Working on the ideas. So far letting stuff play around in my head. Seems that the more work I have, the better the ideas come. … that sucks.

This idea came out of the desire to see Yong Soo in goggles. Yes, I'm shallow. Steampunk!AU this time! Also a half-formed RP idea. Yup, all the ideas are coming… whether it'll gel or not (and if I'll have time to write anything longer) I don't know.


007: Metal and Magic –title pending–

"YEEEEEEEEHAAW!"

Objects zip past a window, rattling it and neatly severing the dandelion growing in a patch of stray earth. The occupant of the house ignores the sounds. This is a daily routine.

"OI! YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST, DA ZE!"

"YOU'RE ONLY SAYING THAT BECAUSE YOU'RE SLOW!"

"LOOK IN FRONT –"

"Why are you two racing when you have deliveries to do, aru?"

"I told you, da ze…"

"Oh. Hey, boss…"

The man crosses his arms, smiling tightly. "If you never actually did your jobs, I would have fired you two, aru yo!"

"Of course we do! It's slow sometimes, yeah?"

WHACK!

"Are you trying to say the less business the better?"

"Haha, ow…"

"GET TO WORK, ARU!"

"YESSIR!"

As they fly off, he sighs. "How nice to be young, aru…"

This is Qunin, a city of metal floating high above the clouds. It's supported by strategic expulsions of steam as well as from the magic community. Most of the work is done by the mages, but with exchanges of information, everyone's doing their fair share. There are other floating islands apart from the main city itself, where people stay or sometimes come across opportunist 'evil-doers'. It's hard to actually do anything when, in the spirit of self-preservation, the mages watch the skies and can easily smite them.

But let's ignore that for now and focus on two rather hyperactive not-quite-adults supposedly on their rounds to deliver goods. "Mantao Delivery here, da ze!" one drops his load off and goes to join his companion who also has completed the current job.

"Man, I wish the old man didn't give the company a delicious name, ze…"

"It means some sort of steamed bun, huh. Yeah, it'll be nice to eat some now. But it did use to be a restaurant, didn't it?"

"Yeah. Then he branched out. He won't retire."

"Nice to know your old man's active."

"Sure. RACE YOU BACK~!"

"H-HEY - ! SOO!"

'Soo' gives his friend a rabid grin as he shoots off back to Mantao. One is known as Yong Soo, the other Alfred Jones. They're childhood friends working under the former's grandfather since it had reasonable pay (and also they could race using the machines but shh). When and how exactly did they meet doesn't need to be known at the moment, so let's just follow them back to their workplace.

"We're back, old man!"

"I'm not that old, aru!"

"But you've been around so long, da ze."

"Is 80 years so long?"

"It's weird you look so young." This is regular teasing.

"I'm a mage too, aru yo."

"'course, da ze."

"Anyway, I'm sure you're very eager to be free for the day, aru. You can go. And don't think I don't know you abuse those machines, aru!"

The friends exchange innocent glances, which break out into wide grins as they high-five. "Thanks, gramps!"

"Just go, aru," he shoos them out, exasperated yet amused.

"YEAH! Let's go bug Artie!"

"Maybe he has new spells!"

"HAHA! Yeah! Then he'd go all flustered and say crap like 'it's not like I did this for you' or something –"

"Are you going yet or not, aru? I still have lots of things to be sent, aru yo!"

"Goin', goin'!"