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by ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s » Mon Jun 01, 2015 5:06 pm
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"You've been gone too long, Jinxe," Flick said with a sigh, pulling the mask off before ruffling his blonde hair.
"Gone?" Tinker asked impulsively.
Jinxe hardly spared him a side glance. "Most of the rebellion has been happening outside the city," she explained softly. "I volunteered to replace the our last inner city spy."
Tinker suddenly got the overwhelming feeling he was far too deep in a situation he knew nothing about.
Even if h was going to say anything, he wouldn't have had the chance, as Jinxe's attention was turned to the other boy in an instant. "What's been happening?"
Flick let out a humorless laugh and raised his eyebrows. "Where do I begin? I didn't think it could get worse, but upriver is in shambles," he said, tossing his arm to gesture in the general direction of the less fortunate towns. "Half the property in upper-class territory has been bought by gold-grades. They're spreading the wealthy through the poorer territories," he explained with growing frustration. Then, with a sudden grunt under his breath, he looked around and walked over to the corner of the room, pulling out a chalkboard with a crude map on it. "All of these silver cities now have gold and platinum residence," he said, drawing a wide arc across the map. "I've even seen advertisements encouraging them to move to brass towns- even here!" He said, dropping the chalk back into the tray with a heavy sigh, running his hand through his hair. "It's only a matter of time now," he muttered, arm falling limply.
"Why would they do that?" Jinxe mused, her voice hushed and slightly disgusted.
"I think," Flick continued matter-of-factly, "that they're trying to spread out those who are liable to afford digital upgrades," he said darkly. "But the question is why- to make sure all the cities are populated when the rest of us go down with the steam industry? You'd think they could at least put the scrap metal to good use," he hissed as though offended. He then fell unusually silent, eyes scanning the floor.
Jinxe peered at him closely. "You're not telling me something," she said flatly. Her suspicions were confirmed when he glanced up at her without lifting his head with those sad eyes she knew too well. "Daud," she said firmly.
"Gem," he replied, looking off to the side and shaking his head. "Violet's gone."
A laugh immediately escaped Jinxe, though her face had fallen, eyes wide in horror. "What?" She scoffed breathlessly. "What do you mean... Violet..." She began to shake her head and Flick immediately rushed up to her. She fell limply against his chest, though tears did not reach her. She simply stood in his embrace, eyes wide as he rested his chin on her head.
"Whose Violet?" Tinker asked cautiously, felling too guilty that he had to ask.
"Her sister," Flick answered quietly with a fleeting glance in his direction. He then held Jinxe out by the shoulders to see her one eye begin to water. "Gem, look at me," he said quietly. "She didn't suffer. The whole patrol-"
She shot a look in his direction, speaking sharply before he could finish. "Who else?" She demanded.
"Gem-"
"Who else?!" She repeated, refusing to give in.
He steadily met her gaze, lips pressed into a thin line before speaking. "Only Editha and Kanyn Partridge."
She sniffed and paused in thought. "I don't... Recognize the name," she admitted.
"Editha is- er... Was Veridian's daughter," Flick informed her.
An instant look of dread came over her face. "Oh god," she grumbled. "There's more of them?"
He couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "More than you think," he said with a glint of amusement. "They left behind their daughter, Perys. She's actually staying with Veridian now."
"More of them in the same house?!" She asked, voice raising in a mixture of horror and morbid curiosity.
"Yeah," he confirmed, wincing inwardly. "I only had to go there once to learn my lesson."
"I... Can't help but feel out of the loop," Tinker voiced dumbly, rocking on his heels off to the side.
Jinxe twisted her torso around to face him. "Trust me, you don't want to be in it."
"He is right," Flick said suddenly, clearing his throat and allowing his hands to drop back to his sides before looking at Jinxe, eyes narrowing in bewildered concern. "That house in the city was a stronghold. What could you have possibly done that would make it unsafe?"
"They moved a crystal into the city, Flick," Jinxe said with sudden rise of excitement, gesturing between herself and her new companion with a smile. "We destroyed it."
"Well- she destroyed it," Tinker insisted suddenly.
Flick's eyes widened as he looked between the two, taking Jinxe by the shoulders. "What were you thinking, doing that by yourself?" He asked in a panic. "Jinxe, you can't stay in the city, they'll-"
He did not need to finish the sentence. The dusty computer monitor hanging from an arm on the wall flickered to life in a fashion that caused Pip to buzz with a startle, spiraling up to Jinxe's shoulder with a continuous hiss escaping him.
All of them turned to face the little screen, flashing with the faces of two dreadfully familiar figures, distorted my static.
