had been taught some time ago) before opening the door and stepping in. "Commander? I am here as requested to test your new component, though I am quite confused as to why we are not using the saferoom of the workshop to do so..." He said as he looked around. He rarely went into Tam's room--except when he had to put her to bed like he did last night--and tidying it up for her was specificallynotone of his duties. It was her 'personal' space, something that she and only she was responsible for. Hardwall never fully understood the reasoning, but he accepted it in stride as he did most everything else.
gpt
Tam headed directly to her workshop, looking for the container of bio-degradable grease she had on hand. "Oh I hope this stuff is still good...." She muttered as she took a quick sniff of the open container, making a slight face but nodding. "It'll do." She decided, tucking it under her arm then darting up the stairs to her room. She arrived a few moments before Hardwall and jumped a little at his voice. "Oh well.... this component is a bit more unique.... I know how most components help Warforged fight but well.... with a lot of the fighting over some of them might want to become more integrated in the more 'peace time' society around them. And well...." Tam pulled the component out of her pouch. The disklike piece of metal looked rather plain, but the indents of arcane etchings were visible in the outermost ring of a series of nested rings with a slight bulge shaped piece of metal at the center. The back of it had multiple traces and sygaldry that had a faint blueish-white glow to it. Tam swallowed slightly, considering it and Hardwall for a moment before continuing.
"Well, one of the biggest gaps in social interaction between Warforged and the other races is that they are unable to experience, or at least have not experienced many of the common interactions in society, and the difficulty in forming a more.... well more intimate bond with other individuals so.... this is meant to help that. So to best test this it would work best in a more ummm... relaxed environment and not the saferoom or a practice yard meant for combat as... this does not impact that at all. I also wanted to use this to kind of.... attempt to simulate some senses that might help make... compassion or even affection more possible as Warforged mostly experience touch in the sense that they can feel things but they don't tend to 'feel' them in the same way other races would consider it and.... well let me just show you...." Tam rambled, talking to try to keep from becoming to embarrassed or nervous to not go through with this. At this point she had gone past where she could stop but she needed to push herself anyway. She stepped up to Hardwall and knelt down, lifting the component and maneuvering it to just between his legs, right where the groin would be. "Now, it's supposed to attach pretty easily on its own but... there's not much down here to help mount it to so.... it might not stay well without some help. This might hurt or feel incredibly strange for a bit but.... well that's what testing is for...." She said as she pressed it to the Warforged's body, whispering a slight command word that should activate the component, causing it to attach and add its new sensations, and hopefully impart some idea of its function, to Hardwall.
human
Hardwall looked on in confusion as Tam began to talk about integrating warforged into peacetime, pulling a small disc-shaped component from a pocket as she did. She continued with her meandering explanation, while Hardwall tried to follow her. Though he was largely ignorant of fleshling relationships, he wasnotstupid. While Tam talked, he began filling in blanks. Somehow, this component was meant to help Hardwall experience such a relationship...through enhancing his tactile sense? This was strange, Hardwall was unsure of how an enhanced sense of touch had much to do with an emotional relationship...but, Hardwall didn't really know what an emotional relationship was like for fleshlings in the first place. For Hardwall, over the year that he'd served Tam, he had come to realize that even if someone else were to offer him higher pay and superior maintenance, he wouldn't take it. Tam wasfamiliarto him, and with that familiarity came security and trust. He had noticed the change in how he viewed his employer, but never spoke up about it because he didn't know if it meant anything, and he couldn't think of any way to begin the subject in the first place.
Tam approached him, kneeling down in front of his towering figure to hold up the new component to him. Somewhat to his surprise, she positioned the component over the bottom-front of his pelvic plating. Hardwall had in the past used components that merged into his waist, chest, or neck, but never one right there. He heard her warn him that it might feel very strange, before she activated it and pressed it into place. Like with all components, Hardwall felt the magical nature of his body merge with something designed to interact with him, causing the component to firmly bind itself in place to the surface of his plating. As with all components, Hardwall then felt his magic equivalent of a 'nervous system'expandto incorporate the new component, granting his conscious mind awareness of it as it activated.
Hardwall's mind was momentarily stunned from the new sensory input. The closest thing he could approximate was the time he once borrowed a tracker-mask, a component sought after by many warforged for its quality of granting a sense that warforged lacked entirely. He had also heard rumors in the last few years that some spellcasters had developed a "humanoid essence" spell that supposedly temporarily altered a construct's body so that it was more like it was alive. Hardwall imagined that spell would feel something like he was feeling now...maybe Tam had even used part of that spell herself in the creation of this component. The concentric rings in the disk began to telescope out, shifting and fusing together until it formed a smooth metal phallus. Hardwall had seen genitalia before, when a slain body's clothing had been destroyed on the battlefields Hardwall had participated in, but he never guessed their function and never gave it a second thought. Now, he could feel his sense of touch greatly magnified on the phallus, where he could acutely feel temperature and even air moving across it. He reached down with one hand and touched a finger to the side of it, and for the first time, he could perceive texture as the smoothed stone of his finger touched the phallus. "Tam..." Hardwall said slowly, using the changeling's real name, "What...is this meant for? How does...it work?" He asked.
gpt
Tam was surprised for a moment as Hardwall froze as the component linked to his 'nerves', noting the almost surprised reaction he had. When the rings slide out, forming the metallic member on the warforged, she leaned back a little giving it space to telescope out, incase something broke. "Well, as you can probably tell by now it is quite sensitive and capable of far more tactile stimulation than anything else you might have experienced." She states, knowing it was quite obvious but still stuck in explaining everything to try to not become overly embarrassed. "Now, most humanoids form emotional relationships that also have some more.... physical requirements. While I believe that warforged are capable of forming those emotional relationships if given enough time, they are not quite as equipped for fulfilling that physical aspect so.... I developed this to attempt to give warforged a way to experience, and share in that. Now...." She reached out and slowly touched the, rather cool and smooth, metal phallus with her fingers, stroking along it gently. "Tell me how does that feel?"
Tam as she was speaking had been subconsciously shifting from her Amy appearance back to her 'normal' appearance. Her skin was turning a soft pale white, along with her eyes. Her hair was shifting to a pure white like snow as she continued to touch and check the new appendage that her component had sprouted on Hardwall. She kept telling herself in her mind it was to make sure everything was working, but she was being far more attentive and.... almost loving as her fingers stroked and traced around the length. Finally after long minutes of careful, gentle touching she finally leaned back on her heels again. "I am going to need you to sit down on your knees, kind of like I am, but lean back a bit, make sure the.... component is standing somewhat straight up." She said as she finally sat back on her rear before starting to strip off her pants, tugging them off and then removing her plain white undergarments underneath. "I'm going to need to get my clothes off for this..." She said, trying to sound almost off handed but unable to hide the slight nervous waver in her voice. As she removed her top, exposing her moderate bust and somewhat trim form she sat back up then crawled forward, climbing up to almost straddle Hardwall. She helped guide him some more until he was seated on his knees and feet, his legs angled to give a slight 'seat' for Tam, with the component sitting straight up, pressing its now slightly warmer length against her bare skin. She looked down and blushed again. "Now.... are you ready to really test it?" She asked, looking straight into Hardwalls unblinking eyes.
human
While Hardwall adjusted to the new, intense, and sharp sensations he was getting from the 'component', Tam continued on with her explanation a little redundantly. Despite this, Hardwall turned his head up slightly to look her in the eyes and give her his attention. Although it was typical of Tam to overexplain things, it did not escape Hardwall's notice that there was an odd tone in her voice, almost like she was forcing herself to keep talking. However, Hardwall still couldn't understand why that would be, as he still was ignorant of the social inhibitions regarding fleshling intimacy. Tam carried on with her explanation, informing Hardwall that this component was indeed intended to enable a physical relationship with a fleshling. The warforged's mind reeled.Thisis what it was like for fleshlings, how they experienced things? He was just starting to get a conscious inkling of the disparity between warforged and fleshling sensory perception. At the changeling's question of her touching and stroking his new component, Hardwall took several moments to consider it. "It feels..." He started, trying to come up with a way to explain it before settling on the only words that seemed to fit. "...very desirable..."
