Tanya couldn't hide her smile out on the street. She looked down at her inked skin and marvelled at how these experimental mistakes could end up being so useful to other people. Marcy's excitement and the intrigued looks of the others weren't hurting the thrill either.

Olena came outside, still rubbing her eyes and stretching out her jaw from the delirium. "We get to see rejects!" Olena cried, speeding up.

Tanya tensed, stopping in the middle of the street.

Olena, did ya have to call them rejects?

Tanya turned slowly, wracking her brain for what to say as she looked over the huddle. Marcy was closest, eyes narrowed, looking between Tanya and Olena. Dante and Pete were near behind, complete opposites of each other. Dante appeared relaxed, hands in his pockets, whereas Pete was muttering and inching closer to Marcy, still trying to talk her out of it. Marcy shooed him away.

"She didn't mean—" Tanya started, already working out which tattoo would be her first demonstration; she'd need a cool one to distract them.

Olena noticed and backtracked. "Well, I mean, not rejects, just failed experiments—I mean—perfectly good tattoo I haven't seen yet." She got quieter and quieter as she spoke.

Assistant floated over and put a finger to Olena's lips.

Pete's eyes bulged again. Tanya winced.

That did not make it better.

"Marcy, you sure about this?" Dante asked softly. He stepped off the curb, stopping beside Marcy.

Marcy held her hands up. "I'm all for cutting-edge technology, but I don't want anything that can harm me."

Tanya shook her head and tried not to babble. "I made most of these whilst testing for specific results. That Minor Delirium I used on you was a rejected form of a quick calming summon, to deescalate conflict. I mean, it did deescalate the conflict, but—"

"It also make us high as kite," Olena finished.

"Hence rejects," Marcy added, relaxing. "I get you now."

"Without further ado, let me show you one of my faves," Tanya said. Wind puppeted Tanya's hair, blowing tendrils into her face. She tucked them behind her ears, just for them to slip straight back out.

Void sword's an obvious first one, looks flashy but ain't too dangerous.

This was one of the only tattoos on her back. It was the first time that Assistant had done on its own. Tanya could see Assistant wiggling its fingers with glee from the corner of her eye.

"Void Sword," Tanya announced as the blade slipped from her back like her shoulder blade was the sheath.

Marcy gasped. Pete's mouth dropped open despite himself. Even Dante raised his eyebrows.

The shape was simple enough; Tanya had been aiming for a standard sword, but staring into it was mesmerising. The deep blackness drew your eyes in, looking completely two-dimensional at every angle. If it weren't for Tanya's hand wrapped around the hilt, it would be hard to believe it was a real item at all.

"This is a pretty normal sword overall." She swung it side to side, and the absence of light was left in its wake, like the areas it had just left lost colour. The faster she swung the more distorted space was around it too, swirling like Tanya was looking at a disrupted reflection through water. "No buffs to hitting, but it can do this." She grabbed a piece of stone off the floor and dropped it in. It disappeared into the blackness. After a moment, she shook the sword, holding her hand out. The rock fell back out into her hand.

Havin' to shake it was a bit jank. Really need to return to this idea though.

She'd rejected it from her toolkit because it was more of a luxury good than something that she'd hand out to save people. It was also very expensive to make for how much it could fit—

Tanya was disrupted from her thoughts by Marcy clapping.

"That's crazy! How does it even work?" She circled around Tanya and the sword, looking at it from every angle.

"It can only hold one item," Tanya said. She furrowed her eyebrows. She was so grateful for customers but wished she'd had more time to test these designs before trying to pitch them. "Not fully tested its limits with anything like fire or stuff that can rot, but size-wise it can handle about a metre squared."

Tanya reached for Olena's cannon, and she happily obliged.

"Sorry again," Olena whispered when Tanya was close.

Tanya clunked on the huge device. She grinned, "No problem. Let me use this for a couple days whilst I create my own and we're even."

