"I had wanted some snake fangs," she said, leaning against the counter so that she could speak softer to Nala. "But I was wondering if you might have some recommendations. I'm still new to this Game, and I'm hoping Guildmates such as yourself can help me."
Nala leaned back a bit, her hands on her hips. Stephanie the skunk anthro stood on the other side of the counter, her eyes looking at Nala through her yellow rimmed glasses. Nala smiled to herself, and stepped over to one side of the desk, "Of course I can help," she said, thinking that Stephanie could be a fun project.
Nala was someone who was always trying to hook Derrick up with female friends all the time, and here she was finding a skunkette that fit the build without almost any alteration. As it was, Nala was a bit more 'sinister' than Derrick was as she played up her Black Market mentality to the hilt. She was always looking for ways to 'accidentally' misunderstand what customers wanted of their New Genes experience, and redesigning Steph to Derrick's liking might be fun.
She motioned for Stephanie to follow her back into the red steel door and into a back room that looked a bit like a science lab. All over the room were tubes, vats, and vials all of different transparent colored liquid (not unlike the vials that Stephanie had found hours earlier in the Lost & Found). They were all interconnected, and leading into a large set of cable and tubings running down from the ceiling to hang over a chair situated in the middle of the room. At the far end of the room was a narrow desk with a stool right in front of it.
Nala stepped over to the four computer monitors at the desk just in front of the chair and sat down on the stool. She motioned for Stephanie to take a seat in the black chair that looked like what you'd find at the dentist office. It was sticky with some kind of white goo that came off onto Stephanie's hand as she tried to wipe off the chair before sitting down.
"Interesting place," Stephanie said, finally sitting down while simultaneously flicking her hand to try and get the white goo off.. She looked around the room, and noted that there was what looked like blood and paint stains all over the walls in some places.
Nala smiled, "So, fangs for venom, yes? Derrick did say you were hoping to be a killer, but that you main concern was to keep your girlish figure," she asked, leaning back in the chair. "What kind of venom?"
"What kinds are there?" she wondered, wishing Denise had been old enough to take Biology already.
"Well, Neurotoxins affect the nervous system by seizing up the nerve centers, often causing the target to cease breathing. Cardiotoxins will deteriorate the muscles of the heart, causing it to stop beating… and Hemotoxins cause the blood vessels to rupture, resulting in widespread internal bleeding," Nala said with a grin, picturing in her head the skunk-girl with giant fangs hanging out of her head.
"Ou… Internal bleeding, please," she nodded.
Nala smiled, "Alright then… Now, unless you came up with more ideas on the way down, I'm under the impression that's all you thought of, right?" she asked and Stephanie nodded, "Then, in that case, let me make a few all-purpose suggestions. Things to go with your current mechanical bits, and a few things to help in the daily grind," she said, spinning around on her stool to type a few things into the computer there.
"My stat-scanner indicates you have high Dexterity and that your Skills mainly focus on Dodging. If that is the case, I highly recommend some cat-like abilities… cheetah speed, always-landing on your feet, cat-like balance, and maybe a few skin-level spots for those looking deep enough in your fur," she smiled, as she tapped away at the screen that now showed a rotating 3D-view of Stephanie on it.
"If I look the same, those all sound good. What else?" she wondered, crossing her arms and taking all the information in. Stephanie wasn't sure about Nala or messing with her genetics, but Derrick had recommended her and so far so good with him.
"Kangaroo pouch," Nala said, looking back and winking at Stephanie. The young skunk blinked and shook her head softly. "Now, now," Nala said, "I recommend this to any anthro and a few who are not… because your pouch can double as your In-Game Backpack… and since it would hide in the fur of your skin, no one would know you would have it. Backpacks size is upgradeable, so regardless of how small your pouch is, you can house as many items as your backpack, and no one will even know you're carrying anything," she said. "Well, except for metal detectors," she admitted.
Stephanie rubbed her chin, "How is a pouch not noticeable?" she wondered.