Tam carried on with her actions, while at the same time letting go of her current 'face' and returning to her base form of a pale-white part-doppelganger. Hardwall couldn't breathe, wouldn't moan to vocalize his pleasure, but the touches nevertheless sustained the unknown, yet incredibly desirable sensation. He cooperated as she maneuvered him into a position where he was kneeling on the ground but leaning back slightly, ending up with his phallus significantly jutting out from his body, not knowing what Tam's goal was but trusting her nonetheless. Hardwall was further surprised as the changeling unclothed herself before him. The warforged had never observed his employer naked before, and he didn't know what to think about it, now that he could see the skin of her entire body. However, he did know how important clothing was to fleshlings for protection in many different ways, and he knew that Tam was making herself vulnerable before him. She trusted him.
Hardwall began to realize that she might trust him as much as he trusted her.
Now nude, Tam made her way back to Hardwall, slowly straddling him to get his new phallus component between her legs, with her resting her backside on his stone-and-metal-plated thighs. Hardwall returned Tam's eye-to-eye gaze as she spoke to him. Hardwall's eyes were little more than solid green lights in pits, but by paying close attention Tam could see how they glimmered and shifted in hue with Hardwall's thoughts, indicating the warforged's intelligence beyond any mere lifeless construct. Likewise, he had never really examined a fleshling's eyes in very close detail, but even without pupil or iris, he could see how her eyes subtly shifted with her gaze while she studied him, as he studied her. He raised his arms and rested his blunt, plated, three-fingered hands on her waist. His stone-and-metal exterior did feel cool to the touch, but not as much as might have been expected; a warforged's body produced small amounts of heat within itself. His grip was also surprisingly gentle, though not because he could feel the softness of her body, only because he knew that fleshlings were delicate compared to him. "Yes...I am ready to test this..." He answered her. "I want to know what this truly feels like...I want to experience what you do..."
gpt
"Well then.... I guess I should do...." Tam started, looking down at the metallic shaft below her. Easing herself up until her slit was positioned just above the smooth, rounded, featureless head.Note to self... warforged are surprisingly warm.she thought as her wetness ground slightly on the peak of Hardwall's new appendage. The firm but gentle touch was amazingly intimate for one who had never participated in such a situation before. Tam felt less nervous in Hardwall's firm, semi warm, and almost... protective? Yes that would be a good word, protective grasp. "...this." She finally said as she started lowering herself onto the shaft, feeling it spread her out then slip in. The odd smoothness of it, the trace warmth from Hardwall's internal heat, the thankful fact that the rings had fit into place smoothly so there was no tugging or catching on something... for this Tam was quite thankful... the only odd part was that it was almost too smooth. With even a little relaxation of her muscles, she slid a couple inches down, eliciting a surprised, startled moan from her. "Ooof.... it looked... smaller...." She stammered a bit, feeling her insides getting stretched by the unyielding edges of the silver phallus.
After acclimating to the width, and the length spearing her, Tam leaned forward a bit, simply keeping the shaft lodged in her warm, wet, tight folds. "There.... that's... better. We're connected now. How does it feel?" She asked, a mixture of compassion and her still legitimate scientific interest apparent in her voice. As she leaned forward, her chest brushed against Hardwall's, feeling the hard, unyielding plate. "I must admit... it's... different than I imagined.... but then.... well this is a first..." She said, her face turning a dull reddish pink. Her eyes, the pale white on white eyes of a changeling, still seemed to almost gleam with.... was it love? Tam was not sure. But she did know that... despite the oddness, despite some mild discomfortThis needs to be smaller... or more pliable....it felt... right. Leaning in she planted her lips on Hardwall's faceplate, approximately where a mouth would be, wrapping her arms around him, counting on him to support her body as her hips started rolling gently, rubbing the shaft inside of her against her depths, feeling it stirring around inside of her.
Tam continued to blush, pulling back from the 'kiss' she had attempted, realising that this might not do much for her partner. "I'm... sorry that was forward...." She said softly. However as she seemed embarrassed of her actions, the rest of her body was responding in a much less subdued way. Her insides were clenching and flexing around the imposing length inside of it, attempting to squeeze the shaft. Her legs had instinctively wrapped themselves around Hardwall, causing Tam to cling to the strong, comforting warforged. While his body had a much lower temperature, her closeness and embrace was slowly warming the outside of the living construct. And the odd coolness was actually exciting, making her shiver a little in excitement. With her legs wrapped around Hardwall she could not rock as hard as before, but she still rolled and bucked lightly, keeping him buried deeply inside of her and massaging the sensitive metal length again and again.
human
As Tam lowered herself onto Hardwall's shaft, the new component let him trulyfeelher warmth, her wetness, the softness of her inner flesh in such detail that he had never experienced before, while at the same time causing stimulation to the phallus so that Hardwall received sensations he had never before experienced, a feeling he now knew waspleasure. Hardwall did understand pleasure, in an emotional sense at least. He got satisfaction and enjoyment from a good fight, from interacting with his fellow warforged, and even from just being around Tam and her unique personality. However, this was the first time Hardwall had ever foundphysicalpleasure. Even with the sensations racing through his artificial mind, to an unfamiliar outside observer it looked as if Hardwall barely moved or reacted at all, and might have come to the conclusion that he was not feeling anything significant. Tam, on the other hand, was anything but unfamiliar. As she engulfed Hardwall's new component with her womanhood, she could notice the ripples of tension that repeatedly moved through Hardwall's fiber-musculature underneath his plating, could see the way the lights of his eyes wavered and brightened as he leaned his head back slightly, and could feel his hands tighten their grip on her waist ever-so-slightly in such a way as to still not be uncomfortable to her. In truth, this was one of the strongest reactions Hardwall ever had to something that didn't involve beating things up.
At Tam's question, his head leaned slightly forward again--Tam knew that mean that he was focusing on her face again, as opposed to the warforged equivalent of 'spaced out' he had just been--before he began to speak again in a very slow voice. Whereas with a fleshling, slow speech would indicate a slow mind, it was just the contrary for warforged and a warforged speaking slowly meant their mind was working overdrive (and warforged don't stutter). "It...feels...like pleasure...in a...physical way...I have never...felt before...the...tactile sense...is so much...more...refined...I am...reminded...of using a...tracker-mask...for the...first time...or...vision-enhancing...components...but...this is...far more...intense..." But, on the other hand, after Tam leaned forward enough that the peaks of her breasts brushed against his chestplate and laid a kiss on his face, Hardwall became acutely aware of the staggering difference between the sensory abilities of his new component versus the rest of his body--he became aware of just howdullthe rest of his body's sense of touch was. He felt almost nothing, just that things solid but very yielding had touched him. That was all Tam's body, or any fleshling's, had ever been to him before; just solid matter that was malleable, semi-elastic, spongy. Clinical details, sensations that told him just enough to know how much force he would need to apply to break what he was touching, but nothing more. If this was what fleshlings felt all the time, then Hardwall figured it no wonder why they seemed to be so driven and passionate about their emotions and perceptions.
