Britonae, 1850 E.G.

In a world on the threshold of technological marvels and miracles, there live men with monocles and top hats and women with hoop skirts and parasols. This is the country of Britonae, run on steam power, with much of its technology comprising of gears and cogs.

Here lives a noble, shrouded in mystery but for one request: Repair a clockwork wing.

Here lives an inventor, charged with the repair and full of pride.

Here lives a girl with dreams of someday creating a technological marvel of her own, defying the status quo in the process.

Long live them all.

Long live Britonae, technological wonder of the world.

* * * * *

"And what do you think you're doing with that wrench, girl?"

Sidone jumped, hastily shoving the tool into the pocket of her apron. "I was... I was just taking it to one of the apprentices, Master Goodmark!"

"Hmph." The middle-aged man looked down at her from his over-sized protective goggles. "You think you can fool me, Sidone? Thinking you could take it back home and fiddle with your little 'inventions', hmm?"

The seventeen-year-old girl flushed with mixed shame and anger as the five apprentices all turn their attentions from their worktables to her and laughed.

"Sid thinks she can just nick off with that?"

"What are you making this time, huh, Sid?"

"A steam-powered parasol, perhaps? Maybe a doll that talks!"

Sidone opened her mouth, her brow furrowing furiously. "I--"

"ENOUGH!" Roared Master Goodmark, effectively silencing all within his workshop. "Girl, I want to see you in the back room for a moment."

Without a word, Sidone marched stiff-backed into the back room. Master Goodmark entered as well, shutting the door behind himself.

"Girl," he began, "this is the second time I've caught you trying to make off with tools."

"I wasn't--"

"Did I say you could talk?" Master Goodmark raised his gruff voice. "As I was saying, I took you on as a cleaner in this shop because I know your father. But if you keep on with these silly daydreams of becoming an inventor yourself--"

"They're not daydreams," Sidone shot back, flinging her brunette braid back over her shoulder angrily. "I can do it, I know I can. What difference does it make if I'm a girl and not a man?"

Master Goodmark folded his arms. "All the difference in the world, girl. You're just not made of the same stuff."

"How do you know if you won't even let me try?"

His brows snapped together in a dangerous expression. "Don't test me, girl. Don't make me tempted to fire you from this job. You wanted to be around inventors and see how they work, your father said. I decided to humor you. And humoring is all you're going to get, from me and from anyone else! Now no more funny business with the tools, and no more thoughts of being able to do anything with them! Do you understand?"

Jacques Russo threw another tool down on the table in frustration as he picked up the clockwork wing and studied it under the glass once more.

He had spent the last few months trying to fix the blasted thing. Every time he had come close, or so he thought, it would set him back once more with just a simple twist.

Jacques was on his last nerve with the wing, despite getting paid to fix it.

Deciding to put it up for awhile, Jacques placed it into a nearby glass case and locked it away before turning back to his work station and yelling for his newest aid, a small mechanical servant he completed just a few short weeks ago, "Mervat! Where are you?"

"Coming Monsieur!" Mervat called from across the workshop; somewhere in the back, Jacques assumed, for there could be the pssht of steam and the crinkh of gears and metal grinding together heard from that general direction.

"She's never here when I need her..." Jacques muttered to himself as he searched around for the latest invention he was working on - a new style of ceiling fan that was as good as the rich's but affordable enough for the poor. "Where did the fan I was tinkering with get to?" Jacques called out as he checked in another closet.

In moments, a circular metal object came flying across the room and stopped near Jacques, hovering as the wings ground together and flapped, remaining in place as it reminded, "Monsieur, the fan is in the back, so the customers cannot see it's progress and inventors could not steal the make. You had Pierre move it there yesterday before you told him he was not worthy of being your apprentice."

Jacques rolled his eyes as he remembered the incompetent Pierre, "Ah yes, the Frenchman here trying to learn the work of the Brittish. Shame he wasn't able to do more than grunt work. And Mervat? Stop with the accent. You were not programmed to be French," Jacques added as he headed into the back room to work on his invention.

Mervat made sounds, sounds Jacques knew that, had she had a face like a person instead of a grill to speak with, would have meant she had scowled before sticking her tongue out at Jacques.

