OOC: the-clockwork-town-steampunk-signup-ooc-t34264.html

"Help! Help!!" A man screamed from behind bars in a basement. A woman stepped into the light. "Whats wrong? Are you afraid I will kill you?" She said. The man then replied: "What are you going to do? Why am I being held captive?" "You are my research project and since you government is hostile towards the town, it is good to capture an enemy soldier for research." The woman said. She opened a curtain. "If you act good, you will live but if you act bad then you will become a mindless drone like these guys and I will sell your meat as sausages." Behind the curtain were her previous victims. They were mindless half-machines sitting in a cage. The limbs they had replaced were hanging on hooks like in a slaughterhouse. "You are insane! What are you going to do to me?" The man shrieked. Then the woman said: "First let me introduce myself. I am Marika Vlaams. I seem to be insane because people turned me this way. All I wanted to do is revolutionize prosthetic limbs and build steam powered vehicles but people wouldnt let me. I was banned from my hometown. All I want to do is fix you up and make you a hand to replace the one you lost in battle. The others didnt let me do that. I had to take out part of their brain. But if you act nice, you can go without any harm done. Just you cant leave this territory. You can get your family to move here. I can provide you a job and a home." The man calmed down a bit: "Are you honest? If so then we can both benefit from it. So what kind of job do you mean?"
Marika went to the cage and gave him a cigarette. "I can give you a well paid job in my workshop as a mechanic. I would teach you, if you are willing to learn. And your family can stay in the house next to mine. I will let you out of the cage if you promise not to flee or attack me." She said. The man took the cigarette and Marika lit it. Then the man said: "I promise. I have three reasons to stay. First off, you convinced me. Second off, life in my hometown has a shitty quality of life and last, a cripple cant work." Marika nodded and let him out. The man thanked her. She got right to work and gave him a new hand. The man was surprised and fascinated by the technology.
"Write a letter to your family and I will send someone to protect them on their way here." Marika said. "But first lets take a walk to the park. Whats your name?" "My name is Piet... Piet van Gent." The man said with his slightly Flemish accent. Marika was surprised. A man from her homeland. "Oh really. So really? You are from Belgium too?" She said in Flemish (Dutch). They sat down at a bench in the park and began to talk. Marika found out that the only family Piet had were his cousins in Belgium.

{Do we just reply to this post?}

(I am slightly confused on how to meet you. Where are you?)

Selinia causally strolled through the trees. She looked around at all the people that had come to the park today for various reasons. She had a reason as well. She had been looking for someone. Someone with information about research that she needed. As she walked out of the trees that lined the forest at the edge of the park, a bench came into view. She saw a man and women sitting there. Perfect. she though as she made her way to them. As she walked up, she walked around to face them. "Excuse me," she interrupted. " Are you Marika Vlaams?"

Marika was talking to Piet about the homeland when a woman showed up and asked: "Excuse me. Are you Marika Vlaams?" Marika turned around. She first looked at the woman and said: "Yes my name is Marika Vlaams. What is it?" Marika took a piece of coal out of a bag and ate it. She warmed up a bit on the inside. Now she was just awaiting an answer from the girl who just came to her.

Taken aback by this weird behavior, Selinia paused. "Well, I was wondering if you had any information on research that is currently being done around here?" she asked, trying to be vague. She looked at the man that was sitting next to the woman. He looked calm, but fearful at the same time. She wondered what his purpose here was.