"Well, wear cloths," she noted, "And otherwise, it looks almost like a scar tissue when done right… and I always do it right," she smiled. "There'll be a line across your belly, and your abs will look a bit rounded out as if you gained a little weight," she grinned.
"Strange, but sounds useful," Stephanie heard herself say. She really didn't want a pouch, but having hidden full backpack was ultimately very useful. "How about things like Heat Vision, Night Vision… breathing under water, etcetera?" she wondered, leaning forward in her chair as Nala made edits to the text file next to her picture… but the nude image of herself barely changed. She saw the 'scar' of the crease across her belly for pouch and it was barely noticeable.
Nala laughed, "Oh, I'm going to like you… useful all around. Why, when you level up we can get you some built-in armor and other useful goodies like that, but as it is that pouch backpack is really going to be your most expensive thing. I make them with a large capacity, you see… I think that overall you're total will put you four levels into debt, and take a fair chunk out of the Guild Bank," she noted. "But hey, you do a couple of contracts and that's all made up fast, right?"
Stephanie wanted to ask about the contracts but before she could blink Nala was across the small gap between the desk and the chair and was leaning over her with a syringe. She had moved so fast that Stephanie hadn't even seen it happen. "Now, I know plenty of people who like the Quick Version, so I'll just—" Nala began, leaning over Stephanie in the chair, but was interrupted.
"No!" Stephanie said, deflecting Nala's hand holding the syringe. "I want to be awake, and I would much prefer you do it yourself. 'Interact Bonus', and all that… I really enjoyed my four-inch claws, and Derrick said they'd be only three-inch," she explained. "If you don't have time, I'll come back later," she added.
Nala grinned at Stephanie, thinking over the impact of what she had said. She herself could go either way when it came to how a person decided to transform themselves… but there was something special about those who wanted to partake of the event as it unfolded. She found that those who felt themselves go through the process had a better understanding of their own bodies than those who just let it happen.
Oh, I like her, Nala, thought and Stephanie narrowed her eyes a bit looking at her. I'll make her a repeat customer, she thought to herself as she inched forward closer to Stephanie, "My apologizes," Nala said smiling at Nala. "I'm not use to people taking pride in their choice," she explained. "Now, if you're sure about this, I've got everything you asked for," she said.
Nala reached to Stephanie's arms and began to pull out the leather straps from the chair to have her tied down. She pulled one tight over her left wrist as Stephanie asked, "So I wont hurt myself?" She remembered Derrick having her immobile so that she wouldn't mess with his work, but she didn't understand Nala's reasons for strapping her down.
"Effectively," Nala smiled a feline grin as she reached for the straps at Stephanie's legs first, keeping her tied to the chair. "Some people do not find the situation comfortable and try and move before their body done reworking itself. Let me tell you that trying to move on legs who's bone-structure is in flux is a bad idea," she said, running her hands over Stephanie's scar tissue along her legs.
"How long will this take?" she wondered, thinking she'd already spent much of her time today preparing to do something or recovering from doing something. She watched at Nala stepped behind her, making a loose strap across Stephanie's stomach up under her breasts and reaching up behind her neck for yet another strap there.
"Averages to about an hour, for simple stuff like you've asked… though you will be hungry," Nala smiled to Stephanie as she came back around on Stephanie's right side and reached for the straps to keep her right wrist from moving. "Takes a lot of energy for your body to go through metamorphosis… Problem is that you shouldn't each for about a half an hour after I'm done in case you metabolism still needs to catch up with you."
Why does this sound more dangerous that having my insides chopped out and repaced with machine parts? Stephanie wondered. Must be Nala. She's up to something, but hey… if she stabs me in the back, I could always just kill her, she smirked. Unless she does something to my perception to make me not want to hurt her or something, Stephanie kind of frowned.
"Alright," Nala grinned, pulling up the syringe, it's liquid now a yellow color… she tapped it twice as she squeezed it just enough that a little of the juice came out the top. "Let's get this underway," she smiled.