Originally posted February 4, 2010
((Another great character that I never did anything with.))
The low sounds of intermeshing gears fills the room. Lidless lenses scan the room. Her head tilts at an odd, unnatural angle. Eddie noticed her copper colored skill and metallic hair. "Who's that?" he asked the sergeant. "That's your new problem, L T. Green and Laubacher found her wandering the streets. She didn't resist arrest I'm told, but she put a hole in their squad car door."
Eddie looked at the woman. A loose t-shirt revealed a bronze, spindly, mechanical arm, ending in a glove covered hand. She looked at twitching fingers of that hand, as if amazed by their movement. "She dangerous?"
"Not that we can tell, Eddie. She's been sitting there like that since we asked her to. That was two hours ago."
"OK." Eddie gestured to the sergeant. The other man grinned as he handed over an empty folder. "That's all we got LT."
"You're earning that paycheck today, Tom," Eddie said with a grin.
She understood English, it seemed. The mechanical girl followed Eddie into an interview room with no sound but those of quietly whirling joints. She steps with an eerie mechanical grace, a movement that pulled at the edges of the Lieutenant's memory. After asking if she needed anything, Eddie took out his notepad. Her lenses settled on his eyes.
"Miss…" he paused. "hmm. Do you have a name?"
The melodic tones of her voice sounded as if piped through silver tubes. "How would I know?"
The policeman blinked and furloughed his brow. Her forehead crinkled in response. He laughed at his exaggerated reflection, then smiled at the sound of her voice. "Herr Drosselmeyer's doll." He placed the memory. The Nutcracker. His daughter loved that ballet. "Claire. How does Claire sound to you for a name?"
"All is Claire." She smiled. "It is all Claire."
Eddie nodded, slowly and tapped in the name, Claire Drosselmeyer. As the interview continued, Eddie knew where this girl had to stay.
--
Claire Drosselmeyer, The Clockwork Girl, is a magical construction of currently unknown origin, age, and purpose. Found wandering the streets, she arrived at the Haven in the care of Lt. Eddie Alejandro, a friend of Chance Thomas.
Incredibly strong and resilient physically, Claire seems pleasant, if disjointed and unaccustomed to the world around her. Her flesh is warm to the touch and supple if metallic. Her hair feels of thin strangely gentle copper wire. Her left arm and right leg are clearly mechanical, but fit together in some unfathomable fashion. Her lenses never blink.
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