"Running Like Clockwork"

[Mieko]

Well I am returning after a long absence. There was a fair amount of real life issues that took me a way for some time. But I'm back and hopefully looking to start up a few long term roleplays. Below is the first snippet of a Victorian Steampunk roleplay that died out some time ago but I would like to resurrect. If it looks like something that might interest you either pm or post a reply I'll give you a more in depth description of the plot and what I am looking for in a partner. ^^


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Six months it had been since her mother's passing, and six long months it had been since her father had buried herself in his work. It had been entirely unexpected, her mother's illness had come so suddenly and ravaged her body so completely in such a short time that the doctor's had been able to do little but to fill her with drugs and inject her with medications that mercifully eased her pain and spared her the agony which Amelie was sure the woman had felt. Six months it had been since they'd buried her. And six months it had been that her father had kept himself locked inside his workroom, tinkering day and night at what the young woman was unsure.

Tinkering was what her father was known for. What had begun in childhood with nothing more than the desire to create for himself a canine companion as his mother had refused to allow anything so beastly as a mongrel into her household had quickly turned into an undeniable passion to invent. First it was simple creatures. When a canine had proved a bit more complicated to create than he'd expected at the tender age of six, it had been a clockwork canary that was his first success. From there he'd move onto more complex creatures until at the age of seventeen he'd created his first two-legged servant. While far short of perfection as it seemed not quite capable of performing all the tasks required of a maid or a butler, and one could not quite call it human-like as was the intent, it had been a start. And soon the wealthy were seeking him out to create the very same them. A manner of saving the the small fortunes that were spent on a servants salary.

Though even in this day and age such a meager amount of pay could hardly be described as a fortune. But then the rich were quite peculiar. Or so her father had always commented upon and most of their sensibilities were far from what the word suggested. Sensible they were by no means.

Lucien Thorne was by all accounts a brilliant man. A bit off in the head to be sure as anyone who had ever met him would attest to. But whereas before his wife's death, he had been a vibrant cheerful man with youthful good looks that belied his 46 years; The months and weeks following his wife's death had taken their toll. Sleepless nights and the grief and guilt he felt had given him a haggard tired look. The man who once looked to be ten years younger than his true age, now had the visage of a man ten years older.

For six months Amelie had been left to deal with the clockwork shop alone while her father buried himself his work. And in six months she'd managed to bring them to the verge of bankruptcy. Amelie did not have her father's brilliance by any means. Nor did she have any understanding at all of his work. When they would question the working of a particular mechanism they desired to purchase, she truly had no answers for them. Her father had been of little help as no matter what time it was she went to him for help, it never did seem to be a good time. A knock on his workroom door would inevitably lead to a curt response of, 'Now is not the time.'

But it never did seem there was a time. Today however, Amelie was not taking no for an answer. Rapping quite firmly on the the door with her knuckles, she calls through the door to him in a decidedly determined manner. "Father?! I really must insist that you open the door! It's high time you and I had a..." And her eyes grow wide as saucers as before she can finish her sentence she finds the door flung open and she standing face to face with her father who had the oddest smile upon his face. "...talk." She finishes. Though it seemed rather unnecessary to say.

"Talk?" He goes on, his smile growing stranger by the moment. "Of course darling. We can talk about anything you like? Tell me what's on your mind." He steps back toward one of his work tables where he begins to polish up a key.

"I..." Amelie begins, unsure of where to go from there. Her entire speech to him about this grief, this locking himself up in his workroom day in and day out, his responsibility to the shop...all the things she had in mind to discuss with him completely wiped from her mind as she sees there in the middle of the room seated in a chair, the figure of a clockwork woman. But it was not just any woman he'd styled it after. Most of his creations were rather nondescript. This one however, for all the sharp edge edges of the metal where it had been bent and melded together, for all the rivets and gears which shaped it, looked for all the world like the image of her mother.

Unable to contain her amazement, she crosses the room in quick strides until she is standing just before it, leaning forward, her palms resting on the thick layers of skirts covering her thighs. Though it was cold and mechanical as she reached out her fingers to touch the shiny polished brass of it's 'cheek' , the thing was eerily lifelike in some respects. "So this is what you've been working on." She murmurs softly. "The likeness is remarkable..." Her voice trails off. There was no doubt in her mind he'd spent all six months working on this very thing. Something which caused her even deeper concern for his mental state. It was then her father had come across with the key, placing it in the back and turning it.

At that very moment its metal eyelids pop wide open and Amelie jumps back with a start, bringing her hand to her lips with a shock. Those eyes staring back at her were no simple glass ones as her father had always used. They were real, and very much her mother's. " For the love of...what have you done father?"

[Justric]

Mieko,

I truly have to say that I wish I had more time on my hands. Your proposed setting is interesting, and the opening sequence definitely catches the attention, especially at the end. As it stands, it leaves a world open for many diverse characters and parts to be played. I sincerely wish you the best of luck with this piece!

- Justric

[Mieko]

*Taken* Thanks for the interest. ^^