A Construct in a Box: Plot - Missing Gifts

Oria finished getting ready for the party that evening. She had received a message from Momo inviting her to a party that would be going on later that evening and she was looking forward to it. She told K80 that she wanted to go to the party after the gift exchange and he could come too. He had been ecstatic, if a little nervous about the thought of meeting a whole bunch of other people like that, but he was interested. He was out getting ready for the event, whatever that meant for a little construct like him, but Oria didn’t mind. 

She stretched a little then shifted her necklace, making sure it framed her shoulders like it was supposed to before turning around to the bed in the little inn room she’d been staying at for a while. 

The present, that had previously been sitting there pleasantly with its fancy little bow, was no longer doing so. It split in half and smiled menacingly at her. 

She shrieked, lifting her hands as the monster leapt off the bed, spindly legs and arms shredding the covers and rug. 

Oria, in her panic, missed the mimic and a shard of ice sank into the floor by the door, effectively locking her in. 

She swore and dodged to the side as the present smashed into the wall where she had been, making feral sounds as it shredded the wood and wall paper. 

“Stupid mimics!” she shrieked, shooting another ice shard at it, which it dodge, wiggling its body as it prepared to strike her again. 

“You had all day to change!!! Why did you have to do it in my room!?” Oria yelled, furious that she had gone to all that effort, all that time and money and K80’s gift wasn’t even a gift but a mimic that destroyed the inn room, which she was definitely going to have to pay for which meant she wouldn’t have the money to reorder the parts she wanted to get K80 to help him get an actual voice for his construct body instead of communicating through the text boxes. She had saved her money, she had done extra quests and extra work to afford the exact model from Avangard that he wanted and all she got was this stupid mimic. 

So it was with frustrated tears freezing on her cheeks that she sent ice spikes out in all directions in front of her, leaving the mimic twitching, leaking light blue ichor on the floor, lacerated by and impaled on several ice spikes. 

She stood, backed up against the wall, panting for air, watching the mimic twitch until it finally fell still. She slowly slid down the wall, putting her head against her knees to recover from the sudden surprise and frustration she now had to deal with and work through, never mind dredging up the energy to talk to the innkeeper and see how much she’d have to pay for damage to the room. 

She heard a soft knock on the window and looked up to see K80 hovering by the window, his sensors flashing with interest and worry when he saw the mess Oria had caused. 

She sighed and got up, opening the window and letting the little construct in as a holographic mess of pixels resolved themselves into words to the side of him where he could backdrop it against a plain wall. 

Are you alright? What happened?

“I’m fine,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking back at the mimic. “I think I got scammed. I.. I was trying to order that voice box that you wanted and I guess I got a mimic instead.”

K80 whirred softly. 

It’s okay. You’re not hurt, right?

“No, seriously, I’m fine. I promise. I’m just- haahh, I’m upset. That was a lot of money and I was really excited to see your reaction,” she turned and, with a wave, melted and evaporated the ice spikes, leaving the room in a rough state as blood continued to pool around the mimic. 

K80 beeped in a high pitched chirp and extended his arms to hug her around her shoulders. 

I’m sorry, Oria. I really appreciate that you would have gotten me a present as expensive as that. You shouldn’t feel bad. I’ll see if I can find a money hunter to get you a refund.

She hummed, putting a hand on the back of his round body. “Thank you, K80. We’ll get you that voicebox eventually.”

K80 beeped and pulled out of the hug, hovering back and looking at the mimic. 

Do you think we can sell it?

“Oh, probably,” Oria said, lifting a hand to freeze the body and blood to keep it fairly fresh. She had become a favorite amongst ingredient hunters for her ability to do that. She looked back at K80 and noticed he had a bow tie tied around where his round body met the flared edge at the bottom. “Oh, you look quite fancy. Where did you get that?”

K80 did a little spin as he replied. 

I went to the local tailor. I thought it looked fun.

“It is very fun,” Oria agreed. “Do you want to come help me explain all this to the innkeeper? If we’re fast we can still make it to the party at least.”

Absolutely! Do you want your present now?

She smiled. “How about you keep it till I get you an actual gift?”

K80 chirped and Oria nodded before she gingerly picked up the frozen mimic, breaking the frozen blood into more manageable chunks to fit in her bag and went to explain everything to the innkeeper.