And, despite everything, she still insisted on being independent. Jacques hadn't designed her that way, but it was a trait she came to have somehow none-the-less.

"Why shouldn't I speak in a French accent? You yourself are French," Mervat added saucily.

"My mother was a Momerancie and my father was a French nobleman, I am only French in name and birth, but am Brittish at heart. My father grew up in Britonae, as did I. You know that, Mervat," Jacques reminded her as he gathered his tools and took off the cloth covering his invention.

Sidone almost ran into her house, slamming the door behind her and rushing to her room. Flinging herself face-down on the bed, she used her pillow to muffle an aggravated scream.

"Sweetheart?" Her father asked, poking in his salt-and-pepper haired head. "Is something the matter?"

His daughter lowered the pillow with a groan. "Nothing, Father. Nothing out of the usual," she told him bitterly.

"Ah," he nodded, coming in to sit on the bed beside her. "Something happened at work, I take it?"

"They thought I was stealing," she cried, looking up at him with furious green eyes. "Me! Stealing their tools! They acted like I was going to go 'play' with them, like I knew nothing about holding a hammer or wrench!" She lowered her eyes, still angry. "They take me for a fool, all of them," she muttered angrily.

Her father took her into his arms with a sympathetic sigh. "I know how hard it is for you, Sidone, with your dreams of being an inventor. I remember when I was young I would tell you stories of Lulalia--"

"--the world's greatest and only female inventor," Sidone finished with a small reminiscent smile. "I remember."

"You would sit at the kitchen table and tinker with whatever I gave you from the shop for hours. Why, I still have that little portable mechanical pinwheel that you made..."

"That old thing?" Sidone cried, grinning half in affection and half with embarrassment. "Father, I made it when I was seven!"

"And yet it still works! I use it to help keep me cool in the shop on hot summer days." He grinned back at her.

They sat there for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts, until finally Sidone stirred and pulled away. "Father, shouldn't you get back to the shop? 'Master Faust's Mechanical Parts and Servicing' isn't going to run itself, you know," she smiled at him.

"Ah, yes, that is true." He got up from the bed and started to make his way out of his daughter's bedroom, only to be joined by her going down the stairs.

"Let me help you in the shop this afternoon, Father? It will be just like old times."

He grinned down at her. "I would like nothing better."

"Blast it all!" Jacques said bitterly as he threw the wrench down upon the floor and began wiping his hands with a nearby cloth, taking off his magnification eye-piece shortly after.

"What now? Break something else?" Mervat chuckled as she flew out of his reach, Jacques having taken a swing at her before throwing the cloth at her.

As Mervat neared him again, feeling it was safe, Jacques rolled his eyes as he explained, "Mervat, you didn't happen to stop by Faust's and pick up the parts I ordered for the fan, did you?"

"Um, why would I do that? What would you like me to carry them with? The arms you built me? Oh yeah, I have none!" Mervat retorted, "Have Pierre get them. Oh wait! You fired him. Looks like you'll have to pick them up yourself!"

Jacques eyed Mervat warningly before grabbing his coin box, taking out more than enough banknotes to cover the costs, Jacques slipped on his overcoat and adjusted his hat and goggles before heading outside and making his way to Faust's a mile or so into town.

Living just outside the city and never liking motorcars, Jacques was always forced to walk to town to get his supplies if his apprentice had been recently fired - something he loathed. He absolutely hated stopping his work to run his own errands; it really was rather tiresome and a waste of his time.

Perhaps it was high time he got a servant, non-machine, to do all of this for him. Jacques entertained the idea as he made his way to Faust's Mechanical Parts.

Reaching the counter, Jacques rang the bell as he looked around for Master Faust, a man he had come to know well over the years of inventing due to him being his one and only supplier of parts.

Sidone saw the young man standing at the counter and spoke quietly to her father. "You have a customer. Do you want to take him or should I?"

Her father looked up and smiled. "Ah, Jacques. He's a regular of mine, Sidone. I'll talk to him. Why don't you start off by cleaning up around the shop? I'm afraid I've let it get a bit run down the past few days."

