Cyrus looked at the small lever to his left. He placed his hand on it, gripping it uneasily. His eyes scanned the complicated circuit of redstone before him. His eight hours of work would all be tested with this one pull. He breathed in and out, one steady breath and thrust the lever upwards, sending the signal across the powdery redstone trail.

Tick, tick, tick.

And then nothing. Cyrus put his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes in his exhaustion.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" He kicked the stone wall behind him, instantly regretting the motion as his toes stubbed painfully. He took a deep breath and studied the redstone mess again. The endless trails of redstone mixed with the repeaters suddenly looked more complicated then he had thought. "Forget it," He muttered and wiped his mouth chuckling. "Eight hours of work," He looked up and raised his hands. "Eight freaking hours!" His voice echoed in the cave of his workspace.

He sat down with a huff and shook his head. What was wrong now? He wondered. He pulled the lever again.

Tick tick tick.

Nothing.

The signal was carrying, so what was wrong? Why wasn't the piston retracting?

"Oh Notch," He scratched his head. "Whatever, I give up." It was a lie; Cyrus didn't think he could ever give up but maybe for tonight or today. Whatever time it was. He could eat and sleep. He rubbed his hands on his jeans, the blue of them more pink from the constant rubbing of his redstone stained hands.

He walked out of the stone workspace, throwing one last glance at his project, his mind still going through possibilities of why it wasn't working. Then he turned out the lights with the pull of a lever to the right of the door, sending a signal and making the lamps to turn off. He exited and closed the door.

His living space was a small wooden house built into the side of the mountain. In here was his bed and kitchen. It was a small room. He had one window, a little sun coming through it signaled the sun was either setting or rising. He guessed the latter.

Cyrus washed his hands in a cauldron of water, getting the dirt and remaining redstone dust off. He dried them on a towel and opened his food chest. It was running low, it was always running low. Cyrus hardly had time for resource gathering, his mind was always occupied with his next big project and any time he was away from his workshop, gardening or something stupid like that. It was such a strain, he needed the redstone. He loved it. Unfortunately, redstone had to be mined, food needed to be gathered, and wood needed chopped.

Because of his constant battle of creating and nearly dying from starvation or lack of wood to keep his house warm he lived a busy life. This is also why he had set up that stupid flyer last time he was at the village just a few hundred blocks west of his mountain house. No one had responded to the flyer, not that Cyrus had expected someone too, not really. The villagers weren't exactly fond of him, they called him the lonely hermit that lived on a mountain and bothered them for food. Which, for the record, Cyrus only did once. Whatever, he didn't mind being alone. As long as he had redstone, he was satisfied.

He crunched on a small piece of bread and an apple long gone mushy and tucked in his red covers, falling asleep after a few minutes of longing to go back to work.

-X-

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Three sharp raps, almost irritated raps. Cyrus bolted awake, flinging his covers aside and for a moment in his sleepiness he thought how did the zombies get passed the traps? But of course, no mob could get passed the traps; Cyrus thought even humans might even have trouble with them. So who was it? He stepped to the door and it opened, he hadn't meant to step on the pressure plate but it swung inwards, letting in blinding light and a human.

It was a girl, a young girl, maybe sixteen. She had blond hair tied in a knot on the top of her head. She wore a black leather jacket over a gray shirt and jeans. A sword hung at her hip, golden by the looks of it. She had a small round face, highlighted by dark eyelashes and eyes as green as emeralds.

"Uh," Cyrus said, why was she here? "What do you want?"

The girl's eyes did a quick assessment of him; it made him want to squirm. She must have been taking in his blue/pink jeans, his cyan shirt that looked brown by now, his brown hair, probably a mess from sleep, the stubble on his face and barefoot feet.

Her eyes returned to his own and she raised an eyebrow and held up a crumpled piece of paper, written on it the words Help Wanted in his own charcoal hand. "This was you wasn't it?" Her voice held an irritated tone.

Cyrus looked at her to the piece of paper, back to her. "You're here for the job?" He asked skeptically, his eyes taking in her leather jacket and sword, she didn't seem the redstone type.

"Yes," She said, like it was obvious, and then again, maybe it was.

"Uh," Cyrus said again suddenly uncomfortable. "Come in, I guess…" He trailed off and held the door open for her. She strode in, staring around his home with a judgmental look.

"Here," He said, rushing to pull up a chair and clearing the table of a bit of redstone and a button. She sat placing her hands in front of her, tapping them in a bored sort of way. Cyrus sat across from her, and for a moment let the awkward silence hang.

"So, what is your name?"

"Abra," She said automatically, "As in cadabra." Her eyes were daring him to laugh, he could tell. Cyrus didn't laugh.

"I am Cyrus."

"Yeah, I know." She said tapping the flyer where his name was printed.

"Right," Cyrus said, mentally face palming. "So, you are interested in helping me, right?"

"Will I get paid?"

Cyrus paused, momentarily confused. "Uh, yes,"

"Of course I am interested." She put on an unnaturally bright smile.

