Dimension of Perfection (And Its Flaws)

Chapter - 15 - Dignified & Disappointing

My face blinks with realisation. "Oh, right, yeah I guess that big 'wanted' sign I saw this morning would probably get us into trouble." I mutter. This disguise seems to be much higher end than the Sackbot mask from before, and probably a lot more effective.

"Yeah. By the way.. How did you even get down here to the Underground?" 4663 asks, as she pulls down her pants.

"ACK- WHAT, ARE YOU JUST GONNA DO THAT IN FRONT OF ME?!?!" I scream, blocking my eyes and looking at the wall to my right. This wall has a picture of a beach on it, but the picture has someone's finger in front of the camera.

"What? I don't see the problem." She states, completely unaware of why I'm so terrified.

"I'M JUST!-" I don't bother to finish my sentence, and just grunt while turning around to face the wall behind me. "Just, tell me when you're dressed!!!" I stay looking down at the wall, and spend more time gazing at random pictures in varied states of cleanliness. Behind me I can hear her stepping into some pants, but before I can look back I hear her jacket rip off too.

Why on Craftworld she thought that was appropriate is beyond my comprehension, so I'll just remain stationary and silent until she's done.

"Done." 4663 states. I attempt to look back, but see that she isn't actually done but still putting the last layer on that hides her knit.

Finally I can actually look back, and see that she's rocking the same smart suit as mine, and some orderly pants. Large, blacked out glasses also cover her eyes and actually most of her face, to the point that I can't see anything other than her mouth. She looks quite cool, might I add.

Her hair is additionally bunched up in a bun at the back of her head, and she's now reaching for something trapped in between some junk. 4663 pulls whatever it is out, and I see that it's a spray can. She sprays the can on her hair, and it slowly turns blacker the more she applies the spray.

She chucks the can away, and spins back to face me. "Okay. Your turn."

I stare at her to make sure I didn't mishear her. My eyebrow raises as if to suggest she's crazy if she thinks she's gonna get me to do that. "Uh, no. Unlike you, I'm not... I'm not comfortable with doing that!"

"Well, if you don't, then you're probably gonna get caught." She claims. I get angry at her again for thinking that I'd be okay with stripping down naked in the same room as her.

"I'd rather get caught!" I yell, which isn't true, but just my hasty reaction to her request.

"You know that's not what you want." She smirks. I can tell through her squinted eyes that she's trying to deal with my bickering.

"What other options do I have?!" I yell. She looks my outfit up and down, and puts a finger to her lips.

"Okay, let's try this." She turns back to the spray can shoved already between several objects, and picks it back out again. "If you're not comfortable with changing... Then you may as well stay in your clothes." She shakes the can up and down, and the rattling startles me and prepares me for whatever she's thinking. She aims the nozzle at my chest, and regards me as she crouches down. "You'll have to be fine with this."

She sprays the black ink straight onto my jacket, and I jump at the sudden surprise. "Hey! What're you doing!?" I push her back and stop her from getting my clothes dirty.

She looks back to me. "They'll immediately notice you if you stay like this. If I just change how you look without changing clothes, it might work." I contemplate and go back to the thought of being naked in front of 4663. I decide to bite the bullet and let her continue changing my clothes to a different colour. I might not like it, but it's better than the other option.

I pull my jumper straight with my hands, and peer away with one eye closed as she continues changing it black.

After long, she backs away from me, and slumps forward upon seeing what my outfit looks like now. I open my eye back up, and see the job she did, and how bad it is. Some of the old graphics are poking through at the seams, and the 'real sh*t' text at my belly is visible as a print sticking out of the rest of the jumper. Not to mention, it's kind of smelly, and its odour is incredibly manufactured.

"Well, better than nothing. Guess we won't be needing this." She picks up the suit I dropped when I screamed at her, folds it back to its original state, and with her Popit cursor in her other hand, snaps it out of existence.

She again looks back at me. "And one last thing. Those horns." I try to cover them with my hands again, to no avail. "How are we meant to hide them?!" I yell, scared that she might possibly just rip them off.

"Why do you seem so scared?!" She asks, as she scrolls through her Popit again.

"Well, I don't know. It was plausible you'd just take them off." I answer. I slide my hands off of my horns, and let them flop by my side.

"What? Of course not!" She selects an image in the menu, and a box spawns on the floor. Without warning, she picks up the box and giggles slightly before chucking the contents of the box into my face. From out of the box, a torrent of cotton balls tumble toward my face, and they cover my sight as I stand silent and confused.

The first thing I can see after the storm is 4663 stepping away and checking if what she wanted worked. She shrugs and crouches down again. Her hand snakes into her satchel sitting alone on the ground, and she pulls out the broken glass mirror. She hands me it, and I pull it up to see my face, and what I assume are my horns.

What used to be my horns are now big spikes of hair-looking balls, but even if they aren't demon horns, they still don't look very natural for a normal person. I still don't look much more trustworthy or 'Desirable'. "Well great, now I look crazy." I admit.

"It just needs a bit more." 4663 claims. She scrolls some more on her Popit, very quickly wacks her cursor into my face, and gestures back to the mirror still in my hand. I lift it back up again. My knit is now a modest beige colour.

"Huh! I kinda look like... Uh." My train of thought derails, and I forget what I was about to say. "Nevermind." I put the mirror down, and pass it back to 4663. "If I'm disguised, can we go?" I ask toward 4663 who's still putting the mirror away.

"Well, are you ready?" She asks.

"I think." I remain stationery.

-

"How did this even happen? What am I doing talking to you? Before this I didn't talk to anyone, really.." I mumble.

"Hector, I'm thinking the same thing." I look to her as she picks up her satchel. "But, if we're going to work together, we better try to bear each other. We share a common interest, so as far as I'm concerned, we're pretty similar."

"Hah, yeah right." I chuckle.

"When we go to the Intelligence Facility, if we make it in, we'll both find our answers, and I hope you get what you want."

"And then?" I ask.

"I didn't think that far." 4663 takes a big breath in, and sighs. "Come on. Let's stick together... And dive into the unknown."
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The End Of Act 1.
Finished on the 5th Of November 2024.