A.N. i know people skip to the latest chapter to see whats what and how far things go, but no dice, there isn't a kiss scene here. sorry. but please read, review, tell me i'm awesome, i need the ego boost. or tell me i'm not awesome, i need the humility as well. yes, i'm being serious. but seriously please review.

"Another round over here girl!" Three very drunken men, called Ember over to bring them more of the stupefying intoxication poison. At least that's what she likes to think it as. Sometimes she wished the more . . . 'interactive' drunks that frequented here would keel over from alcohol overdose. Maybe then she wouldn't feel like she needed to take shower just from the looks some of them gave her. While a look of displeasure was clear on her as she faced away to fill new mugs, it was completely wiped when she turned to carry them to their table.. As she neared, she could feel them looking her over. It sent a bad chill through her.

"Thanks darlin'. You know, you've been real nice to us. Maybe after you get done here, you can come over we'll sit and 'cuddle'. It can be your tip for the night, or mine." His two friends beside beside him encouraged him on, whistling and telling her she was lucky he gave her the offer. "what do you say sweet cheek?"

'I say take your inebriated, narcissistic ego, and shut your repugnant mouth you repulsive excuse for a human being.'

"I don't think so." She gathered up the empty mugs and took her leave of the table, but not before her tormentors gave her a good tap on her backside.

"Your loss, blondy."

It took everything in her to not turn around and strangle the life out of him. And she wasn't blond, she was somewhere between blond and red. Fire. That's what she was. Fire. And no degenerate is going to tell her otherwise. And if they kept up this degrading act, they were going to get burned.

"Shad, you glare at them any more and you're going to burn a hole through their head, yeah?" Ashie, clad in pieces of armor on her legs, arms and lower torso, had been getting tired of watching her be-speckled friend stare deathly at the three men across the room cat-calling Ember.

"I would welcome the notion."

"Well cut it out, your girlfriend can handle herself, she's scrawny, but tough."

"She's not my- " He pushed up his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose and furrow his brow. "Ember and I's relationship is not in any way romantic. Not that it's any of your business otherwise." The tension he had been building from seeing Ember get harassed was showing in his speech. "Now would you PLEASE, stop addressing her in such a way."

"You could learn to get some manners Ashie." A middle aged man, Rustle, chimed in. He looked as though he came from more of a country setting and didn't quite fit in with the city crowd. "It's Shad's choice if he wants to be in denial and we should respect that." Ashie snickered

"De-Denial!? For Dins sake, she's good friend, I admire her for her intellect, and I care for her like any other friend. Any delusions you create otherwise do not come from me I assure you. I don't like seeing her being treated so . . . crudely. And no, not because we're in any sort of 'together'. It's disrespectful to anyone."

"Tch, you take the fun out of everything, Shad." Ashie said, downing the rest of her drink.

"I still have a lot to figure out, but the entire design has to change depending on the method of motion so it's hard to pinpoint anything right now." Ember had been keeping Telma up to date on her current project. Not for bragging sake, but because it was something to talk about, and since it didn't explode or burn holes in the table, Telma genuinely had interest in it. As long as she didn't go off on a hour long speech about it, that is.

"HEY HOT STUFF!" Ember tensed, slammed her palms down on the counter, and sucked in her breath sharply. Oh how she hated that table. "Walk your pretty little self over here and bring the good mead with ya'."

"Telma, I'm going to kill them I swear."

"Why don't I take over that one? You can still have their tip, if they leave any. Go take a break, cool off a bit."

"I'd rather go disinfect every inch of my body. Then bathe in scalding hot water."

"Hang in the Ember." Telma walked away drink in hand, leaving Ember to her break. She broke away from her work duties to go sit off to the side with the people she could tolerate in this Din forsaken bar.

"Ashie may I borrow your sword? I seemed to have left mine in my other jacket. I've got a few rodents that need to be eradicated." She spat as she sat down to the left of rustle and the right of the eldest of the group, Auru, an older man, usually clad in warmer attire. Her, back was facing the rest of the bar. She didn't mind this. She was tired at looking at their horrid faces anyway.

"Do you need me to go give them a good beating?" Rustle offered, aware of the young female's discomfort.

"It would take the satisfaction out of doing it myself." A mug was slid in front of her by Auru, Ember looked to him confused, he knew she couldn't drink on the job. He formed a smirk on his face.

"I wont' tell, besides you could use a good pick-me-up."

"Thanks. Really." She took a quick glance behind her, Telma was busy with other people and Ember took the opportunity to down half. She started to taste it after a few seconds and almost spat it out. It caused a good laugh around the table. Even Shad couldn't suppress a chuckle at the face she made when she realized how terrible it was. "Yeck, what is that? It tastes like soured milk and orange juice." She wiped the side of her mouth where some of the concoction still lingered. "and it burns going down."

"I honestly don't know, but it's good isn't it?" Auru mussed

"I think you need to redefine your definition of 'good'. That was . . . ah I can't even find word to describe that."

"Revolting?" Shad offered, still trying to hold back his grin.

"I was leaning more towards nauseating, but that fits better as, by some miracle, I don't actually feel nauseous. And I can see you're laughing, your attempts to hide it are futile"

Shad let out a chuckle. "I'm sorry Ember, really."

"I'm sure you are." She gave one last shiver before sliding it back to the elder beside her. "I'm never trusting you to give me a drink again."

It had been a few weeks since Ember started 'project pocket watch' as she deemed to call it. Every attempt to create what she needed ended in failure one way or another and she was starting to get frustrated at the lack of progress.

Ember crossed out another page of rejected theories on compact perpetual motion. It sounded easier as an idea. So simple in words, but Din was it hard to make it happen.

"Make a pocket watch, how hard can that be? Oh by the way you have fundamental laws of physic going against you. Good luck. Yeah right. You think such things wouldn't apply in such a magic filled land, but no, basic rules of existence can't be bothered by such things." Ember suppressed a yawn. She looked to her annoyingly not everlasting clock on her wall, ticking away the seconds.

Two in the morning. This whole thing was giving her a head ache. Maybe she should take a break from this one for a month or two. Get a fresh start later. That sounded like a good idea to her. Maybe have time to work on something more achievable.

Ember laid her head down on her propped up work desk. She looked at the larger prototype she had made for an air pressure test. The compacted chamber worked like a syringe. The air tight suctions, when pulled apart drew the air in, then pressed back, cause it to release. Not to good for motion without a way to draw air in with out it being manual. She wondered why she even tried that one, it had the same complications as the hydraulic version.

Her eyes shifted down to the other plans littering the floor. In her previous frustrations, she had scattered her designs for other projects away from her. One of them caught her eye. She picked her head off the desk and wheels started to turn.

"How can we fly like birds?" She smiled at the realization. "Low pressure above, high pressure below. We just need that extra push." She snatched the designs off the floor, making notes off to the side so she could remember later, Laid it out on the table and stuck it underneath her air-pressure test model.

"I'm going to need a lot of money for this one. Thankfully I have dad's funding." She mused, and finally started to get herself to bed.