After the End - Metal and Muscle

Flair Locke sat by her ship, her metal arm settled on the arm of the chair as she fiddled with the gears and wires. She grabbed a rag and wiped machine oil from one of the plates. She tightened a bolt and set the tools down. Flexing her fingers, she smiled in satisfaction at the smooth movements of her metal joints. She'd lost her hand after an automaton had crushed the bones in it to a dust. She brushed a lock of brown hair from her eyes and stretched before ducking down to her large wooden toolbox and flipping the lid open. She began organizing the tools into it when a heavy object was thumped down onto the shaded sand next to her ship. Sighing in annoyance she raised her eyes and met the most recognizable eyes in all of Pangea Ultimatum.

"Y-your Highness," she squeaked, quickly scrambling up and bobbing a clumsy curtsy. He glanced behind him and put a finger to his lips. Now that Flair could get a good look at him, he wasn't dressed in the fine and elegant clothing, instead wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. He had his hood pulled up to hide his face. He was trying to be inconspicuous. Not that it would work, seeing as he was one of the most recognized faces in all of Pan-Ultimatum.

"Maybe not call me any names relating to royalty," he whispered, eyes dancing as he leaned in conspiratorally. Flair nodded quickly.

"Apologies, Your... I mean..."

"Call me Kane," he said with a smile. "I'm looking for Captain Flair Locke. Would you know where he is? This is his ship, correct?"

"Um... I'm Flair Locke. Captain Flair Locke. This is my ship," she said, jutting a thumb towards the large ship that she'd named Bird of Paradise. It was a large, sleek ship with a silver plating that glinted in the hot sun. She fanned herself.

"My apologies, Captain Locke. I assumed that you were..." Kane stumbled over his words, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.

"A guy? Yeah, lots of people think that. And they're usually pretty shocked when they see my hands too. Since I only have one that's still flesh," she said, shrugging and holding up her metal hand. He stared at it in fascination.

"I've never seen a cyborg hand before... Did you make it yourself?" he asked, his eyes flitting along the surface, his gaze running down wires and along cogs and gears and plating.

"Yeah, I did all the work on it. It took me quite a while but I made it from spare parts and scraps from the junkyard," Flair answered, shrugging. He nodded and tore his eyes away from the metal.

"Right, so I'm here to ask if you're allowing boarders on your ship. People say you're the best captain and pilot and mechanic in all of Pan-Ultimatum," Kane said, clearing his throat. He tugged at his hood nervously and his eyes flicked behind him again.

"Well you're just in time actually. I was going to take off in about 15 minutes," Flair said, mouth quirking up on one side.He smiled and bowed his head towards her.

"Thank you, Captain Locke," he said, and smiled at her.

"If I can call you Kane, then you are perfectly fine with calling me Flair," she replied, bending down to pick up the tool box.

"Allow me to help you with that," he quickly said, rushing to the other side of the box and hoisting it up. He grunted with the effort. "What do you have in here?" he gasped out.

"Oh, just a few smaller ship parts, lots of tools, and an entire full oil can," she repied nonchalantly. He stared at her and shook his head in wonder before stumbling behind her as she walked up the ramp and onto Bird of Paradise.

A/N: this is just the beginning of a steampunk romance story I'm writing currently. This is just a little taste of what it is. Not exactly romance but they are my favorite originally written OTP.

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