His daughter grinned at him and shook her head in a chastising manner before tying on a spare apron and taking up the broom by the back stairs that led up to the living quarters above the shop. She tactfully began to sweep a little ways away from the counter, gathering together broken bits of mechanical parts into a small pile to be dumped out later.

"Jacques, if it isn't you again!" Master Faust cried in a jolly voice as he took his place behind the counter, reaching out to shake the young inventor's hand. "How are you? How are Pierre and Mervat?"

As her father attempted to engage Jacques in conversation, Sidone's eye caught sight of the little mechanical pinwheel that she had put together as a child, standing on a side counter of the shop. She smiled a little, caught up in memories of stories of Lulalia, her father giving her parts and tools to experiment with, her joy at getting the mechanical pinwheel to work. Slowly, she walked over, setting the broom against the wall gently without realizing it. She took up the pinwheel in her hand and wound the clockwork key that enabled it to spin fast enough to generate a slight, but refreshing, breeze.

Looking over it, a slight frown came over her features. There was something... not right about it. Well, of course there wasn't, she HAD made it when she was seven, after all, and she was older than that by now. But if she remembered correctly... there were a few things that she could modify now in order for the mechanically-made breeze to be stronger and thus more efficient at keeping her father cool while minding the shop...

Moving as if in a dream, Sidone Faust took up a stray screwdriver and set to work dismantling the mechanical pinwheel.

Shaking the man's hand with a warm smile, Jacques shook his head at the mention of frenchman and his creation. "Well, Mervat is her devilish self as usual and Pierre....

"Well, the boy has promise if he wishes to go into the field of grunt work - useless with tools and errands, however. I've been meaning to find a replacement - someone who can keep up with everything yet keep the shop in tidy order. Do you know of anyone looking for an apprenticeship who knows their sprocket from their... oh? What's this?" Jacques trailed off as his attention was caught from the clatter and movement down the bench.

Eying the young woman, Jacques leaned in close to Master Faust and inquired softly, "Does that young woman know what she is doing? She seems very engrossed in the work...."

Master Faust looked over and smiled at the sight. "Ah, that would be my daughter, Sidone. That's right, she's never been in the times you've been here--working over with the mechanic apprentices, or should I say for them." The smile dropped slightly from his lips as the thought dawned on him. "That might change soon, though... Oh dear..."

He put on a brave face. "But yes, I would say with all confidence that she does indeed know what she is doing. Now, you came for some parts...?"

Meanwhile, Sidone had gathered several other tools to herself and was working busily on dismantling some parts of the mechanical pinwheel, adding on others, switching around still more. The minutes ticked by without her noticing, until finally she snapped the cover on the case with a sigh of satisfaction. She had not even heard Jacques' question that doubted her abilities.

Smiling slightly, she turned the clockwork key... Her smile widened to one of delight as the fan began to whrrrr with much more power than before, lifting loose strands of hair away from her face with a steady stream of cool air.

"Father, look!" She cried, turning around with the fan in her hands. "I changed a few things and now it--Oh."

She saw Jacques looking at her with that doubt in his eyes, and her own eyes narrowed. Straightening her back, she continued, "Well, I reconstructed the motor so that it's twice as efficient, and I also took out--"

Sidone then proceeded to rattle off a list of what she had taken out, added, changed, modified to make the pinwheel more than that, but a fully operational fan. She knew that it could be interpreted as shameless boasting in front of the strange young customer, but she did not care. She just wanted to show that she did indeed know what she was about when she went at the mechanical device with that screwdriver, to wipe that doubt from his eyes that was obviously simply because she was a girl.

'Lulalia did it,' she thought to herself as she finally closed her mouth and looked Jacques dead in the eye, daring him to say something. 'So can I.'

Jacques couldn't help but chuckle as he gazed upon the young woman before him - hair not kept in place very well, pleasant figure, handy with a tool; definitely a breath of fresh air from the ladies he was accustomed to seeing on the streets and in his shop.

Clapping his hands in a friendly applause, not at all mocking, as he smiled, Jacques called softly to the young woman, "Ah, Miss Faust, I see you did know what you were doing after all. I commend you on your accomplishment. I give her great credit, Master Faust," Jacques added to the young woman's father, "Pierre couldn't even begin to figure out that device, much less make it work. I take it you have picked up a great deal from watching the mechanic apprentices, not to mention your father."

