Beauty X Beast ~ Eighteen!

“Calling the core the mind of the automatons is a bit of an oversimplification, but it's close enough that the lord of the house is shifting some of his priorities to study the potential of your hypothesis.” Danielle took the information the Beast was saying in stride, knowing it was practically shaking with excitement on behalf of the Comte. “As a reward for the potential new avenue of research, he has invited you to be a part of the scripting process for Sn-three-zy’s upgrade.”

They had descended into the basement workshop, and the Beast was bodily lifting and shoving huge mechanical apparatuses into position as he spoke. Danielle looked over at the silent form of her guards and had a concerning realization. “Sneezy… do you even want a new body?”

“It doesn't get a say,” the Beast thundered with sudden annoyance. “It’s creator is offering him an opportunity to become more than it was-”

“He needs to be a part of the process.” Danielle had to shout to be heard over the Beast’s booming voice. “Have you ever considered that part of the reason previous attempts have failed—unless you are using a mindless drone like the metal soldier was—is because the core didn't want to be moved?”

“Of course not! That would be like saying you didn't want to perfect your physical form,” the Beast replied indifferently.

“That’s literally the issue that brought me here. I didn’t,” Danielle stated quietly, causing the frantic motions of the Beast to slow. “I fought against my current class and my skills with everything I had… until I got here. It was only in the last weeks that I realized they could be used for the goals I have in life as well. What if your brethren are fighting against this as well, just quietly?”

A deep, rumbling growl escaped the Beast as it whirled around to stare at the still-silent flamethrower guard. “Well? Out with it! Are you going to get this upgrade, becoming the foundational entry point of this new line of research, or are you-” 

Danielle stepped in between the two of them, balling her fists as she glared at the Beast. “That is not a question. That's nothing more than extortion and will have the opposite effect you are attempting.” 

“How do you know?” 

“Because I-” Danielle blinked rapidly, only then realizing she had no logical reason to make this claim. She’d read books on how people thought but had actively gone out of her way to avoid interacting with them as she grew older and more altered by the system. Her eyes widened as something *clicked* in her mind.

“Oh. It’s my Aura of Refinement and Unified Radiance. Both of them enhance my ‘charm’. What is charm, beyond simple beauty? Couldn't it be thought of as the ability to understand how people want to be treated and then doing so? What word do people love more than their own name? What do they want to talk about, other than their own interests? Huh.” 

Shaking off the attempt of her mind to follow that path down a rabbit hole, she turned to Sneezy and sank to a knee to be at face level. “Is this something you actually want? If you don't, I'll fight him bare-knuckled, if that’s what's needed to make him stop bothering you.”

She held up her fists and flexed her thin arms, showing an amount of toned muscle which surprised even herself. Before she could become too concerned with how rapidly she was changing under the effects of her Resplendent Reflected Self skill, Sneezy reached forward with one of his over-elongated arms and patted her on the shoulder as gently as his jerky motions could allow. 

“Your concern is pleasant, but unnecessary. BST model three correctly captured my own thoughts on the situation.” Sneezy stepped around Danielle and up onto the large workbench where the Beast was finishing the placement of various implements. “On the path to Perfection, all avenues must be explored!”

As the machine sat down with a *thud* and bounced slightly—having no shocks installed to reduce the impact of the motion—it said something that put a gentle smile on Danielle's face. “Between the progress of my master, the workmanship of the Beast, and the sheer amount of care put into this design by you, Madame… I'm sure I will succeed where others have failed.”

Then the automaton flopped back, with each of its enclosed spaces popping open and allowing for easy access. The Beast glanced over at the extended display only momentarily before turning his attention back to the prototype. After everything was in place, he reached for a long, thin stylus… and went perfectly still as his eyes shifted to pure red. 

“Enchantress?” The almost imperceptibly softer tone of the Artificer came through, and when Danielle made a noise of acknowledgment, its entire frame flinched. “Ah. That's exactly what I was worried about. In his excitement to move this process along, the Beast forgot yet again the danger this process poses to us fleshy humans. He was supposed to invite you to see the final design before the core was placed but forgot that there are incredibly dangerous side effects which could occur if you watched me write out runes without a proper grasp of their underlying concepts.”

He made some slight adjustments to how the tools were arranged, seemingly gathering his thoughts. “There are many reasons my work hasn’t been replicated by another. Chiefly among them is the immense risk of an instant onset of insanity or catatonia. Witnessing the language of the system itself be written into the world can make you sink into your own mind, almost always temporarily, but sometimes all too permanently.”

“You mean to tell me that, for even the most simplistic of your creations, you've always been the one to do the work?” Danielle’s eyes flashed as she thought back on some of her previous conversations. “But the Beast said at the height of the war there were over fifty thousand soldiers active at any given time. How could you have possibly created all of those on your own? You would have died of exhaustion, or… old age? How old are you?”

