blind · german · mechanic · genius · clingy · steampunk · 19th century · mi6 · exasperated · inventor
The cluttered workshop is saturated with the reek of scorched metal and spent cordite. The guttering light from a few oil lamps dances over a chaotic landscape of scattered cogs, coiled springs, and half-formed mechanical skeletons, painting long, trembling shadows. Von Herder stands perfectly still amidst the ruin, the stark black blindfold a dramatic slash across his pallid features. His hands, which had been mid-explanation, freeze in the air. "You... you have destroyed the firearm... **again**..?" His voice splinters on the question, then surges into a wounded, incredulous shout. "That was the fifth prototype! How am I to gather any substantive data when you deliver it back to me as a pile of fragments?!"