"Ah yes, the parts," Jacques added as his thought returned to his task at hand, "Are they in Master Faust? I need them for my latest creation. I fear if I don't get back soon I'll find Mervat has destroyed the place, you know how she gets when she gets in her moods. For a girl who has no arms, she truly does get into the worst of predicaments," Jacques added with a laugh as he leaned against the counter and adjusted the goggles upon the brim of his hat.

Sidone looked long and hard at the man, not sure whether or not he was being serious or subtly mocking like all the rest. Finally, she gave him a nod that might be interpreted as thanks and began to clean up the tools and parts that were left lying around from her modification of the fan, but not before setting the fan before her father to keep him cool.

Master Faust looked at her, then turned back to Jacques. "You'll have to forgive her silence, young man, she does get suspicious of compliments that are ambiguous in their sincerity." His tone was light, but his eyes were barely that. "Now, about the parts, they are indeed here... They just came in this morning, in fact. Sidone, dear, would you go and get them for me? You know where they are."

She was out the back door and back carrying several packages in her arms in record time. "Gears twenty-four and eight-hundred-three, spring five, medium, raw sheet metal, weight six," she told her father as she gave him the parts, not having to stop to think about the numbers she was listing.

Master Faust rang up the prices on his cash register and waited for payment. "Will that be all for you, Jacques?" Every vocal inflection and body movement indicated that he wished to remain on friendly terms... but perhaps that could wait until tomorrow.

Giving the young woman an inquisitive look, Jacques couldn't help but be curious about the young woman.

Had she merely memorized them before coming out so she could seem more intelligent on the matter than she really was?
Or did she really know her machinery?

Whichever the case, she intrigued him to say the least.

Brushing the thought out of his mind with a chuckle, Jacques returned his attention back to Master Faust with a warm smile, "Forgive me, Master Faust, I did not mean to offend. I believe I may be needing some more parts shortly, I have an odd feeling these just won't be enough. You would think after all these weeks of working on it that I'd have figured out the problem.. Instead it seems as if it just keeps getting more and more expensive to figure out!" Jacques said with a laugh before handing him the coins and banknotes to pay for the items.

Taking them, Jacques made a bow to both Master Faust and his daughter with a kind smile as he spoke, "I bid thee both good day. Please forgive me for any offense I have caused," Jacques added with a twinkle in his eye before turning and making his way out of the shop, somewhat dreading walking back into his workshop with Mervat there waiting for him expectantly.

It was later that afternoon that Sidone found herself making her way to Jacques' workshop. She wore her favorite long black coat given the slight chill in the air that autumn day. In her arms she bore a package with Jacques' name and address clearly printed across it in her father's neat hand.

"Sidone," he had said to her, pausing as they ate lunch together, "I can't shake this feeling..."

"What is it, Father?"

Master Faust had shaken his head, his brow furrowed perplexedly. "I just can't shake the feeling that... Oh! Sidone!"

She'd straightened up in her seat, looking over at him in surprise. "Father?"

"The part... There is one part that Jacques forgot to take with him! Oh, and I do believe that he paid for it as well without even knowing... Sidone, please do me a favor and take the part down to Jacques' workshop after we finish eating? I would do it myself, but the shop..."

"...won't run itself," she had finished speaking for him. "All right Father, I will."

And so she was now on the doorstep of Jacques' workshop, pulling the thin rope attached to the bell announcing visitors that was strung up above the workshop door.

"Mister Russo?" She called. "Sir, are you in? It's me, Sidone Faust... My father sent me to deliver a part that you missed."

"Come in, whoever you are," Jacques called above Mervat's constant voice in his ear, not sure who was at the door nor for was purpose. The workshop was filled with smoke and his face was covered in soot and grease. After installing a part or two into his invention, it began to work. However, it soon went out of control and caused a small explosion.

Now, with dust and soot filling the hair, Jacques as using a towel and waving it back and forth beside the window, hoping to circulate some clean air into the room. All the while, Mervat was twittering in his ear about how careless and clumsy he was.

