the chop shop

🦝: "So these meshes were initially designed to speed up healing for limb replacements, took forever to get my hands on a working model to dissect. Seems they work just fine turned inside-out, though. Not right out of the box of course, but I've been tweaking it for a few months now, hasn't failed yet. At least, not in any of the test rigs. Haven't tried it an actual throat yet, but if it's delicate enough to stitch together ballistics gel and silicone, it should be fine."

🦦: "Hmmf?"

🦝: "Might sting a little at first. The anchors are automated to find a good spot to hold, but they tend to poke around a little first. Your gag reflex should still be suppressed, but if you feel uncomfortable, just uh... tap your foot or something. I'll give you a break. Honestly, that's why I never do this sort of thing under anesthesia. Last thing I'd want is for something to go wrong and not know about until after you wake up, right? Then we'd have to rebuild the whole installation rig, put you back under again... real pain in the ass."

🦦: "..."

🦝: "This'll be great once it's in, though, trust me. The surface smooths out except for just a liiiiitle bit of that crossed-mesh surface bumping up, real gentle. Real delicate. The last prototype of this thing's still up in my bedroom, heh. Like, you could definitely do better if you're looking just a toy, but you're not gonna get anything like this purely biologically. Let's just say, you're gonna be making some new friends with this. Bigger friends than you could land before, heh."

🦦: "Gllhl?"

🦝: "Just don't go overboard, still got your jaw to worry about, you know. I could probably hook you up with a removable joint there if you're interested, but... probably won't need it, at least not just yet. I got one myself, but rarely get to use it, since my throat's the real bottleneck... no pun intended. Had this big stallion guy in here a week or so ago getting me to reset a few somatic collars for him. The formatting ended up taking a while since they were pretty old models, well out of service, had to go digging for a package that could still run the same protocol. Anyway, managed to sweet-talk him back into the break room, but holy shit I could not choke down that thing. He seemed happy with two hands and a tongue, but I know I could've done better with the right tools. Just disappointed is all."

🦦: "Hgghgh."

🦝: "Yeah, this place runs of word-of-mouth, you know. Salvaged tech doesn't bring in that much money, and I can't exactly advertise bootleg cybernetics installed by hand in a garage, now can I. Cybersafety administration would have this place shut down and turned into a parking lot in a heartbeat. No way I'm spending a few years and a fortune just to get an implanters license."

🦦: "Grhrrfrf?"

🦝: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Anchors should be set, I'm gonna pull the main attachment arm out. Let me know if you taste blood."

character and story by @pafcakes