The Rusthead Rebellion ~ View topic

The sky was an ashy gray in New Haven city, the usual cold winds sweeping through and picking up any stray pieces of paper- ranging from spare bits of propaganda to fliers for a wide array of products. With a soft thumping noise, a young man can be seen trudging through the dirty snow collecting on the sidewalks; a wide array of bags, tubing and machines strapped haphazardly to his body, with a grey scarf wrapped around his mouth. Every few moments a slight hissing comes from under his coat, but the people around him take no notice. With a sudden cry, the man topples over, machinery and other clockwork devices spilling onto the sidewalk and into the snow. The people walking by take no notice, while he quickly attempts to pick up his lost pieces.

Somber attire to match the somber mood and bitter cold kept Elizabeth an inconspicuous individual starting another day at work, just like all the others. The only article that may have given right to any second looks was the bright red scarf snaked around her shoulders, chin tucked into it. In both hands she carried a leather-bound case, well worn in spots and tarnished where clasps may have once been brass.

She rounded a corner and was broken from her sleepy morning lull of awareness by a pair of children rushing by with a makeshift sled. She took a step to balance herself, but the step had been misplaced and only caused her to slip on a patch of ice. She inhaled through grit teeth as she recovered from the impact of the fall, attempting to gingerly lift herself back to her feet. Bracing herself with both hands on the ground, her fingers brushed something nearby. She picked it up out of the snow and examined it. A small bird, from the look of it -- sparrow, perhaps, although it was an artificial work, cast in copper with a small wind-up key on its back. She looked up and saw a young man rooting around in the snow nearby. Two plus two was clearly put together, and she finally stood, carefully picking her way over to him. She held the bird at arm's length.

"Pardon me, sir...I believe this is yours?"

Lawrence looked up, adjusting his glasses and pulling down his bland-looking scarf, scuttling over in the snow and softly taking the bird out of her hands. With a small grunt, he picked himself up; a large number of clockwork and brass machinery clicking and making odd noises in his hands. "Ah...Sorry about that." He stumbled, glancing at the devices in his arms and counting them to make sure nothing was still missing. "I had forgotten how terrible the winters can be this time of year..." After a few awkward moments, he had successfully stuffed of the array of clockwork animals, clocks and gears into a bag on his side, and extended a hand.

"Thank you very much for that, Miss...?"

Wind whipped by at astounding rates, and flakes of snow spotted on her glasses every couple of seconds. Pepper Powell bicycled on a brass bike, looking heavy with machinery that bumbled along with her path. Weaving in and out of the slow moving people, she reached up and brushed her amber hair from her eyes, looking forward with stalwart determination and standing on the pedals of the bike, arms at max length. She was wrapped up in her usual clothing and a torn up winter scarf, pedaling and pedaling as fast as she could.

Rounding a corner, she skidded on the ice and pushed on her pedals to keep speed, eventually coming to the two in the midst of the path. She looked up, not used to two people facing each other in her path and began to panic. Looking down at her bike handles as she bolted to them at a top speed, she flicked open a switch and hit the button.

"LOOK OUUUUT!" She squeeked in her soprano voice just as the bike bucked into the air in a burst of boiling hot steam that blew away and melted instantly most of the snow beneath her. Pepper and her bike leapt over the two, just as the steam dropped and she returned to the planet. She kept going, momentarily looking over her shoulder to shout, "SORRY!" She looked back forward, rounding another corner and pulling up to the bank, stopping to catch her breath and lockdown her bike to something nearby...

Lawrence wretched his hand while his expression quickly transformed from gentle gratitude to pure horror. Squatting and putting his hands over his head he had just managed to capture a glimpse of the girl riding away in the distance- and of course, not be smacked in the head by the flying bicycle.

Getting back up, with his goggles swinging wildly around his neck he gaped for a moment, his attention going back to the woman in front of him with a slightly distant expression. "Ah...What was your name again?"