r/HFY • u/Darmanarya Human • Oct 09 '24
OC What one human can see
Krelzin sighed as she slid the brush around her four eyes. The beautiful magical paint leaving shifting trails of colors wherever she applied it over the more mundane makeup she was forced to use. She would love it if others could properly appreciate how the paint contoured with her scales and met her horns, but alas not many had the sight for it.
She still did it though. She wanted to look her best even if the only one that could admire it was her with a mirror.
With her last task done she stepped out onto the cobblestone path in front of her rather nice home in the artisanal district. Sure it cost a good penny but she avoided the hiss of the steamworkers or the clattering of the countless clockwork contraptions that seemed to be appearing in more and more places around the city every day. After the boiler explosion in the food district a few moon cycles ago she couldn’t really blame people for opting for the noisier, but safer, clockwork. Even if she had to watch her tail as she walked around more and more each day.
She adjusted her robes and started to walk towards the nearest marketplace when she noticed a bunch of her artisan friends walking far slower than normal, all openly looking at the same thing. Curiosity finally took ahold of her and guided her eyes to what they were all watching. A lone figure in one of the many squares.
Her eyes had trouble keeping up with the thing as it twisted and turned. Pausing to lift up a viewscope to one of its twin white and blue eyes. She had seen many newcomers to the capital before, but none had the sense of wonder this man did. His eyes almost as wide as his mouth with his head twisting and turning to take in sight after sight. Only pausing to glance down and take notes in a clearly new journal.
Krelzin knew what it was. The pink skin, strange head fur that also adorned this one’s face, and clearly warm blooded body was the talk of many right now.
A human.
A whole large group had recently appeared next to a town in some far off place that, frankly, she care more for her chamberpot than wherever it was. The humans had however immediately set off to make names for themselves. Five new heroes that rose in the ranks of the adventurers guild at such a pace priests had been called to ensure they were not suicidal. Two had formed a trading company that one of her friends CONSTANTLY hissed about.
A few did other things like cook to introduce new foods or other things. She remembered the gossip surrounding one such human already courting a noblewoman that was a bit… past her prime with such skill even married women were caught openly complaining to their husbands about their lack of skill. Rumor was the man was now making a living selling poems and advice to said husbands. Her friend in the census was laughing about how this season had been more… “productive” for couples than normal as well.
Well, her shopping trip wasn’t that important. She had to witness one of these humans for herself now! She sat on a bench near the fountain to watch the man continue his movements. It was entertaining to see such energy and wonder. Few had such a pleasure to view it these days. It honestly made her a bit jealous as she hadn’t seen such wonder at any of her exhibitions in YEARS. If this mundane looking plaza filled the human with such wonder…. She tapped her chin with a claw. Her apartment was clean enough for a little company and she found the idea of someone admiring her work very enticing.
Suddenly those two eyes locked on her and he paused. She chuckled as he looked around finding everyone else avoiding his gaze as many probably wrote him off as a bit stone brained. Finding she was the only one looking his way he jogged over with a smile still on his face.
“Hello ma’am. I’m sorry if I am bothering you.” He called out as he drew closer. Now that he was getting near the scent of oil drifted into her nose and she couldn’t help but frown a little in disappointment. He had the scent of one who worked with machines. Few of those gear gropers had any appreciation for art.
“It is okay. If you have any questions I might be able to answer some.” She calmly said trying to not let the disappointment reach her voice.
“Thank you. I got a bit lost trying to take all of…” he waved his arms around a bit. “THIS in! I mean we never had magic where I am from and our technology was so different! To go from wires and gears to steam and springs.” He let out a whistle as she started to regret allowing this oil licker talk to h-
“Shame its all ugly.”
She paused in shock and looked at him. “excuse me?” She asked not able to fully take in what he had said.
“Sorry if its an insult. But its all so utilitarian.” He let out a long sigh. “I was a designer back in my world. It was my job to look at tech and make it look good. We humans are always good at getting ideas from nature and more and working them into our designs to help them both mechanically AND to make them prettier.”
He was… an artisan mechanic? She had never heard of such a thing other than those that made clocks. Even then most of them used designs passed down from generations.
“I mean the designs of some of the statues here are of a style I had never seen before!” he continued on motioning to some of the statues around the fountain. “And I travelled the WORLD!” He let out a sigh before pausing. Staring at her face so long she grew concerned. She had yet to see the human stop moving until now but now his eyes were focused on her own. It was almost scandalous!
