Hey guys! I decided to make a story collection for Quinn. He's been off on his own adventures while Kaitlyn does the main storyline, so why not? Also, this won't be a long, singular story; rather, this is going to be a collection of shorter stories, not necessarily in chronological order. I'll put a summary at the head of each one.

Enjoy!

Summary: A newer crewmate on the Viridian has to get some repairs done, and Therma and Juniper learn a few things about him.

"Man, these Valencian engineers sure are something else," Therma lamented as she looked over her crewmate. "I'm used to working with machines, but this stuff's so light I'm afraid of accidentally breaking something."

"I'm sorry if fixing my arm is any trouble," said Knight, sitting on a stool with said arm dangling uselessly at his side. The two of them sat below deck on the Viridian, in Therma's makeshift workshop.

"Don't be. Not your fault they make clockworks out of different stuff," said Juniper, who was sitting on a nearby table spectating the whole thing. Therma didn't respond; instead, she went to pull open one of the drawers and began rummaging through it.

"Didn't think machines could be made of wire and wood," she said, recalling the numerous delicate-looking brass machine parts and thin wires she saw. It was by far the most intricate machinery she'd ever seen, like the Spiral's deadliest wind-up music box. Or a piano, if pianos could wield swords. "I'm surprised you even work." She stopped her rummaging and pulled out a spool of thick wire. Satisfied, she went over to him to start repairing. "It's not the same type of wire, but this should do."

"Thank you. I would give you my schematics to help you, but I'm afraid I don't have them," he replied.

"I'll figure it out," she said curtly. She was busy removing a snapped wire. "Should be a simple fix. Just need to replace this thing, by the looks of it."

"Ouch." Juniper was looking over the damage. "No wonder you couldn't lift your arm."

He shrugged. "I've had worse." Therma gave him a pointed look and gently pushed his shoulder back down before continuing with her work. "Sorry."

A few minutes passed with little progress when Therma gave out a grumble of frustration. From what the other two could see, she was busy attempting to wedge a pair of pliers into his shoulder at different angles, made harder by the fact that she was trying not to break anything. "I can't... get... the other end off…" she muttered. "Ugh, there's not enough room to work! Who the hell designed you?"

"Kane did." They both paused at that, staring at him. "...What?"

"Kane built you?"

"No! Of course not!"

"But you said-"

"I said he designed me. He didn't build me."

"How does something like that happen?" Juniper chimed in. "Kane doesn't seem like the type to work with other people."

"He doesn't. At least, I don't think he does."

"Then how did you happen?" Therma asked, no longer wary but still curious.

"That's… a long story."

"Fixing your arm's going to take a while. Might as well pass the time."

A few moments passed before he spoke again. "... Everyone says Kane is a genius," he started. "I've never met him myself. Not that I would ever want to. But I've been told enough about him.

"When Kane became the Armada's leader, he designed and built his entire court of Elite clockworks to do his bidding. But apparently he may have made more designs than those, designs for other Elites that he never built. I assume it's because he didn't have any need for them. Or they weren't good enough. I'm not sure which.

"I don't know how, but from what I was told, the Valencian Resistance somehow managed to steal my blueprints. When they figured out what it was they'd stolen, they decided to build me to act as a spy for them."

"Wow," said Juniper. "Did you?"

"No," he replied. "Kane got wind of what they were doing before I could. One of the Resistance members there thought that I had tipped off the Armada, and wanted to scrap me for parts."

"Well, you definitely don't act like any o' those elite knuckleheads that we've met," said Therma. "Ah, finally got the thing out." She held the snapped length of wire triumphantly before putting it on a nearby desk. She carefully lined them up and began measuring a length of wire from the spool. "So I take it you ran off after that?" she said, not looking up from her work.

"I did," he confirmed. He almost seemed to shrink down on his stool. "...I don't know how to describe it, but I think… no, I know I didn't want to be taken apart."

"Don't have to worry about that here, lad. Unfortunately, we do have to worry about fixing you up," she said, now working on putting in the new replacement part. "We're going to have to get those plans at some point if I ever need to fix anything more serious than this."

"I can try to write down what I do remember. Unfortunately, the plans weren't complete, and the engineers made some of their own changes."

Therma raised an eyebrow at that, looking up from her work. "What kind of changes?"

He tapped his helmet with one finger. "Well, for one thing, the engineers told me they couldn't replicate what was supposed to act as my mind because the design was so complex, but I think they were also worried it would make me… " He trailed off, but Therma and Juniper got the hint. Like the Court. "... Anyway, they improvised some things."

Therma sighed. "Well, if that's true, then we'll definitely need to get ourselves a copy of those plans. Question is how, though," she mused. "Last I heard, all of Valencia's storm gates are blockaded."

"What about Quinn's friend? Everhart?" Juniper suggested. "Didn't she manage to get past those?"

Therma scoffed. "She causes trouble everywhere she goes. However she got in, I doubt it would work a second time. Kane's too smart for that." Despite her sour opinion, she chucked a bit to herself. "Especially with how much of a pain in the ass she's been for him." She fiddled with the part a bit more, flinching a bit when something audibly clicked.

"I hope you didn't break anything just now," said Knight.

"Me too. Stay still, I'm almost done… " A couple more moments passed and the part slid into place, fitting almost perfectly within the machinery. She let out a small sigh of relief. "There. That should do it. Try it out now."

He gingerly moved his newly fixed arm around. "No issues as far as I can tell."

"Good. If there are, let me know," she said, satisfied with her work. "Now shoo, both of you. I have other work to do."

"... Thank you again," he said.

She waved him off. "Just doing my job."

Quick note: This is Quinn's crew, not Kaitlyn's. I think it's safe to say my motivation to continue Tale of a Cabin Girl dried up years ago, so I've been spending some quality time with Quinn's group. Their story runs parallel to the main storyline, and there are points where they do intersect, but for the most part they're doing their own thing (and getting into their own special brand of hijinks). I really like making stuff for them, since I have a lot more creative room to move.

Regarding Tale of a Cabin Girl: I'm putting it on an indefinite hiatus. I'm not saying that I don't like writing for Kaitlyn anymore, I still do. Writing this story has taught me so much and it's still still dear to me, but there are parts of Kaitlyn's character and story that I feel really needs some rework. Until that happens, I'm going to be more focused on Quinn's crew.

Also, I'm on Ao3! I really like how it's well-suited to posting collections of short stories and snippets. Come find me there!