💾 Archived View for emisocks.com › stories › adultzone › newparts.gmi captured on 2023-03-20 at 17:52:46. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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The rattle of keys at the front door made the weasel that was sitting in front of the TV turn xyr head to look. Moments later, it opened, and another creature slithered through, mostly humanoid but with a long snake tail from the waist down.
- Hey man, need some help with those?
The snake man shook his head, making his way past the door and into the kitchen.
- It's alright, I got help!
Sure enough, a third figure made its way through the door. This one looked more robotic, again humanoid in shape but with a metallic blue surface, sporting a set of thrusters in place of legs and using its four arms to carry the rest of the bags. It turned its head and used a fifth arm to wave in the direction of the weasel, who waved back, smiling. After some bumping and clattering, both of them left the kitchen and headed back to the front door. They exchanged some farewells before robot floated out of the front door, which closed behind it.
- Friend of yours, Clay? I don't think I've seen them before.
The snake slithered his way into the living room, surrounding a large, comfortable armchair with his tail before sitting down on it.
- Yeah, we work together at the clinic. It offered to help me out with the groceries today, so yeah!
- Sounds nice.
Xe let out a long sigh and leaned back into the couch, looking up into the ceiling without paying much attention to the TV.
- Something wrong, Raine?
- Huh? Oh, no, no. Just... well, thinking about how lucky some people are.
Clay tilted his head.
- Lucky?
- Well, you know what I mean.
- No, I actually don't.
- You know. Synthetics. They can have as many limbs as they want, and change them around freely.
- Huh. Well, I guess that's kinda convenient.
- Understatement of the century, but yeah, it's kind of pointless to think about it anyways. Not like I'd want to be a synth either, it's just... yeah.
- ...
A moment of silence passed. Clay thought to himself for a moment, then used his tail to reach for the TV remote and then powered it off, turning to his flatmate.
- You are aware that organic modularity is a thing, right? I know you don't leave the house much but I'm sure you have at least seen it.
- ... huh?
- Oh wow, you really don't know. Yeah, you can just go through a procedure to make your extremities detachable now. It's been around for a little while, but I guess it's not super well-known.
- You can- you can just do that? That sounds super expensive...
- It used to be, but there's been some very very quick progress in this stuff. It's super affordable now. Well, the process itself, at least. You always have to buy extra parts afterwards. But you can always get those a bit cheaper if you know where to look and don't want brand new ones.
Raine nodded, lost in thought.
- I'll bring you a pamphlet from the clinic tomorrow. You have all the information in there.
- Wait, YOU do this stuff? And you never told me?
- No, not me. Well, kind of. I'm a nurse, the doctors are the ones who do the operations. I just... never thought to bring it up, I guess? In any case, how about it? You interested?
Xe nodded again, more enthusiastically this time.
---
Raine looked through shelves filled with parts, with a giddy grin on xyr face. Different kinds of ears, claws and talons, feathered and webbed wings, and even a few heads in between the other items. Xyr mind raced with possibilities.
- So, see anything you like?
Xe turned xyr head towards the snake that was accompanying xem, holding xyr hand comfortingly.
- W-well... There is something I've always wanted to try...
- Ooh, what's that?
- Well, uh, a... a different tail. A bigger one, probably.
Clay grinned, and his tail playfully wrapped around one of his friend's legs.
- Heh. Jealous of mine, I take it?
- Ahah, not quite that big! I was thinking something like...
Xe scanned across one of the shelves, and pointed at a big kangaroo tail that sat by itself, thick and heavy.
- ... like that.
Clay nodded and lifted himself up higher, picking up the kangaroo tail with some effort and lowering it down for Raine to take a closer look. Xe ran xyr paw over it, mesmerized.
- Hmm, the fur colour doesn't quite match yours.
- I, uh... I actually like that, I think.
- Oh, that's perfect then. Wanna try it on?
- Y-yeah.
Clay left the tail he was holding on a nearby bench and slithered his way behind his friend, grabbing his thinner weasel tail and effortlessly taking it off.
- Still totally painless, right? Be sure to give the clinic a call if detaching anything ever feels uncomfortable.
- I know, I know.
Clay left the smaller tail to the side and, with some effort, slotted it into place. Raine tentatively moved it up and down, making a "thwap" sound as it hit the floor.
- So, how's it feel?
- It's... wow. It's great, actually. It feels just like it's my own...
- Well, it IS your own right now.
Xe nodded, smiling.
- Sounds like we have a winner. ... Oh, but you should probably decide if you wanna keep your old tail or not. It's probably going to be a little cheaper if you exchange it.
Xe thought about it for a moment, then shook xyr head.
- No, I think I wanna be able to swap it, at least for now.
- Alright, sounds good!
With that, they headed to the checkout together.
---
- Hey bud, can you pass me the salt?
Raine's fourth arm quickly stretched out in the direction of xyr friend, holding a little salt shaker, while the other three held a fork, a knife and xyr phone, respectively.
- Thanks. Hey, you're getting pretty good at this. You haven't knocked anything over in weeks.
Xe locked xyr phone and turned to look at Clay.
- Heh, it's a little harder than it looks at first, but it's starting to become a lot more natural now.
- You seem a lot happier now than when we started living together, you know.
- Yeah. I mean... it's easy to just assume some things are impossible until you're given the opportunity to do them, I guess. This is everything I ever wanted.
- I'm really happy for you, bud.
They looked at each other and simply exchanged a warm smile, before Raine turned xyr attention back to the plate of food.
- It's so convenient too. Really, it makes me wonder why you barely see any modulars.
- Well, just because something is right for you doesn't mean it's right for everyone. I'm perfectly happy with two limbs and a tail.
- That is a pretty nice tail, to be fair. I should try a snake lower body one of these days...
- Hah, I was wondering how long it would take you to admit it.
---
As Clay crossed the front door and closed it behind him, he spotted a large lump of brown and white fur in the living room, with four legs sticking up from it.
- So taur today, huh?
- Yup.
Raine was lounging on the couch on xyr back, taking up its entire length while toying with xyr phone.
- Feels like you've been wearing the taur lower body even more than the anthro one lately.
One of xyr heads turned to look at Clay, while the other stayed fixated on the phone screen.
- Proooobably. It's easily the best purchase I've made so far.
- I can tell! How's two-headedness treating you, by the way?
- Oh, I'm used to it already.
- Oh yeah? Last time I checked you were getting dizzy every time you tried to look at two things at once.
- Come on, that was like, two days ago.
- Well, some patients at the clinic need to practice for up to a month to get used to having more than one head, you know?
Xe shrugged.
- Eh, what can I say. I guess it just comes naturally to me.
As xe turned both heads back to xyr phone, Clay smiled and silently wondered how long it would take xem to get used to moving with a snake tail. He knew he wouldn't have to wonder for much longer; xyr birthday wasn't too far off, after all.