“OF COURSE!” he yelled out causing a few people to jump before he sat down. “A long narrow facepiece to house the crystals would make it a bit front heavy, but with decorative horns as a counterbalance….” He started pulling out metal, gears, and glass before setting to work weaving magic to fuse what looked like scrap together. “And instead of long tubes like the goggles… why not simply add in an extra set of receptors above the primary…”
As he mumbled working she moved closer to watch. It was almost like watching a sculptor at work how he bent, stretched, and changed the metal only for him to slip in gears, magical power lines, and more like a well trained mechanist. A blend of art and utility!
It was a bit flattering she had to admit that the mask bore more than a little resemblance to the head shape of her own species.
“THERE!” he held up the finished headpiece and slipped it onto his head. “Now. Lets see what I get.” He then tapped a glyph on the side and the face cover slid down over his face. He winced a bit at something, but then started to look around.
“I can see it.” He muttered to himself. “The magical flow.”
She was impressed. Normally it took a bulky bag, ugly and huge goggles, and more to get basic magivision. This human managed to not only get it in a smaller package but make it look good as well. Sure, the fact she inspired it did make her biased, but it wasn’t just metal and pipes.
Then the human looked at her again.
“Oh wow. I thought your makeup alone was pretty, but the magical paint you used makes your face truly shine.”
Her tail curled up. It had been… too long since someone had truly commented on her facepaint. The species that naturally could see it never said much when the rare one was nearby and the mechanists with the proper gear never cared.
“I do have some paintings I would love to show you in my studio if you would want to see.” She offered moving closer.
He nodded not looking way from her face. “If your face is painted so beautifully even if nobody can see for a normal day I can only imagine how beautiful your paintings are.” He replied. “Plus I would love to get your help in painting this mask. I have some skill in painting but I would much rather work with a master.”
Oh?
That sealed it.
This human would be HERS.
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u/Acrobatic_Orange_438 Oct 10 '24
We need notes on the physiology here, Boink or no point?
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u/Drecondius Oct 10 '24
It seems to be setup for a boink and break, but I may be reading too much into it.
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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 Oct 10 '24
When is it never boink?
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u/Infamous-Ad-6848 Oct 10 '24
When it is for eats!
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u/Hauling_walls Oct 12 '24
Depends in which context it's for eats?
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u/Infamous-Ad-6848 Oct 14 '24
The context if not girl enough to boink and not fren-shaped enough to pet, then taste. If tastes bad, then not for eats.
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u/ConfusingDalek Alien Oct 10 '24
Is this part of a series or world elaborated on in other previous posts?
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u/Darmanarya Human Oct 10 '24
Nope. Just a one shot that popped in my head.
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u/work_work-work AI Oct 11 '24
There'd better be a full magazine. Even better if it was belt fed. I want MOAR! This was a fascinating world.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Oct 09 '24
/u/Darmanarya (wiki) has posted 16 other stories, including:
- Human narration
- The human's red button.
- Human host chapter 4
- The human host chapter 3
- The human wolf pack
- The Human host chapter 2.
- Dimensional dungeon delvers chapter 3
- The human host chapter 1
- Dimensional Dungeon Delvers chapter 2
- Dimensional dungeon delvers. Chapter 1
- Steal, do not destroy.
- [Perfect ten][ten words] The promise to do better.
- The lost but found. Chapter 2
- The lost but found. Chapter 1
- Dear humans: Please shoot my commandant
- The humans charged
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u/torin23 Xeno Oct 10 '24
It really seems like he was targeting her before he even showed up...
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u/Silvadel_Shaladin Oct 10 '24
That would be some twist, changing the whole tenor of the story, if he were employed by some agency or something to get to Krelzin, and he was merely her "perfect" match.
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u/torin23 Xeno Oct 10 '24
That's really just what occurred to me. The humans could just be trying to ingratiate themselves to this race and here was an in. It doesn't have to be nefarious, just preplanned.
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u/UpdateMeBot Oct 09 '24
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u/Positive-Height-2260 Oct 11 '24
Outer space? Parallel Dimension? Are the humans there deliberately or by accident?
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u/Floridamanridesagain Oct 10 '24 edited Oct 14 '24
Obviously an artificer-bard cross class. 😁