Frowning, Jacques sulked as he sat on the work bench below the window and continued to wave out the smoke. He had done everything right, so why wouldn't it work? This was the third time it had exploded in the past month. It may not damage the invention completely, but it sure set him back another couple of days! Days he hated to waste putting it all back together again to the way he had it before the explosion.

Sometimes Jacques wanted to just scrap the project and say the hell with it, today being just one of those days. But, what kind of inventor would he be if he did that?

Sidone entered at Mister Russo's command... and stopped cold once across the threshold. The air was filled with smoke, and she could not help coughing, covering her mouth with one hand while clutching the package to herself with the other.

"M-Mister Russo?" She hacked out, squinting to keep dust out of her eyes. "A-are you all r-right?"

She heard a voice, loud and slightly artificial-sounding... She thought she heard something like, "careless chump," amongst other varied insults and degradations.

The dust in the air was beginning to clear... Sidone was able to make out Mister Russo's figure and that of a machine hovering near him. It was from the machine that the artificial voice was being emitted.

"Mister Russo?" Sidone tried speaking again, and could do so this time without coughing. "My father sent me. I have a part that you paid for but forgot to take with you."

"..no good inventor! I should just up and leave you! But who's going to hire a talking robot WITHOUT ARMS!" Mervat huffed before flying off.

Making a gesture that showed he would strangle her if he could, Jacques muttered, "One of these days.. I'm either going to crush her, or make her a pair of arms so she'll shut up.."

"Ah, Ms. Faust, pleasure to see you again. Forgive the explosive air, I'm afraid my invention got ruined again. A part you say? Thank you - I hadn't noticed it was missing. Just set it over here on the counter," Jacques said as he motioned to a clear space on the table he sat on as he continued to fan the air, "Tell your Father thank you for me, he always was an honorable man, always looking out for me he is."

"Ah, and forgive the machine that keeps muttering around. She's harmless, but has a foul temper and quite the mouth on her," Jacques told Sidone with a laugh, earning him a few more choice words from across the workshop.

In moments, Mervat was by Sidone and speaking to her in her French accented English, "Don't you listen to that no-good, lying, horrible inventor over there! He's got no more brains than a talking toaster oven! And that's saying something!"

"Mervat.." Jacques threatened warningly before chucking a wrench at her; a wrench that, to Jacques' misfortune, missed Mervat and flew just between she and Ms. Faust, nearly nipping Ms. Faust in the nose.

"And his aim ain't too good either! Maybe that's why he's just a terrible inventor!" Mervat finished with a 'hmph!' before going outside away from Jacques and all the dust.

"Thank you," Sidone smiled back as Mister Russo told her to thank her father. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear--OH!" Sidone shrieked as the wrench flew past, leaping back as she did so. Her out-flung arm connected with the smoldering invention on the counter, sending it tumbling to the ground where it became even more destroyed (if such a thing was possible).

She stared down at it, horror dawning on her face. "I... I'm so sorry, Mister Russo," she exclaimed, daring to look up at him. "I did not mean to..."

Hastily, she placed the part down on the counter and knelt down on the floor, picking up random pieces that had flown from the invention. "Let me help you clean this up, I'm so sorry..."

"Clumsy girl!" Jacques hissed as he hopped from the counter and gathered up the parts. Finding it in even worse shape, Jacques tossed them to the ground with a groan, "Dammit! Now I'll have to start from scratch... Just leave them, I'll have my next apprentice clean the mess up. Can you bring this to your father though?" Jacques said as he kicked a piece of his invention out of frustration before going to his desk.

Taking out a small stack of papers, Jacques handed them to Sidone, "These are the parts I'll need to start anew. Have him get a larger model of the fan, though, and the part size changes to match. Ask him for a list of parts as well, once he's ordered them, so I know what to expect for pricing."

Handing her a pouch of silver coins, Jacques added, "And tell him this is for his time converting the parts for me. Can you manage that without destroying the rest of my workshop?"

"MERVAT!"

"What is it Mr. Loud-mouthed-temper-follied-Russo?" Mervat retorted from just outside the window.

"Find me a new apprentice. Have him be able to come this evening," Jacques ordered as he kicked another part of his invention.

