Steampunk Shenanigans

They stopped by the lab to pick up Minnie first, since Damien didn't want to leave her alone for too long at the university. He wasn't sure when he'd be there and when he wouldn't, and he would rather not have pest control be called to catch her while he was gone. She laid draped across his shoulders as they walked to where Damien lived, attracting some stairs. Evie kept looking over as well.

"Why does she wear a backpack?" she asked after a while.

"It's a lightweight harness," Damien explained. "If you open the pouch, she carries some useful things. Well, useful for an inventor who never stops working. Take a look."

He lowered himself so Evie could unzip Minnie's backpack and take a peek. There was a multi-use tool that flipped into a portable screwdriver, knife, tweezers, and whatever else Damien might have needed to build or fix something on the spot. She also carried a pen that doubled as a miniature welding tool and a miniature generator that could provide a machine a small amount of power for a few minutes.

"Is that a flask?" Evie questioned as she zipped the back up again.

"I get stressed out sometimes," Damien said, flushing red. "It's fine, it's occasional."

"Sure," she smirked.

Damien lived pretty close to the university in a modest, but comfortable house. Relative to where he came from, anyways. It was no secret that Damien came from a privelaged background, with his father owning one of the most successful airship companies in the modern age. Everything he had, however, he came by with his own hard work.

Minnie jumped off his shoulder and Evie nearly tripped over the fox as she looked around the house in awe. Damien supposed it was a nice place to look at.

"This is all yours?" she asked. "You live here alone?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Living alone isn't so bad."

"It's so nice."

"I owe that to the decorator I hired," he admitted. "If it were up to me, the furniture would probably be all mismatched or bland."

"Must be nice to have rich parents."

"It is," he said. "I won't lie, it was a comfortable upbringing. But all this is my own. After I graduated, I helped Dr. Devon with his upgraded carriage technology. Once he sold the design, the check I recieved paid for this house. I was really proud. It was the hardest I had ever worked on anything. Once I moved out, my father stopped paying for my things. He's a firm believer in learning the meaning of hard work."

"Some of those other old rich people should take a note from him," Evie noted, examining an ornate clock in the living room.

"Well don't tell him that, or you'll inflate his ego until it's bigger than one of his airships," Damien chuckled.

"He has an airship?" Evie asked.

"His business manufactures them," he explained. "It's how I was first introduced to engineering. My father frequently went to the factories to help out and keep an eye on things, and he would take me with him. I loved it so much that I spent every summer working with the mechanics on the ships."

"Huh."

She didn't say anything else, but she was looking at him with a sort of interest. She followed him upstairs and was still looking around at every detail of the house, and suddenly he started to feel a little guilty. Compared to where she came from, he must have seemed like some snooty rich boy who didn't understand her struggle. And to an extent, she would have been right.

He paused for a moment as he looked at his drawer of clothes, then slowly closed it again. Minnie dashed in and jumped onto his bed, rolling around happily. He couldn't take Minnie back to the inn, either. Not with the Mycrofts there.

"What if you came here instead?" he suggested.

"What?" Evie asked, startled.

"There's a second bedroom," he said. "It's a guest room that I've been using as a home office. The desk might be a little messy, but the rest of the room is nice. If you need to use the desk, you can just push my stuff off. And it's just across from mine, so it shouldn't trigger the cuffs."

He led her across the hall to the other room, and she looked around a bit. She turned around and gave him a skeptical look.

"You really don't mind me being here?" she asked.

"Of course not," he said. "I've been thinking about it, and people are going to start wondering who you are and why you're with me everywhere I go. I was thinking we could say you're a friend of my family, and you're visiting for sort of a 'private enrichment course' before the start of the semester. It would make sense that you'd be at my lab all the time. And if we stay here, we'd be close by. And we'd only have to go back to make your 'reports' to the hellhounds."

"That could work," she said slowly. "I don't exactly look like university material, though."

"Why?" he frowned. "You look smart. Refined."

She blushed and looked down briefly, then back up at him.

"I meant my clothes," she said.

"Oh," he said. "Well, I don't really have a lot of women's clothes lying around."

"No you don't."

"But I know someone who does," he said. "I don't really want to ask her, but it's probably a better idea than going out and buying a bunch of clothes."

"Who?"

"My older sister," he said. "Sylvia. She lives nearby. If we go now, we can probably catch her before it gets too late."

"We shouldn't bother your sister," Evie said.

"I'm her little brother, it's my job to bother her," Damien insisted. "It's either this or going back to the inn and rooming with Olessa and Corbin. Your choice."

She was quiet for a moment and looked around the room once more, then sighed and nodded.

"Okay. We'll go meet your sister."

They flagged down a cab and Damien briefed Evie quietly so the driver wouldn't hear them.

"Here's our story," he said. "You're a friend I met who wants to enroll in the university, but they're giving you a hard time because you don't have the right 'look'. I'm helping you out so you get admitted."

"Does the university really do that?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Rich old guys," he told her, using her own words from earlier.

"Of course," she sighed. "And your sister's name is Sylvia?"

"Yes," he said. "She's married to Hudson Merrick, and they have a little girl named Fallon. Hudson owns a shipping company overseas, and he's usually away on business. Actually, he's overseas right now. Sylvia is a little headstrong and fiery, and she runs the business from the home end when Hudson is away. She'll be sold on the story quick, as an advocate for educating women. Fallon is five years old and repeats everything she hears, so watch out for that."

"Okay," Evie nodded. "I think I got it. So your entire family is crazy successful, huh?"

"I have a younger sister too," he said. "Alexis. She's seventeen and still lives at home. I guess it depends on your definition of success. She's a beauty queen who fancies herself an actress, but the only real production she's been in was a local rendition of Romeo and Juliet, where she played an unnamed party guest."

Evie didn't say anything, but cracked a smile. They both made sure the cuffs on their wrists were covered as they approached the Merrick house and knocked on the door. The maid opened the door and smiled at Damien but before she could say anything, Fallon came running and leapt into his arms.

"You've been gone for seven years!" she cried out.

"You haven't even been alive for seven years," he chuckled. "But your point is made and I'll visit more often."

Sylvia came to the door a few moments later, surprised to see Damien there. She was a lovely woman with dark hair and blue eyes like Damien, and she looked every bit like a strong businesswoman who would tell you exactly what was on her mind.

"Damien, I didn't know you were coming," she said.

"Sorry for the unexpected visit," he said. "This is Evie, a new friend of mine. I'm helping her move forward in the engineering field, but we need a little help from you if you don't mind."

"A female engineer," Sylvia said with a dreamy sigh. "Oh, Evie, we need so many more of you. Please, come in. You're just in time for supper."

"Oh, we can't stay long-"

"Nice try. You're staying for supper."