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“Hey Aubrey?” Sige pokes his head around her door and smiles a little as Aubrey makes a motion to ask him to be quiet for a moment. She tips a vial of something into a beaker and makes a satisfied humming noise when the liquid goes a vicious green colour. She corks it and then spins on her stool to look at Sige.
“Morning Sige, what can I do for you?”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon. . .Aubrey, have you had lunch?” Sige frowns as he looks at her.
“Oh, that’ll be why Ethan brought me a snack.” She blinks and gestures at the plate and glass, both empty, on the small desk by her bigger desk, both covered in books and notes and vials of gods knows what.
“Okay, good.” Sige shakes his head and carefully makes his way into the room. He perches on the spare stool and tilts his head at her. “You're not busy are you?”
“No, I mean. I’m free to talk.” She turns to look at the items she was working with. “Yeah, everything is corked and I think I’ve refined my dream essence. So I’m free!”
“I was just thinking.” Sige scratches the back of his head. “The job we did with The Black Slacks-”
“Cupboard Salt and Beau Bevel were slippery snakes.” Aubrey pulls a face and taps mindlessly on her knees as she waits for Sige to continue.
“Yeah they were. But it got me thinking. Well, they had a ghost dog and I think I brought it up when we first met but we didn’t have much time then but. We could make a dog right?”
Aubrey cocks her head as she looks at him, a far away look in her eyes as she takes off her glasses. Her mouth begins to form words as she thinks on it before turning back to her desk and going through her notes.
“Aubrey?” Sige leans forward, suddenly concerned at her franticness.
“Sorry, hang on. I was thinking. And well, it sounded good and I-” She cuts herself off as she reaches to grab a bottle of something that she nearly tipped off the table in her search for whatever notes she’s looking for.
Sige moves closer, taking the bottles she hands him while she searches. He looks a little alarmed at the amount of brightly coloured powders and thick liquids being handed to him but he trusts her and holds them in his arms.
“So, this is my plan. It’s unfinished because I didn’t really get a good look at the innards of the dogs and what they ran on but I have an idea and I’d like to make a little prototype before having anything really and I have ideas on improving them. If I’m correct on how they run? Which I’m not but.” She looks up from the notes and winces, realising how much she’s given him to hold. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Sige smiles slightly. He does trust Aubrey. But he doesn’t really know what any of these things do and holding so many makes him a little nervous and he’s relieved when she puts the diagram between her teeth to take the vials and beakers and bottles off him and into a haphazard organised line on her desk.
Aubrey tweaks how some of the bottles are sitting and rearranges them before pulling the stack of notes from her mouth. She looks down at them, eyes squinting over her round glasses before she turns them to Sige.
“So, I think this is how they run but I’m not entirely sure and I think I have some stuff to make it work. I think it would be easier if we did it completely metal? And I’m not an engineer so I’m not sure how easy it actually would be to make but.”
“I used to work in the factories. I could maybe wrangle some bits of machinery or break into some places to get what we need.” Sige reminds her as he looks through her designs. “And you want to make a little version, rather than a big one to start with because. . .?”
“Well, the dogs at the track were my height and I’m sure that’s easier to create pieces for but for how I think they run and how much metal and other bits we’ll need it’ll be cheaper to make it small and if it works enlarge it?” Aubrey taps her claws together as she talks, tail twitching behind her.
“I can see where you’re coming from. And you got little hands so putting it all together I may leave to you until we make it bigger.” Sige nods as he reads her tiny scrawls.
“I would like to refine it a little. If you have time with some cardboard or paper before we make it out of metal. I. Do you have time now?” Aubrey clasps her hands together, looking up at him with excitement in her eyes.
“I have time. I thought I may need to convince you a bit more honestly.” Sige smiles as he pulls the stool over to sit with her at the desk. “What do you need me to do?”
Aubrey beams at him, all her sharp little teeth on display before she turns and begins shifting things off the desk. Some of the vials are gently placed in draws before they slam shut, others are offloaded onto shelves. Papers with half formed recipes and plans are tossed onto the floor as she creates more space for them both to work.
“So, here’s the pieces I think we need. . .” Aubrey lays out the notes, pointing out the pieces and tracing them onto new paper and passing it onto Sige to cut out. She works fast, her drawings being recreated quickly and without much thought as she talks, explaining why and how the pieces fit together and the theory behind why she thinks it works that way.
Sige gets lost halfway through but he nods, diligently cutting out the patterns and stacking them neatly. He trusts Aubrey knows what she’s doing and if she thinks this is step one then he’ll work on it.
The first session towards making this dog is spent with Aubrey drawing and Sige cutting until there’s paper scraps on the floor and stacks of paper in various shapes. By the time they’ve finished, one of the Hitchcocks- Ethan, Aubrey says- pulls them out, saying something about a new plan for their next job that they’re discussing over dinner.
The second session comes a lot quicker than planned. It turns out for the new job it’s just going to be the Hitchcocks with Sige and Maelgwyn because he helps out every now and again. So Aubrey gets to sit and piece the paper version together by herself. She’s twitchy and anxious waiting for the rest of The Six to come back and it’s good to get lost in her projects.