Olena offered a pinky. "Deal"

Tanya accepted, then walked back over to the others and brought up her Tattoo Menu, starting with the Void Sword. She held her arm out so they could read.

• • •

Name: Void Sword

Wielder: Tanya Angelo

Type: Weapon

Level: 1

Attributes

Impact: 10

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Absorption: 4

Resilience: 20

Abilities

Into the Void

A single item that fits within a metre squared may be stored within the sword. It can be retrieved or swapped at any time.

• • •

"Woah, they have Interfaces like us!" Marcy exclaimed. The others walked closer to look. All three of them read it with the curiosity of something novel.

Curiosity got the better of Tanya. "None of you guys have menu tracker stuff like this in your interface, then?"

Marcy shook her head. "I have an overlay thing to help me position my magic from far away, but nothing like this."

"My overlay shows enemies," Pete mustered.

Dante offered nothing. He looked more closed off than before.

I wonder what his Class is…

Tanya's eyebrows raised, and the corner of her mouth quivered. She tried to pull her face into something less smug. "Enemies, huh?" she said, faux casually.

"He told me it's like X-ray. I think it's awesome! It drains his concentration quickly but is good in a pinch," Marcy said.

Pete glared at her and crossed his arms. She didn't notice. He looked away from the tattoo interface entirely, making a show of not being interested.

Not grumpy Pete was nice while it lasted.

"Impact? Absorption? Resilience?" Dante asked, still reading.

"Oh yeah, tattoos have different stats depending on the type they are. The sentient ones have stats like us, but this seems to be most common for tools and weapons. Impact is how good it is at what it does. Absorption is how much Vitality they drain—all me tattoos use Vitality so far, I think—"

I should work on that…

Tanya continued: "Then, Resilience is how easy they are to break or kill. I don't think they go permanently, but it really fucking sucked when me Assistant almost died. Really hurts."

"Assistant?" Marcy asked.

"Oh, shit, yeah," Tanya said. She pointed at Assistant floating behind them. It had mostly stayed out of the way whilst they were talking, and with it usually floating above head height, it was easy to miss.

Assistant waved.

Marcy squealed. "It's so cute!"

"In what fucking world is that cute?" Pete snapped.

Dante backed up. "I'm with Pete on this one."

Assistant turned to Tanya, and she could feel the rage seething off of it. The customer wasn't always right, but point it out and you could lose their business. All she could do was flash a kind smile.

"You are rude. I not like you," Olena stated to Pete.

Tanya hid her snort with a cough.

Pete grimaced. "The feeling is mutual." He turned to Marcy. "Pick what you want so we can get out of here."

Marcy was swiping through the gauntlet screen. "Okay, okay, give me a sec. I'm still looking at the options."

Tanya's arm was starting to ache, but she didn't want to stop Marcy looking, so she just gritted through it. She wasn't sure if she could have even lifted this thing before the apocalypse.

"Let me know if you have any questions or want any demonstrations!" Tanya said, hiding the strain in her arm beneath more layers of pep.

"I want to see all of them," Olena insisted. "Chop chop."

Tanya raised an eyebrow, "Customers, Olena. Right now I'm asking the customers."

Olena groaned, storming in a circle. "This so boring. Won't even try out crazy summons on idiot." She pointed at Pete.

Behind Pete's head, Assistant was making rude gestures.

Quit it.

Dante chuckled. "I've changed my mind. Maybe I like this…hand thing."

Olena sniffed, crossing her arms. "I come back later when you—"

"Oooh, this one looks cool," Marcy said. She tilted the screen for Tanya to see.

Olena planted her hands on Tanya's shoulder to lean over and see. She beamed. "Nevermind. I stay now."

• • •

Name: Resonance Cannon

Wielder: Tanya Angelo

Type: Weapon

Level: 1

Attributes

Impact: 20

Absorption: 8

Resilience: 5

Abilities

Resonance Blast

A blast of high-resonance sound waves erupts from the cannon. This is an area of effect. Every hearing creature is affected to varying levels depending on the volume they perceive. This also effects creatures that locate through vibrations like tremorsense.

