Changes (solo)

Early morning

With a groan Arawn pushed open the door and entered the lab. His eyes still had a layer crust and his hair was in a disarray. He hadn't noticed that his hair had been growing longer lately. With all the work he hardly though about getting a haircut. He grumbled as he moved down the hallway. It wasn't that Arawn wasn't a morning person, it was that he preferred breakfast before work. A meal was the best way to start the day. Unfortunately there was another problem; he tended hit the snooze button on his alarm clock rather quickly without actually waking. That is what happened in today. He had hit the snooze button multiple times before finally waking up and seeing the time was very late. Getting dressed was the best he could before being late for his shift. The last door opened he walked over to the closet and put on a lab coat. Simone, one of the few females he had met in 12 division was already at the work station. The most recent project was calibration of communication signal used by expedition forces. As groups entered Hueco Mundo the ability to contact them via phones was nearly impossible. Their work was to boost signal or change in wavelength. Testing was going well. Simone was 5 inches shorter than him and had raven black hair. A simple bowl cut was her preferred and wearing a generic lab coat it was hard to tell she was female with her slender figure. Arawn had made such a mistake since her name did look like 'Simon'. Luckily she hadn't been offended, since it happened often.

"Morning, Simone" he murmured taking a seat next to her. A large book lay beside the circuit panel, he glanced at the page as he picked wielding tool.
Simone looked up from her own circuit board and grinned. Simone like others in the squad had modified herself slightly for work. She had given herself compound eyes. The insect like appearance fit her well. He often wondered how she could stand seeing multiples of everything everywhere she went. Let alone how she navigated the hallways.
"Morning, sir!" she giggled. Arawn grunted, and stifled a yawn.
Several moments of silence passed before something clicked.
"Sir?" Arawn said rubbing his eye. He had missed his mark and burned the table. They were on a first name basis merely from working long and late hours together. Such a formality was odd.
Simone was still giggling. She got like that, her own personal world. He wondered what things went through her head as she at there spaced out laughing. Dropping his tool to the table, he held his hands out and clapped them before her face. She yelped in surprised, but returned to reality. He had become accustomed to her antics.
"Simone, what are you going on about?" he said with a sigh.
"Oh yeah!" she got up to move to a desk on the other side of the room and picked up a sheet of paper. She returned to the work station and placed it before Arawn.
Arawn took the sheet and turned it around so that he could read it. From the looks of it looked like a squad newsletter. Projects, progress reports, and transfers of staff. Arawn received one weekly, but after awhile he would only read the lab memos. The other information wasn't too necessary unless it linked to his current project. "Okay?" he placed the sheet back down and rubbed his eyes again.
Simone sighed and pointed to the bottom of the page listed under 'Promotions'


Arawn rubbed his eyes again for good measure. No, he wasn't seeing things. 9th seat? It wasn't long ago he had obtained 11th.
"Isn't that great!?" Simone was excited enough for him. "You've been promoted!" She did a giddly little dance as he reread the paper. Fully awake now he read the rest of the newsletter.
"I don't understand, how did I get promoted? I don't recall doing anything, there's been no demotions like last time."
Simone was too busy dancing to respond. With a sigh Arawn clapped loudly again. "Simone? Why did I get promoted?" he said slowly and clearly.
With a smile she sat back down at the table. "Well the captain doesn't make all the decisions. there are times when he's too busy and has the computer some of the work. Choose projects, making budgets, moving personnel, you know all the boring stuff." Boring yes, but important Arawn thought. "It factors projects and performance and arbitrarily grants promotions. Everything you do is graded it's all one big test." This was news to him. Frankly he wondered about the cameras he saw in the buildings. He could only guess the computer was watching them and evaluating there actions. "Very creepy right?"
"Well I don't recall doing anything noteworthy." That was the main issue. In the lab he'd played minute roles in all projects.
As Simone started to giggle again. Arawn slammed his hand on the table to help her focus. "It might be your actions outside the lab, you are one of the few in the squad that still does human world patrols. You've fought more hollows than half the squad." Arawn considered her answer. Well it felt cheap getting a leg up on the other scientist just because he used his word more.
"A win, is a win." he said aloud." Rubbing his chin. "So what do I do now that I'm 9th seat?" Simone skipped over to the desk and went to the computer. She began tapping away at the keys. She was quite the fast typist.
"Up to four body modifications." she said
"Pass." He hated to think of a modification going wrong.
"Personal quarters."
"I have those already." He grimaced the old lab was spacious, but cluttered with old materials and project. He still hadn't gotten around to cleaning it.
"Shift changes?"
"YAY!" he said sarcastically. "Is that it?
"That's it." she replied.
"Another promotion and little to show for it. I'm starting to see a pattern."
"Awww don't say that!" Simone sat back down to the workstation. "You can expect a little more respect from your peers. Not to mention salary."
She was right, but Arawn was too tired to care.

Toiling away the circuit Arawn't glasses slipped down his nose. He pushed up the spectacles with his free hand, and steadied his hand. Simone noticed the motion and looked up from her work
"Maybe you can get rid of those horrible glasses." she chimed in. "Can't be good to have them fall off during a fight. Why don't you get contacts or something?"
Arawn looked up. He had thought of getting contacts but they could fall out as well. It wasn't too much better. Honestly he enjoyed wearing glasses. Without his glasses on he looked sleepy. Perhaps is was abit of vanity to say they made him look better, the only charm point of his average looking face.
"You could get eyes like mine." She suggested, Arawn gave her a glare. "Sheesh or not."