She’s delighted when it all comes together smoothly, each piece interacting with each other so it doesn’t hinder the joints but moves cohesively when she pokes it. Her snout twitches as she wriggles a little in her study. There’s still time to wait so she makes her way to find Zaktrak and Peg.
They worked on the trains so it makes sense they would have a better insight on how to make machines work. And they both get invested in talking to her about things. It’s a good way to work on her project and a great way to pass time.
When the group comes back, Aubrey has a very good understanding of how the dog will run and sore ribs from laughing at the stories Zaktrak and Peg told.
Sige lets her know he has the metal they need when she’s ready to work on it.
The third session requires them breaking into one of the factories with the sheets of metal Sige acquired. They sneak out one night while the rest of The Six have some sort of celebration party. Aubrey knows she saw Maelgwyn and Castille dancing as Edmund kept them in time and called instructions as he did so in a soft voice.
Slipping into one of the factories is the easy part. They just had to map out the Pala-din’s usual route and find a break in patrol to melt a lock and duck inside.
The hard part is working out which machine will do what they want. Neither of them are engineers and it has been a long time since Sige worked in one of them. Theoretically, they should’ve done more research into this, stole some books on how to run these machines but that would’ve meant explaining it to the others and honestly, Aubrey was having a lot of fun with it mostly just being her and Sige.
Yes, she went to Zaktrak and Peg for some help but she’s confident they don’t really know what she’s up to. And she spent a lot of time just trading stories about Emberboro.
“Over here.” Sige whispers, heading off along a line of machines and Aubrey hops to follow him. He’s a little weighed down by the metal under his arm but he’s still much larger than she is.
He’s careful to not let the metal grind against the floor and only pauses when they end up at a machine Aubrey loosely recognizes from some books about machinery they had stolen as one of The Six’s first jobs. She had let Sige and Castille deal with those books.
“This is going to be loud. I need you to keep an eye on the place and make sure that people just assume it’s something that’s meant to happen.” Sige offers her a lift up to the walkways and Aubrey scrambles onto the metal structures. She peers over the grated floor to watch him move around the machine, muscle memory kicking in even after years of not using it.
But he gave her a job, so she bounds along the catwalk, heading to the front side of the building and listening as she peers out of the tiny windows.
Behind her, Sige goes to work, ignoring the noises the machine makes as it cuts through the metal. He doesn’t stop, just keeps going and Aubrey stays focused, keeping an eye on the patrols.
She thinks it’s down to the fact he’s continuously going, making it sound like he should be in here that doesn’t alert anyone. She does spot a pair of Lance Nobles gesturing to the building as they walk.
As they get closer she can just make out one say,
“-would be so loud committing obvious crime. It’s fine-”
She scrambles her way down and along to Sige, claws clicking off the grate as she peers between the bars to look down at him,
“How’s it going Sige? We may have a situation if the Lance Nobles decide we are being very bold while we do this.”
“Almost done actually. I’ve cut out a few of these bigger pieces and I can file them and stuff once we get back to base.” Sige grunts as he stops, wiping his brow. “What was that about the Nobles?”
Aubrey relays what she’s seen and heard before skittering back to the front and keeping an eye out. It passes mostly quietly. The Pala-din don’t knock although there are more of them in the next patrol and there’s no further sightings of any Golden Lance members.
“Aubrey, I’m ready when you are. You may have to hold these tiny bits for me.” Sige calls softly after a while, small bits of metal clinking together as he turns the machine off.
“Coming, a patrol just passed so we have a little bit before the next one comes.” Aubrey says as she jogs over, carefully picking her way down the ladder. She holds her hands out for the littlest parts and carefully tucks them into her pockets and pouchess. Sige tucks the larger pieces into his pockets and holds the remaining metal in one arm.
“Let’s head back and sort through what we have. I made some doubles just in case.” Sige gives her a lopsided grin and they both sneak out onto the main streets, ducking into alleys and back routes to avoid being seen and followed.
Whatever celebration that was happening when they left has wound down. Only Miss Salary is left in the main room but she’s asleep on the sofa, one of Hitchcock’s jackets draped over her like a blanket.
Aubrey looks up at Sige before grabbing an actual blanket and throwing it over her.
“Be quiet.” She whispers as she begins making her way to her study, careful to not trip on any of the items lying around. She hears Sige make a quiet noise in response to her but he doesn’t say anything until she closes the door behind him in her study.
“You cleaned up?” Sige’s voice is still quiet as he looks around the space.
“I needed the space to put things together and I was worried about spilling things onto the metal and then I thought that would be another experiment because maybe we can use our dog like the ghost dog but have it like…spill oil at a distance or like make it be able to spit powder? I have plans.” Aubrey says as she empties her bags and pockets onto the table.
Sige gently lays his pieces on her desk, the big sheet he tucks to the side of her desk, between it and the wall.
“Some of those pieces need to be filed, I’ll take them to my room but we may want to label them.” He says, picking some of the pieces away from the cluster of small parts in the centre of the desk.
