Everyone in Inga's group bought weapons and scrolls and stuffed them into their storage space bracelets. Then they headed to the android market to pick up a cookbot since no one in the group wanted to cook for everyone all the time.
They walked over to an area that looked like a large storage building. It had a large door and was one big metal room, all bright silver looking with docking stations all along the sides where different androids were stored. In the back were rough-looking androids, rusted or partially broken, and boxes of spare parts.
"My name's Lod, what can I do you for?" said a short pudgy man with a large bulbous nose that had a wart on it, when he smiled his teeth were all sharp, and his sly beady eyes squinted with greed. His ears were pointed and he had shaggy brown hair with a large bald patch. He rubbed his hands together and looked his potential customers up and down, trying to figure out how to get the most money out of them. Then Aria transformed her bottom half into a snake and slithered to the front of their group. "A Lamia, what are you doing out of the Shadow Realm, your Ladyship?"
"I am here with my mate and my new clan and you Troll, why are you here?"
"Work, only for work? Your Mate and your clan your Ladyship? I see no other Lamia with you."
"I will not be questioned," said Aria.
Lod bowed deeply at the waist, "Please excuse me, your ladyship, I meant no offense. Anything I can do for you would please me greatly. May I know which of these distinct individuals holds the honor of being your Mate?"
"He is not with me presently," said Aria.
"Yes, of course. I'm sure that had he been it would be immediately apparent that he was the one you'd chosen."
Amy quietly snickered thinking that if he had seen Paul he might have mistaken him for a bogyman or a dwarf.
"Enough chit-chat, I'm a busy female. We're here to pick up your finest cookbot, myself and my companions are unaccustomed to cooking, or dislike such menial chores," said Aria.
"Yes, yes of course," he said while bowing again. "Please come this way, I keep my best merchandise in the back room." Lod walked at the front of the group and directed them past the androids lined up on the walls and to a door in the back room. He swiped his key card and led everyone to a small room with two Androids. These two were humanoid in shape with white flesh-like skin, black shoulder-length hair, and gray eyes. One was male and one female with the male having shorter hair. "These are learning assistant androids. They are preprogrammed to complete several different functions, including cooking, cleaning, childcare, playing several instruments, interpreting, reminding, secretarial work, bookkeeping, guarding, reading, accounting, tutoring, and others listed in the ownership manual. They are five hundred rainbow crystals each."
"I will purchase both of them," said Aria.
"Are you sure that's alright? They're quite costly," said Inga.
"They will come in handy for the group and in my culture it is customary for females to offer their new clan a gift as a dowry when they leave their family's clan. I have not offered a gift yet, so these will be my gift. I understand this may not be your practice, but it would not feel right to me otherwise," said Aria.
"Still, that's quite a lot," said Inga.
"Anything less would suggest that I consider myself and my new mate's clan unworthy, it would be insulting to my dignity," said Aria.
"Oh, then I won't object any further. We thank you for the gift," said Inga.
"Of course your Ladyship, please wait by the front desk and I will bring them right out to you," Lod said while bowing again.
He rolled the androids and the pods out on a trolley, surprisingly a lot stronger than he looked.
Aria pulled a necklace from under her shirt and placed her pointer finger on the pendant. Green light came out from her finger and into the pendant. Then a brown drawstring sack appeared in her hand, then another, and another until she had ten drawstring sacks sitting on the front desk. "One thousand rainbow gems, do you wish to count them?"
"That won't be necessary, Lamia are an honorable people. Please feel free to come back if you have any need for more purchases or if you have any concerns regarding your androids. This is also my contact number," said Lod while handing her an engraved metal card. "For now, I will register the two androids as your property and then you can add new users as you see fit. The androids will always go back to their registered owners and defend themselves against theft, so it is perfectly safe in most cases to send them on errands and allow them to walk around with you. May I have a drop of your blood?"
She slipped it into her pendant and hid her necklace back under her shirt. Then Aria pricked her finger with her nail and held out her hand. "Just place your finger on both of the android's foreheads to activate them," Lod said after swiping the android pods with his card, indicating that they had been purchased. Then the pods both opened and Aria pressed her bloody finger onto both of their foreheads. The blood sunk into their heads and disappeared, and then both of their eyes popped open in unison. Gray with a hint of silver.
"What are our names?" they said in unison.
"The female android will be named Silva and the male Gray," said Aria.
"We are currently shopping so you will come with us and carry anything if needed. I will program your other users and preferred voices once we get back," said Aria.
"Yes, your Ladyship," they both said.
Aria put the docking pods into her necklace and opened the front door.
Then Muffin ripped her collar from her leash and dashed out the door. "Muffin! Baby, where are you going? You can't just run off, it might not be safe!"
Nick dashed out the door, but Muffin was nowhere in sight. "Muffin! Darling, where have you wandered off to? Please come back!"
"Would you like me to assist you in tracking this creature called Muffin? I have excellent preprogrammed tracking abilities, to look for missing children," said Silva
"Do you also?" said Amy to Gray.
"My programming would encourage me to hunt Muffin after tracking her, which is not what I gather you currently require," said Gray.
Amy laughed, "Is that so? Guess we'll have to program you to do more things."
"I always appreciate getting more in-depth programming," said Gray.
"Can you really?" Nick said while poking his head back in. "Please find my baby! I can't live without her! She's all I have left of my old life," said Nick while tears dripped down his eyes and he held his hands to his mouth.
The Silva looked at Aria for confirmation.
"Yes, please find Muffin for Nick."
"Right away," she said and her eyes glowed silver. "Please hand me an object of hers so I can lock onto her scent.
"Here," said Nick while holding up Muffin's leash.
Silva took hold of the leash and placed it under her nose. Then her eyes flashed silver once again and she gave the leash back. She turned her face back and forth and then her eyes flashed silver again. "I have locked onto the missing child, I can lead you to her now."
"Oh thank goodness!" said Nick and everyone followed after Silva.
They all walked after Silva who led them around the corner and a few streets over to a large clearing under some giant canopies with stacked cages and a large sign that said Exotic Pets and Beasts of Burden. They followed Silva to a canopy towards the back where a cage sat on the ground. Muffin had squeezed through the bars and was currently being mounted by a creature that looked like a green furless bulldog with a long lizard tongue.
"Muffin! What are you doing? Get out of there right now!"
Muffin tilted her head to the side and let out a little bark.
"Muffin come out darling, get out of the cage with the freaky green monster. I'll pick you up a nice boyfriend later alright, you have to be patient."
Muffin let out another little bark, but she made no move to leave while the green creature wiggled up to her.
"Oh Muffin, darling, don't you dare let him go through with that! I had my heart set on you having those beautiful purebred puppies! Help find someone who works here, I need Muffin pulled out of that cage!"
"Silva, please look for a shopkeeper," said Aria.
A few moments later, Silva came back carrying a startled animal keeper as if she were a baby and set her down in front of the group, but by then it was too late. Poor Nick was in tears with his hands held to his mouth. "Please get my baby out of that cage, I have seen something that can never be unseen," said Nick with a teary voice. He pulled a hanky out of his pocket and started dabbing his eyes. "I should have had her fixed, but I wanted her to enjoy motherhood and have at least one litter of her puppies. Was it so wrong of me to want to hold her babies? Is the universe punishing me now?" he said while blowing his nose. "My sweet Muffin's first time is with a furless green monster who has a lizard tongue!"
Coming Next Time: Cherry
Hero Amy to the rescue!