This is a televised emergency broadcast. These figures were last seen fleeing the scene of a crime in the city of Sprocketon. Any knowledge of their whereabouts are to be reported immediately.
Flick whipped around to immediately glare at Jinxe, who cringed upon catching his eye. "Reckless, impulsive, tactless-"
"Hey hey hey!" She shouted defensively, pointing a finger at him. "They shouldn't have made it so easy!"
"I think there will be time to argue about this later," Tinker spouted insistently.
"Not unless we get out of here," Flick pointed out, turning to search for something whilst grumbling under his breath. "Aha!" He said suddenly, picking up a remote from a counter top and blowing dust off of it before pressing the button.
Tinker jumped with a startle when a second wall began to twist, causing Jinxe to raise an eyebrow at him. The spinning wall revealed a rusty old automobile that made Jinxe's eyes widen. "Where on earth did you manage to get that?"
"I've been scraping up the parts for years," he pointed out. "But that doesn't matter- just get in."
She didn't have to be told twice. Jinxe ran up and leaped into the passenger side without opening the door, bouncing with excitement in her seat as the two young men followed in a rushed yet calmer manner, Flick scooping handfulls of trinkets and accessories off the counter and into the back seat.
"Dare I ask where we're going?" Tinker asked, nearly closing the door on Pip on accident until the creature screeched and jumped over him into the other back seat.
"Somewhere out of town," Flick answered, sliding into the driver's seat and fiddling madly with the wires around the steering wheel. "Before they get a perimeter guard out there."
"Did you have somewhere in mind?" Jinxe pressed, holding back a giggle as the combustion engine roared to life. This was certainly no steam powered vehicle, but a project she was sure Flick had put more time and effort into than he should have.
"Uhh," he stalled as the wall turned back around and at the same time a door on the other side opened, thanks to more buttons he had to push. "Uhh," he continued until he was able to get the vehicle in motion and flinging down the cobblestone street. He then cleared his throat, hiding his words in the cough. "Veridian's house."
"What?!" Jinxe exclaimed, sparking an argument between her and the blonde in which they did nothing but shout over each other.
"We have no where else to go-"
"But why there-"
"It's as far as we're going to be able to get-"
"We'll stand out like a sore thumb in the brass district-"
"Well, do you have any more bright ideas-"
"Anywhere but there!"
"It's you're fault we're in this mess at all!"
Meanwhile, Tinker stared ahead with wide eyes, watching the girl he knew so well fight with a boy he hadn't even known existed earlier that day as if the two were a married couple, all the while absentmindedly stroking the trembling dragon the curled into his lap, afraid of the explosions the engine occasionally made under such strain. "So... Does this mean I'll be in the loop?" He asked.
"More like the seventh circle of hell," Jinxe spat over her shoulder.
"Oh come on, he's not that bad," Flick insisted. "Maybe... Second or third circle." He then paused. "Perys on the other hand..."
--
At the speed they were going, they cut travel time to Rothfield in half, though it was still a nerve wracking amount of time. Luckily, they had managed to dodge the Colossus, and now drove up a winding path towards a lonely house on a gravel hill. The house perched on loose rocks had initially been a concern, until it had been learned that the foundation stretched all the way to solid ground and the rocks were merely "decoration".
The first thing Tinker noticed were the lights in the house. Not only were all of them on and blinding in the middle of the night, but a different color shone from each window. To him, this looked like a huge "here I am, come and get me!" but he wasn't particularly keen to argue after the two ahead had done so the entire drive there.
The arguments stopped mere moments before the car came to a halt, doors slamming as the three exited the vehicle. They marched to the door in silence, Tinker lingering behind with Pip perched on his shoulder, uncharacteristically quiet and still.
The front door was adorned with a brass knocker, which Flick used to bang loudly against the door. Moments later, the peep hold near the top shot out of the door in the manner of a tiny, extending telescope with a magnified eye at the end. This was rather unsettling to the brunette, who jumped, but the other two seemed unphased, if not unamused. "Open up, Veridian!" Flick called, crossing his arms. "Genius here got herself caught for destroying a crystal," he said, jabbing a thumb at Jinxe.
She merely crossed her own arms and pursed her lips as the door was swung wide open. The motion revealed a man in his early seventies, arms stretched out as wide as the grin on his face. "Flick! Gem!" He cheered, graying hair sticking out at odd angles and the many magnifying lenses over his eyes retracting into the goggles upon his head. The man wore a leather apron and gloves thoroughly covered in oil. The brass pipes that wove his arms held glass tanks entwined in their grasp, bubbling with colorful liquid. Steam escaped spouts near the tanks every few seconds- on in each arm and one on his back, glowing vibrant blue, green, and purple. "It's been too long, too long. Come on in!"