Hardwall noticed how Tam's cheeks seemed to be reddening again, which made for a very curious hue through her milky-grey skin, but still couldn't quite understand what cause she had to be embarrassed about. He also didn't know what she meant by 'forward' with the kiss, but he didn't mind it even if it didn't really do much for him. "I...do not...know what...you mean...but...it did not...displease me...in any way..." And as Tam wrapped her legs around his waist, with her arms hanging onto his neck and her womanhood impaled on his phallus, Hardwall felt...oddly happy about how her frail, naked body clung tightly to his immovable, statuesque form. He felt more protective of Tam now more than ever; with her body so close to his own, he felt as if there was nothing that could keep him from making her happy and keeping her safe from harm. Nothing could threaten her now, at this moment, with him moving his hands from her waist to curl around and support her back as she began to roll her body back and forth. Soft gasps and moans issued from Tam's mouth, sounds that Hardwall had never heard from any fleshling before. He was almost worried, but he knew what a fleshling in pain sounded like, and this most certainly wasn't it. Morever, the way her warm flesh slid up and down his smooth, slick shaft increased the pleasurable sensations still further...and Hardwalldesiredmore, wanted it to feel even better. Slowly and delicately at first, utterly careful not to harm Tam's body, Hardwall began to lift up and let down his own hips from his kneeling position, still further improving every unique sensation of his phallus moving in and out of her while she rode him.
gpt
The slight changes in Hardwalls grip, the varying changes and flexing of the musculature in her metallic lover, the small shift in his position, all of it showed to Tam just how much these new sensations effected Hardwall. In contrast to the lack of specific feel he felt, Tam's body felt each dent, each polished bit, every little detail of the metal plates on her soft skin. At Hardwall's assurance, she hugged herself tighter to Hardwall. She clung to him tightly, pulling herself closer to him, pressing her body hard against his firm, now warm, metal body. "I'm.... I'm glad you like it." She managed to moan out, her depths squeezing once again on the smooth shaft pushing and rolling into her body. Her voice was wavery and fluttery as she moaned and gasped out from the pleasure. His firm, strong hands pressing against her back light, comforting, his arms wrapping around her. Her hips continued to buck, bounce, and bump against Hardwall, finding that while the hard metal body underneath her was a little bit uncomfortable to bounce against, she was not unhappy. Far from it in fact.
After several minutes of moaning, panting, and wet, squishy sounds coming from Tam, she felt a big wave of pleasure building up inside of her. The heat of her actions building and building. "Ooooooo gooodddssss, I looooove youuuuu!" She cried out, her mouth hanging open in a large 'O' of utter bliss. Her back arching, her hips pressing tighter as her warm tight insides squeezed affectionately and eagerly around the metal shaft, Tam gushed out, her slick wet juices coating Hardwall's metal plates. For several long moments she shuddered and shivered in pleasure on his shaft, her body frozen other than the quivers of pleasure rolling over her. After several long moments, she collapsed against Hardwall, still holding him in her tight embrace, letting out another soft moan as he kept lifting and bucking his hips gently, continuing to stimulate her. "OooOOOoOoOOoo yesssss." She hissed in bliss as his continued stimulations threatened to bring her back to her peak again. While Tam had some experiences in some more... carnal enjoyments, she had never had something this intimate, this satisfying, this... connecting. As a changeling, Tam spent much of her time trying to fit in with how others perceived how she should act. Always having to withhold some of how she felt, how she wanted to act. But here, with Hardwall holding her close, able to let herself truly go, she never wanted it to end. "I should have done this a loooooong time agooooo." She sighed out as another wave of pleasure rolled over her, making her twitch and spasm on Hardwall's unyielding shaft, rubbing and grinding her soft, tender, fleshy insides against it again and again.
After a few more moaning, groaning, gasping orgasms Tam finally started to notice a problem. She was quickly becoming over stimulated, and finding it close to impossible to form complete thoughts. However, Hardwall did not tire out and seemed quite intent and content to enjoy and pleasure her until she could not take any more. While she enjoyed this thought greatly, there was no real way to indicate to Hardwall that they should stop, and her entire body felt that strange mix of loose, relaxed, and aching that she felt from repeated stimulation. But any time she tried to call out to Hardwall, she simply moaned and squeaked from the pleasure. Her voice reduced to raspy, lusty, husky moans and panting groans of utter bliss.
human
In short order, Hardwall had settled into a very regular--almost mechanically so--rhythm with his gently bucking hips, while Tam pressed herself tighter to his body. Hardwall couldn't even really say why, but heenjoyedthat especially, in a more emotional way than the pleasure his new component was giving him. He just enjoyed how Tam was so close to him in such a pure, utter demonstration of trust. He could do anything, absolutely anything he wanted to her right now, yet she was willfully placing herself completely within his power anyway. But Hardwall didn't want to do anything other than what they were doing right now, he just wanted to keep her trust, to continue to earn it from her with his every deed, as he now trusted her just as much. It was even precious to him; now that he knew how close Tam was to him, he couldn't bear the thought of losing her. He even knew that if any other fleshling were to demonstrate this same kind of trust to him, he wouldn't care about them at all compared to how he cared about Tam. Poor Hardwall didn't really have a way to properly describe what he was feeling towards Tam, all his war-trained mind could frame it as was mutual trust, albeit to such an extreme degree that he had never before known.
As they continued their coupling, Hardwall's attention remained utterly fixated on Tam. He absorbed every detail he could perceive of her: every twitch and squeeze of every muscle through her body, every expression that played across her face, the sheen of her milky skin as sweat began to bead on it, every sound issuing from her throat. He hung onto it all, not missing a thing while her panting began to deepen and her blank white eyes wobbled and shimmered in a manner analogous to pupil contraction and dilation in any form other than her true self. Then she cried out her declaration of love while her entire body seized up, clenching down hard on Hardwall's shaft as fluids splashed out of her. Love? Hardwall knew some fleshlings made such declarations to each other, but no one had ever said that to a warforged as far as Hardwall knew. Well, not until now, of course. That was how Tam felt about him? He wondered...was that the name for what he was feeling about her? Hardwall's active mind could only spare a few brief moments to consider the thought, before again being filled to the brim with all the sensations he was feeling with Tam, as he continued to buck his hips without missing a beat throughout Tam's orgasm (though he didn't know that's what that was, naturally). Tam's lower body body then went slightly limp while she kept up a squeezing embrace, though she managed to blurt out affirmatives as Hardwall kept up his motions, and Tam's hips started bouncing on their own again.
On and on Hardwall went, mostly unchanging in his motions except for how his own fiber-musculature randomly rippled and tensed his grip around Tam's body, while he registered every change in Tam. Hardwall counted out the number of times Tam seemed to hit a crest of pleasure, and with each successive one, her voice changed to be slightly more throaty and gravelly, and her grip on him seemed to weaken more. Then...she went through another crest, but Hardwall noticed a difference; she had gone almost entirely limp against him this time, and wasn't returning to 'normal'. The warforged then noticed that her eyes weren't glimmering anymore, and had gone somewhat flat and dull. Hardwall immediately recognized the telltale signs of beginning to slip into unconsciousness, and he knew something was wrong. With how incredibly good his new component was making him feel when he joined with Tam, he didn't want to stop. In fact, Hardwall was shocked and ashamed at how much he wanted to keep going, to keep feeling this pleasure. But something was wrong with Tam, and Hardwall could not forgive himself if he were to bring her any kind of harm. He began to slow down his thrusts until he went still, cradling the changeling in his arms. "...Tam?" He asked, his voice losing its customary calm and gaining inflections of concern. "Tam...are you alright? Something...seems wrong, Tam, you do not seem well..." For the first time since a few particularly bad battles from the Last War, Hardwall felt the old, ugly emotion of helpless panic beginning to rise in him as he realized that the changeling was in a kind of trouble that he had absolutely no idea how to fix. "Tam...what should I do?"
gpt
It was true that Tam was finding herself unable to focus on what was going on. The tireless and continued stimulation that Hardwall was giving her, as well as her own movements had finally caught up to her. Her vision was growing hazy as her eyes grew unfocused and slightly glazed. She occasionally let out a ragged, exhausted groan although she was much quieter. Somewhere in her mind she heard Hardwall call out to her. A dim part of her mind wanted to reply. To let the warforged know that it was just from an oversight and that she was merely worn out and quite over stimulated. But the rest of her was far to overwhelmed to do more then mumble a few incoherent noises.
