Alternate Prompt: Sensory Overload
Toby's "expert" was a Latino boy of about his own age, one he had Claire open a portal to their hometown to collect. "Huh, more magic?" the boy asked, looking around Camelot's great hall with curious dark eyes.
Jim, meanwhile, was squinting, his head tilted to the side. "Krel Tarron?"
"Ah, yes. Have we met? Wait-" The boy squinted at Jim. "Jim Lake?"
Jim breathed a laugh. "Yeah. Long story."
"Is this more of your 'Trollhunters' thing?" the boy asked.
Jim drew a long breath. "Yeah, kind of."
"Hmm. Cool," the boy said. "So. Why am I here?"
"Yeah, Toby." Claire had her arms crossed. "Why is he here?"
"Oh ye of little faith," the stout boy scoffed. "Krel, can you do the thing? You know, the blue thing?"
Krel rolled his eyes, then...
Open-mouthed, Douxie exchanged a look with Archie.
"Well," his familiar said, adjusting his glasses. "There's something you don't see every day."
The Latino boy was taller now. With an extra pair of arms. Black sclera. And glowing with some sort of bioluminescence.
He was, in short, absolutely nothing Douxie had ever seen before.
"So," Toby began with an introductory gesture, "my good friend Krel here, also known as DJ Kleb, is actually Crown Prince Krel of the planet Akiridion-5. And, incidentally, a technological genius." He preened.
Krel was less impressed. "Yes, yes, I am a genius," he said, more irritated than amused. "May I reiterate: why am I here?"
Douxie straightened, pushing off from the wall he'd been leaning against. "That would probably be for me."
"Yep!" Toby led Krel over. "Krel, meet Douxie. Uhh..."
"Hisirdoux Casperan." Douxie offered his remaining hand; the apparent alien took it and shook it, still looking confused.
"Douxie here broke Jimbo out of Area 49-B and flattened it in the process," Toby explained to Krel. Krel's eyes widened. "Except that cost him his hand, so he kind of needs a new one, so I was wondering if you could make him a prosthetic?"
"You destroyed Area 49-B?" Krel asked, sounding excited and impressed. "Tell me, did you happen to run into a woman called Colonel Kubritz?"
Douxie bared a snarl. "You mean the woman who held me captive there for the last fourteen years? Rest assured, she is very dead. She and all her henchmen."
Krel's smile was probably as feral as his own. "Then you have done me and my people a great service, and I am in your debt. Let me see your arm."
It took some time, and some frankly painful poking and prodding, but finally Krel put away his tablet and nodded. "I can make you a new hand. I will need access to my workshop at the Mothership."
"Is that... in orbit?" Douxie asked hesitantly.
Toby laughed. "Nah, it's his house in Arcadia Oaks."
"And just how long will this take?" Merlin butted in. "We cannot wait forever."
"Give me six horvaths," Krel said, tapping his thumb against his bottom lip. "Then it will be ready for a final fitting."
"Horvaths?" Douxie couldn't help asking.
"You people call them hours."
Even Merlin's scowl bounced, impressed, at that. Of course, then Douxie's master stalked off, grumbling.
Six -horvaths- hours turned out, in the end, to be more like eight, because by then Zoe had awoken from her nap, and demanded, as a fellow tech-head, to be involved in the process. Krel had at first been irritated, then thoughtful, then finally delighted as her magitech suggestions integrated seamlessly with his technological ones. "Magic and Akiridion technology are so compatible!" he crowed, delighted, as Douxie wiggled the fingers of his new hand and made a fist. The sheer sensory overload of connecting the new appendage to his skin, his bone, his nerve endings had been little short of hell, but now...
"This is amazing," Douxie said. "I have to admit, I'm impressed." He grinned. "And feeling a bit like Luke Skywalker, here."
"Geek." Zoe slugged him in the arm. Her improvements meant that his magic flowed in the artificial hand as smoothly as it did in his flesh-and-blood one.
"All right." Krel tipped the panel cover shut, and any sign of Douxie's new appendage being artificial disappeared. The only trace was what looked like a white scar, all the way around his wrist, where the old and the new joined. With his vambrace on, he thought, no one would even be able to tell there was anything off.
"My thanks," Douxie said, looking up at Krel. "If ever you need my assistance, I am at your disposal."
"Pfft." The Akiridion prince waved it off and pointed his sonic screwdriver at Zoe and Douxie. "You assume I am not going to be stalking the two of you. I want to learn more about how Earth magic and properly advanced technology interact."
Zoe grinned wide. "You're on, Blue Boy."
Douxie smiled. "We're at your call, Krel."