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Chapter 2 - sand in the hourglass

9:13 am.

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"You look interested, have you ever really seen the city?" Akaei asked slowing the golem down as it started to approach what jikan recognized as a merchant caravan. He'd only seen one once 2 years ago, and even then he'd only spared it passing glance.

"I-uh no. Ive never had the-the time to" jikan let his dark synthetic hair fall over his mechanical eyes as he adverted his gaze from the man in front of him. He wasn't really sure why but the question bugged him a bit. It made him feel bad for not taking in the sights around him.

"Well I suppose an ensealed synth like you wouldn't really have the chance to. Don't worry you'll get to see it plenty with the kind of work I've purchased you for" Akaei smiled warmly, which caused jikan to blink in surprise he'd never been looked at that way. Jikan shrugged it off. There was no way such a look was directed at him entirely there was definitely an ulterior motive of some sort.

"So what kind øf wœrk æm..." Jikan trailed off. His speech system was sputtering again. An often occurrence directly related to the fact that he was not running on enough force. To his further shock about Akaei's behavior, Akaei waited patiently for him to try his sentence again. Jikan paused a moment and focused on directing more of his limited force reserves to his vocal system before attempting to speak again.

"What kind of work do you need me for?" His voice came out clearer maybe it sounded more mechanical than it was supposed but jikan was used to that.

"Nothing too hard don't worry. I just need some extra help running my caravan. Mostly the heavy lifting and other menial tasks" Akaei responded quickly.

"You run this caravan?" Jikan looked at Akaei on awe. Traveling merchants were rare and the caravan in front of jikan looked very large.

"I do. It used to be my father's. He's the one who made it successful really but now it's mine and I'm going to continue to make it a success" Akaei spoke proudly of both the caravan and his father.

Jikan wanted to say something but Akaei had already dismounted the golem. He was now gesturing for jikan to follow after him. Of course jikan rushed to catch up to Akaei not wanting to be left behind. Akaei's attitude and actions had eased most of jikan's worries about ending up with someone worse than Kibis so he was mildly confidant that he would be fine. At the very least Akaei seemed leagues better than Kibis. As jikan trailed behind Akaei the pale man showed him around and talked some of the trade materials and trinkets he dealt with.

"We deal with platinum, and quartz a lot and some of our most popular trade materials are oriental blades and gears." Akaei prattled on walking past a few crates in one wing of the very large tent.

He bumped into a man who looked to be in his thirties. The man was in mechanic clothes. A white shirt with rolled up sleeves, brown trousers with suspenders with copper clips, a brown cap, leather gloves, and the look was completed by the smudge stains on his face and clothes along with the wrench in his hands. He had dusty blonde hair and brilliant green eyes.

"Sorry I didn't mean to bump into you, anyway this is perfect timing Kaze I just about to go looking for you. This is Jikan the new synth. He'll be joining us, but before that could you look him over I dont thinks he running properly we had a few vocal glitches on our way here." Akaei said as he caught his balance and barely kept himself from falling onto his butt.

"Sure I don't mind taking a look" Kaze answered through gritted teeth but Akaei didn't seem to notice the strain in his voice.

"That's wonderful thanks! Jikan I'll leave you to Kaze so he can get your systems up to date" Akaei smiled patting jikan on the shoulder as he passed him to go attend to other things. Kaze waited until Akaei was out of earshot before he addressed Jikan at all.

"Alright rust-bucket listen up. I'm going to fix you cause I told the boss I would but I don't want anything more to do with you got it? Now if you want your update follow me or fall behind." Kaze started walking off just like that. Jikan had to hurry to catch up to match the taller male's pace.

It wasn't until 10:41 am that jikan was on the mechanic's table. Kaze was certainly good at his job and he definitely be better if he wasn't so adamant about not touching Jikan directly at all. Still jikan was greatful for the long over due maintenance and tune up that Kaze was doing for him. Though jikan could certainly do without all the older man's foul mouth.

"D*mn, you really are a clanker. Just how old are these force circuits?" Kaze grumbled as he did the finishing touches. Jikan didn't answer the question. It took until 11:13 but finally all his systems were running properly Kaze had even given him the force crystals he needed to sustain himself.

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11:37 am. Jikan wasn't given anything to do with the rest of his time so he wandered aimlessly about the caravan. He stopped to look at trinkets here and there but the one that really made him pause was an hour glass. It was an old thing made of what looked to be silver. It wasn't even functioning properly, the sand that was supposed to trickle down had clumped in the middle blocking the flow. Simply turning it upside down would fix it but jikan didn't feel the urge to. He left it like that.

"Hey just to let you know you will be sleeping in that empty room I showed you earlier" Akaei had probably snuck up behind jikan while he was busy admiring the hour glass. Jikan a bit startled nodded his head in response.

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5:43 pm.

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