Malls, Duke used to say that he hated them. And yet he was here. The New Icon Mall was a dilapidated building in a forgotten crevice of the lunar city. A newer and more shiny mall cannibalized this one a few cycles ago and now most of the shops were empty, or repurposed to hold shady booths selling electronics and data contracts, or beauty treatments, or mystery deli sandwiches.
Duke’s workshop hid behind a dark window plastered with posters advertising hideous nail art. “Stardust Nails”, said the entry sign. Inside, David Bowie’s “Heroe’s” blasted out of the speakers. The nail polish on the shelves was coated in dust. In the backroom Duke bent over a cybernetic leg - sans owner - on a table. “… and you know, she did not even say that. I just assumed. She was real sweet, just being nice. I was afraid to make it weird.”, he said, apparently to no one in particular.
“Caution is often preferable if business is involved”, a voice from the speaker answered him. “Right. Right. But ,- Was that the door?”, he raised his voice. “Someone there?”
His hand retracted the soldering tool coming out of his finger back into itself. He turned the corner into the front room and saw a young woman closing the door behind her.
Duke straightened up and brushed his hair out of his face. “Evening’ Miss! If you are looking to get your nails done, we are closed for today. If you are looking for something else, I might be able to help you”, he said and grinned.
Ada walked through the run down shopping precinct like many others before it, casually lost in her own world, not flush enough to properly browse, even if there were many shops worth bothering with. She had briefly paused in a music venue because she had a few minutes to kill but just listened to a few tracks on display headphones before moving on again.
She walked in past dusty nail polish and into the chsmber of Doc Riviera. The music wasnt to her tastes but it was his shop.
She gave a look of feigned disappointment before lifting hee arms and wiggling her fingers with the backs of her hands to him. “Thats a shame Ese, i thought some Vantablack tips might go nice.”
Her arms looked expensive, real high end with human like feminine synthetic musculature and smootg action, except her left pinkie, which to the trained eye showed signs of servo lag and didnt quite wiggle in time with the others.
“Did Bren tell you I was coming? She said you could fix me up with a fair priced tune up?” Her lips puckered to one side and here eyebrow raised in question. Her large eyes looked slightly uncanny due to their size, but held tons of character.
Duke smiled: “She must’ve forgotten. No problem tho. Come right in and I will fix 'em up. Those are nice! Looking sleek”, he gestured at her cyberarms while he said that, raising his voice over the music. “My real shop is in the backroom,-- sorry about the mess”
He ducked his head through the door into the backroom of the shop, where boxes of parts and tools stacked up to the ceilings, some posed to come crashing down if someone breathed at them wrong. Duke moved through the room like a sleepwalker. He stepped over skeletal prototype on the floor and heaved the cyberleg up from the table to put it down on a sideboard.
“Ok, you wanna sit down? What’s your name? I’m Duke. I guess you know that already” This time his smile was not as easy as he would have liked and he questioned if he came across as awkward. Hastily he cleared the workbench next to the table of two leftover cans of coke and a tray of cigarette butts.
“Oh shoot yeah, Its Adelaide, just call me Ada though. Here is my specs.” she flipped a file to his screen which had the scematics of her arms on them. Several of the sensetive pieces were naturally behind walls only accesible by Tsubaki proprietary technicians, but for the most part Duke would have the access he needed. She looked around, yeah, it was a mess in here but nothing she wasnt used to from her own shops.
“Don’t worry about it, i’m a mechanic too.” the woman gave him a smirk and a knowing nod.
She walked in behind him before sitting down next to the freshly cleared workspace “Here?” she asked as she reached her arm out and lay it on the table. With a little incomfortable expression on her face she accessed seldom used nervous reflexes and the service panels clicked open from their latches.