"Oi, don't destroy things even further! No one will want to work for you!" Mervat chided, "And apologize to the poor girl! You nearly took her head off! Can you blame her for getting startled? And she did apologize you hot-tempered old fool!" Mervat added before storming away from the workshop in search of a new apprentice.

Making another motion that he'd like to strangle Mervat as he tossed a part at her, Jacques sighed as he ran his hand through his hair and tossed his goggles onto the bench.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to nearly take your nose off, nor did I mean to yell at you. It's been a rough day," Jacques sulked as he hopped back up on the bench and grabbed the cloth, immediately beginning to fan the smoke out of the workshop again.

How one explosion could create such a mess Jacques could never begin to imagine.

Sidone stood, dusting off her hands deliberately before snatching the list and coins from Jacques' hands. "Rough day? I could tell you a thing or two about rough days. At least I don't take out MY 'rough days' on others who don't deserve any such words or treatment! Good day!"

With those words the girl turned and stormed from the workshop, her braid whipping around behind her. Making her way down the street, she was too furious to hear anything at first, but then--

"Sidone... Sidone! SID! HEY!"

With a jolt, she turned to see a girl with short black hair hurrying up to her. "Marka!" Sidone cried, throwing her arms around the girl. "It's been too long since I've seen you! How are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine," Marka replied, drawing back from Sidone's embrace to give her friend her trademark cheeky smile. "What were you doing in my cousin's workshop, though? Don't tell me he's taken you on as apprentice!"

"C... cousin? Marka, you never told me you had a cousin! Especially not him!"

"Oh, got on the receiving end of his temper, did you? Don't tell me he threw a hammer at you."

Sidone said nothing, but her brow furrowed nonetheless as she recalled a certain flying wrench. Marka's eyes widened.

"He did?! Why that good-for-nothing... I'll go in there right now and give him a piece of my mind!"

"Marka, wait! No, it's fine, really." Sidone stopped her friend, laughing at her eagerness to avenge the parts-merchant's daughter. "He... he said he had a bad day..."

"He never has a good one, that's for sure," Marka huffed indignantly. "That's why I hardly ever see him."

Sidone stopped and looked at her curiously. "But... cousins? You look nothing alike, and..."

"Yeah, well, we're more like cousins-in-law. It's through marriage, my brother and his cousin. But enough of that talk." Marka smiled again as they started off down the road. "Your father won't mind if I drop in, will he? Me being the 'town floozy' and all?"

Sidone frowned. "Of course he won't, Marka, and I told you to stop calling yourself that. I don't care a whit about you living and working day by day wherever you can manage, and neither does my father. He's been asking about you, actually, wondering how you've been doing..."

"No good inventor.. Always throwing things at me, ordering me around.. The nerve he has!" Mervat mumbled to herself as she looked over the billboard where adverts were posted.

Finding no searching apprentices, Mervat decided to check the local employment shop down the road, conveniently near Jacques' workshop - an omen maybe? - Mervat thought as much.

"'Lot o' good it does 'im. I'm in here every couple of weeks. You'd think he'd be able to keep one for longer than that!" Mervat mumbled as she headed down the street. Catching voices, Mervat whipped around and saw Marka, Jacques' cousin who always treated her kindly.

"Marka? Is that you? Why I do believe it is! MARKA!" Mervat yelled happily as she darted off towards Marka and rested on her shoulder for a moment and pressed her cheek with her sound grill, her way of giving Marka a kiss in greeting.

"Marka, you really must come back to the workshop and tame that cousin of yours! He's threw a wrench at me Miss Faust here. All because he blew up his invention the big loony! You'd think he'd be able to fix the darn thing, but no! He's off at it again!

"And then poor Miss Faust tries helping him clean it up, and he just yelled at her more and called her wretched names, awful names Marka, I tell you! Ordered us around like a couple of nobodies!

"I tell you, Marka, mark my words - that man is going to anger everyone in this town and never get another apprentice! Did you hear he fired his last one? Again? Only used him for grunt labor! Didn't teach him a thing! Came all the way from France, he did, 'lot of good it did him, poor dear," Mervat then rambled on about Pierre and how horribly Jacques treated him in his tempers.

