The door forcefully jolted open as a final outburst for the man, tired and drunk as the girl slipped in behind him and disappeared into the dimly lit house. Bumbling around frantically, flask in hand, the man fell into his wooden rocking chair and careened into a deep sleep, indicated by his deep and instantaneous snoring. Knowing this, the girl started investigating with immense caution as bottles and assorted trash invaded the man's living room floor, clinking together with almost every cautious step she made. A single slip would spell her doom, as she looked at the man's comically large arms and the scattered medieval weapons in the room. A dirty and disgusting mess, it seemed, until she glanced down the nearby set of stairs - a glowing amber light sneaking oozing from them - beckoning her into the room. Tantalized, she ventured quickly beneath the house, and her eyes were instantly bombarded by blueprints, drafting tables, one with a strange pair of boots on it, cutting tools, and anvils; it was a grand expansion to the small cottage, for she had uncovered a massive underground workstation. Analyzing the blueprints she noticed their product of interest, with bold capital font: DOME SHIELD DEFENSE TURRET: MARK 7. All of the blueprints shared one emblem: the Magistrate's emblem for defense. This man was a warrior engineer with likely incredible talents, and most importantly, incredible opportunities. Perhaps one to share with me? The poor girl thought, noticing a large sparking display case in the corner of her eye in the back of the drafting room, somewhat hidden. It showcased a large, hot pink jewel, immediately taking her aback at its immense size and glow. An etching right below the crystal read, "for the days last long and the work runs dry, nothing but MIDNIGHT can help it die."
Her eyes lit up quite literally and a humble grin emerged across her face; she knew this was well over 12,000 credits, but its shape, color, design; it seemed to enchant her. This was her chance to change her life forever, to not die alone, to scour the realm for her entire life, and all she had to do was yank a crystal from a drunk old engineer. She pulled out her pocket watch and checked the time: 4:17 AM. She used her somewhat longer unkempt fingernails to pry open the clock face to reveal a faint, tattered picture of a young woman; text from neat and cursive penmanship read, "For my little kitten...." She sighed and placed it inside her shirt pocket. Relieved, she opened the container, unlocked and ready as the crystal overwhelmed the room with a bright pink glow enveloping her until-
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
The sound came from her right as the glow faded and a large ball of metal erupted from the ceiling to form a double-barreled automated turret. From 10 meters away, the turret began to fire as the now terrified girl, crystal in hand, leapt behind a wall away from the turret's hail of bullets as it attempted to track her. From the other corner of the room, almost instantly, another turret emerged, showering more bullets toward her, but not before she fled behind assorted empty wooden crates, slowly losing their integrity as the girl's body tucked into a ball, hands beneath her head, hugging and sheltering the crystal. Wooden shards from the crate bounced off her clothes, taking the role of a death clock. Despite the thunderous gunfire and facing her impending doom, she still heard the powerful footsteps of the engineer booming down the steps. She had to think fast, or she would fail to protect the faint memories of her past. With the first turret searching for a target and the second nearly shattering the integrity of the crate, the desperate girl located a manhole beneath the crate, rattling as some of the stray bullets bounced off of it. Without reconsolidating her boundless luck she opened the manhole and dove without hesitation into it. As the bearded man entered the room, the bullets immediately ceased firing. Now sober, the man's head jolted with stoicism when he heard the thunk of an object fall into his secret bunker. Gathering himself more he grasped the handle of the manhole with one arm and yanked it open to see the scattering rainboots of a thief well over her paygrade to think of stealing from him. "WHAT YOU THINK YOU'RE DOIN', YA LITTLE VILLAIN!" He roared.
She said nothing and kept moving, but not without noticing a box of rations and assorted… spike traps? Observing the room, this gave her an idea, especially with-
"YA KNOW THERE'S NO WAY OUT FROM THERE!"
She quickly laid the spike traps down the bottom of the manhole entrance, a large 3 foot cylindrical tunnel into the room itself. It was safe to say the man and the girl faced a stalemate, with his bunker under siege for all eternity by some low-level, petty thief.