When Hardwall fully stopped moving, merely holding her, Tam finally managed to attempt to recover, although the exhaustion was very quickly overcoming her. Slowly, somewhat shakily she tilted her head up to look into the glowing, concerned eyes of her metallic lover. Yes, lover, that was indeed what he was, or at least how Tam was now thinking of him. Her face was looking quite contented, and she smiled at him before her head tipped forward as her eyes closed. After a moment faint, soft snoring came from her as she finally fully collapsed from the exhaustion. Her chest rising and falling slightly, still pressed against Hardwall tightly, her whole body supported by him as she fell asleep, feeling safe, contented, and more than a little worn out. Hopefully her faint smile had been enough to convey that things were ok, and she was merely exhausted. At least, that was Tam's hope.
That night Tam dreamed a strange dream. Her mind went back, reviewing how she had met Hardwall. That first time he had stepped into her shop, browsing for components. While Tam had always viewed warforged as individuals and 'living beings', at least in so far as something made of metal could be alive, but his frank and abrupt offer upon seeing her help needed sign had surprised her. Tam had never hired warforged help before but was willing to give him a chance. Sure there had been a few 'growing pains' here and there. After all the structured and organized nature of the former military forged colliding head on with the eclectic nature of the changeling's artifice how could there not be? But they had struck up a kind of friendship. Something about the honest, hardworking, and almost. attentive way that Hardwall had taken to his tasks just struck a cord with Tam. And now, now it had led to this. Whatever this was, but that would apparently wait until morning, although her dreaming mind had ideas. lots of ideas.
human
Hardwall watched Tam intently (which, of course, looked exactly the same as when Hardwall watched anything else with any amount of focus, given his expressionless face) while he supported her against his body. Hearing and feeling her take slow, labored breaths while slumped against him made the realization cross his mind that Tam was just so....fragile. Fleshlings simply could not match the tenacity of the magically-animated constructs. Slowly, the changeling raised her head to return Hardwall's gaze. He saw the smile play across her face--a weak one, but still a smile!--before she then went truly limp. After a few moments, Hardwall heard the soft and telltale snores of a fleshing sleeping.
For another few moments, Hardwall remained at an utter loss of what to do. His new component still felt...good, hilted inside Tam's body as it was, but resuming that was absolutely out of the question. Finally, Hardwall's primarily logical mind beganthinkingagain, and he immediately began setting priorities and steps to achieve them. First: Get Tam into an acceptable repose. Very slowly and delicately, Hardwall shifted his arms to slowly lift Tam up off of him (feeling a flash of guilt at how good his component felt sliding out of her, and surprisingly how much he wanted to put it back in) and moved her in a position where he could cradle her back, head, and legs in his outstretched arms. He stood up like this, curiously noting how Tam seemed to mumble indistinctly and turn her head against his chestplate, while it almost seemed like she was reaching her arms towards him. The warforged then carried Tam over to her bed, where he laid her out on it.
Next:remove temptation. Hardwall looked downwards and willed his component to deactivate. The phallus retracted, folding itself back up into a single disk, and Hardwall then willed it to detach as he reached for it to pull it off. The moment the connection was broken with the disk in his hand, all the residualsensationsof what it had been giving him vanished, leaving only the memory within Hardwall of how good it had felt. With a small amount of disgust, Hardwall discarded the object on a nearby desk. That thing had made him...hurtTam! Or at least do something to her that was definitely not normal. She did smile at him, in the end, which fleshlings usually don't do when there's somethingwrong, but, even so...whatever it was, something about it just wasn'tsafe.
Continuing to asses and respond to the situation, Hardwall noted the mess of fluids between Tam's legs (and on himself), and set to fixing that. He looked around Tam's disorganized room until he spotted some cleaning-cloths, and used one to dab and wipe away the fluids from Tam's skin first. Oddly, she seemed to murmur and shift in her sleep as he did so, but he finished in short order. He knew that fleshlings usually had to sleep with something covering them, so he pulled the thick blanket that was at the foot of the bed up and over Tam, to cover everything but her head.
Hardwall still didn't know if there was anything medically wrong with Tam, his knowledge of fleshling 'repair' and assessing damage beyond the obvious dismemberment or evisceration was of course severely limited, but he went downstairs to where he knew Tam kept some medical supplies. Not knowing what almost all of it was, Hardwall just took a little bit of everything, along with a bowl of water and some nonperishable food in case that was needed as well. But as Hardwall made his way up the stairs, he stopped. Should call on a House Jorasco medic? He considered. One of the halfling healers would be able to tell him what was wrong with Tam. On the other hand, Jorasco was somewhat expensive. Hardwall didn't know how much they would charge. He would give up every coin saved in his personal storage if he had to, but...getting a healer meantleaving. Abandoning his post, however temporarily. At the moment, that was out of Hardwall's consideration, though he resolved to do so if it became clearly necessary, or if Tam did not wake up. Returning to Tam's room, Hardwall set out the medical supplies, water, and anything else he could think of that Tam might need on a table next to the bed. With all of Tam's potential needs taken care of that he could think of, Hardwall got around to getting the residual fluids off himself with his personal maintenance-and-cleaning-kit. Finally, the warforged pulled Tam's workdesk chair over to the side of the bed and sat down in it. Now, there was nothing to do but wait, and wait he did. Hardwall kept a silent, unwavering vigil over the changeling throughout the night. Tam was still for the most part, but occasionally murmured again while her milky-white face flushed slightly paler, like it had....earlier. Hardwall remained in the seat until well into the morning, with the ambient light increasing as the sun rose on the City of Towers. Fleshlings were supposed to wake up around this time. If Tam didn't wake up soon, then Hardwall would have to come to the conclusion that something was wrong, and a healer would be needed after all...
gpt
In the morning, Tam awoke to the sunlight streaming in her window, causing her to groan slightly. "Uuuuggghhh, what time...." And then she froze as the memory of last night flooded back to her. Her face turned a bright deep crimson as she shot up in bed, looking around, and coming face to face with Hardwall. For a moment she just stared at him, blushing, her upper body uncovered by her blanket, then she squeaked and covered herself. "What.... how did I get in bed? What happened? I remember...." Again she pauses, her voice wavering a bit as she recalls still more details. "I remember passing out during the... test. What happened after that?" She said, her voice slowly returning to normal. While she could not hide the blush on her face she was attempting to regain as much composure as possible. "Did anything go wrong? What did you feel from it? I think it worked didn't it?"
Tam's mind was reeling with the feelings from last night, her somewhat muddled mind slowly waking up, processing the thoughts she had last night, this morning, and during the 'test'. She was unsure of quite what Hardwall thought of the whole situation and desperately wanted to know, but she could not bring herself to ask him directly. Still, she was curious about what the device she had devised had done for him, and if it had worked well.
human
At long last, with Hardwall's concern slowly mounting, his changeling employer finally stirred to show signs of life with a few unintelligible grunts. A moment later, Hardwall noticed with a little bit of curiosity that Tam's normally pale-white face flushed red before her upper body shot up, baring her chest again as she blinked dumbly at him. Hardwall was then confused when Tam's next action was to suddenly cover herself up, wondering what the purpose of that was when she had already exposed everything to him. The warforged just chalked it up to another weird fleshling thing.
The attentive warforged then started answering Tam's questions precisely in order. "You are in your bed because I placed you there. You had apparently lost consciousness after a significant amount of time carrying out that test." He paused as she continued to speak, then continued with his usual unflappable warforged calm. "After you passed out, I removed the component and cleaned you up as best as I could, before placing you in bed and sitting here myself to monitor your status and recovery." Hardwall paused once more, as Tam then asked him her last few questions. He took several moments to consider as he tilted his head at the changeling.
