Page 22

The question brought color to Master’s cheeks.

No, not Master—Rowan. To Rowan’s cheeks.

Milo stood in the living room after completing Rowan’s tasks for him, and after Rowan had finished his evening meal. Milo had stripped down to everything but his underwear per Rowan’s request.

“I’m certain,” Rowan said with a waver of control like he wasn’t as certain as he claimed. “If some of the damaged area I need to replace is beneath the waistline, I’ll just… tug the underwear down a little. Now, before we begin, I need you to turn off your sensory inputs in the following sequence.”

Once again, Milo did as asked. Rowan had explained already that the goal of lessening sensory input was to dilute any chance of Milo feelingpainfrom the damaged area being touched or from having that portion of his back removed and replaced. That Rowan cared so much about potentially causing Milo pain soothed his apprehension by an incomputable amount.

“Now, lie on your front on the sofa before everything takes effect,” Rowan said. “You might start to, um… feel woozy, I think.”

“What does ‘woozy’ feel like?” Milo asked, but as he sat and then turned to sprawl out on his stomach with his feet stretched out behind him, a strange dip of his insides assaulted him as if his parts had all fallen out through his makeshift skin right to the floor—which was entirely improbable. “Izzz this… woozy?” he slurred.

Milo’s jaw felt like it was filled with putty, his vision somewhat blurry, and he was starting to no longer feel the sofa beneath him at all.

Distantly, he heard Rowan chuckle.

What a lovely sound.

“Yeah, Milo, I’m thinking it is. Just relax. Tell me if you experience any discomfort, and I’ll be done before you know it.”

“Okay…” Why did Milo’s tongue feel so thick? If this was what woozy felt like to humans, no wonder it incapacitated them.

Although Milo could only vaguely feel or compute anything going on around or to him, there was the barest sensation of pressure on his back and the gentle grazing of roughened fingertips. He gasped. Even dulled, the feeling was… interesting.

“Does that hurt?”

“Nnno… izzzz… nice.”

“Okay, Milo. Again, let me know if at any point it isn’t.”

“Mm-hm,” Milo hummed agreement.

If Rowan hadn’t asked Milo to put himself into this state, being like this would have caused him to run countless diagnostics to solve the problem. Resisting the urge to do so anyway was odd. Not difficult, just strange. Milo knew what any report of his systems would say anyway. His sensory input was turned down or completely off in some cases. All he’d need to do once this was over was reset it all.

Still, since he was lying down, the floating sensation he was feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

REPORT SIMILAR SENSATIONS IN HUMANS: Light-headedness. Blurred vision. Disorientation. Slower processing of surroundings and state of being.

Analyzing…

The response came moments later, as the pressure and gentle touches on Milo’s back continued.

This combination of sensations is most often associated with high levels of intoxication. Other conditions probable with these symptoms—

“I’m drunk!”

“What?” Rowan asked through an obvious laugh.

“I-I report… I am experiencing what humans describe as being intox… intoxi… toxin?”

“Intoxicated?”

“That!”

Rowan chuckled again.

“I like your laugh, Rowan.” Milo rubbed his cheek against the sofa cushion, which was just as dulled on his skin as everything else, but still nice in some ways.