Cyrus sensed some kind of mock, but shrugged it off. "Okay, I plan on having you all during the week if I can, weekends off. You'll be paid, two emeralds a week sound good? Or you can have it in gold, which would be eight gold."

She seemed to consider a moment. "I'll be paid in gold and what exactly would you have me do? The flyer just says redstone assistant. I know the basics…Enough to disable the trap that wanted to fling me into that pool of water anyway."

Oh, maybe that was why she was so irritated. "Sorry about that," Cyrus said. "It's to keep the-"

"Yeah the mobs, I know."

"Okay," Cyrus said yet again. "You wouldn't exactly be doing the redstone, I need you more for resource gathering and things li-"

Abra cut him off. "Wouldn't exactly be doing the redstone?" She looked angry. "I came all this way and read about five books on redstone to do resource gathering?" Her eyes were a flashing green. Suddenly not some much like emeralds and more like fire.

"I-I mean you would help me just-just…" He trailed off because what he needed her for was resource gathering.

"Right," She said crossing her arms. "I get to help with the redstone or I leave."

Cyrus debated in his head, watching the girl, apparently he needed to put Redstone resource gather on his flyer. Abra looked, well, intimidating. She could be useful in the workshop, but she'd probably be more of a nuisance. She was just a kid after all. "I raise it to twelve gold a week and you do the resource gathering." He paused, eyeing her; her eyes were glaring at him in a rather frightening way, he looked away. "You can help me in the shop after you get everything I need." He mirrored her pose, leaning back with his arms crossed.

He watched her work it through in her head, her eyes squinting angrily at him. He honestly couldn't tell if she would take it, he expected that she would storm off. No deal. He guessed she need the gold more then he thought because she finally spoke. "Fine, twelve gold. I get to work with redstone after I am done being your babysitter." She extended her right hand.

Cyrus wondered briefly what he was getting himself into and then shook.

-X-

A day later, Cyrus sat, watching out the window for the girl called Abra. His hands fiddling with a repeater as he did so. Across from him, on the bed, was the list of things he needed. In truth, it wasn't everything he needed but he didn't want to scare her away on her first day besides, there was enough to keep her busy until she had to leave.

He tapped his fingers and set the repeater to two ticks, then three, then a glance out the window. He looked longingly at the door behind him, the one that led to the workshop. The girl was getting late and he could almost hear the redstone calling him. He flicked the repeater's ticks back down to zero. Who was Abra? That was a question he hadn't thought to ask. He had initially thought she was from the village and her parents lived somewhere there but now he wasn't so sure. Was she some runaway? What if she had broken the law? Where were her parents? All these were questions he intended to ask the girl when she arrived.

He looked back at the door to his workshop then flicked the ticks back up on the repeater. He glanced back at the window and there she was, stepping carefully around his water trap and avoiding the pressure plates that decorated his lawn. She wore a backpack today and cyan shirt, it was chilly so she had her leather jacket still and her jeans were black.

He opened the door just as she was poised to knock. She looked surprised and then her expression changed back to its regular, slightly intimidating one as if she were daring someone to do something, do anything. She raised her eyebrows. "Hello."

"Hi," He said, "Ready for work?"

She pursed her lips, "No, I came to try and sell you toothbrushes!" She put on another unnaturally bright smile.

Cyrus, paused, confused, not exactly getting whatever he was supposed to get. "Uh,"

Her smile vanished and she looked exasperated. "Forget it; yes I am ready to work."

"Okay then," He said, stepping aside to let her in. "Come in,"

She walked in and he shut the door behind her. She stood with her hands in her pockets, staring at him. "So…What do I do?"

"Actually I was hoping to ask you some things I forgot yesterday."

She shrugged, "Okay,"

Cyrus wondered how to approach the awkward questions. He decided just to launch right into them. "How old are you? You look like you're not even old enough to live alone."

"I'm nineteen. I just moved into the village."

Cyrus raised his eyebrow, he was surprised. She was only two years younger then him. "Where did you used to live? Before you moved I mean."

"I lived in Kathe."

So a city girl then. "Do your parents live there?"

Abra rolled her eyes. "How many questions are you going to ask? Do you want my record? Birth certificate maybe?" She had her arms crossed again.

Cyrus raised his hands. "I was just asking."

"Yeah, well, I'll do the work. Isn't that enough?" She asked.

Cyrus raised his eyebrows wondering why she had gotten so defensive. "Fine, forget I asked." He turned to his bed and snatched the list off of it. "I wrote down what I need, mostly simple stuff. Nothing you shouldn't be able to do."

She took it from him and read it. "A baby could do this." She said promptly and finished reading.

That was the idea. "Great," So, I have tools for you. I think you should start with getting the wood. I have a stone axe," He strode across the room to his tools chest and took out a newly crafted stone axe and handed it to her. She took it and hung it on her belt, next to her sword. "Right, once you've got at least half a stack, bring it back. Plant saplings for every tree you cut. The forest near my house is small; every tree that chopped needs to get replaced."