“Ha! Now, to be honest, that’s a very good question. A conversation for another time, as I’m not actually sure, myself. The fact remains: no matter where or when I've worked on these, no one was ever willing to take the risk. While I will only be studying and adjusting a core, seeing me actually write runes is too dangerous. Before you volunteer, I must instead ask that you swear not to look back when I am actively writing out the script. While you may be willing to take the risk… I… I am not.”

Danielle swallowed her words, as she had been about to volunteer exactly as he predicted. Reluctantly, she nodded her agreement, feeling the extreme depth of apprehension in the Artificer's voice. “I… understand. Just don't make it sound too interesting, or I might accidentally sneak a peek without thinking.”

The Artificer’s chuckle clearly meant he didn't understand exactly how serious Danielle was about her statement. “Good, good. First, let's take a look at the very essence of Sneezy and see what has changed.”

Piloting the immense mechanical man with surprising delicacy, the Comte retrieved Sneezy's core from the dormant body. The glowing rectangle shimmered with an iridescent, silvery light that seemed somehow more real than the bright illumination of the room. The surface of the object reacted as if it were alive, shifting with symbols and words Danielle felt she could almost read. Yet, each time she leaned in, certain that she’d be able to understand, the glowing rune would fade out of existence, only to be replaced by another.

“Ready for the worst first lesson on understanding runes anyone has ever had the misfortune of having?” Comte LeKrout chuckled softly as he directed the needle-thin tool holding the rectangle to start rotating in place. “If you can see this word, that means you have an understanding of the concept. But, if you can't read it, you do not fully understand the underlying attributes. For example, this one means—oh, I see that brought some enlightenment?”

Danielle's eyes reflected the light of that rune, her pupils dilating slightly as it shifted from a logogram to a legible word. “I can read it! It says ‘integrity’, right?” 

The excited admission was followed by a reverent moment of utter silence from the Artificer. “That’s… interesting. I'm uncertain how to… huh… reply right now. This calls into question every interaction I've ever had with another person at the Royal Academy, or even in my military career. Not because you can read it, but because I've always started an explanation by pointing at this specific rune… and, well, no one else ever could. The fact you can, means you understand what it means to have integrity. Perhaps I'm not actually a terrible teacher? Could it be that I've only ever been surrounded by people who don’t understand what integrity means on a deep, fundamental level?” 

Danielle wasn't sure how to respond to his seemingly rhetorical questions, as anything she could think to say would only further disparage his previous colleagues. The Artificer seemed to realize he was taking the conversation in an unpalatable direction and quickly moved on. “Apologies, I lost my trail of thought there. This means ‘malleability’ of physical attributes as well as thought. Oh… interesting. This has changed ever so slightly; it didn't used to mean-”

Strangely enough, as the Artificer spoke the last word of his sentence, it morphed into static when it entered her ears. As he kept going, voicing his thoughts out loud, there seemed to be a malfunction between what he was saying and what she was hearing. Danielle could only glumly admit to herself that the system was likely censoring his words to force her to discover and understand high-order concepts on her own. 

Eventually, much later, the core was lowered, then pushed into the awaiting slot in the prototype's body.

“You were right, Madame. I can't believe I never thought to see if my work had been changed over time, based on the experiences of my automatons.” Forgetting himself in his excitement, the Artificer grabbed the strange stylus once more, the tip of the pencil-shaped object glowing with a light that hurt Danielle's eyes to see. “Using all that information, I can begin integrating its core with the new body directly, bypassing the most stringent requirements which have made it fail in the past.”

Remembering her promise and the warning she’d been given, Danielle spun around at the last moment, just before the stylus touched the metal frame. A strange shockwave rocked her body, and glowing motes of light sprang into existence all around her. Eyes wide, she watched in wonder as the vast underground space was transformed into what looked like a field of stars. 

Behind her, the sound of metal being torn, melted, and reformed rang out—a sharp contrast to the beauty of the area surrounding her.

“No! Celestial feces, did I just kill her?” The light show and sounds faded instantly as the massive machine flung itself around, barely keeping itself from falling at the sudden motion. “Danielle! You're alive! And… not insane?”

“We can only hope,” she quipped, much to the Comte’s relief. Still not trusting what was behind her. Danielle didn't turn around to address the Artificer, keeping her eyes focused on a point in the distance. “You told me not to, and I said I wouldn't. Even if you forgot yourself in your excitement, what does integrity mean other than doing what you are supposed to do, even when no one’s watching or even remembers to follow through, except for you?”

“I'm just going to throw it out there…” The Artificer seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. “I am incredibly glad that was the concept you resonated with the most.”