Enlightenment

Yon had a new pair of lovers: the thermometer and the chronometer. He already vaguely knew about stopwatches from his time in basic, but getting to really get to play around with the time measuring devices was something else.

Having watched him run around the "chem lab" for a time, Cinder finally stated, "You know, guys who get this excited about machines usually cut their dicks off to shove a toaster in the empty space."

Yon blinked at that statement, not quite sure what to do with that information, before he shrugged and said, "Obviously they don't need much yang. Anyway… Gods, I can already hear the elders decrying these things while demanding as many as they can get as fast as possible."

"Why? They're thermometers and stopwatches? Is your place really that primitive?" Cinder demanded to know.

"Apparently!" Yon replied. "Do you have any idea how much grunt work senior alchemists have to do because they're the only ones with the experience and senses to actually measure temperature and time accurately and precisely? Too much!"

Nothing else Yon had seen thus far had really impressed him that much, but those two devices in mass use made everything else just that much more intriguing. For one, while the alcohol stills were set up to maximize speed and yield, there were several other stations where quality control was clearly much more important. Rotgut production was a choice, not a necessity.

What Yon saw was potential, and also hints of an explanation.

"Where I'm from, we often divide alchemy up along two axes, with the four combinations being assigned to one of the four Gods, although that tends to cause even more fighting than the assignment of elements or elemental combinations because all divinities touch upon all aspects to some degree. Anyway, I see these setups and I see the ascendancy of the exoteric external - the material rather than the spiritual, and outside the body rather than the inside. That combination is often regarded of as being where the Storm Lord is dominant most often, which… hmmm… and exoteric internal is the Harvestfather…" Yon trailed off in his explanation as he considered the metaphysical implications of a society so drenched in exoteric mastery.

Cinder just looked at him blankly.

Yon waved his thoughts away and said, "Never mind, never mind. It's just… fascinating. Oh what I might do to be able to work with this equipment."

A voice emerged from outside the refinery space, feminine and sweet but strange in a way that defined description. It was not unpleasant, but it was also like a nail on slate in some ways, and as soon as it reached them Cinder immediately went ramrod straight and near deathly pale.

"Oh really, soldier boy?"

A door opened and Yon immediately had to activate his emergency 'an elder or old monster just stopped by' protocols, which mostly amounted to being able to immediately shut off all external emotional reactions to avoid staring while simultaneously gathering as much information as possible.

What marched through the doors was something Yon didn't think had been dreamed up in any of the lurid hells described in the ancient texts, even if it absolutely would have fit. An amalgam of flesh and metal that made the monstrosity he had seen hours earlier seem benign in comparison, its core may have once been human but it was hard to see if any humanity remained now. The being was at once a woman lounging upon a palanquin, and yet was so much more and so much less than that description suggested. The head remained mostly human, an immaculate beauty framed by short cut dark hair. Everything else about the being made this feature stand out and further the grotesque via incongruity, for beneath the head the body swelled out into absurdity.

To call the being fat was at once not incorrect, and yet also failed to encompass what it was, for everything was so out of proportion that it was impossible to say what it should be. Most shocking were the breasts, which were each easily the size of an adult, hanging from the chest and pooled like sacks before the thing. So huge were the breasts that the rest of the body was concealed, although the way things sat and shifted about suggested an overly broad torso atop an enormous gut. The arms were strangely distorted, too long and too short at once, and teased at the possibility that the excessive flesh might well contain excessive muscle concealed by a layer of fat. Then, almost comically, were the legs, which were withered things that would have utterly disappeared if the being were not positioned to show them off, the feet twisted into uselessly tiny hooves.

Were this creature carried in by slaves or even if it were floating inexplicably through the air that would be less shocking than its actual mode of ambulation. The palanquin that carried it in was a perverse fusion of flesh and metal, eighteen human-ish arms bearing the weight. Dozens of faces ringed the perimeter of the palanquin, their mouths replaced with brass metal grills that seemed to whisper at the edge of consciousness, while more faces gazed inward at the core. The being seemed to not wear anything, although there was a copious amount of silk for banners bearing the mark of the Lotus Prince, and the creature's flesh was so copious it was self-censoring for the most part.

