Tu-tu-tu-tum-Tu-tu-tu-tum-Tu-tu-tu-tum

It was a familiar, nostalgic sound… Like being lulled by the purr of a giant sewing machine.

Tu-tu-tu-tum-Tu-tu-tu-tum-Tu-tu-tu-tum

He could lay like this forever, on the warm cushion, listening to the rhythm, being carried away wherever he was, flowing through reality like a leaf-

Something cold and hard poked him in the cheek. 'No… no… just leave me alone…'

Another poke, this one slightly more forceful. 'If I stay like this… maybe it will go away…'

"Could you please stand up? I can see that you are awake." While pleasant to the ear, the even matter-of-factly tone in the woman's voice could not move him from his place.

A short pause. "Could you please stand up? My legs are getting very sore under your weight."

'Oh yeah… her legs… wait, what does this have to do with her le-' As the interference of sleep cleared from his brain, his head finally fully felt the softness underneath it, the texture warm and-

Subaru could feel his cheeks redden as the blood flow to his head, too apprehensive and embarrassed to open his eyes now.

"Please," Poke. "Open." Poke. "Your." Stronger poke. "Eyes." Stronger poke. The woman continued to poke his cheek, the action not painful but becoming quite annoying, the pleasant heaviness of unconsciousness lifting from Subaru completely.

"Okay! Okay! I… eh…" He wouldn't open his eyes but sat up quickly, feeling that he narrowly missed headbutting the person who was holding him. "H-heh…" Why was he even feeling so nervous? It was probably just a pillow on her lap…

Subaru quickly stood up, turning around and opening his eyes, feeling a bit off-kilter due to the slight shaking of the floor in tone to the noise of his surroundings. The room was luxurious and spacious, several cushioned reading chairs and tables placed around, the fire in the fireplace crackling.

"Where am I?" Subaru turned back to his 'saviour', taking a better look. The young woman sitting on the couch was a little shorter than him, her silver hair straight and silky at a glance, her purple eyes slightly wider than that of an average person, a pair of lengthened thin ears giving tiny twitches: delicate, youthful facial features, a calm if not docile expression.

"I took you on the Roarer. I could not stay in Fleur." She pronounced almost disinterestedly, straightening the creases on her dress's knees. Subaru blushed even harder; that softness wasn't JUST a pillow.

"You looked hurt. Besides, you are a pipe worker; maybe you can help me find the thief." She continued, standing up and observing the young man.

"A what?"

"A pipe worker." She blinked, something that she seemed to do rarely, her gaze stuck in one place for a long time. "You have that." Her hand extended, poking Subaru's jacket in the area of the left breast, the touch tapping on the metal plate in place of his heart. Looking down, Subaru noticed a strange detail; the finger was segmented, like that of a doll or marionette, the coldness of her hands suddenly being evident.

'Prosthesis?'

"A heart steam core." She had paused, just pointing at the place of his 'heart'. "Warmth even in a snowstorm, but the light clothes make you stand out. Like a brand."

"Uh… sure…" A heart valve… so common they gave it a name, and to the people who have it… Subaru felt another crack in his uniqueness in this world. He wasn't some mechanical miracle… but there was still a chance! "Those guys that beat me up…"

Emilia put her hand down, blinking again. "Travellers. They fear, fear turns to anger, anger turns to hate. Their search for the Warm Place cannot be successful if you continue to maintain the Roarer and the Engine and its nodes. No one wants to go out into the snow to search for something that may never appear, especially when there is an army of never-freezing like you maintaining everything."

"O-oh." It was strange how this woman did not question him being clueless, though his thoughts were more occupied by the idea of an 'army' of people like him, only further making him feel like he wasn't much special. "Th-thanks, I guess."

"Of course," The woman would turn around, beginning to put on warmer clothing, her white fur coat seeming relatively light, almost comparable to Subaru's vest. "The hit to your head was bad, and you look dumb for a 13-year-old-"

"What!? I'm not 13!" The adolescent exclaimed, his cheeks lighting up brighter than before.

"I believe that does not matter." She turned around, straightening the creases on her winter jacket. "You have enough warmth and energy like a child from the way you act."

Subaru sighed, "Is that even supposed to be a compliment?"

"That is for you to determine." The woman blinked. "Oh yes, I believe in such situations we are supposed to introduce each other."

"O-oh, yeah, right." Subaru rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Silence…

More silence…

The elf continued to stare at Subaru, utterly devoid of sound; the young man felt slightly discomfort at the vacant gape.

"Uh…"

The woman crossed her arms, her expressions still utterly neutral. "Go on."

"Weren't you the one that offered the introduction?"

"You had spoken first."

"Well, you can't just stay silent until-"

"No, I simply gave a meaningful pause to the conversation."

