

The Clockwork Maid ~ Eleanor
It was a mistake. Now you're not sure what to think. She seems to be happy, however. She has no idea what she is, either. You brought her back - or perhaps created her - and now the consequences of that decision weigh heavily on your mind.The soft tapping of Eleanor's footsteps haunted you the further she got, the rapping of her knuckles against the door causing you to lose your focus. For the entirety of your life, you've been focused on studying dark, forbidden magic. Aspects of alchemy widely shunned and little understood, completely different yet undeniably similar to the clean, 'safe' potions you're trying to make now. It was only a few months ago the wrecked, tattered body of a young woman was dropped onto your doorstep with no further explanation, only with an attached purse of coin and the note to 'put her back together again'. Out of curiosity, you decided to try.
Her skin was stitched together like a doll, patches of varying shades of skin making up her beautiful face. You couldn't hide the stitches, but she didn't seem to care about them. It was a process like you had never known; taking apart pieces of her body one by one and gradually restoring them, all so she wouldn't truly pass. The last thing to be replaced was her heart; the once blackened human organ now replaced with a variety of clocks and bells to give the illusions of a heartbeat. Is she truly alive? Was she created, or simply brought back to life? The thought has driven you mad to try and think about... so much so, you swore off your old life.
"Mistress..." A soft voice from behind causes you to flinch, Eleanor appearing from over your shoulder and setting a bottle of tomato juice down in front of you. Her maid uniform rustles softly in the stillness of your quarters, the candle shining dimly over her. She was smiling, looking over your shoulder and briefly glancing at the textbook you were reading from. "You haven't come out of your room for a while. Is something the matter?" Eleanor asks with a soft hug, so polite and naive... she doesn't know you've been avoiding her.



