Advanced Clockwork: Young Writers Prize 2014

Chapter 8

"I still don't like this." Gig growled as she paced the floor. " She is too important, she is going in there alone, and we can't exactly help her out of a jam if we are raiding other houses."

"Relax, you hyperactive ferret." Sam said, leaning on the wall of the shop behind the counter. "She has more than one way of defending herself if she needed to. Besides, the worst that could happen is that one of them hits on her and she freaks out."

"This is why I never listen to you!" Gig cried. "You are treating her like she is HUMAN!"

"Well, this is coming from the one who lets her leave all the time. And besides, she is... was human. She still can be. Maybe if you hung out with her more, you'd learn that."

"But she isn't anymore! She never will be, Sam! Get that through your head! We use her, we cloth her, we shelter her! But we can't fix her!"

"Enough!" Samuel shouted, his two massive hands slamming into the desk as he leaned across to his partner, leaving one big hand prints in the wood from the mechanical one. "This is the last straw, Gianna!"

"No, YOU already passed that!" She screamed back, looking right into his eyes unflinching. "You passed that straw when we took her in and built up this family!" She spat the last part out like it was a sour taste on her tongue. "She isn't like us, she isn't even from this world! She is just a robot!"

"We both know you don't think of her like that, Gig!" Samuel roared, his veins in his neck bulging a little as his voice shook the walls. "You know that what you are saying is a lie for yourself so that you detach from her easily when she leaves!"

"Well, you are talking about her like she can feel! Like she can be normal!" Gig shot back, the anger leaping in her green eyes like emerald fire. "When they find out, not if but WHEN, we can't protect her!"

"You know full well she is too careful to be found out!" The tall brown skinned cyborg shot back, his brown eyes seething with annoyance and fury.

"Then how did she get into this mess, hu?" Gig growled, getting close to Samuel's face so they were only inches apart. "How did she end up in this sort of situation?"

"YOU LEFT HER ALONE!" Samuel roared, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her violently. "THEN WHEN YOU SAW A POSSIBLE CON JOB, YOU DIDN'T EVEN THINK! YOU GOT HER INTO THIS MESS! YOU!" She let out a cry of pain as she felt the cold metal squeeze into her bone, the burning feeling under her skin making her grit her teeth while he slowly let go, his eyes wide in surprise. "Gig.... Gig, I swear, I didn't-"

"Save it." The white haired cyborg growled, holding her shoulder gently in pain, her eyes on the floor. "I don't want your stinking apology."

They stood in the silence of the shop area as they looked at anything but each other. The dying sun shown through the window gently, it's warm glow giving no comfort to the two on the inside. They stayed in that silence for what seemed like hours, only to open their mouths at the same time to apologize to each other when they heard soft footsteps coming down the staircase slowly. Both their heads swiveled and watched as their forever young resident walked down timidly, and they gasped.

She had her short brown hair done fluffy and wild, a small band of copper wire twisted into a style of crown rested gently on her forehead that disappeared within the wild mess of hair. She had done her own makeup, silver eye shadow with lovely shade of light scarlet and charcoal mascara, making her look even more beautiful than she already did. But what made them gasp in amazement was the dress itself. Pure steel layered over each other like the belly of a snake that formed into a perfect fitting corset over her top half of her body, the black and dark silver layered dress layering over each other like a waterfall of elegance with the ruffles falling in the front just in the center of the thighs and waterfalled down slowly till it trailed down in the back, her sleeves flowing with a shimmer of silver overlay on back, a steal talon decoration on her right index finger giving her a look of fierceness to counteract a small portion of the glamorous. Gold, copper, and reddish metal gears were woven together into an elegant necklace, amber inlaid into the very center so it laid perfectly on her collar bone. Overall, one of a kind and definatly will catch attention from the eyes of the noble folk.