A Spark

She brightened a little. It was true that she didn't have much of a plan, but in it's simplest form it was a very typical afternoon: shopping, find a place to keep the purchase, drop off the new friend and head home for dinner.

"First off, buy some wheels! I am not a motorcycle kind of girl, but a scooter is not made for escapes by any stretch of the imagination. So I'm hoping that the Brass Rim will have something else, they have the reputation for unique contraptions. But a girl trying to make an expensive purchase all on her own is never taken seriously. Strange that I need help to spend my own money, but it's true, I can't buy my own freedom. I want something I can ride on my own, or with a friend, to get out of parties, show up to meetings uninvited, that sort of thing. Allow for life a little more unsupervised." She smiled. "So, are you up for some shopping? It isn't clothes..."
 
He thought for a moment, then nodded. This should be easy enough, "A-alright." He said.
 
She grinned again and settled into the seat, he wasn't an acquaintance she ran into time and again, he was new and that made strangers interesting. "What else can you tell me about yourself?"
 
"Well....I uh...." He thought for a moment, "I uh....like sports....skating....uh yeah, just cool stuff, nothing really boring. I'm uh...single"
 
She listened attentively, her face never fully loosing a smile. His mention of being single she ignored except to note he had the nerve to say something despite the rest of his nervous habits. "It is hard for people to show interest in what they find boring, for very long anyway." She paused and cast a glance at him before continuing. "What were you trying to read before I interrupted you?"
 
At this he turned quite pale, stuttering for the right lie, "Uh....I uh.....it was um....I was actually reading...uh...a comic."
 
The smile desolved completely into a hissing sigh. She crossed her arms and turned away. "Forgive me, I would not knowingly pull someone away from such a pursuit." She said to the window, the most polite thing she could muster.
 
He looked down at his hands, hearing the dissappointed tone in her voice. He folded his hands in his lap after adjusting his glasses, sitting quietly.
 
She stared out the window. Absentmindedly twirling a bit of hair, twisting it tighter and tighter into a tiny roll right behind her ear and then stringing it out only to turn the roll in the other direction the next time. Occasionally she paused, a momentary impasse of thought before continuing on.
 
He watched this simple motion with great hesitation, afraid he might upset her again. He was entranced by this most simple of practices, watching her twirl her golden locks intently.
 
Finally Alexis turned away from the window the curl unraveled. "How tall are you Felix?" She asked with practiced pleasantry, a question he had no reason to lie about.
 
"Uhhh....about 5'9" He said, still looking a bit on edge.
 
"Im a horrid judge of heights, it's all comparison as far as Im concerned, taller than that one, but shorter than him. It's nice to have a number for a change. Though it does not change the fact I have to look up to you." She chatted away about nothing until they finally reached the shop.
 
He looked about his new surroundings, intrigued with a sort of morbid curiosity.
 
A layer of gray tinted the rows of storefront windows, the painted letters beneath long since faded. Pale bricks outlined every window and sturdy door. Even the polished brass lettering was muted, as if under a dense cloud cover, thought the sky far above was brighter than usual. This was not the district for window-shopping and strolls. These were businesses of purpose. People came for repairs, services, parts, industrial machinery and the like. Everything from pocket watches to the engines of locomotives could be assembled or repaired on this street and right on the corner was the Brass Cog with large windows revealing to the world the wonderful machines inside.

The display room was full. Even the common things like motorcycles and aircars had been reworked to become distinctly unique. A motorized Roman chariot, a glider with retractable wings and dozens of fanciful and Seuss like contraptions hung suspended from the high ceiling and dominated the floor space. There were transports that one had to stand on while driving, others could seat pairs, some seemed created for leisurely enjoyment but most were for risk or for show.

Alexis paid the cabbie and stepped out onto the gray sidewalk, stopping to look in the large windows. Squinting a little to see through the grime she scanned the room, blue eyes resting on one machine before flitting to another without taking time to linger on things that were clearly not what she was after.
 
He watched her eyes scanning over the different machines, wondering just what she was up to.
 
"Well, lets go see if we can find some fun, shall we?" She asked looking up at the young man beside her. She led the way not to the front door but along the row of windows to a business door that led directly into a small well lit room. There were several doors, with chairs and filing cabinets lining the walls between them and a large desk right in the middle. A secretary looked up as they entered with the customary "How may I help you?" and a rather bored expression.

Alexis put on an act. She walked up to the desk hands clasped in front of her and addressed the woman almost timidly "Hello. We were just wondering what kind of customization you can do on vehicles. Like if we bought something, could I bring it in and have you..." she struggled to find the right word, shrugging her shoulders and wringing her hands a little "...dress it up and make it go faster? or do you take requests and make things from scratch? That would be even better."

The woman leaned forward, looking back and forth between them as she talked "We are very backed up on custom build machines right now and are not accepting any new orders at this time. They will alter some existing vehicles, it just depends on the type and what you would want to have done. Did you have something in mind already?"

Alexis shook her head "No, we wanted to see if it was even possible before we bought anything. What kind of things are they more likely to have time to work on...like, before Christmas?"

"Small vehicles are usually the easiest. I would suggest going out and looking over the showroom. That will give you ideas of what they have worked on in the past. If you see something that you are interested in here, that would be even simpler, because we built it here they are definitely able to alter for you if it is not exactly what you are looking for. I'll go get someone to show you what we have." She said standing and disappearing through one of the doors.

Alexis smiled brightly, nodding at the woman's suggestions. As soon as the secretary disappeared she rushed to one of the other doors holding her ear up to it and trying the handle. A triumphant smile spreading across her face. She turned away from the door walking back towards the desk with long slow strides as if she were merely pacing the room. "Found the garage." She told him quietly.
 
He followed timidly, pursued by the sinking feeling that he shouldn't be sneaking back there. However, he followed her.
 
The noise of clanks and whirring grew louder as she opened the door to a large room, shelves and work benches dividing the assembly and repairs from the grinding off tools and pounding coming from somewhere on the other side. Alexis walked straight in hurrying to what seemed to be the beginnings of a motorcycle being built from the ground up. She crouched down beside it scanning the rest of the room. Everyone was working elsewhere at the moment. She turned to see how the young man following her was reacting to all this.
 
He seemed to be flinching at every clank and creak, looking quite on edge, to say the least. He followed her closely, as if clinging to her for dear life.
 
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