The steelhead was the only thing that appeared amiss in the primarily rural lands of Callie. To prevent unnecessary war, Ed devised a plan. A plan so well thought out that even Teddy seemed a bit excited to try it. Sure, he'd been drinking when it had come to him, but it was still a good plan. Not even Teddy had argued the overall premise. A fact that hadn't seemed odd at the time, but now felt a bit suspicious. Ed's solution? Disguises. With some costumes, none of the Callians would suspect them of mapping the land.
Of course, Teddy had refused the costume idea and instead produced a set of small prototype devices that could change their appearance with a tap. Well, produced was perhaps a strong word. He dug the box of prototypes out from his mess of a room. The prototypes themselves were from his family's company, which mainly produced mid-tier armor, weapons, and combat accessories at reasonable prices. Teddy's second job, the one from his family, and the reason he'd been sent to learn the knight profession, was to combat test prototypes.
He and the knights were disguised as werefolk. Not the bitten kind, but trueborn werefolk, complete with ears and a tail. Well, Eddy had ears and a tail. As a weredonkey, his perfect bronzed skin was hidden under a warm chocolate color with a white patch that ran up his belly to just below his chin, and another that formed a circle around his mouth and nose, giving the impression of a snout. A handsome black replaced the unique, rich purple eye color. He'd even started growing out his hair and a beard to make the image generator module (IGM) work a bit less.
No mammalian-based werefolk shaved or cut their hair. Both his knights had strong ideas about beards. Stone's rather narrow-minded religion did not allow the werefolk styles, and Teddy was a Mechmian. Not always a good one, but he flatly refused even to wear a false beard. What would his mother say? Sure, she was in Lunibyn, a Mechmian rehabilitation facility for the insane, but he still cared about her opinion. It only made sense that neither would go the classically cursed route.
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The white knight's ears were more of outcroppings on the craggy head of a reddish granite wererock. It wasn't much of a change, just fewer teeth, sharper angles, and a new skin color and texture. Not that much could be seen under the mass of white plate armor.
On the other hand, Teddy was almost unrecognizable with large compound eyes that appeared to be single smooth orbs until closer inspection revealed the ommatidia. This had the added benefit of mimicking the safety goggles and heads-up display (SGHUD) he always wore, which, in addition to providing head protection with layers of invisible shields, also increased his field of view and offered additional information gathered while scanning. His “exoskeleton” was a steely blue with a thick patina coating suited for desert environments. With some convincing, Teddy had even changed his regular armor for a more casual look—a simple turtleneck under a chest plate carrier assembly.
“Are ye sure this outfit doesn't look too much like I'm vacationing instead of working?” Teddy had asked while inspecting himself in a slate stretched out and set to mirror mode. It hung in the air of the sitting room as the lads tinkered with the prototypes' settings.
Rubbing his eyes, Ed had responded, “Dude, you are trying to wear clothes in Callie. Stone's already going to get weird looks for the armor. I still say you can make it look like part of his body. Callians like to be able to transform whenever. They hardly wear any clothing.”
A heated argument followed that exchange. All three would wear a complete set of clothing, or the admittedly perfectly lifelike disguises would go back in the box. As frustrating as the argument was, Ed had enjoyed himself immensely. No one but his awful family argued with him or insulted him. It was refreshing, even if being fully dressed would make them stand out a bit.
The cover story he'd concocted made him somewhat more excited than he wanted to admit. He, a traveling musician, was exploring the motherland with his two knights. It was a boy's trip with three friends. The idea had even inspired him to compose again. As potentially ruinous as the mission was, Ed was beginning to enjoy himself. Even if Nina did call him an ass of an ass with a flat ass. A statement made in jest that had earned Ed a solid sucker punch from Stone, jealous of where Nina's eyes must have been pointed for her to notice.