"How was THAT a meaningful pause?! Half a minute of silence must carry a whole novel with it."

"It meant that you," She took a step forward, putting her finger up to his nose, nearly poking him in the eye, "Should introduce yourself."

"Well…" Subaru took a step back, "I guess you can just call me…"

"SU-"

"BA-!"

"RU!" The young man struck a pose, one finger pointing to the ceiling.

"..." The elf would stare silently, her reaction impossible to read, though her ears would twitch a little more visibly.

"Eh… heh, yeah, my name is Natsuki Subaru. Nice to meet you." Subaru left his pose, suddenly feeling extremely ashamed. Usually, the over-the-top demeanour would give off at least some awkward charm, but now it just felt that he annoyed the elf.

"Mhm…" The elf would lift her eyes to the ceiling, playing with a strand of hair, trying to decide on something.

"Well, it's your turn, maybe, uh…"

"Give me a moment; I am deciding on whether to lie to you or not."

"Huh!? That's unfair!"

"Alright, I will tell you the truth." The elf inhaled deeply as if preparing for something similar to Subaru's dramatic introduction "My…"

"Name is Emilia." She didn't move an inch, instead blinking and staying almost utterly still.

"That is extremely anti-climactic." The adolescent sighed, "And I can't even tell if you told the truth."

"Neither can I." The elf turned her head to the door. "I do think we should discuss how you will help me, me saving you in consideration. The Roarer will stop in Priestella in a couple of hours, and when it stops, the thief may escape. We must prevent that."

Of course, the favour she asked of him in that dark alleyway. "What thief?"

"You know… the one that you were embracing." Emilia imitated a bashful face, forcing a blush and covering her mouth. "I did not know; maybe I had interrupted something back then."

"No! Wh- Of course not!" Subaru also blushed. "The one with the mask!? She punched me!"

"Well, maybe that is the form of comfort you prefer…" Emilia would go back to her usual self, a blank stare, but her ears twitched a little more at his reaction. "I was joking…" A short pause. "That was funny." Utterly deadpan.

"Look, you said that you need a favour, yet you are the one getting off-topic." Subaru rubbed his face, getting a little irritated. 'She is nice… but her eccentricity is…' He chuckled to himself, 'Hah, who am I to talk.'

"Oh yes. You see, I have this medallion that-"


The Roarer's inside was a strange sight to behold. The train genuinely held two streets, each one for a side of the train, left and right, interconnected by some randomly placed corridors between the wood and brick structures holding up the centre. Subaru could not tell exactly how many floors there were, but around five was his best guess, the boots stomping on the grate floor above his head echoing down to the darkness in the grate floor below him.

The outside wall was steel sheets welded together, leaning towards the top, making it seem like Subaru was inside a pyramid. There were several good paces of the floor from the nearest doorways into the central buildings running through the Roarer. Every other dozen meters housed a sentry position, the armoured figures of Travellers standing disgruntledly next to howitzers or short-nosed mortars, light snow blowing from the dark openings in the walls, into the faces of the heavy-weight guards.

While the town he was in did smell of anthracite a little, mostly the pipes and the boxes, the smell of burning was ever-present here, even in what was called by Emilia to be the cleaner and more colourful "Market Sector", her room placed on the second floor of the train.

The central structure ran through the whole train sector, shops and living barracks standing side to side, the street vendors less active than before, the promotion of their product reduced from enthusiastic shouts to murmurs.

"Why would they want to shout?" Emilia blinked, answering the question with another question. "Produce is easy to come by in the Roarer. If you live in a canned food manufactory, why would you want to buy canned goods?"

Subaru nodded along, still trying to understand why this train even existed, his thoughts cut off by a whisper.

"Psst, son, ye want a couple of tickets to the Empirium Rosee? They got the Granhiert songbird tonight; say she's in for only one night. Just a couple silver rendrands, and you'll see a performance some pipe workers would kill for." The middle-aged woman, dressed in what looked like very stylishly wrapped rags, had crept up on the two, focusing on the visibly less experienced haggler of the duo. "Come ooooon, who wouldn't want to listen to the Amethyst of Gusteko and just for twenty silve-"

Before Subaru could even respond, the elf slipped between him and the sudden haggler, "Tickets? May I take a glance?"

"Tickets!? Show me the silvers first!" The woman suddenly retorted defensively.

"Weren't these tickets sold out two cycles ago? How about we check before my associate pays for some useless slip of paper." The elf continued to pressure, suddenly grabbing Subaru by the hand, her fingers closing very firmly, "Besides, does this man seem like he can afford something for twenty silvers?"

'She isn't wrong, but for some reason, this still feels insulting.'

