Chapter Text
The workshop is brightly lit and more overcrowded than Alicia had realized from her brief glances in the window. Behind the counter is a large privacy screen that hides much of the workshop from the storefront. From what she can see, it’s a bit of a catastrophe back there. Shelves are overcrowded with haphazardly placed books and half-finished gadgets. Planks of wood and thick sheets of metal lean against the walls. Nothing here seems … purposeful. But Ettiene didn’t live knowing his death was imminent, didn’t have to dedicate his life to the purely practical— the defense of the city, or caring for those who lived there.
The first thing Ettiene does is go to one of the overcrowded shelves and pulls out a notebook and pen. He places them on the counter in front of Alicia.
“If that’s easier for you?”
Alicia flushes and averts her eyes, but Ettiene is already behind the screen. Of course he noticed, how couldn’t he? Her hand touches the puckered skin at her throat before she trails after him.
When she finds him in the maze of a workshop. he’s stripped his jacket off and is maneuvering himself into some of of contraption that hangs from the ceiling. It takes her a moment to realize it’s a prosthetic arm. It’s much more ornamental than Gustave’s had been, and he is busying himself with straps that cross his chest to his right shoulder.
The heat drains from Alicia’s face and she feels a bit silly. If anyone were to treat injuries and scars as so mundane, it would be Engineers, whose work is mysterious but also dangerous. Their larger scale projects tend towards a high casualty rate — if not due to lax concerns around safety, then due to the Engineers tending towards exceptionally stupid risks in the pursuit of technology for the future.
For those who come after.
She keeps her mask on, though she is almost certain Ettiene has seen worse scars than her own, and opens the notebook.
Ettiene finishes with the arm. It’s a bit awkward and looks very heavy — no wonder he’s a bit bigger than Gustave was. It hangs down, anchored into a rail that criss-crosses across the ceiling in a dizzying pattern.
“So, you have a name?”
His eyes flick briefly to the notebook and back to Alicia’s face.
She pauses for a moment – and then scribbles before she can rethink it and shows the page to Ettiene.
“Maelle?” says Ettiene, and Alicia nods, trying to not look as nervous as she feels at this lie.
“Wonderful – now I don’t know who taught you the basics, but I’m willing to bet they taught you wrong,” Ettiene says, strolling through the workshop towards the back. The mechanical prosthetic slides nearly noiselessly along the tracks in the ceiling with him. He picks up various tools and doodads as he goes, passing them to Alicia as she trails behind him. The prosthetic seems to operate nearly as smoothly and naturally as Gustave’s had, using whatever mechanical wonderments the Engineer’s consortium had developed.
“Not that I’m doubting your abilities, but, well, you know how we get. We all think half the Engineers are incompetent and the other half dangerously incompetent.”
Alicia hums. Truthfully, she knows very little of the Engineers, besides the fact they steer well clear of the Writers, Painters and every other Guild.
“So, that in mind, we’ll be starting from the beginning,” Ettiene says, and takes the pile of accoutrements from Alicia and drops it on a cluttered workbench.
“Can you guess what?” He smiles at her, brightly. She tries not to laugh and just shrugs.
He reaches behind the workbench and pulls out… a broom.
“It’s chores!” he says, sounding all-together too cheerful.
Alicia stares at the broom, then back at Ettiene and makes a noise of protest when he pushes the broom into her hands.
“Hey, don’t blame me, chores are 90% of apprenticeships,” says Ettiene. “Learn by listening, observing and… tidying!”
Alicia casts a doubtful look at the overcrowded shelved, half-finished projects and precarious stacks of materials, then back at Ettiene. He gives her a too-familiar sheepish smile. “Just … think of it as a long-term project?”
Alicia sighs and looks at the dusty floor. She’s never actually had to sweep anything before. The manor has staff to do this sort of thing… but it is the sort of thing Maelle had done in Lumiere. And it’s pretty obvious Ettiene isn’t much of a stickler for this sort of thing.
With a sigh of resignation, she sets to work. It’s a bit embarrassing to struggle with it as much as she does, (she thinks she winds up with as much dust on her dress as she manages to get into the dust-pan) but she managed to make a small dent in the storefront, at least. And picked up and organized a rather hazardous number of loose screws that were just out on the floor like caltrops.
She’d just finishing dusting off the front counter when the Engineer’s District’s clock tower rings out the hour.
Merde!
Alicia drops her dust cloth and almost runs to the back to find Gu — Ettiene. He’s sketching something on some loose paper, and looks up when she approaches.
She points over her shoulder to the front door. The tower’s bell is still echoing into the workshop.
“Ah!” Ettiene says, catching on immediately. “It’s getting a bit late. Tomorrow, then. I’ll try and be a bit earl- oh! Uh. Take care!”
Alicia nods quickly, and is sprinting home before Ettiene is even finished speaking.