He hadn't thought about it, but it was true. He had broken nearly fifteen pairs of glasses between active duty and sparing matches. He didn't want such drastic surgery as Simone, but something simple like corrective surgery might be possible. Still he wasn't too keen on altering his body like that. Arawn didn't even like taking medicine when sick. But knew it was necessary in such situation. With a sigh he got back to work. There had to be something he could do. A second later he slapped himself in the face.
"I'm a freaking scientist why don't I make something!?" he screeched. Simone jumped, and then giggle.
"Yeah, why don't ya?" she smiled and went back to work. Arawn did the same, but as he worked he pondered when he could make.

His own ideas fell short. He couldn't come up with any way to correct his vision other than some surgery. In desperation he sought out the archives. Rather than come up with something from scratch he could try converting an already existing item to suit his needs. While he did think it was a quick fix, it turned into a daunting task. Shifting through the computer logs and then paper work was quite herculean. It wasn't until two weeks that he hit upon a possible lead. A light field screening technology. The project was tasked with creating a device to remove objects from the visible spectrum. In a word invisibility. While they were successful the device to create the effect needed a projector at least the size of the intended target. The target was rendered invisible, but the device was easily spotted. What good was making things vanish if the unit made there position obvious?

The principle was the same behind colored light bulbs. Using various shades and intensities one negates the light that would normally reflect after striking an object. In essence it worked like a two way mirror, but in reverse. The trick was finding a way to align the field to filter light in a specific patter similar to his glasses' prescription rather than all light. He lacked that skill, but there were plenty of people that could. Simone was overjoyed when he asked for her assistance. Compared to her he wasn't as computer literate. She promised results, but needed a second pair of glasses to calibrate the field. Money out of his pocket of course. The time for the extra pair of glasses took three days. A rush job would have cost him more, he was more than willing to wait and pay the lesser charge. Upon delivering them Arawn didn't bother Simone about it further. When at work she would giggle to herself at times, but he avoided the subject. Days rolled into weeks and then nearly a month before he got a status report.
"Well the device is nearly complete, but got a snag. We're trying to figure a way to keep it on your face." She held up post it note that said the same thing.
"We?" Arawn asked skeptically
"I'm getting some help from few other people. Bryce, Angela, and Tinki are helping out. " While he didn't recognize the names, if Simone trusted them that was more than enough.

It wasn't until another two weeks that she presented a finished product. The package she presented him with looked similar one would use for an engagement ring. Simone was all smiles as she handed it over. Slowly he opened the box. Inside there was a silver object the size and shape of a AAA battery.
"This is it?" Arawn asked surprised by it's appearance.
"Try it on!" Simone was quick to remove his glasses, and took the small cylinder from the box. The pressed the object against the upper bridge of his nose. Although it looked matallic it felt warm to the touch. He felt a slight pinch as seemed to melt around his nose. He could barely see it in his field of vision.
Everything was out of focus. "It's not working."
"I haven't turned it on yet." She pressed her finger on device, and he felt a slight pinch again, but suddenly his vision cleared. It was almost if he was wearing glasses again. He swung his head about and made his eye race about. "This is great!" he couldn't hide his child like glee. "Thanks Simone, and give my thanks to everyone else."
"No problem!" She squealed taking as much glee as Arawn did. "Now if you do decide to take an assistant....."
"You'll be first on my list." he smiled. "But this is great, with something like this more people could use. It could completely replace all glasses we should show it to the captain."

Simone's smile faded. "No, the amount of work to put it together wouldn't be worth mass production. Captain wouldn't approve something like this."'
It was odd that she changed her tone that quickly "Well if we get everyone to work on it, there would be no problem. I think I'll go see the captain now." He took a walk towards the door, but Simone leaped to grab his arm.
"Wait!" she yelped. Arawn stopped easy enough
"What's wrong with this thing?" he said pointing at nose. Simone twisted and wrung her hands, before finally replying
"The thing is we had problems with the power source and then with keeping it on your face." With a sigh she reached for his face. "You would have found out eventually." She grabbed the object and pulled, pain exploded into Arawn's nose and he could hear a slight squeeking nose. Something warm ran down his face. He quickly reached up to touch it; blood.
"What the hell is it!?" he shouted unnerved by the fact he was now bleeding. After much hesitation she explained. It would seem the solution to the problem was a creature that ate spiritual energy. Using the creature as a base they created the device to the reiryoku it drained from him would power the device and keeps the leech alive.
"So I have a cyborg leech on my nose?" he said after she finished explaining. "No wonder you didn't want to mass produce it. Not exactly something that would sell well." He grunted and rubbed his nose. "Does it always hurt to take it off?"
"The way we designed it you don't really need to take it off, it's water proof so you can bathe with it on. But too much electricity can cause it to shut down. "
With a sigh he held the cylinder in his hands. Despite the what he was told it wasn't that bad an device. Simone looked at him with pouting lips. He put it back on, this time ready for the pinch.
"It's perfect Simone, thank you."

Item application:

Bio-Leech. A reriyoku draining organism that fits over Arawn's nose. In exchange for the small power it drains it creates a field over his eyes that function similar to glasses. While resistant to water, electrical shock can cause the unit to malfunction (short out) Aside from glasses it can also shift spectrum to make shades or filter colors or all colors (black and white)