I've spent the occasional afternoon wondering what the original character I came up with would do if she really lived in Victubia. To plunder my ponderings would lead you through the simple story of the everyday life of a Victorian-Steampunk inventor, Eliza. She was quite the unusual young lady of her day.
Based in Victubia, which was created by Gabbi. That inspired me to draw steampunk people, and Eliza was my favorite. Then I found fanart of a Victubian AIRSHIP and I flipped out. I love airships! So I created my own airship and crew, and did this little story about Eliza coming to Victubia and finding her friend, who is a part of said crew.
"Little story." Hah. This is probably the longest chapter I have ever written.
BUT ANYWAYS. I apologizeeeee because I look back on it and read through it and it looks really bad, like I can't concentrate on any one scene and just skip around to the parts that I want to write. And then I seemed to keep getting farther and farther from the people whom Victubia was actually created around. And I didn't have much of a plot at all, so I decided SCREW IT, the antagonists can be sky pirates because anything that has to do with airships is awesome.
If Victubia doesn't really have airships, then this is an AU where it does.
Eliza groggily came to the realization that she was not in her bed. The inventor groaned and pulled her head out of her arms. She was exhausted. Her left arm was asleep and prickled painfully when she tried to take her goggles off of her head, where they left round marks on her forehead. There was a crumpled paper in her right hand, and as she uncrumpled it she remembered what it was: a to-do list.
Notes:
Unpack
Get shop up and running
Pen a letter to James
The handwriting was sloppier than usual from Eliza's lack of sleep in the past few days. She stretched in her seat and reached for her cane, which was usually leaning against whatever surface was to her immediate right. It wasn't there, causing Eliza to turn and glare unhappily to where it had slipped onto the floor. She held the edge of the desk and leaned down for it, scrambling for a second to get back up. With the help of her sturdy wooden cane, she stood and chided herself for not even bothering to take off her leg brace, let alone fall asleep on the mattress in the back instead of the desk.
There was an unexpected knock at the door. Eliza quickly hobbled to answer it, and was greeted by a cheery woman with rosy cheeks.
"Hello," she said, "I heard you moved in last night, and decided I ought to visit you come morning. I'm Nora, I live next door." Nora held out her hand.
Eliza looked at it for a moment, and held out her left hand, somewhat embarrassed, but her right hand was holding her cane. Nora didn't mind. "I'm Eliza."
"Oh!" cried Nora. "Whatever happened to your leg, dear?" She seemed to be startled by the metal brace on Eliza's right leg.
"I got run over by a carriage when I was small," replied Eliza. She was uncomfortable talking about it, because it seemed to alienate her from the people who didn't have to walk around with a brace and cane.
The older woman was more concerned than Eliza about it. "But how will you find work? Nobody in their right mind in this city would hire a crippled girl!"
"I'm an inventor," said Eliza with a hint of pride in her voice. "And if you'll please excuse me, I have to get my shop running."
"Oh, but you'll need to get the mayor's say-so to sell anything," said Nora. "There's so many odd things that go on in this town, the mayor has been trying to prevent the black market from taking advantage of it all."
"Oh. Well, I guess I should do that, then. It was nice meeting you, anyways."
Nora returned her farewell and went on her way. Eliza went into the back room and tried to make herself look more presentable, if she was going to see the mayor.
"Cabbie!" called Eliza, waving her hand to call over a cab with a gorgeous bay horse pulling it along.
"Where ya headed, miss?" the driver asked.
"How far to the mayor's office?" she asked in reply.
"A pound for a round trip, miss. Gabbi lives on the other side of the city, near Minx Castle. Believe me, it'd take all day to walk." Eliza nodded, and the good-natured cabbie climbed down and opened the cab door. The inventor pulled herself up with slight difficulty. Unfortunately, the cab didn't have enough room for her straight leg; so she sat sideways, resting her back against the door.
The ride lasted about a half hour, during which time Eliza occupied herself by staring out the window. The capital was full of a rich diversity of people, ranging from bakers and carpenters to... exorcists? The girl puzzledly watched the little shop with the sign that advertised such as it passed out of sight.
There was even an airship port, and as the cab drove past Eliza wondered if the Pointstar had ever docked there, and if she could see James there one day.
The engineer had convinced the captain of the Pointstar to let Eliza come with them perhaps five years ago. James had shown her how the engine worked, and then she'd decided to be an inventor, a job where her crippled leg wouldn't hinder her.
The horse drew to a stop slowly, and Eliza climbed out of the carriage. The mayor's office was a grand building in front of the town square.
"I'll wait for ya here, miss. Take your time," said the cabbie.
"Thanks," she replied, and opened the thick oaken doors.
"Can I help you?" asked a nice-looking lady behind a desk.
"I need to see the mayor. Is she available?" asked Eliza.
"Unfortunately, Mayor Gabbi is really busy today. The queen's birthday is next week, and there's going to be a grand festival celebrating it. Is there anything I can do for you? I'm one of the mods around here."
Eliza had never heard of anything like that before. She asked, "What's a mod?"
"We're like administrators, and make sure everything's up to speed when Gabbi can't keep up with all of it," the mod replied. "There's five of us; I'm Asameth. Can I help you?"
"I need authorization to open a shop on the other side of town," explained Eliza.
"Alright. What are you selling?"
"I'm an inventor. I guess I'll sell what I make, which would be…" she shrugged, "I dunno, maybe wind-up toys for children, or something similar."
"Sounds neat. Sign this and give your store's address." Asameth handed Eliza an official-looking paper, and Eliza did as she was told.
"That's it. You're registered. Have a good day."
