TaleTwiceTold

Keeps the mic open, the doors oiled, and the milk flowing. Answers to Dos, if you're not of the flowery persuasion.

Accompanied by Poleaxed.

"Engineer? What are--oh, you found a Theo. Or a Theo found you. They're like that. Aah, they're mostly harmless, bit of a fad toy. 'Bout once a month some kid comes outta Loxley's place with one, not sayin' how they got it. They're no top prize, Lox doesn't know how they get in there to begin with.

Huh? What's a Theo? Just an Automaton knock-off with a cute snoot, if we're gonna be honest here.

Huh? What's an Automaton? Cheese and crackers, where'd you blow in from, the moon?

Right, yeah. Automatons. They tell half a story, the kiddo makes up the other half and records it. Theos are the...you know, the cheap one. I mean, you didn't notice the eyes already? What even is that? Upholstery buttons from your Gran'ma's couch? Looks like they made it out of familiar fur. ...which they probably did. Whoever they is."

Dos makes the universal gesture of polishing an already-pristine glass.

"Y'see, nobody knows who's putting 'em out. Literally. And people are trying, believe you me. Who doesn't love making a mountain outta a molehill? Now, I hear a lot of words, most of 'em bunkum, on what it's about. Seen some of the parents giving Lox the stink-eye on it like they're a little too cheap, but Loxley's a kind soul. Takes pride in her merchandise. Wouldn't let the kiddies get hurt. She's devoted enough there's a Theo in her office, she'll make sure to show where the sharp edges ain't on the unit if you ask.

No. It's not the bottom line. My girl Tsetse, down the candy shop, she hears the kids, and that's something different. They understand. They sit with their sodas and they lay out how it works, the Magic. Pictsie playground stuff, how you get one. The back of the arcade has a hidden room with a hidden machine and you gotta know it's there to get in. Theos are magic-magic, and grow out of the walls like they say on the damned tapes, but only in the dark. Theos are possessed by the Unnamed, who went to their deities ungraced in the Old Days, and you gotta find the true name and chant it in a mirror. If you play the recordings backwards, Theo tells you different stories. Then the little agreements, the understandings of what is possible an' thus probable--Theos are made'a goddebones, made'a Exalts, a drop of blood goes in each one, they eat teeth, they scream at night, they tell the future, change the past--the kids got everything in Grimm's grimoire hummin'. Dark little thoughts, these children. Hatchlings, they understand how it works, how it unworks. And Lox, she knows it. I know Loxley better than most of these blowhards, and I'd bet my left wing on it--"

You're motioned closer.

"My Lox, she knows her toymakers, makes a good show of it, puts out their calling cards, has them out to the Fest parties each month furfoxsake, she's about honoring the work goes into her trinkets and treasures. Sends fruit baskets around every Night of the Nocturne, you know the type. She's thoughtful, she manages her empire.

But you ask her who makes the Theos? Two things. One is you know she knows, on account of the way she starts getting a criminal case of antaloons in the pantaloons, ain't subtle. Two is you know she's gonna say she doesn't anyway.

Why is that? She's done a prank or fifty in her day, and if you catch her in a Scheme, in Shenanigans, you catch her lyin' there and she busts out a smile a mile wide, blushes and blusters. Not on this. This, she gets this look like a fish just realizing that worm wasn't the free bite it figured.

D'y'know they're saying there's a godde in those gachas, one piece in each so no one can put it together and use it?

Dark little thoughts, these children.

Me? Yeah, I got one.

I found it under a truck. Cute, right? I dunno, I like 'em, even with those button eyes.

Anyway, she plays a pretty good tune.

If that one's stuck to ya, I wouldn't mind it overmuch. If it spooks you over easy, you can talk to the Gacha Guild at C-Squared. Those kids are die-hard collectors, and they'll be happy to make a trade or buy straight...Bubblemint's a common, but it'll net you eight, ten thousand coin, or else as many gee. Pocket money, but hey, they're kids, right?"

You consider it over the house special.