Strange Tides

[Andromeda]

“Eat me?” she muttered in surprise. She took a half step back. “I don’t think that should be the first thing to say…” Just saying that made her think that this spider woman actually did eat people rather than something else. It wasn’t even why it unnerved her at the start. Seeing a walking hybrid spider and human, it was still like an insect and at the woman’s size it was a little unsettling to see. Even if she didn’t have any paralyzing fear of spiders. Having one human size makes it hard to ignore.

She just had to remind herself that they were just another species in this strange world. ‘Just think of her has another woman, with spider legs and a spider body thing. That’s not working… She wouldn’t have a shop if she wasn’t friendly… Calm the body…’ Taking in a couple of breathe to ease her heart, Katlyn stepped towards the woman.

Looking back at Shia, she needed her for translations since her nanomachines still were overworked with the vast amount of new languages. “What does she need me to do?”

“She needs you to take off your dress.”

“R-right, of course.” Katlyn tried to reach behind her back, but fumbled finding the strings tying the dress in. She had no problem stretching behind her, but it wasn’t something that she had to do every day or in fact ever. “Um, could you help me untie the knot?” she asked Shia, unable to coordinate directions with her hands. She fumbled on the strings, but pulled on the loop rather than end of the string only making the knot harder to undo. “I’m used smart fiber, so I haven’t had to do something like this before.”

[Victoria]

Shia wasted no time with aiding Katlyn in untying the dress from behind. "Smart fiber? What's that?" she asked just as she tried to put the pieces together. "You mean like a dress or something that fastens itself so you don't have to?" she tilted and raised her brow. Must've been some interesting magic or science involved with that.

Once she was able, the seamstress began taking her measurements and as she did, her other spider limbs worked on crafting up some undergarments in her size. They weren't anything fancy, but they would get the job done at covering her up. Shia paid for the work done as well as picked up some pre-made undergarments that just happened to be her size to begin with.

[Andromeda]

It was a slip of the tongue. She hadn’t meant to bring it up, since it was something that they wouldn’t understand. But now she was having to think about how to explain it. To anyone from 3764, it was a simple if not redundant question to ask. Explaining it to a completely novice with no frame of reference or understanding of the technological differences between them, it was going to just sound like magic.

Trying not to make it sound like magic was the hard part in her mind. Though Shia seemed more intelligent than the boss of the traders. So maybe she wouldn’t have as difficult time explaining nanomachines and biometrics. She didn’t even know how advanced this world might be in science. The feeling she got was that they were several millennia behind them technologically.

While the spider woman began her work for measurements, Katlyn felt like she had come to some sort of answer. “You’re partially right. Though it’s a lot more than just that. It simulates materials, changes fit and design, but it’s locked to only one individual’s DNA. And in my case, it communicates with what’s in my body, so I can control it mentally without having to program it externally. It’s all science for me, but I’d imagine to anyone here it would appear like magic.”

With the bra finished, the woman handed it over to Katlyn. ‘More string ties. I guess anything more complicated would be beyond them. Guess I’ll have to get used to it.’ There wasn’t as much give in the material, so it was a tight fit. But as she slipped it on, it did fit extremely well to her body. “Rather impressive,” she remarked as she pulled it in testing out the support, though the back ties remained unfastened yet.

Katlyn fumbled around with them stubbornly trying to figure out the coordination needed for it. It was just matter a practice she told herself. But it was really hard unable to see it and doing behind her back. The awkwardness wouldn’t stop. “This is going to take some getting used to…” Then suddenly it was all tied up and fit. Katlyn tilted her head around seeing that the spider woman took mercy on her. She said something that she couldn’t understand, though there seemed to be a joking tone to her voice so it didn’t seem bad. “Umm…”

[Victoria]

"Sounds very fancy indeed." Shia replied. The way it worked went a little over her head but she could understand the gist of it if she thought of it a certain way. Shia was about to help Katlyn fasten the ties but Lacey beat her to it as she made a joke at Katlyn's expense. Shia couldn't help but chuckle a little at the joke. "Well now that that's done. What say I give you a tour of the city you'll be living in for a while? Would do no good if you get lost. Especially in this part of town." she said as she thanked Lacey for the work again. She turned to exit the shop, holding the door open for Katlyn.

[Andromeda]

The way that Shia reacted came off about as well as Katlyn expected. A mix of confusion and understanding, it only made sense really. None of what she was capable of would seem normal or even possible to these people. As much as their strange abilities and non-humans were impossible to herself. “If it helps, you can just think of it as a unique sort of magic my people can wield.” It was how she planned on explaining things to any strangers that asked. It would be simpler that way.

“A tour?” she repeated, as she followed Shia outside. “That would be a good idea. This place is completely confusing to me.” And to make things worse there did not seem to be any sort of mass-transit type of system in the city. So there was not going to be an easy way to get around except on foot.

She followed Shia lead on the matters already. Off in the distance, there was a rise of buildings that felt like it was partly because of the terrain, but also owning to their height. Nothing anywhere as impressive as a skyscraper, but maybe for this city it was impressive. “What is that over in the distance?” she asked as they started their tour.

[Heartless Angel]

He scratched his chin, wandering absent-mindedly through the urban labyrinth he had become hopelessly lost inside. "Hm... Maybe I've been going about this the wrong way", he began. "As unusual as Shia is, living in this world requires her to be able to fit in... Her new friend, however; is not at all a part of this world. Perhaps she is the one I should be trying to distinguish from the crowd", he concluded. He slowed his pace as he found himself immersed in the new problem. "Difficult indeed. I can point out unusual magics almost as well as the Val, but I don't have any particular means of tracking a being with no magic at all... There has to be something else that can make her stand out here... She was naked at the auction, but I rather doubt that's still the case, and otherwise her physical characteristics weren't anything that would stand out from many of the curothians... A visual identification seems unlikely...", he trailed off.

A pair passed him, speaking an older curoth dialect. It was a rather unique language, more guttural than most others in common use.

He snapped his fingers and paused. "That's it! I am familiar with every tongue spoken on the surface, yet Shia was able to speak the language of the newcomers, and that I've never heard before. If I augment my hearing, I may be able to pinpoint them by the sound of a language that I don't recognize!", he said, with a triumphant tone to his voice.

He made the modifation to his hearing via biomancy, and began working his way through crowded areas, hoping to pick up unusual speech patterns. Before long, he heard just what he had been hoping for. He heard words he didn't recognize, spoken by a female, and soon thereafter, answered in kind.

"Found you!", he exclaimed, as he bolted in the direction of the sound.