"I got it." She said, sounding slightly irritated.

Cyrus was getting tired of her bad mood. "Okay, then you should be good. Just tell me when you're done. I'll be in there." He gestured to the door of his workshop.

"Okay." She said.

"Great." He answered, clapping his hands together.

She rolled her eyes before stalking out the door.

What in the nether is wrong with her? He wondered briefly. He'd met wolves with better attitudes then hers. Whatever, leave her too her chopping, Cyrus thought with another glance at the workshop door. I've got work to do.

-X-

Abra returned with the wood two hours later, slamming the door to his workshop and making him jump halfway to the moon.

"Sorry," She muttered without much sympathy. "I got the wood,"

Cyrus peeled his eyes away from his redstone and stood up, absent mindedly wiping his hands on his jeans. "Uh good," He said, his mind not really on Abra but on his redstone.

She snapped him out of it. "So? You want me to go get the eggs now? It's the next thing on the list."

"Right, yeah, sounds great. The coop's out back."

"On it." She muttered. Cyrus didn't tell her that the 'coop' was a hole in the ground with a half finished fence around it. Or that the coop only contained three old chickens. They laid eggs all right, but Cyrus was always too desperate for food and just ate the egg rather then letting it hatch.

Abra left, banging the door again. With the force of her pushing it closed and the pressure plate made the walls tremble and Cyrus fear that she would crack the door. She didn't though; the noise was just incredibly loud. Bark is bigger then her bite. Cyrus thought. Maybe that was true, but Abra still scared him.

He turned back to the red circuit, he had rewired the beginning but for some reason the pistons still weren't working how they were supposed to. It was very irritating; Cyrus still had half the circuit to rewire so he got to work, hoping to get it done before tonight.

-X-

"A coop or a bird hole?" Abra asked, opening the door to his workshop, managing not to slam it this time.

Cyrus answered without looking up from his work, "It's not much, a working progress."

"Right," She said, rolling her eyes. (Which, she was incredibly good at) "Don't worry; I saved your chickens from dying in that nether hole."

"What do you mean?" Cyrus asked, looking up at her. She had dirt on her knees and some pieces of her hair had fallen out of her bun, sticking to her forehead from sweat.

"I fixed the fence with some of the wood I just got, expanded it, gathered the eggs, hatched them, then I found some seed in the grass and fed the older ones and they laid some more eggs. Then I hatched those, got a drink and came in here."

Cyrus stared at her. "I told you all you had to do was get the eggs."

"Your chickens were dying in there, it didn't take that long. You'd think you would already have done it."

Cyrus studied the girl, her green eyes as bright as ever. Had she done something nice for him? Her badass attitude did not seem like it would care if he had only three chickens or where they lived either. It was surprising. "Thanks," Was all he could say.

She shrugged, "What are you doing in here anyway?" She asked, plopping herself on the single chair at his desk.

He cringed as her elbow scattered some of his notes but brushed it off, he didn't really need them in alphabetical order anyway. "I am trying a new trap." He said dismissively, not really wanting to explain the complexity of the project.

"All this for a trap?" She asked, wide eyed. "You already have a thousand outside."

"I am going to try and sell this one."

"Sell? Like to the villagers?" She asked.

"They'd be a start but you know how that village is, it won't take any new technology," Cyrus stood up, "I am hoping to take it to Kathe but this is only part one," He said gesturing to the project. "And I am having trouble with it already."

"Hmm," Abra said, thoughtfully. She stood up and starting walking around the redstone, her feet coming a little to close for comfort to Cyrus's carefully laid dust.

"What are you doing?" Cyrus asked as Abra squatted down and studied the circuit closer. She ignored him and with a huge swipe of her hand brushed some of the dust away. "Hey!" Cyrus said, "What in the nether do yo-"

"Wait." She held up a finger to silence him and walked to one of him chests. She rummaged inside for a moment before pulling out a redstone torch.

"What are you doing, those can shut of the circuit." Cyrus explained and then bit his lip as she placed it, cutting off the signal. "Great," He muttered. "Anything else you want to ruin?"

She shot him a heavy glare from her bright emerald eyes and turned back to the circuit. Cyrus watched, lips pursed as she placed a cobblestone block and then a small lever.

"That's not going t-"Tick, tick, tick. The flash of a torch and then the pistons moved.

Abra looked at him happily, smiling the first real smile he'd seen.

"How, I mean, I…" He trailed off, looking in awe of the thing she had fixed within seconds that would have taken him weeks to figure out. Of course, the torch, he should have thought of that, he could see it now. He shook his head, "How'd you know what to do?"

She -still smiling- pointed to her head. "Come on Cyrus, a baby could have done it."

Cyrus couldn't help it, he grinned. When was the last time I've done that? He wondered. Suddenly, he didn't mind the company, didn't mind it one bit.

-X-

Thanks for reading! This one was a lot longer then the others. Please tell me what you think. :)

Still requesting OCs!

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-Bailey