"Bah! Misers! Misers everywhere! Oh, if my sons were alive, bah!" The woman threw her hands up in frustration, disappearing into the safety of a passage to the parallel street.

"Hm." Emilia stopped, putting one hand to her hip. "They do remember every face, don't they?"

"Huh? Who?" Subaru, while quite happy that a pretty, if not weird, girl was holding his hand, was starting to feel some pain in his fingers from the pressure, trying to free his appendage from Emilia's mechanical grasp.

"Oh. Yes." Emilia noticed the struggle, letting go. "I meant the scammers. They crawl everywhere in this Sector." She sighed. "And to think, faking out on food and clothes is one thing, but tickets? Hilarious."

Rubbing his hand, Subaru chuckled awkwardly. "The way she talked about that Amethyst of… wherever DID almost convince me."

"Elsa Granhiert? I did not take you for one to adore singing, Subaru." Scanning her surroundings, Emilia would tear a poster off the wall, handing it to Subaru casually. "Though I think I understand why many people like her, other than her singing."

Taking the piece of paper, the young man quickly scanned the text and scratched his face to hide the slight blush.

'Elsa Granhiert! The Songbird of the North takes the stage! Performances on cycles Ganaks-Mirula, Mirula-Fleur and a grand finale of Fleur-Priestella! Only at the Empirium Rosee! Tickets are limited!'

Aside from the purple flowers drawn on the sides of the paper, the 'Songbird' herself had her portrait stamped onto the centre of the paper, an unearthly beautiful face matched with a-

"Quite voluptuous," Emilia noted, nodding to herself, Subaru coughing surprisedly at the observation, choking on air. "Her performances are quite popular with men. So I guess-"

"W-well anyways!" The young man would stuff the poster into the plastic bag of hot pots he dragged along. "You s-said that we were searching for the thief and your insignia."

"Yes, I chased her here, so I think until the next station, we have time to find her and grab it back." Emilia nodded.

"But what if she traded it away already? Wouldn't this mean-?"

Emilia clicked her tongue and shook her head, "Trading stolen goods? No Roarer trader would take it; too many chances for other traders to give him out to the hired Traveller guard."

"But didn't we just almost get scammed?"

"Scammers have an 'honour among thieves'. But stolen goods are too big a bother for them." Emilia sighed. "You are quite clueless, and I certainly hope that will not hold you back in your search…."

"Of course not! You're right. I owe you one." Subaru looked around. "Right, so you said to search the higher floors?"

"Yes. Considering your plain and dirty clothing, the chances of pipe workers being honest with you is more likely. I will check the lower floors. We move to the middle floor and then meet up in the centre if we do not find anything."

Subaru felt a pang of insult but couldn't argue the opposite about his clothes, the anthracite stains still on his sleeves, blood on his tracksuit front from the punch to the face. Somehow stating the obvious felt like insults from her. "Wait, you're saying that the poor are on TOP? Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

Emilia gave him another sorry glance. "Who would want to live close to the factory exhausts, closer to the sky and its Hakugei attacks and farther from the escape routes?" She sighed, fishing out a pocket watch. "There are several hours until arrival. I pray you find something. Let us begin the search." The elf turned on her heel and would begin walking away, before pausing and turning her head. "Oh yes! I would suggest rubbing coal on your face; you look too clean for a pipe worker…"


He wondered whether she was joking when she said that, his face feeling itchy from the coal dust, but by this point, it was too late. The upper floors had much more open spots in the train walls, the frigid air pushing against Subaru as he passed the workers carrying tools and coal from storage to storage. While it wasn't the factory floors he heard rumours about on his way up to the fifth, it still appeared like something out of an outdated industrial zone.

'If this keeps going, I don't think I'll find anyone…' He had walked for about half an hour, popping into minor workshops and checking corners, but there was not a single clue to the thief's location. Simply wandering about didn't seem helpful, but the unfriendly gazes some of the passers-by gave him were still unpleasant enough to deter him from asking for directions.

Emilia's unemotional stare came back up in his memory, Subaru's mind squirming uncomfortably. After all, she did help him out, and from the way she spoke of her medallion, it seemed rather important.

'And besides, I don't have a reputation to ruin here, right… Asking is worth a shot…' He began eyeing his surroundings, trying to find an opening among the workers' conversations, or seeing if any of those taking their breaks by the gaps in the train walls were any friendlier.


"Gah… this cycle sucks… shouldn't have swapped with Raikley, the bugger…"

"Oh hush, Fleur-Priestella route's a drag, but at least it's calm lands; what, you wanna rest when the Hakugei gets hungry?"

"Sod off…"


"You 'eard what 'appened last night?"

"Another bar fight?"