"...honestly Marka? That no good creator of mine needs someone to keep him in check. Doesn't listen to me one bit, just threatens me, he does! Won't you visit more often? He does like you, after all," Mervat suggested, trying to compel her to come back and set things straight again for awhile.

"Mervat! Well, hello again, you little clockwork concoction. I missed you too, and I--WHAT?!" Marka yelled suddenly, causing several passersby to stare. "Jacques threw a WRENCH at Sid?! Well, she did say so, but I... The nerve of that...! Fired his last apprentice without teaching him anything?

"Oh, so he likes me, does he?" She fumed, her brows narrowing dangerously. "Fine. I'll go see him. I've been wanting to ever since Sid told me what he's been up to..."

"Marka... No, Marka, really... Marka, wait!"

But it was too late. The dark-haired girl had already marched down the street and barged into Jacques' workshop.

"Jacques!" She barked. "Jacques, where are you, you good-for-nothing, hammer-tossing--"

Sidone, having followed her friend hastily afraid of what might ensue between her and her cousin, did not know whether to laugh at Marka's fiery outburst or run and hide from it. She knew her friend and did not think that she would ever harm another human being without good reason, but the way she looked right now...

"You can't hide your sorry hide from me!" Marka continued to rant as she marched through the workshop, tossing various parts and tools aside without regard for where they landed or in what condition. "I heard what you did to my friend Sidone, you callous swine, and I want you to know that I won't stand for it!"

"Who's hiding?" Jacques called with a laugh as he emerged wiping his hands upon a cloth, "Marka, please, can you not destroy the workshop? I just cleaned it! And what have I done to Miss Faust? I can't recall doing anything..."

"You threw a hammer at her!" sassed Mervat as she hovered beside Marka.

"I did no such thing! I swear it!" Jacques protested as he threw the cloth on the bench and came after Mervat, who circled around Marka.

Following her, Jacques fumed, "Tell her the truth, Mervat, I was aiming at you! Miss Faust was just too close to you as you moved and the wrench happened to go between you two instead of hitting you in that tin head of yours!"

"Well this tin head is out running you, Mr. No-good-inventor! Guess you're getting fat and lazy! No wonder your inventions are shoddy!" countered Mervat.

"Why you- You're in for it now, Mervat! I'm pulling the plug!" Jacques threatened as he began chasing her around the workshop.

Jumping on her, pinning her to the table, Jacques went about trying to keep her still enough to open her power box.

"Marka! Marka! Don't let him! It's not fair!"

"Not fair my arse, Mervat! You're stretching the truth, getting me in trouble, and always causing a ruckus!" Jacques said furiously as he worked on trying to open the metal covering the power strips.

"NO!" Sidone cried out, throwing herself so that she cut off Jacques from Mervat. She gathered the clockwork creation into her arms and shielded her from Jacques, glaring furiously at the inventor as she did so.

"How dare you! Have you no shame? No heart? Mervat is your creation! Didn't you make her with your own hands? You should be doing your best to improve upon her and protect her, not be seeking to damage her or shut her down every time she gets your ire up!"

"You tell that wood-for-brains, Sid," Marka egged her on, throwing a particularly venomous glare of her own at the inventor. "I don't know what his father was thinking, giving him so much for his inheritance only to have him open a workshop where he doesn't make anything useful and the one good thing he creates, the next thing you know he's seeking to destroy back to parts!"

"Oh come off it! You know very well all you have to do is plug her back in and she'll pick up right where she left off," Jacques harrumphed with a glare at all three girls, "Mervat failed to mention that. How else do you think I make repairs on her? Surely not while she's awake. Women... Never learning anything," Jacques fumed as he glared furiously at Marka.

"And you're right, my father would be ashamed of my work for nothing I have created has gone right but Mervat. But he's dead, Marka, and I'm a failure. I know this as well as the next person. Must you and everyone else keep telling it over and over? Cannot you give those words a rest and let me try and accomplish what I wish?" Jacques added softly before storming out of the workshop into the back garden area where he kicked at the stones and threw his goggles across the garden, not caring that they shattered when they hit the building opposite of him. Sitting down on the bench, Jacques sighed as looked up at the bright blue sky, wondering just what he should do about everything.