"You falling unconscious is something that went wrong, I would say." The warforged said evenly. "I am certain that was not supposed to happen, as I had forgotten how fragile fleshlings can be in my pursuit of the new sensations. As for what I felt...I felt exceptionally pleasant. The new sensations were wonderful...indescribable in an adequate manner. I was reminded of the time I once used a tracker-mask and experienced a new sense I never knew existed. It was like my mind had been expanded. As far as it working, I could not say--the criteria for it working would be up to you, as the designer of the component. It seems especially problematic to me that even after you had passed out, part of me wanted to continue anyway, desiring more of the sensations. Howwasit supposed to work?" Hardwall asked back at the end of reporting his perspective on the ordeal.
gpt
Tam listened to Hardwall's analysis, and responses as slowly, memory returned to her of the more.... 'intricate' details of last night. At Hardwall's statement of him still desiring more of the sensation, her face lit up and she almost jumped out of bed. "OH, that's it. That's the feeling. The externl sensory inputs worked perfectly. Wonderful. Only problem. Did not factor in war forged endurance. Well, is to say lack of need for endurance." Tam, still fully nude, started rummaging about some of her discarded clothes scattered in a corner. "But, can fix that. Would need tools.... maybe shard.... no, too expensive... schema too difficult to recharge. Charges? Cheap to replace, but difficult... per day? With duration. Possible. Would need peak, stimuli, hmmm...." Tam continued muttering to herself as she started throwing some work clothes on.
After getting rather hurriedly dressed, with a touch of Hardwall's assistance, Tam turned to him. "Ok, the reason I passed out is quite simple. While a standard biologic organism has stamina, gets tired, and the pleasure provided from intercourse assists with leading to a tired state, warforged can not climax. Therefor, they have no refectory period, and do not get tired. So of course a warforged would outlast any biologic lover. It's quite simple. All we need is to find a regular male, bring him to orgasm, and find a way to replicate that sensation within the device. It worked perfectly, I just did not account for the 'finish.'" Tam smiled at Hardwall at this revelation. "Now of course it might be difficult to work, but I think we could do it. Although I'd need a male subject to.... bring to their climax, and keep at the edge, and get sensory input from them. I think I could make a device to record those sensations and have a trigger to feed that back into any construct that has the device attached. Link that to a deactivation sequence for my component and it would be perfect! Only problem, as I said is.... how to get someone to volunteer for this...."
human
Hardwall was completely unabashed when Tam suddenly leapt out of bed, still naked, while babbling about how the component apparently worked and how it could be improved. The warforged trailed after her as she started trying to get her clothes on and helped a little by picking up a few scattered articles and holding them up for her. Hardwall only half-understood the babbling, but after Tam was dressed, she addressed him with another hurried explanation, which made a few things make sense to Hardwall. Somehow, Tam needed to modify the component to have a 'peak' in the sensations before ending. Hardwall was quite curious as to what this would feel like. But before Tam could modify the component, she needed a 'test subject'...
Hardwall thought on it for a few moments. He knew that 'red light districts' existed in Sharn, and he knew they had to do with the fleshling's 'intimate relations', but he never understood what thatmeant...until now. Hardwall thought at first that maybe they could visit one of those places to find a willing subject...but as Hardwall considered Tam herself, another solution came to him. He had no idea it might be a strange thing to ask, it just seemed like the easiest and most straightforward answer to him, which Hardwall liked in an answer.
"Aren't changelings capable of functioning as either fleshling gender?" The warforged asked bluntly.
gpt
Tam freezes mid move as Hardwall asks his question. "Well... umm.... technically yes but... I mean it... well the process.... I am not sure if the process of a female Changeling in a male form would be the same." Tam says. Her concerns somewhat reasonable, although some embarrassment as to what she would need to do to 'test' this certainly influences her. "It could work, but I believe that testing a male who is always male would be more fitting. And we may need multiple sensory inputs to create a more 'average' output, and maybe some variations to make the experience more authentic." Tam continues, attempting to get off the topic.
"Still, this shouldn't be too hard. We just need to find a male, or preferably several males who we can bring to orgasm again and again, and leave on the edge of pleasure and hold them there as long as possible. Both to get the sensation and to figure out a good way to stimulate the post orgasmic fatigue without having to introduce true fatigue to a warforged. After all, we want this to be enjoyable for them, and to be something they want to experience. And fatigue isn't always the best thing." Tam explains. "So then, I believe there is nothing on my schedule today right? Well then we could attempt to find subjects today." The changeling woman grins. "If you could help me Hardwall.... my dear?" Tam couldn't quite explain why she added the endearment at the end, but it felt right to her.
human
Hardwall tilted his head as Tam explained that a female changeling in male form might not give her as much data as she needed. "Very well. That does make sense." He replied after she finished explaining how she could probably use several test subjects, even. He also nodded as she spoke about searching for subjects today. "Indeed, your schedule is free today. I of course will assist you in this endeavor." He said. He wasn't sure either why she had called him "my dear", but he didn't mind.
Hardwall then leaned back slightly. "In any case, the next question is where shall we find willing test subjects? Until last night, I would not have had any clue. Fleshlings do not typically talk about their intimate relations around warforged, and I have never even seen what that meant in my entire life before you showed me last night. But, now that I am aware of this secret side of fleshlings that is not generally shown in open public, I can make the correlation that Sharn's three so-called 'red light districts' will almost certainly contain willing subjects searching for such experiences, as I am aware that they provide intimate relations for money, though I have never been to any of them. Would you agree that visiting them would be an easy way to attain our goal?"
gpt
"That could.... work." Tam said after a moment's pondering. "I had never really considered that. A male 'companion' could easily work, and it would be easy to get them to accept pay for such an experiment. At least, I think. I have never actually made use of a male escort.... do male escorts even exist?" As she spoke, her mind wandered to the idea, and a bright, bright, bright red blush came to the changeling's face, as if her entire skin turned a hot beet red. "Well, never mind I assume they do. Yes, we should definitely visit a 'red light district' although.... perhaps.... one of the more... upscale ones? They exist right?"
Tam was completely out of her element here. Hiring a man? To pleasure him, tease him, get him off, hold him at the brink? It was.... it was a strange notion. Although as she considered it, it was a notion she was rather warming up to. Tam had not had much particular experience in male companionship, and what she had was mostly led by and partly 'controlled' by the man. But the idea of taking her joy of seeing just how something 'ticks' and applying it to.... to sex? Oh that was just a.... deliciously fun idea. Yes, this would be fun.... if she could ever stop blushing!
human
Hardwall sat up a little straighter as Tam began to consider his idea. He had actually been unsure of it, considering how far out of his realm of experience the topic was, but he trusted Tam evaluating it as a feasible option. It was almost odd to him when she once again spontaneously developed a reddish coloring on her cheeks after she pondered the existence of male 'companions', before quickly deciding they did. Hardwall thought he wasstartingto grasp this new facet of Tam that he had not really witnessed before, with how much she had been displaying in in the past two days. He was beginning to put together that she seemed to gain this red complexion whenever the concept 'fleshling intimacy' that she had introduced him to last night was at the forefront of her mind. She also seemed to occasionally become hesitant and stumbling in her speech when discussing it, as well. As he thought far into the past, he also realized that--in the very few times he had been near other fleshlings considering the same topic--he had seen similar cases with other fleshlings. There were discrepancies, as there always was with fleshlings, and more nuances he hadn't worked out yet, but for the first time Hardwall believed that he was beginning to understand this aspect that had always thoroughly eluded him in the past.
