Millicent talked Saldug through it. He told the older man what would happen, what stitches Millicent would use, and what Saldug might feel.

The Shnifin brought a glowing jar to Saldug’s eye level and explained, “This is Keraphinx. After I disinfect everything, I’m going to put some of this onto your wrist and the hand’s end.”

Saldug blinked up at him. “It’s a bonding agent,” Millicent clarified. “After a while, it will attach your nerves to the new hand, making it function as if it were your own. But the limb has to be stitched in place for it to work.”

When Millicent turned back to his table, Saldug asked, “So you’ll just, just stitch it on to me? And it won’t hurt?”

“Oh, not at all. It also acts as a fairly strong numbing agent. Depending on how much of it touches bare skin, you might not feel anything touch your arm.”

Saldug sighed as Millicent twisted the lid off.

He walked over to Saldug, forcing him to say, “Um, Millicent?”

“Is something the matter, Mr. Saldug?”

“That Kerafin or fix or whatever can numb bare skin, huh?”

“Yes, that’s why I intend to use it on you today.”

“Then…Wouldn’t it numb your hand a lot? Since you’re not wearing any gloves?”

Millicent was oh so thankful of how talkative Saldug suddenly was. After he all but flung himself at his table, he found a box of disposable gloves and put three on before walking over to his client.

“Okay, now we can get started,” he said with a laugh, rubbing the Keraphinx into Saldug’s wrist.

The next step was to wait for it to numb Saldug, so Millicent stepped away from Saldug and the table to get water from the minifridge.

“Can I get you anything while I’m over here?” He asked. “Water, a snack, I always try Silee’s newest creations I’m sure I have a few in the back of the fridge.”

“I’m, I’m fine. Thanks though.”

Contempt, Millicent took two more steps forward before he had to lean down, open a little door, stare right into a fluorescent beast of a light, and push some spare eyeball jars around before his trusty canteen came into view.

Figuratively speaking, as the sudden fridge light blinded Millicent oh so slightly. He would have to blink several times before he got his “good” eyesight back, but damn him if he admitted it. No, instead he took a few swigs of water from his left hand as he walked back to his table and grabbed his sewing kit with his upper left hand.

“I’m going to tap your wrist a few times,” he told Saldug. “And you’re going to tell me how much specific feeling it gives you. Okay?”

Saldug nodded and held up his arm. When he felt absolutely nothing happen to it despite seeing Millicent tap it, he said so.

“Good,” he remarked, threading the sterilized needle. “We have a pretty wide window from now to when it wears off, but it’s better to do something now than later, don’t you think?”

Saldug gulped, paled a little, and looked away altogether. Millicent was unfazed by this reaction as he swapped his canteen for a wet wipe, and then threw that aside in favor of the Tistcho hand.

It wasn’t until he pulled the curled needle all the way through Saldug’s flesh and then the hand’s that Millicent’s muscle memory took the reins. He thought nothing of passing needle and thread through living and then dead flesh repeatedly. He didn’t cringe at the wet sound of thread being pulled through blood, didn’t shudder at seeing the needle wiggle under the skin, at this point Millicent couldn’t even smell blood and old flesh anymore.

Yes, blood spurted out alongside the needle in Saldug’s wrist now and then. That happens when the body’s prodded open a little. He kept his third mouth closed when blood inevitably kissed it. He just hoped none of it would hit his eyes.

Millicent would’ve grabbed goggles earlier, but Saldug was already so nervous as it was, and a nervous man can talk too much.

After knotting and then severing the loose end on the final stitch, Millicent looked up at Saldug. “All done. Now let me just get some bandages and a new glove for you.”

Saldug opened his eye and looked down at his wrist. That much is all Millicent processed before he turned to his table and grabbed the next set of necessities.

After wrapping Saldug’s wrist up like a gift and sliding a red glove over it, the Tistcho muttered, “I guess now’s as good as ever to talk about price.”

Millicent smiled once again. “That’s Silee’s job. Come with me, I’ll help you up the steps.”

Guiding Saldug once again, the two got up and away from the table, down the hall, up in front of the great big door. During this time, Millicent explained, “I’m not sure how Silee’s handles payments so discreetly, but I promise it’s not unreasonable. Not like legitimate practitioners. That’s the thing; in the medical world, the above ground one at least, a new body part costs way more than an arm and a leg. No pun intended.”

“Don’t know who decided that,” he said with a shrug. “Probably some greedy douche. You know this; you wouldn’t have settled for a prosthetic, a hunk of metal, if there wasn’t such a price difference.”

Saldug solemnly nodded at that.

“But it’s good you got that crap metal to begin with.” Millicent wagged his finger as he spoke. “You see, Silee actually has a use for those.”

“Shocking. I know,” he replied to Saldug’s expression. “But he does use them. They cut some costs. Including yours.”

When they reached the door, Millicent knocked twice before telling Saldug, “Because you had that thing with you, Silee will charge you about sixty percent less than a surgeon would.”

Saldug would have fallen all the way down the stairs if Millicent hadn’t held him. “Sixty percent?” He asked with awe.

Millicent nodded as light swallowed them whole.

Again, Millicent’s eyes would have to adjust before being useful, but he knew it was Silee who opened the door thanks to that voice. “Are we all set here? Oh wonderful, look at you, Mr. Name-I-Don’t-Know. Why don’t I take you upstairs while Milly here-Oh!”

He gasped when he locked eyes with Millicent. “Goodness gracious! Look at how rough your appearance has gotten, Here, take this to clean that blood off, and say goodbye to Mr. What’s-His-Face!”

“Bye, Mr. Saldug.” Millicent waved before a wet rag was swung into his face and the door swung shut.

Gritting his teeth, Millicent scrubbed his face until he saw bright blotches in his vision. Again, he had to wait a moment to readjust the dark.

“Dark…” Whispering, he turned around and slowly, but surely, made his way back down the steps. “Yeah…A Body Shop’s a pretty dark place.” He caressed the walls as he continued. “Could use a window in here…”

When he reached the bottom, Millicent almost ripped that rag into two as he regrettably added, “If it didn’t look out into dirt.”