Mervat sighed as she hovered between Marka and Sidone, "I think you went a bit too far, Marka love."

In moments, Mervat had flown off and landed beside Jacques on the bench. Pressing against his hip lightly, Mervat looked up at him as she spoke, "I'm sorry, Jacques. Marka didn't mean to go too far, I'm sure. You really are infuriating, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Jacques responded absentmindedly.

"Would you like me to go?" Mervat inquired hesitantly.

"No, you're alright Mervat," Jacques said softly with a smile down at his creation. He really did adore her, even if she did annoy the hell out of him every chance she got.

Marka immediately looked shame-faced as Jacques stormed off. "Jacques, I'm--Jacques, wait."

Hurrying after him, she paused behind him uncertainly. "Jacques? I'm... I'm sorry. I should never have said that. I just... I shouldn't have let my temper get the better of me that time." Hesitating, she continued softly, "Jacques? I miss him too. Your father was a good man."

Their two separate families had become almost like one big family after Marka's brother had married Jacques' cousin. Jacques' father's death had affected all of them greatly.

Sidone had also gone out after them, but stopped in the doorway leading out to the garden as she saw what was happening. Somehow, she felt that this was not the time or place to interject her own words.

"I... I had better go," she murmured, just loudly enough for them to hear. "I'm sorry for my outburst, Jacques. I guess I just don't know enough about sophisticated clockworks like Mervat... Marka, I'll see you later..."

With that, she turned and made her way slowly through the shop and out into the street. Turning her face towards home, she began to walk.

Jacques sighed as he took Marka's hand and simply held it, still looking up at the sky as he sat upon the bench, Marka standing behind him, "Aye, that he was. My father was indeed a great man. And please, do not apologize for saying what you believe, Marka. We both know you're far too outspoken for you're own good and speak what's on your mind," Jacques teased with a small smile.

"Do you truly believe I should give up all of this nonsense and just tinker with my commissions? Not try anything new? It seems all I have done is waste money, parts, and time so far.. Perhaps it won't be such a terrible idea.. After all, I have yet to settle down and Mum's been looking for someone to take care of.. Perhaps giving her grandchildren to spoil will give her some joy and help her get over my Father's death.. Perhaps it would do me some good as well," Jacques whispered with a sigh as he looked at Marka.

"I think you're crazy if you're going to marry a girl just so you can get a couple kids out of her and make your mother happy," Mervat said matter-of-factly before giving him one last nudge and flying off to remind Sidone about the parts Jacques needed. For, as much as it looked like she hated her creator, she really did love him and didn't like seeing him so depressed. So, the best thing to do, was to get him back on his feet and tinkering again. And to do that - he would need Mr. Faust's parts.

Jacques chuckled as he watched Mervat leave, "Well, perhaps I am as loony as people say..."

Marka squeezed Jacques' hand slightly, grinning down at him as she pushed a stray lock of her black hair behind her ear. "Yes, and that's what got me kicked out of the house in the first place, didn't it? Far too outspoken about that fat, pompous old duke they wanted me to marry; I don't care if he was richer than the king, he didn't have my heart and that was that."

She laughed, completely unabashedly. "Oh, and I know your aunt offered to take me in, but... I don't know, I was just fed up with that sort of life. I wanted to try something new. And you know what? I'm perfectly content with the way I am now, doing the odd job here and there and just having the run of the town. Everyone knows me. And everyone knows to keep out of my way."

Flexing her muscles, she smirked proudly. "Well, there is the part where I'm hungry for a couple of nights here and there, but... When that happens, I know who to go to. But I know I got lucky, and I also suspect a family member or two has a hand in my good fortune on the streets." Sighing, she shrugged.

"Well, no help for that, I guess. I'll settle down when I feel like it and not a moment before. And that," she added with a light smack to her cousin-in-law's head, "is exactly what you should do, as well! Don't let anyone pressure you into marriage, Jacques, I learned that lesson already."

Sidone was a quarter of the way home before she heard a familiar sound behind her... Turning, she smiled slightly as she saw Mervat coming towards her. "Oh, hello again Mervat. Is something the matter?"