Monday Tea: Evening Cake
Franclin brought in the last of the cake that he had made earlier in the day. We had both been eating it throughout the evening as we continued to decode the messages we were receiving from the transmitter hidden in the watch that I gifted to Owen. Though I had hopes that he would have left Mechanica Majestik, the chances were slim. He was completely caught up in the idealism of youth and while there wasn't much else I could do for him, I could use his departure to their workshops to my own advantage and gather some firsthand information on their current operations.
Franclin had been invaluable in helping decrypt the key they were using to hide the messages sent between the regional workshop and the grand cathedral. Being a crystallized fractal sentience gave him an uncanny ability to see patterns easily and perform complex calculations almost immediately. It was unsettling at times to watch him work, but I think with some more time and training, his calculating mind might even aid him in his martial abilities. His mastery over his host body was almost complete, already giving him a blinding speed as well as enhanced strength that came in handy around the shop. And while I taught him how to do basic sparring, he had easily surpassed me in technique. All that said, he was still something of an innocent in how he interacted his environment, exploring the fresh newness of the world like a toddler. He handled everything around the shop with great care and gripping every object as if it desired to be held. Every bite of cake, he savored with little sounds while we worked. One could almost feel the joy radiating off him at the experience of just breathing and being alive in the world. I turned my attention from watching Franclin and back to the messages coming in through the receiver. While not much had changed as far as the communications equipment that MechMaj used to communicate, what they relayed had been quite a surprise. The first and most pressing news was that they had received their first shipment from the home office. It had taken them a year to get the shipment since there was a huge backlog and this town and country were a minor part of their plan. But the news was intriguing in how long it took and the seriousness of what they were shipping. The second message which caused me to laugh out loud, was that there had been a schism back at the main office of MechMaj and they were on the brink of an all out war with themselves! It had been years since I heard any direct news and this was astonishing. I know that the cathedral and main lands were pretty well secluded, but I never expected them to turn their attentions on each other to this extreme. But what would would this mean in the long term. I'd have to consider how this would play into my future plans as well. I might be facing a greater, more hardened enemy no matter who wins out at their home base.
Regardless, the news was almost as delicious as my last bite of cake!