• • •

"Oh, yeah," Tanya said. "This was one of me first tries making a cannon that doesn't use cannonballs or bullets. The final design ended up using a laser, but I tried sound waves first."

Pete scoffed. "Why does a cannon need to not use actual ammo?"

"It's part of me toolkit to help in combat," Tanya replied, ignoring his tone. "I wanted somethin' for kids, so they could protect themselves without having to worry about harmin' their families or friends."

That shut Pete up.

Dante gave a slow nod with a facial expression Tanya couldn't read. Then he looked over Marcy's shoulder. "The Minor Delerium, is that one of yours or is it for sale?" Dante asked.

I'm really glad I thought this through already.

"It ain't right now, but it may be after some iterating," Tanya said smoothly. She flashed Dante a glance, sizing him up. He was at least six feet tall and almost as wide, his hair black but greying around his temples. The name and complexion together made Tanya suspect he was Italian. Tanya tried not to stereotype, but if she was going to, he wouldn't look out of place in a mafia film. "Are you also interested in a design today?" Tanya asked carefully.

His light blue eyes landed on Tanya's, and he shrugged one shoulder. "I'm considering it." He shook his head. "But she's the only one crazy enough to go first."

"I'm definitely not," Pete stated.

"No one ask you," Olena sniffed. She turned to Tanya before Pete could fill his open mouth with insults of his own. "Now are we going to get to see huge explodey cannon or not?"

Tanya laughed. "Alright, alright." She clicked off Olena's cannon arm closures and clunked it off, passing it back to her. Then she slipped off her leather jacket, feeling goosebumps forming down her arms from the chill. Having a superhuman Vitality still felt so strange. She knew her teeth would be chattering and she'd be clutching at her bare skin if this was before.

She looked down at the waist cutout of her yellow, floral dress, focusing on the way it would come out if she was some sort of droid. First the beam holding it, then the arm, and finally the head. The area of skin felt cold and tight, like Tanya had stared at it in a mirror at one point to see how it would appear, and up close there was a single moment where it looked like she had a hole of ink in her side for the design to judder out of. She hadn't had the bravery to touch the hole and now, seeing it again, she wondered if she could reach inside and touch the metal bar. Would it just be the tattoo or could she feel any of her insides too? She shivered, and this time not from the cold.

The tattoo rose from her side, not quite as Pixar as the final design, but it was the first to have some of its features. Something about the level of high tech was uncanny to look at, all white plasticky material and not a single join mark in sight. The sound came out of the central hole, reminding Tanya of an eye.

"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" Olena chanted, banging her fists on an imaginary table. Assistant joined in.

"I'm not sure you want me to do that," Tanya said, wincing.

She could still remember testing it like it was yesterday. Somehow, in her exhausted yet triumphant stupor, she'd not considered the fact that being attached to a machine of painful level resonance would mean it also injured her. Her ears had rung for days afterwards, and the bones in her body ached from the vibrations.

"Is it that loud?" Marcy said, eyes bright.

Tanya didn't even know how to describe it, so she just nodded. "I don't think it's one I'd suggest for anyone who doesn't have a fuck ton more Vitality than me."

Marcy grinned, biting her lip. "Or have sound magic,"

"Oh shit!" Tanya exclaimed. The little cannon reacted to the noise, its head spinning in circles on the end of the arm. Red light radiated from the hole with a beep. "So when I do it it's too much," Tanya complained, staring down at the strange extra limb, like what she could only compare to a crazy person.

Tanya gritted her teeth, ignoring the memory of the bone-chilling noise. The only way of getting rid of this headache and freeing up space for another tattoo was to give it to someone else, and she wasn't a fan of the consent issues with giving it to someone who didn't want it or didn't know what it was capable of.

That only gave her one option: "What d'ya need me to do?" Tanya asked.

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