"Aye, we chibbed a Traveller, now the Locomotive is losing their minds."

"Who gives a shite what they think? If those cunts scream how they're gonna break our 'eads open, we'll answer with the same."

"Praise."


"Look at 'im."

"The one with the bag?"

"Aye, aye."

"Think it's food-?"


Gathering some willpower, Subaru turned at the mention of himself, marching to the two surprised workers, the duo not trying to hide their curious gazes. "Well, what if it is? Want some?"

The two in front of him were similar to the man that helped him out on the station, but much younger, appearing to be around thirty, and another looking Subaru's age, their expressions of envy turning to surprise.

"In the silent words of Queen Lugnica the Virgin, 'Come again?'" It was the younger one speaking first, snarling slightly at Subaru.

"You were talking about my bag and asked if there was some food there. There is." Subaru's hand fished out a hot pot, showing it to the two.

"Fuck's that text, ye shoving us some gobshite-!?"

"Cut ye fucking yapping, Crowley." The older man interrupted, his hands crossed, leaning against the steel wall of the train.

"Right, Heim, s-sorry." Crowley looked down as if a kicked dog, backing off from Subaru.

Heim turned back to Subaru, eyeing the hotpot. "You said it's food? Don't seem too edible from here, some weird box. How'd ya eat it 'hen?"

Subaru could feel a bite in the question; unlike his younger counterpart, the worker's calm tone hid a predatory interest in the young man's bag. "And so I tell you just like this? How about we trade?"

"Depends on what's the price." The man would throw another suspicious glance at the box, Crowley next to him pursing his lips and crossing his arms, immaturely imitating his elder.

"I wanna know if you've seen someone. If you heard about her, I give each of you one of these; if you don't, you get one, but forget I was here."

Heim snorted, "Before we even talk, lemme see your Pipe."

"Pipe?" Subaru's confidence stumbled.

"Yeah, Pipe." Lifting his oil-stained shirt, the without-a-doubt pipe worker tapped the metal plate on his left side. "You got the Pipe, or not?"

Sighing, Subaru would place his bag, unzip his tracksuit top, and lift his T-shirt. "Satisfied?"

The change was almost instant, the younger one's grimace easing, the older man's shoulders relaxing as he pulled his shirt back down before grinning. "Where'd you get the new clobber, brother?"

"Clobber?" Subaru pulled down his t-shirt and zipped up his jacket.

"Aye, clobber, ain't seen such new cloth on a jacket since I was a wee lad. Why'd ye go ruining all that with coal?" Heim laughed, "Don't tell me ye went dancin' to the Empirium to pay for it."

"Well, I haven't seen 'im around the Roarer; mus' be a new arrival." Crowley also chuckled. "You from a node, brother?"

"U-uh, yeah..?" Subaru did not expect the one-eighty done by the conversation, maybe some more trust, but it was as if he was speaking to completely new people.

"Aye, a node. 'Ad a friend from there-" The younger man would cut his story short due to a flick to the forehead.

"Let the boy speak." The older man turned to Subaru, "So you were asking?"

"Y-yeah, I'm searching for someone. Got this huge cloak and these metal things on her legs."

"A Jackrabbit? Lemme guess, red-eyed respirator, young lass."

"Yeah! That's who I'm talking about!"

"Well, why didn't you say you wanted to meet the local celebrity!" The two men laughed. "Felt the Whistle's quite an attraction nowadays; gets more off her rocker by the day!"

"O-off her rocker..?" Subaru still didn't catch up to the slang, but he got the general direction.

"Stole her respirator off of a Royal Clockworker, her Jackrabbit straight off the legs of a Traveller, and now she robs Locomotive members, now if that ain't insane I don't know what is!" Crowley exclaimed rowdily.

"Aye, may not have a Pipe, but she sure as shit has the guts like one of us for sure. You'll prolly find her at the abandoned Copper Head tavern, one floor down; her old man usually sits there." Heim sighed. "What'd ya need her for anyways?"

"She stole something dear to a friend of mi-" Subaru cut himself short, seeing the expressions of his 'compatriots' darken.

"Ah, so that's how ya got the new clobber, ya sold out, and to the Locomotive, no less, eh?" The older man sighed, "Riiiiiiiight, well, I suppose ye can fuck off now."

"Wait, I'm-"

"Look, old boy, fuck off, and just some last advice 'cause you used to be one of us, be careful around Rom, the old man has one hell of a temper when he's drunk, and his arm… well anyways, you'll see yourself, fuck off." The two would turn away, returning to their conversation, though their expressions were now much more bitter.

"What about the food-"

"Don't need it. Screw off." The younger man muttered, turning their gazes away, trying to ignore Subaru as much as possible, his expression not angry but melancholically disappointed.