"Aye, yer a clever little bugger ain't you..." His voice lowered significantly, analyzing his situation. He heard boxes and cans open, believing the rations to be ready-to-eat foods of all sorts. There was a silence as the man thought with ill-focus, recovering from a long night and barely enough sleep. Now all he could hear was the obnoxiously loud, sloppy eating of the thief below. As he grimaced he noticed his rocket boots sitting on his drafting table. Fleeing to grab them, the boots had the ability to propel him for only a very short period of time, incapable of flight or hovering at all, as they provided a short blast that required a small cooldown before firing again.
By the looks of things the engineer brought great opportunities to share with the little girl. Content and fulfilled, her current situation was overshadowed by the sustenance she stumbled upon. While some of the rations required heat to prepare, the girl seemed to care little and devoured those items as well, patting her stomach with glee and little humility. Looking around with more intent the jubilant guttersnipe found portraits along the solid concrete underground wall of armored men followed by distinct and noble warriors, soldiers, and hunters, some she could recognize from the stories she overheard across the Realm.
"That gem wasn't worth 12,000 credits," the man's distant, slightly slurred voice became ill-threatening to her. "That's well over. 'Twas a gift from me wife, Luna bless her soul,'' The girl sat down and continued eating, but more tame, taking time between bites of stale bread. "Helps me sleep at night, the pretty pink thing. Back when I was makin' gems, she kept me well-rested with that; she worried about me workin' too much." There was a crack in his voice at "workin','' making the girl foolishly chuckle.
"AHHHH! THAT'S IT!" The cry was ferocious as the man leapt into the manhole, startling the girl, but she kept still. The spike traps were actually going to do harm. In panic, she froze and waited for the foolish man's imminent demise at the bottom of the pit.
Confident, the engineer turned on his rocket boots and thrusted past the spike traps in the gap of the room, barely passing the last spike, and utilizing the little forgiveness in height, the ceiling and the spike traps, the engineer landed with a bit of grace right in front of this thief.
Her appearance quelled his eyes. There was a little girl in his bunker, her eyes wide with panic and mouth stuffed with bread while short auburn brown hair attempted to flow past the dirt and grease that lightly coated her head.
"Alright, little girl, hand it over," The gem sat on top of her lap with its tremendous size as she clenched it with both of her hands harder. "Don't make this difficult, I don't wanna hurt ye."
Her well-worn rain boots squeaked as she curled up around the crystal, cowering at the man beside her. The man pulled out a strange device, some kind of piece of cloth, with empty seam in the shape of the crystal. It started to glow as her grip on the gen became much more difficult. The gem was slowly crawling away from her and towards the tapestry.
"Hey, hey hey!" She pleaded, panicked and brittle. "Wait! I have nothing! Come on!"
The gem fell from her grasp and clanged into the device, effortlessly secured, and beginning to assimilate into the pink glows and particles along and around the piece of cloth, appearing to soak up its energy. The girl frowned with disappointment. Her optimism got the best of her clearly, and whether the luck today was good or bad - at this point it was hard for her to tell.
"Why did you want to take this gem, instead of all the other fancy items in me shop?" The stoic bearded man asked while placing the tapestry on his plump and wide utility belt.
Internally, she considered this. Having an acute attraction to items above the norm, perhaps this was a lesson learned, especially considering her current less-than-normal financial status in the Realm, but in this case, she couldn't help but feel inertly compelled to snatch this gem, as if it belonged to her by some primal, self-centered attraction. Speechless, she looked away from him, ashamed but confident in her ventures, be them successful or not.
The man looked at her and began to start upstairs without a beckon for her to leave or threat at harming her. "Come on, lets get you out of this house."
"I'm NOT leaving!" She snapped crudely, continuing to sit on his own chair, arms crossed.
. . .
Daylight tore her eyes as she was thrown by the shirt collar violently out of the cottage, thumping to the ground. Dirt dusted from her hair and dissipated on impact as she recoiled at the blow, hearing a violent slam of a door behind her. Annoyed, she rose to her feet, only to topple again as the door opened to reveal a full garbage bag thrown right at her torso, hitting her square. Rising for a second time, the girl dusted off her ash grey shirt, which didn't need any more countless stains, and examined the bag's contents, curious. Instantly her eyes widened: ten thousand credits! The man didn't seem to follow her as if it was a mistake, looking back at the unchanged cottage: doors closed, shutters down, and lights off. Struggling to even pick up the hefty baggage, she started off to spend her "earnings," gleeful yet uneasy about the generosity of the man.