At Tam's question of which of the three districts should be the one to visit, Hardwall realized he would need to do some investigation for her. He silently pondered the challenge for a moment, while he noticed that Tam had her 'lost deep in thought' look that he was familiar with, albeit her face was still strongly colored. He had no idea what she was thinking of now, but he believed he had come to a workable plan. "Given there are three to choose from, it is reasonable to assume that quality and expense varies. However, I do not have any knowledge of any of the three locations--having only ever heard of them secondhand--but I might be able to contact some who do. Prepare whatever materials and equipment you will need to obtain the necessary measurements of stimuli, Commander. I shall go to make some inquiries to see if I can learn the information we need about the locations themselves; as the information is reasonably public, this should not be an issue, but will take time that you need for preparation. I will return in no more than four hours." Hardwall said in his usual way that suggested he was resolved on a course of action, though it wasn't really that unusual for him to take initiative on completing a task on Tam's behalf.
The warforged then stood up and took a few minutes to make doubly-sure that Tam was in good health, and to go down to the shop to perform a few minor tasks to prepare it for his temporary absence. Once done, he headed out the door, leaving Tam to handle constructing the sensory-measuring device she had said she would need.
***
Hardwall's task took a few more steps than he had anticipated, but nonetheless, he managed to get what he needed within the time he allotted to himself. He had gone to visit the warforged club he was in, as while such basic information on whole sectors of the city were indeed public, he knew fleshlings could be deceptive, or more likely, plain recalcitrant to such questions posed by a warforged. Instead, he asked his peers, seeing who would be able to direct him to other warforged who had done a patrol in, or at least passed through, any of the three districts of interest. All he needed was a visual account on details that would suggest the safety and quality of the zone.
He had ended up needing to visit a second, larger warforged congregation elsewhere in the city, along with a few smaller satellite groups, before he finally found some who had passed through the right locations. Information on the districts of Sharn's Welcome and Dragoneyes was fairly available and Hardwall got multiple accounts for each, as both were situated at each of Sharn's two major transit hubs (Sharn's Welcome in the quarter Cliffside, the city's waterfront; and Dragoneyes in the lower ward of Tavick's Landing quarter, where the lightning rail terminal and main roads ended. Both the most likely places for warforged to arrive at, and thus, the most-traveled zones by warforged), however, upon specific questions to the warforged who had passed through these districts on details they observed, Hardwall was skeptical of the districts. Cliffside was one of the more crime-ridden parts of the city, of which the red light district within it did not seem to be exempt from at all. Not a reasonable place to take Tam. Accounts on Dragoneyes were less consistent, some neutral and some poor, but one thing that easily came out was that apparently there was a large concentration of changelings there, which meant most warforged firmly avoided it if they knew. Hardwall didn't mind, but Tam already pointed out how she, as a naturally-female changeling, might not give adequate data...and there would be almost no way to tell who in Dragoneyes was a changeling if they didn't change in public, let alone if they were naturally-male.
That left Firelight, in the lower ward of Menthis Plateau quarter. Information on there was difficult to find from fellow warforged, as despite being the most "diverse" quarter and having the highest density of magic goods and services in the city, the education and entertainment center of the city didn't have much use for, or appeal to, common warforged in general. Hardwall eventually had been directed to one particular warforged, whom Hardwall thought rather...peculiar. The warforged had lacked normal composite plating as a shell--in fact, had no plating at all, nearly bare fiber-musculature. Hardwall knew that Cannith had experimented with several unusual base designs for warforged towards the end of the Last War, including an armor-less design intended to produce effective spellcasting warforged, but Hardwall knew what an unarmored-body warforged looked like--this one looked like hehadplating once, but it had beenremoved. That had disturbed Hardwall, which wasn't helped by how the armorless 'forged talked and acted like a fleshling, wearing clothes--a blue toga, no less--and speaking with a widely-ranged voice. Still, this warforged knew about the Menthis quarter and was quite overeager to tell Hardwall all about it (Including that there was, apparently, a moderately-known warforged called Sonnet who was asingerof all things, occasionally performing at the Sharn Opera House ofUpperMenthis ward of all places. Hardwall had not known that.), but a short time later, Hardwall had everything he needed to advise Tam.
***
About fifteen minutes before four hours later, Tam heard the door to her shop open, and the expected voice call out "Commander, I have returned, with our destination." He said as he walked through the shop to find Tam in her workspace. "The red-light district we will be visiting is Firelight, located in the lower ward of quarter Menthis Plateau. According to my investigations, Firelight is known to have on average more expensive 'bordellos' than Sharn's Welcome or Dragoneyes, and isnotknown for being a potential danger to unwary customers. Therefore, it should be the ideal location for your tests. We can depart for there at any time, if you have finished preparing what you need." Hardwall glanced around at whatever Tam was working on.
gpt
Tam's mental reverie was broken when Hardwall spoke. The strong, steady voice of the Warforged snapping her back to the here and now from the potential and possible. And at one of his statements, Tam gasps and blurts out "Expense! Oh yes that.... that is a thing I'll need to pay someone for this and.... I don't know what to pay for what we'll do I mean.... I mean I don't know what to charge for any of that but.... well I'll need to get some mental integration and linking and.... would a psionic base perhaps be better than an arcane one? Oh but then I'd need to make the component psionically focused and that would limit to psionicists and that is no good and..." And off Tam was back to the world of rambling, babbling techno nonsense and logistically faffery. Throughout which Hardwall likely continued his plan, as Tam did hear, and acknowledged her understanding, but continued her rambling thoughts.
As the Warforged went to leave, Tam waved him off. "Go, I'll be fine. We can handle one more day of not being open for this at least. Go and let me work and prepare." And then she closed the door to her workshop, slid down it, and sat on the floor, shivering.
"What am I doing, this is crazy isn't it? I mean.... it's insane right? But then.... that was so.... good but still.... I'm insane. I must be, finally lost it." Tam rocked slightly as she tried to compose herself. Then, with a determined sigh, she hopped to her feet. "Well, if I -am- insane, I might as well go all out right?" And with that she dove into preparations, working at a pace rarely seen out of the changeling artificer.
***
As Hardwall entered the workshop, the first thing he was bound to notice was that Tam's bed had somehow made it into the workshop. The next is that the bed had undergone some significant changes. An array of devices, tubes, hoses, and dials had been attached to it, seemingly haphazardly. Setting on the bed is an odd device, that looks somewhat like the outline of a suit of armor, with several dials, locks, and knobs on it. The suit looks like it is made for a humanoid. And then there is Tam, sitting on the bed completely nude, face now a -bright- red, with something sitting in her lap. Next to her, another of the 'special' warforged component that Tam had created sits. On the front of the device is a hole, which appears to be lined with leather, and a few clamps, as if something could slot over it. After Hardwall gives his report, Tam nods. "So then.... that should be the most opportune place to acquire a potential tester. I believe I have created a device that can 'record' the sensory information of someone attached to it, and put it into a magical state that is compatible with the component. I.... did need to... test it hence my state of... disarray. I believe it prudent to be expeditious in our pursuit, and such, I need to get dressed, then we can attempt to get a.... tester to come to make a 'house call'. I hope that is feasible? I am.... not quite sure."
***
After getting dressed, Tam follows Hardwall toward the Firelight district. Appearing in her 'normal human' form, she walks behind Hardwall, letting the strong, powerful, metallic 'man' lead the way. There was something comforting about that. And while she had felt safe behind Hardwall before, it felt.... different now. Better, safer, more comforting. To have him with her. It was a strange thought, but a thought she had, and she pondered it as they traveled.
human
When Hardwall rounded the corner after calling out to Tam, he was quite surprised to see that her bed had intruded into her workspace. He paused for a moment to examine the...bizarre apparatus she had cobbled together over it. "...You have been...exceptionally busy I see, Commander..." The warforged remarked as he slowly approached, looking at the device. He then realized that Tam herself was nude again, with her milky-white face heavily flushed with crimson again. Hardwall couldn't help but wonder what she had been doing to put herself in a similar state as the 'experiment' last night, but he did look up as she spoke. She had used herself as a test subject? Well, that...sort of explained it? Hardwall was still very new to all of this. He nodded along when she mentioned needing to find someone to make a 'house call'. "Yes, this...apparatus you have constructed is much more extensive than I had thought it would be. It would be logistically impractical to transport all of this to the Firelight district." He stated obviously. "I am ready to depart as soon as you are."