The inventor blinked. "That's it? No inspection or anything?"
The mod shook her head. "If you were selling any food, then yeah, but I don't think wind-up toys need to be inspected."
"Thanks," said Eliza, and gladly left the building.
The cabbie had waited for her, as promised. On the return trip, she stared out the window again, feeling tired but altogether satisfied. As they passed the airship port, she caught a glimpse of a royal blue airship moving towards the docks.
"Stop the cab!" she called to the cabbie. "Please, stop!"
"What is it, miss?" asked the driver. He pulled over and stopped the horse. Eliza nearly jumped out of the carriage.
She quickly explained while fetching a pound from her pockets. "I need to see someone at the docks. Here's a pound; keep the change."
"Thank ya, miss," replied the cabbie.
Eliza set off at as brisk a pace as she could manage towards the port. It bustled with life as airships' cargo was unloaded and reloaded and supplies was bought and sold as needed. The docks stretched out over a cliff so airships of varying sizes could land without accidentally grounding themselves. There was a large sign that read, "Caution: Mind the edges. Victubia's dock manager takes no responsibility for any accidents/injuries/deaths that may occur." Eliza laughed inwardly. Then she saw, at one of the far ports, the beautiful blue Pointstar being weighted down to land. The crew were all wearing royal blue vests that matched the balloon. The captain stood at the front, directing the crew as they tied down the airship Pointstar. Each crew member fastened a thick rope to the dock and checked thrice that it wouldn't come loose. As they did so, they called "Secure!" to the captain.
Eliza called out James' name as she drew closer.
"Eliza!" said he when he saw her. He swept up the little inventor in a great bear hug. "What has it been, five years? How's your shop coming along? How long have you been in Victubia? Any luck with your inventions?"
Eliza didn't get a chance to answer his questions. The captain approached them and said, "Eliza! Long time no see. I'm sure that you and James have many stories to share, so how about you join us at the Late Night Bar tonight?"
"I would be much obliged, ma'am," Eliza replied. She'd never been to the Late Night Bar, but interesting rumors about it had traveled all the way out into the countryside where she had used to live. It sounded like an exciting place.
"So how's the airship been doing? Have you made any important deliveries or escorts lately?" asked the inventor.
"You bet! Eliza, we did everything from ship the usual boring cargo to have a run-in with sky pirates!" James lowered his voice to a whisper. "I bet you didn't know that the captain is a mage, did you?"
Eliza shook her head in wonder.
"I didn't know either, until pirates started hurling grappling hooks and wind lances right and left and whoosh! She up and vaporizes the lances and blows the pirates all the way to the moon! It was amazing!"
"That must've been terrifying! What if the Pointstar had been sunk?"
James folded his arms and put on a serious expression for once. "Sure, it was scary at the time, but now it's over and we've still got our lives and our airship! Don't worry about it anymore." He leaned back took a swig from his drink.
Eliza picked up her glass and glanced at its contents. It was filled with a questionable violet liquid that smelled faintly of something sweet. She swished the glass around and watched as some other shades of blue and violet rose to the surface. "What is this stuff?"
James shrugged. Eliza set it back down on the bar.
"So how's the inventing going?" asked the engineer.
"Fine, I suppose. I've not had any inspiration lately. Moving here was complicated. I had to get authorization to open up my shop."
"Yeah, the mayor keeps track of what's being sold around here, because there's quite a few cursed artifacts and other dark magics going around the black market. Pirates get some good loot from illegally shipping that stuff around."
"I guess that's true," sighed Eliza. She looked around the bar. It was full of people talking away merrily about the past week's events. The bartenders seemed to have a knack for entertaining all of them without missing a beat.
One of them, wearing an expressionless mask over his face, paused next to them, pointed at Eliza and said, "Drink your Mysterion!" then promptly continued his errand.
"What?"
"Your drink," James responded. "It's called Mysterion."
"Oh. Right." Eliza hesitantly picked up the glass again and cautiously took a sip from it. The taste was explosively sweet and smoky, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. She made a face and put the glass down again. "That's the most… interesting… thing I've ever tasted. James, you-?" She noticed that her friend was staring intently somewhere behind her. "James? What, did I turn invisible?"
"Shh, the captain's talking to one of the mods."
"How is that important right now? Can't you worry about who the captain's talking to later?" Eliza questioned irritatedly.
"It looks serious. C'mon, Eliza, you've been on the Pointstar before. Anything that happens to one of us, especially the captain, affects all of us," James replied calmly.
The girl looked around and noticed that quite a few of the other crew members throughout the bar had also noticed the same. It was like they had some sort of psychic connection. Then the captain turned and looked at each of her crew in turn and then nodded her head towards the back exit.
James stood up. "Sorry, I've got to go," he said.
"But I haven't seen you in years, you can't leave now!" she protested.
"Sorry, kid." He began to leave. Eliza scrambled for her cane and followed him out.
"Guys," the captain was saying, "we've been commissioned."
"By whom?" someone asked. "And to do what?"
"The queen." She took a deep breath. "Tomorrow we're going to go raid the pirates' territory."
Remember at the top of the page when I said that the story kept getting farther and farther from the people who the world is based on? Yeah. This is what I meant.
Backstory: Sky pirates have been an increasing issue in Victubia, until Queen Minx received a death threat from them, and it was decided that they needed to take steps to obliterate the pirates.
This is where one of multiple things could happen: Eliza can go with the airship, or stay behind, or BADTHINGS. Personally, I'm leaning towards the third option. I have so much intelligence, I have yet again FAILED to think through the plot before writing. This happens every single time I write. Whatever.
Leave a review and let me know what you thought so far. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!