Be still my cog-work heart.
Staring at the photo frame which sat upon his desk, the white haired male let out a sigh. It had been too long since his partner had passed away now leaving the veteran war hero with their son and only the faded sepia tones of the picture to remember them by. His wife had always looked grand in anything even to their dying day and the picture proved it even if all colour was tainted with faded brown tones giving the photo an older feeling than what it once was.
Scarlet eyes continued to stare at the photo framed in gold until there was a knock at the door and violet eyes peaked round looking for the male who sat behind the desk in the grand office.
"..Vati?" White braids fell over the the small child's shoulder and brushed against the floor as he looked to his father who quickly beckoned the boy in with a small smile until he saw the boy's right arm hanging limply under his cream shirt. The boy ran up to the albino sat in his grand chair behind a desk of pure mahogany, something that was seen a lot of in their house which showed their standing in society even in they were foreign from the lands.
Lifting the child up to sit on his knee, the father's pale and toughened hands delicately lifted his son's limp arm and pulled the sleeve up, revealing a series of cogs and bronze that formed an almost perfect shape on the arm that should have been there. The normal click of cogs turning and hissing of the hydraulics moving the arm was currently absent which caused the older male to frown before the young one began to inform him of what had happened.
" It just stopped working and I ended up dropping paint on the floor that I was holding, I'm sorry Vati, Nanny said he would clean it and I was to see you" The violet eyes of the child dipped as he ended up looking to the floor avoiding his father's scarlet gaze.
" Do not worry kinder it is okay, we shall get it repaired again" He kissed the forehead on his son before putting him down so that he could go play again. " Go on, go play Alois and I shall get it sorted" He smiled as he watched his 12 year old son run off, mechanical arm still limp against his side as he went. The smile soon faded when Alois was gone from the room. It had been like this ever since Alois had received his automail arm, it seemed that none of the mechanics were of any use no matter how much coin was paid.
Sitting back in his chair he began rubbing the bridge of his nose as he thought of how to help his son. Alois had lost his arm in an accident just after his mother had died when he was playing out on the street. His father had worked day and night to find someone who could make the arm for the young one no matter what the cost. He couldn't help but feel he had let his son down with this cheap product that he wouldn't even use to power his clocks.
As he thought on the scarlet eyed male remembered someone from his days as a general. A bright haired male who was always tinkering with cogs and knew how to fix anything that needed fixing, a good man to have among the men who served under him. Standing up with determination he made his way to the wall where there hung a wooden box with a dial, crank handle and something that resembled a funnel. Picking up the funnel with one hand he began to crank with the other, getting the phone system to work. It was a tiring and tedious system but only the higher leagues of society used them, the rest were left to letter, word of mouth or carrier pigeon.
On the other end of the line there was a click before a female voice spoke asking how they could help.
"Ja, Operator, This is General Gilbert. , I would like for you to put me into contact with a McIntosh, Alistair.B as quick as you can"