"Piggy!" Cinder greeted with a noticeable nervousness to her voice, confirming Yon's strong suspicion of who was before him. "I was just entertaining tonight's guest star, who as it turns out is quite the connoisseur and wished to see where the magic happens."

Piggy's palanquin silently padded forward on the palms of its hands, some of them reaching out to cup Cinder's chin and cheek in pallid flesh and unyielding metal. "Oh of course you were my dear Cinder, of that I had no doubt."

Yon had met someone like this once, an inner disciple who had once been a servant and had taken decades to fight into his position. The man had been so very bitter and so very vicious towards those beneath him, revelling in what power he had even as he resented the fact that there were always more people over him and in some ways he had never escaped his bondage. Yon had just learned to accept his lot, while that inner disciple - and Piggy if Yon understood her from her appearance and the name she used - had taken it out on everyone in his power.

Wheeling about to face Yon, getting up in his face, Piggy said, "Such an interesting young man. Our good friend Sergeant Gosrick has a good eye, don't you think Cinder?"

"Very good eye, Piggy," Cinder stated reflexively.

Piggy patted his face with a cold, waxy hand and said, "You two behave in here now. Lots of delicate things, expensive things. Of course, for the right favours I might let you play a bit, if you're careful."

Ah. It wasn't entirely a threat about not breaking things, it was fishing for Yon to do things for her.

"A woman of your character must have men and women tripping over themselves to earn your smile, I'm not sure what one such as I could do," Yon replied back carefully, fishing himself for what it was that she might want.

"Oh, a good boy like you could do much. Talk to Cinder, talk to that treat Sergeant Gosrick, and they might give you some ideas," Piggy said, before the palanquin wheeled about. From behind, Yon could see that there were metal cables blended with the flesh of her spine and attached into the structure of the chair she was lounging against.

Turning her head over her shoulder, she told Cinder, "Since he seems like a good and responsible boy, if he wants to help you with your work down here he can. Just be careful." She then used one of her actual hands to stroke one of the faces pointed in her direction, which caused Cinder to gulp in fear.

Both Yon and Cinder were quiet for a long moment after Piggy had left before Cinder begged very quietly, "Don't leave."

"Okay," Yon whispered back.

Eventually the tension dropped enough that Cinder was able to say, "I know you can't come back at a whim any more than I can come visit, but Piggy sees you as an asset now. Make time for me or her or the Sarge or otherwise show that you're useful and therefore I'm useful."

The next day was a much more subdued affair. Cinder obviously didn't want to talk much about her boss, and eventually when the atmosphere got too dour she just downed a couple of pills to get herself into a mental state where she could relax. Yon indulged her like this until it was time to head back to the barracks.

There he found a frail looking old man named Wot waiting for him with a packet of documents and instructions to take Yon to his new quarters. Now that he was out of Basic he would get a private bunk, closet, and desk area attached to a common room with six other common group leaders, with attached common bunks for their slaves.

The info packet was stuff that he was mostly expecting from what they had been told before going on liberty, but he also discovered that there was an inventory of his things brought over from the sect. His alchemy texts, some of his personal supplies of ingredients, and his training manuals were all included. There was also a pair of Dreaming Lotus Elixirs supplied by the Sect, along with a few other resources. That was quite a bit more than he expected.

Flipping through the documents, he also saw his schedule for the next few weeks. There was going to be a whole bunch of breaking in the next batch of recruits along with leadership classes and some personal time.

Yon has 3 available actions from the following list. At least 1 must be Class or Training, and can have at most 1 Class
[ ] (Class) Leadership
[ ] (Class) Tactics
[ ] (Class) Marksmanship
[ ] (Class) Assault
[ ] (Class) Communications
[ ] (Class) Stealth and Infiltration
[ ] (Class) Sabotage

[ ] (Training) Marksmanship
[ ] (Training) Assault
[ ] (Training) Diamond Body
[ ] (Training) Special Weapons
[ ] (Training) Heavy Weapons

[ ] (Personal) Iron Kettle Belly
[ ] (Personal) Time with Cinder (minor still access)
[ ] (Personal) Negotiate with Piggy (attitude: slight interest)
[ ] (Personal) Schmooze with Gosrick
[ ] (Personal) Interact with Ta Lin and other sect members
[ ] (Personal) Quest: Synthetic Elixir Part 1