Quoted By:
—-----
On the way back home, you couldn’t help but notice that Cindy was more than a little deflated. She didn’t take the news very well, so you stopped for some ice cream. But even that was failing to cheer her up!
So, you decided to take a little detour and got off the subway early. From here, you should be able to walk to Phin’s shop in about 20 minutes.
Cindy trailed along behind you, happy to be free of the cramped, sweaty subway car.
—------
The wait was a little longer than you would’ve liked, but that was on account of Phin being busy with other orders. With the inevitable gang war looming large on the horizon, more and more people were commissioning the old man to create new equipment and devices for their sinister machinations.
When he was finally free enough to acknowledge your presence, he raised an eyebrow at the young girl standing next to you nervously.
You explained her predicament, offered a few alternative solutions, and Phin nodded along as you spoke. Apparently, it was relatively easy for him to put together what you were proposing. It only took him a little under an hour to construct the device, and about 15 minutes to calibrate it to a setting that would be desirable for a girl her age.
And when it came time for the moment of truth…nothing happened. Cindy frowned down at her feet and tapped at the choker around her neck. Phin seemed more distraught by his failure than anyone else in the room.
Several recalibrations and refittings later, none of you could figure out what was going wrong. By all means, Phin’s gizmo should’ve amplified what little vibrations were coming from her vocal cords, but for some reason or another, it wasn’t picking them up.
So, you decided to keep trying different designs and methods, each one becoming more outlandish than the last. Phin seemed to have worked himself up into a frenzy, redesigning and repurposing his leftover tech to try and salvage his pride. You’ve never known the Tinkerer to make a dud, before.
On his most recent attempt, Phin gave Cindy a facemask that seemed to latch onto her flesh like a facehugger, using the movement of her lips to form words in electronic form. While it did technically work, Cindy absolutely hated the way that it felt. She ripped it off and threw it to the ground to cement her hatred of the wretched thing, before leaving the store in huff.
You quickly apologized to Phin, paid him for his troubles, and promised to come back later once he could come up with something more effective.
—---
On the way home, Cindy didn’t say a word. And while that wasn’t by any means unusual, the silence felt heavier for some reason. When you returned to your hideout, Cindy threw her bag down, kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the couch, turned her back to everyone in the room and sat still in that position for a very long time.
It was at this point that you’d realized your young ward had surpassed “moping” and was moving into the territory of full-blown depression.