“That’s a good idea.” Aubrey hums as she grabs a compass and scratches symbols into the metal pieces.
Despite the late hour, they’re both awake with adrenaline and excitement, the final prototype almost in hand.
Eventually, Sige decides they both need to sleep when he can feel himself nodding off and Aubrey’s sentences just turn into long words.
He double checks he has the bits that need filing and takes them to his room, intending to work on them when he’s more awake. Once they’re done, he and Aubrey can start making the final product.
They end up being really busy after that. New jobs spring up and they have their own projects to work on.
Sige forces himself to make time to work on filing the parts. He doesn’t want to have to delay them both any longer when it’s really just waiting on him to finish. He pulled Aubrey into this chaos and now they have a half finished prototype and they’re just waiting on him before they can put the pieces all together.
“Hey Aubrey.” Sige knocks on her door and gently nudges it open with a plateful of snacks. Knowing her as well as he does, she has probably forgotten about lunch and since both Hitchcocks are unavailable, he can imagine she hasn’t eaten yet.
“Sige!” Aubrey beams as he walks in and she scrambles to clear off the spare stool for him to sit. “What can I do for you?”
“I thought I’d bring you some lunch.” He holds up the plate and gently sets it on the smaller desk. “And I finished filing the pieces so. I thought we could finish the dog.”
Aubrey reaches for the plate, delighting in the prepared fruits and eats quickly, her stomach growling. She pauses and extends an orange slice to him.
“I’ve eaten.” Sige says and gestures for her to carry one. She cocks her head at him before demolishing the rest of the plate.
“Okay so, let’s see the pieces.” Aubrey turns back to the bigger desk, holding a hand out for the pieces that Sige hands over. She inspects them thoroughly, holding each piece up to her eyes and making little noises as she lays them flat.
Sige shuffles closer on his stool and peers easily over her shoulder as she begins putting things together, asking him for some tool that’s rolled onto the floor or to hold pieces together as she carefully uses small doses of her oil to melt the metal together.
“Okay. I think. I think maybe? Maybe we got it?” Aubrey blinks, looking at the small greyhound on the desk. It’s a little smaller than Castille’s cat form and made of grey metal. There were some scratches from filing and fitting it together but it made the dog look alive, almost like the little scratches mimicked fur.
“It looks good Aubrey.” Sige carefully pats the dog’s head with a finger, amazed at how it bobs slightly with the pressure.
“We need to name him.” Aubrey says decisively and looks up at Sige.
“They had dogs named An Appropriate Apple and Broad Boat, For me.” Sige nods as he thinks.
“Estranged Croissant?” Aubrey offers but her mouth twists a bit.
“Spiced Apple?” Sige replies.
“A Dance Undone?”
“Too Hitchcock-y. Oily Joints?”
“Leaky.” Aubrey carefully picks up the dog and studies it carefully. “Our Time, Reflected in Motion?”
Sige makes a thoughtful noise and nods after a moment. “I mean, if he runs then I like it.”
“Oh ye of little faith.” Aubrey sets the dog down and takes a deep breath. “So I don’t know how long it will last but I used a bit of dream essence and some ghost magic-”
“What?”
“Don’t interrupt! I may have leafed through some of Castille’s books on the ghost world.” Aubrey pouts and then begins to tap a pattern on the dog’s head. “Your name is Our Time, Reflected in Motion. Can be shortened to Our Time. I guess.”
The gaps they left to give the impression of eyes light up in a soft blue. He turns to face the pair of them, tail wagging.
“Oh wow.” Sige blinks as he looks down at the little creature. “Sit.”
“Sige!” Aubrey scolds but makes a noise when Our Time sits. “Fascinating.”
They spent some time testing commands and seeing what he can do. Aubrey frets and worries as Sige asks him to get down from the desk but it seems for naught as he plots a route that uses the desks and stools and mounds of books to get down to the floor.
He barely comes up to Aubrey’s knees and fits into one of the pouches on Sige’s belt.
“I think he’s running out of whatever makes him run.” Sige says after a while. The lights in Our Time, Reflected in Motion’s eyes dimming until they go out and he drops into a sitting position, vacant and any flexibility he had now gone.
“Next time we need to monitor how long it lasts and if more complicated instructions drain him faster.” Aubrey scoops him up and sets him on the desk, looking at him with a small smile.
“I know we talked about making him bigger but. . .”
“The idea of him hiding in your pouch until we need him would be very beneficial.” Aubrey finishes Sige’s thought and nods, grinning up at him, all her teeth on display. “We should keep him as he is.”
“Yeah. He’s pretty great for a little guy.” Sige gently bumps his hip into her. “You did a great job.”
“We did a good job.” Aubrey pushes him but he barely moves.
They’re both quite for a little while, basking in their success until Sige says quietly,
“Think we can use him to prank the rest of The Six?”
“Oh I already have plans.” Aubrey says, so seriously that Sige starts to laugh, shoulders shaking. Aubrey joins in after a while, leaning against his leg.