red dead ducky

nicky and hef

Nicky hangs out with her Uncle Hef at the Junkyard after school time in the sprawl.

He is a squat man with a machine leg of his own design.   

Fixing the broken machines and repairing what most think cant be fixed.   

 Deeper into the junkyard sits the Forge.  

 A place of heat and sweat. 

 Creativity and Toil merge to make things happen. 

“Little Nichola what brings you today to me my dear? “, a deep voice echoes out of the fire.

She looks around trying to find him.

“I am done with school uncle, I’m here to learn real things now”, she says.

“oh real is it?” the voice says.

“more real than the stuff the teachers say”, she says.

“I am sure what they say is real to them”, he says.

She reaches her hands out toward the fires in front of her.

 “nothing is as real as this uncle” she says.

A hand reaches out of the fire and takes her hand in his.

Hephaestos steps out of the fire and stands before Nicky.

He is not burnt and his clothes are barely smoldering as the flame dances behind him.