***
One quick skycoach and lift-ride later, and the pair of them were making their way through the Firelight district. Tam had chosen her human guise for the outing, and seemed content to let Hardwall lead the way. Hardwall wasn't entirely certain on whereexactlythey should go and what to do, but at the same time, neither did Tam or she wouldn't have needed him to do research for her. So, Hardwall would just have to do his best...he tried to be as observant as possible picking up the details of each establishment they passed, who was enjoying them, and what they were doing--or at least, what could be seen. Eventually, he settled on a place that looked likely...
Hardwall walked in through the doors of Elspeth's Earthly Delights with Tam in tow, having chosen the establishment not just for the name, but the kind of people he saw entering and leaving, and the fact that it looked less expensive. Glancing at a few signs, he felt certain they were in the right place; it advertised a main lounge with "open love" and "pleasures at all hours", among other phrases that Hardwall could not quite determine the meaning of, but guessed they were more fleshling euphemisms. Walking up to a female half-elf receptionist with Tam at his side, Hardwall met the woman's attention and her hesitant question of if she could be of service.
"This is an establishment that sells prostitution services, correct? My employer wishes to hire a male prostitute for the evening for a house call." Hardwall announced bluntly, to the woman's cringing wince and pointed look at Tam before she confirmed (and noted that they preferred the term "escorts") and sent for one. A couple minutes later, a human male arrived, somewhat oiled up and wearing only a tightly-wrapped cloth around his waist and between his legs, although once he saw Tam he smiled and picked up a spare toga to don it as he approached.
"A house call, mm? Not many of us do that in this particular establishment, but a lady with a warforged bodyguard asking for one, I figured that'd be interesting enough to see out. " The blonde-haired, bronze-skinned man said with a relaxed tone and coy smile as he looked at Tam and bowed to her. "Jetho, at your service. If you're looking for someone to have youcryinginblissall night long, I'm your man." He said with a wink and waggle of his eyebrows at her.
"Actually," Hardwall stepped in, "My employer has need of a male prostitute for other reasons. She has designed an arcane device to record a fleshling's physical sensations, and requires a male subject to induce sexual pleasure on to collect data." Again, Hardwall spoke with all the bluntness of a dull club of what Tam needed.
This did seem to throw Jetho for a bit of a loop. "Uh." he blinked a few times, glancing back and forth between Tam and Hardwall. "...So, like, you're plannin' to workmeoff while your bauble does its thing?" He then shrugged. "...Well, that is a bit of a new one for a gigolo, but hey, as long as you're paying, I'm down for it. You wanna go now, then?"
gpt
Walking in behind Hardwall, Tam could not help but look around at the sights. It was.... cleaner than she had imagined. And.... oh my that woman was.... pretty. And that man and.... before she knew it Tam was blushing in a way only a changeling could, turning a complete beet red from head to toe. Still, as her warforged companion talked with the receptionist, Tam started slowly calming down. Yes, this is business. Business. Only business. She almost didn't catch the look from the receptionist but nodded in ascent to what Hardwall was saying. Yes, this was much easier. If she did not need to talk, she couldn't stammer her way into more embarrassment. After all, it was just business and research nothing....
Wooof! The tanned, toned man who stepped forward was.... well.... was a lot. A lot to take in. He was tall, even for a human, at least she assumed he was human. Elves and half-elves didn't quite tan that well.... or did they? Having not spent that much time with them she wasn't sure. But his lack of pointed ears, and more round eyes definitely hinted at human ancestry. She almost let out a faint, disappointed whine when he put on the toga, but Tam stopped herself before the sound quite got out, making more of a hiccuping squeak.
And then she heard Jetho the gigolo... heh, that rhymes, ask a question. And she figured she should finally speak up. "Yes... that is we should go to my workshop. The apparatus I have constructed is there. You will be compensated fully for your time of course at the.... standard rate? It will be quite extensive though so I will requirre your services for several hours. And.... in case not everything can be acquired the first time, I may require you to come back and assist again? After all consistency in subject is important for.... excuse me I am rambling. Yes we should go now." Tam says, the blush returning to her face. Hardwall will discuss payments while I do some.... preliminary checking? I will need some measurements to prepare the equipment and need to make sure you will.... fit the device."
With Jetho's agreement, Tam starts measuring his body, using a length of marked string she keeps on her person.... and maybe a little more 'groping' and touching than is needed but she would never admit to it. "Yes, yes you will definitely work." She concludes after a few more moments of measuring. And so they depart, with payment agreed upon.
Back at the lab, Jetho finds the strange apparatus in the room, looking like a bed with many strange, odd, bizarre additions and modifications, many of which have no obvious purpose to him. "Now then.... would you please disrobe and lie down on the bed? You will need to be strapped in but I assure you it is for you safety."
human
If nothing else, Jetho could be certain that the day was going to be interesting. The lady who wanted to hire him was apparently a changeling, when he walked into the lobby to see! It was quite unusual to see a changeling in Firelight District, they normally mostly kept to Dragoneyes as far as Jetho knew. Her warforged bodyguard looked like no joke, and Jetho could tell the hulking soldier was evaluating him as a threat, from the way the warforged's head tracked him. Jetho just stayed cool; he didn't really care for the things, but he was familiar enough to know that they tended to be very literal and by-the-book about orders, specifically not taking actions of their own initiative generally unless provoked. As long as Jetho just acted as he normally would for the lady and didn't appear threatening, he was sure there'd be no problem with the wood-and-metal man. But the lady herself was far more interesting. Jetho was far too experienced and aware to miss how the changeling lady was eyeing him up and down, getting a good look at him, and poorly disguised her disappointment when he put on the toga! Heh, she was an inexperienced one then, not that it was a problem to Jetho. Already he was subtly changing what he did and said. The lady wanted a look? So he left the front of it slightly pulled to the side, so his chiseled, tanned, lightly-oiled abs and part of his chest could be seen. He was happy to give the customer what she wanted!
While what she was specifically hiring him for was virtually unheard-of, Jetho still played it cool and smooth, keeping his suave demeanor even as she requested to measure him. He was only too happy to oblige, standing tall and holding his arms out as the lady used a measurement-string. Oh, hedefinitelycaught her extra gropes, but only kept his coy smile on and even moved himself for her to measure in ways that subtly and 'unnecessarily' showed her more of his physique. Once she was done, and her warforged bodyguard had provided payment to the clerk, off they went!
***
At the lady's workshop, as she was clearly some kind of tinker-mage, he followed her in and to her 'testing room', and showed the bed with the bizarre apparatus all hooked up around it. Jetho raised one eyebrow at the sight, but, she was paying...at her request for him to unclothe and get in, and the mention of straps, he only smirked wider and have her a sideways grin out the corner of his eye. This at least was familiar to him. "Straps? Oho, you want itkinkythen? Very well, Mistress~..." He smoothly purred at her with his rich voice, and began to take his toga off. He...did not do it quickly. In fact, quite on purpose, just doing what he knew for the lady's enjoyment, he slowly removed the toga, showing more of his skin little bit by little bit, to entice andteaseher. More of his fine toned muscles could be seen, with his bronze-tanned skin, until he was almost nude. When he was down to just his tightly-wrapped loincloth, and still smiling slyly, he reached down and began to unwrap it...slowly revealing his partially-flaccid endowments, already starting to 'perk up' for the lady and being a suitably pleasing size.
Still looking at Tam with his calm, smoldering eyes and light smirk, he slowly stepped towards the bed and slid himself onto it, laying on his pack and positioning his arms and legs where it seemed like they ought to go with the straps around the bed. His male endowments, of course, were completely and openly exposed. "All right, Mistress...I'm all ready for you to ~tie me up~..." He rumbled at her invitingly.
