• The underground skating rink was filled with shouts, clatters, and the whirring sound of wheels on cement. Stella finished lacing up her street racers, instead of being smooth these wheels actually had tread, allowing her to either walk or skate at any moment. She was quite proud of her mechanical technique, and had recently aquired a mechanism that allowed her Bladez's wheels to be locked in place so she could run and climb stairs without holding the railing like a frightened youngling.

    Sighing a little bit in frustration, Stella reached down the front of her burgundy corset and rotated one of the inlaid gears there. The back 'lacing' of the corset wound tighter until no trace of her copper-colored undershirt was showing. The smallest edge of that fabric extended below the corset, with its fancy gold embroidery of the Ashevein's emblem; the Automaton Phoenix, in full heraldic glory.

    The denim pants she wore were in fashion among the other teens, save that Stella's were wide and straight all the way down, giving her plenty of room to move. Her Bladez boots had been crafted by her not-so-patient hands under a single hot lamp and she had finally achieved the perfection and racing potential that many fame-mongers never quite reached. The boots went all the way up to her knees and she made sure to keep the brown leather in good repair.

    Stella slipped on her white and crimson racing jacket and stepped out of the rink compound into an alleyway only slightly larger than the one she had grown up on. She ran a hand through her chin-length, straight white hair. Her black eyes took a moment to adjust to the midday light, what little of it filtered down through the eaves of the apartments on either side, that leaned so far out over the street that a theif could have made his way through room after room all the way across the Brass District and back without every touching the ground or a roof. Laundry hung between the lower gaps but high up enough so that even the automaton stiltmen couldn't grab them.

    "Oh, pistons and blaggards! I promised Vlad I'd pick up his shipment before lunch-hour!" Stella's thin jacket puffed with wind once she took off down the street. Her errand took her to the very edges of the Brass District, where it was possible to look up and see the sky. The shop, Cog-Nititve, where she and Vlad purchased all their mechanical needs, was closed for midday lunch, of course. Stella spent a few moments fuming and then sat down on the steps to wait.

    "Oy, perchance Ah can be a' assistance, mi'lady?" a shadow fell over Stella and she looked up to see the newcomer.

    R&R, please. To be continued