"This is what you call hell?" Tinker whispered to Jinxe, walking close enough beside her that Pip swiftly shifted to perch on her shoulders instead.
"Just wait," she muttered, following Flick inside.
""Woah woah woah, hold me gold-plated digital phone!" Veridian said suddenly, slamming a gloved hand into Tinker's chest and causing him to come to an unpleasantly sudden halt. "And who might you be?"
Tinker cleared his throat to reply, but stopped dead when he looked up to meet the man's eyes, which, if he wasn't mistaken, seemed to be switching steadily between the colors in the tanks. He then took a hasty step back and extended a stiff arm. "Territt Pinkers," he introduced. "Sir."
"Sir! Hah!" The man shouted, taking the young man's hand and shaking it wildly in an up and down motion. "I like you, boy! Veridian Keegarail Ph. D., Rothfield safehouse, biologist, rocket scientist, and aquatechnic."
"Aquatechnic?" Tinker mused. "Is that a real thing?"
"It is now!" Veridian answered, pulling him inside before slamming the door, his rasping laughs echoing through the house.
If... You could call in that.
There were more pipes than furniture, most made out of glass and an unsettling amount hanging from the ceiling in a labyrinthine manner, twisting around each other and snaking in and out of larger brass pipes riddling the fifteen foot ceiling. Liquid shot continuously through each, spiraling down the walls and leading across tables or through the walls where their destination remained unknown.
Tinker was awestruck until a piercing sound echoed down the hallway.
"Papaaaaa!" As if the screeching voice were not ear-splitting enough, it was accompanied by a deafening whistle akin to that of a kettle or train; and soon enough, Tinker and Jinxe realized why while Flick stood with an expression of pure dread.
A young girl- perhaps thirteen- marched down the hall, her oversized brass-plated boots making more of a racket than any of them thought possible. Her brown hair was cut in a short bob and bangs that looked almost too perfect to be real, and a steam whistle extended from a brass pipe along her back, perched clear above her head and emitting plumes of steam.
She was red-faced and obviously angry until she came to the end of the hall and spotted the company. She straightened up with a small gasp and clicked her heels together, causing wheels to pop from her metal boots. She zoomed right up to Flick with a charming smile on her round face, stopping dangerously close to him and making a motion that caused her boots to raise her to his level. He barely leaned back. "Hi Flick," she said sweetly. "I didn't know you were here."
"Hi, Perys," he said flatly, fighting the urge to not cringe.
"I told you to call my Bertie," she giggled, playfully swatting at his arm with her metal fingertips. She then stopped when she spotted Jinxe standing behind him. Immediately narrowing her dark eyes, she crossed her arms and lowered her level, rolling over to the girl and looking her up and down. "Who are you?" She demanded.
"Uh- Gem Brinkstone?" She offered. "Or Jinxe if you prefer," she added, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed at the girl's behavior.
"Perys Partridge," she introduced, nose high in the air as she over enunciated her name. She then glared at Jinxe once more. "You can call me miss." She merely glanced at Tinker and wrinkled her nose before turning and rolling away, flashing Flick a smile as she passed.
"Perys, please," Veridian voiced, snagging her arm before she could escape back down the hall, gesturing to the next room. "Ready tea for our guests."
The girl scoffed, ready to argue, but instead glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes, skating her way to the kitchen.
"I apologize for my granddaughter," he said with a small laugh. "Must be the fumes gettin' to her head! Which reminds me-" he trailed off and moved his finger around the room before it stopped on a purple vial letting out an unusual amount of steam the same color. "Don't inhale those ones- and make sure you don't touch it or bump the table- you know what, just give it a ten foot radius at all times." His smile then returned. "What are you waiting for? Come on then," he said, very nearly skipping into the next room. "We have all kinds of cattywampus shenanagins to discuss!"
As soon as he left the room, a giggle and snide remark was on the tip of Jinxe's tongue before Flick whipped around to face her, pointing a finger in her face. "Not a word," he said in a low tone, dead serious.
Still, she couldn't help but laugh as she trailed her old friend through the doorway where Veridian disappeared. Once she caught her breath, however, she managed to nudge Tinker with her elbow, causing him to stumble slightly. "By the way," she said in a hushed tone, "I wouldn't drink the tea."
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.........................Last edited by
ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s on Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s
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by shade. » Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:13 am
I really want to write another chapter
but i don't know what to say
ah the want is high but muse is low
sighhh
by the way everyone has done great so far
this is going awesome I love it!
she/them
writing is everything
shoot me a pm c:
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xx
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shade.
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