Hardwall, meanwhile, was watching the proceedings but standing back and out of Tam's way. He was sure there wouldn't be any need for him to interfere with anything, although the male's attitude had a few vague similarities to that unpleasant elven man who had bothered Tam at the bar, Tam herself seemed significantly less uncomfortable this time, and she had after all sought this out. However, the things that Tam was planning to do...it would be the first time in his life that Hardwall ever witnessed this aspect of fleshling biology. With some curiosity, he paid close attention...
gpt
Tam did notice the man, Jetho was his name? How did she forget.... I mean, that body was.... no, focus. Yes, Jetho putting on a bit of a show for her. She had not ever really been this close to a male, no a man before. And he was certainly quite a specimen, or so she believed. He certainly was. yes she could admit it attractive. But the mind quickly focused on the task at hand.. barring a sudden -bright- flash of red across Tams whole body at the kinky and embarrassing talk. Sir I assure you this is more for your safety and the safety of the device. Tam said, not sure if she was assuring herself.. or her subject.
Of course the fact there was now a -naked- and -attractive- and. certainly -willing- guy in front of her was making Tams mind race a mile a minute. And, again she could not help but get some. extra lingering touches on the exquisite form before her as she placed the leather straps in place, and tightened the bindings. Soon, Jetho was strapped to the bed, a somewhat tight but not uncomfortable binding. He was nearly completely immobilized. And seeing this made Tam shudder, a shiver quaking through her body, and a faint eep-like moan escaped her lips, before she quickly shut her mouth, blushing. *Ahem* Thank you, again, Mr. Jetho fo your assistance. Now, I will need you to become fully aroused while.. And from a mess of tubes, cables, and apparatuses crisscrossing the ceiling, Tam brought out a large copper colored band, with what looked like leather padding inside of it. This is in place. And with some quick, only slightly fondly hands, Tam slid the device over Jethos semi-hard length. Then with the tap of a button, and and a faint whirring, the device came to life! Immediately, the leather seemed to expand! Until Jethos shaft was clamped down on by the.. strangely softest yet firmest cock-ring the man had ever experienced. It seems to just barely restrain, without being uncomfortable. My. research claims that simulation of the testicles can lead to arousal. Beginning now. Tam said, falling, again, into her work mode. Now it was easy! This wasnt a super hot guy willing to obey her every command! No, this was merely a research project! A test subject! A test subject with.. a rather sizable ball sack. Tams fingers worked along Jethos balls, caressing, massaging, fondling, teasing. Beginning direct stimulation of the phallus Tam spoke, as her other hand, fingers somehow longer than they had been. when did she do that? And then she started stroking, pumping, rubbing, feeling Jethos cock as it pulsed, throbbed, and grew in her grasp.
Full hardness achieved, I believe. Subject, would you say you are at full arousal? Tam asked, looking at Jetho, her eyes not cold but not the kind of bedroom gaze Jetho would be used to, almost like a dispassionate dominatrix servicing her client with that mix of disconnect and matter of factness that Jetho likely knew attracted some clients. But this woman was a bashful, nervous geek, where did -this- come from?
human
While unusual, Jetho's night was looking like it was going to be a rather entertaining one. The experienced male escort certainly didn't miss the human-looking woman's blush as she insisted it was for safety, and he just simply nodded with a very 'if-you-say-so' smirk on his face and a wink of his eye. Though there was something odd he had noticed, it wasn't just the woman's face that briefly flushed a redder color, but also her hands did at the same time. That was a bit strange, but Jetho didn't pay it much mind. He just relaxed onto the bed as the lady got to work strapping him in. Again, he couldn't miss the extra touches, the way her hands lingered in places, showing how obviously she was being affected by her desires. And Jetho's entire job was playing into that! He subtly flexed his muscles and slowly swayed his body as the bindings were being set, just to keep 'distracting' her by giving her more to be attracted to. Of course, the best part was when she was all done tying him down, stood up, and gave his naked, bound body a full look-over.
Jetho gave a very amused smile as the lady moaned, blushed, and full-body shuddered, just at looking him over. She was so cute! He had been hired by a few inexperienced but inquisitive and curious women before, and it was always a delight to help them explore their own urges and desires. He nodded again as the lady reiterated that he needed to be fully aroused...though, the apparatus she brought down from an overhanging rack to slide around his only-half-flaccid shaft was very much a new one to him. He was of course familiar with many sex toys, including cock rings, but this one was different, and much more...tethered. One of his eyebrows rose up when the lady then spoke in a very clinical way about sexual stimulation. "That is the kind of thing that 'foreplay' involves, aye." He replied in a lightheartedly teasing voice. Huh. He also noticed how her demeanor was changing, how she seemed to gain more control of herself--notcompletelycontrolled, with how distracted she still seemed as she started gently massaging his balls, but more--as she started to get into whatever this experiment of hers was. Still, he made himself relax and fully welcomed the pleasure she was giving him, with his shaft perking up more, especially as she started rubbing his shaft! He arched his back a little and slowly squirmed in his restraints. "Ooooh, yeah Mistress, that feels nice indeed...mmmhh, you sure you haven't done this before? You're pretty...good..." He started to say, then lifted his head forward to look at her while he spoke, but then trailed off as something caught his eye. Were her fingers...longer?
The gigolo didn't have much time to contemplate this though, as his shaft was indeed fully erect now, and the lady was asking him for feedback. This time, both his eyebrows raised. The coolly dispassionate way she spoke, how she seemed fully in control of herself now...this was not the same woman who had just hired him! Still, Jetho was paid to be adaptable, so he quickly played along as best as he could. "Ahh. Oh yeah, Mistress, I'm definitely fully ready to go now..." He spoke in a calm but pleasured tone as he gave several gyrations of his hips to emphasize. "Mmmh, well then...what is the next step, Mistress?" He said, keeping up a suave mood, even as it suddenly hit him. The way she seemed to blush on her hands as well as her face, the fact that her fingers seemed longer than they were a minute ago, how she seemed to suddenly be a different person...was she achangeling?
Jetho didn't have much of a strong opinion on changelings, other than a prideful rivalry since changelings were 'rumored' to staff most of a whole competing red light district, Dragoneyes. The ordinary human liked to think that the changeling's 'cheating shortcut' ability to just look like whatever a client wanted at any given moment caused them to neglect real substance and skill in their sex work, an outlook that was only vindicated to him by the fact that Dragoneyes was considered lower-class and less safe than Firelight. Still, he had only actuallymeta changeling once before (well, that heknewof, he revised in his head upon reflection...there were rumors that, while Firelight employed all races, some of the bordello owners were changelings too...), but he hadn't gotten a chance to really see just how much of a changeling's wildly gossiped abilities were real and how much were exaggeration. This was going to be evenmoreof an interesting night than he had thought...
During all this, off to the side, Hardwall continued to stand and watch, still and unobtrusive despite how huge and space-consuming he was. Both participants were far too focused on each other to be distracted by his presence, and that suited the warforged perfectly. What he was witnessing was quite enlightening and educational, but so veryweird. As many times before, Hardwall was once again struck by just how...squishyfleshlings were, yet paradoxically firm. The male's genitals had started floppy and dangly, but before Hardwall's optic sense it had become quite engorged and stiff. He now understood where much of the design of the new component Tam had created for him had come from. So this was how a male fleshling's sexual organ acted when it was being stimulated and used? If Hardwall had not actually already tested the component, he would have been completely and utterly bewildered at how the situation playing out before him could be in any way desirable. However, with the memories of the...pleasurehe had felt using the component...now, he could actually guess and imagine why fleshlings would want to engage in activities like this. And the whole reason Tam was doing this was toimprovethe component she had invented...