The Engineer

     Taceo slowly made her way through Dalaran, admiring the little shoppes as she often did. The various bottles of alchemist supplies, floating inscription books, the smell of tanned leather, the clanking of blacksmith hammers against forged metal, the scent and rustle of freshly penned designs being handed out for a handful of gold coins... all the sights of the profession apprentices and masters at work never failed to make her smile when she made her way to visit her Jewelcrafter trainer. When the sound of ticking stopped her in her tracks, she idly looked over her shoulder. The sights of curios and the busy engineers they belonged to rarely caught her interest, but something was rather strange and amusing about the glow coming from inside that building tonight. She adjusted her worn messenger bag, balancing its weight on her shoulder, and stepped over the threshold.
     The toe of her plate boots gently pushed a large wrench across the tile floor, nearly causing her to trip. Upon bending down to pick up the rusted tool, she met the gaze of a young, blue-skinned troll. The youth looked up at her from his place on the floor, sliding his goggles up onto his forehead once she had fully stood up. She concluded by the small size of his tusks and his vibrant green hair that he couldn't be older than 18 mortal years. The gloves he wore and the tool belt strapped about his waist, she observed, were much too large for him; and, several grease-covered instruments, peculiar cogs and discs, a battered box of miscellaneous metal findings, and small cans of oil were strewn carelessly around him.
     The Blood Elf Paladin raised a brow as she stepped closer and silently pointed to the small robot-like mechanism he had been busy refurbishing before her approach. He redirected his gaze to the the bronze and copper creation and quietly returned his attention to the dark liquid that seeped from its chest cavity. After a few moments, she watched as he pulled a stopwatch from his neglected toolbox and delicately installed it with some spare wire and set of pliers. Before she could even ask, Taceo watched and listened as he wound the dial of the timepiece, allowing the soft, muffled sound of ticking to interrupt his voice every other word, "Ya probableh wouldn't fulleh undastand, bein' a blood elf an' all wit' all yer long, gen'rous years... But time fer all o' us runs out eventually."

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