#clockwork girl

[keepmypeace]

[arcadebroke]

ヴァージン・パンク Clockwork Girl

[demifiendrsa]

Virgin Punk - PV1

The first installment of the Clockwork Girl anime series, Virgin Punk, will first be shown at Cine Libre Ikebukuro and Osaka's Theatre Umeda in Japan in early summer 2025.

Key visual

Staff

Director: Yasuomi Umetsu Series Composition: Yūya Takahashi Script: Yūya Takahashi Music: Yoshiaki Dewa Original creator: Yasuomi Umetsu Character Design: Yasuomi Umetsu Art Director: Yuki Funagakure and Yūshi Honjō Mechanical design: Niθ Sound Director: Shōji Hata Director of Photography: Rei Egami and Takayuki Aizu Art Setting: Shinichi Yokota Assistant Art Director: Mizuki Saitō Color design: Yasuko Watanabe Editing: Rie Matsubara Main Animator: Genichirō Abe, Maho Kando, and, Shinya Takahashi Prop Design: Naoko Kouda and Shinya Nishizawa Sub-Character Design: Keita Matsumoto 3DCGI: Cre-p Co., Ltd., Dandelion Animation Studio, Moe, SHAFT Animation Production: SHAFT

[ceboplacebo]

[Image description: a page with ink drawings titled "nascent". it shows an old acoustic guitar, a dustpan with a mouth with a brush that moves on its own and a clockwork girl, sitting down with a far off expression. /end ID]

[ethanjhake]

Concept art for a character in the Clockwork Girl story

[beautifuldarkwolf]

The Clockwork Girl

Original Story

Word Count: 1 650

Summary: A old man tells the story about a machine who was more than just gears and wires.

Warning: Abandonment

________________________________________________________________

Ah, hello! You must be new here, would you like me to tell you a story?

Usually another young man comes to visit me, but it seems like he did not come in today. He usually sits right where you are and listen to my stories. Do you mind taking his spot for tonight?

I promise it wont take long, my stories are always quick.

You will? That’s great!

Have you ever heard of the Clockwork Girl? No? Well, it is quite an interesting story, I’m sure you will love it.

***

This is set in the steampunk era, or so you kids call it. There was an inventor how had come up with a magnificent creation, a beautiful machine of gears and steam. It moved just like you and I, so smoothly that it could almost be human if it wasn’t a being of metal. The machine could do anything you wanted, it would clean, it could protect, and it could dance as graceful as an elite ballerina. The inventor had called it the Clockwork Girl, having made it in the image of his daughter. Something that was meant to help her and keep her safe while he was away, it was the perfect helper. That’s why it was shocking when the inventors daughter had rejected the machines help.

You see, she had lost her legs in an accident not many months before the creation of the machine. She was never to walk again. The poor girl had wished to be a dancer like her mother, having trained her whole life for it to be ruined in mere seconds by a hit and run. Clockwork Girl was meant to make her happy, keep her company as she went about her day. The best playmate you could ever wish for. But the girl hated the Clockwork machine, always finding new ways to ruin for fathers creation. She hated the sight of a mindless machine being able to move and dance while she was forced to watch from the side lines. It was a constant reminder of the pain she had gone through, of the dream she had lost.

After the many attempts to keep the Clockwork Girl running the Inventor decided it was no loner worth the trouble, his daughter would only continue to destroy the machine. It was his masterpiece, but the sight of his daughter breaking down at the sight of it was unbearable for him. So, instead of fixing it he decided to place it in the old shed filled with failed inventions. Locking it away to rust in the darkness of his failures.

What the Inventor didn’t notice was the pleas from the silent machine as he left her there. Years had passed, dust collected and red rust settled into the gears. The Clockwork Girl watched each day come and pass with the small sliver of light the came through the creak in the old wooden door. She waited for her inventor to return for her, her silent cries for help going unheard for decades.

***

I know you have questions but they will be answered in the story! You must be patient.

Okay, okay. I will make sure to hurry it up than.

Hahaha, impatient youth.

***

The Clockwork had lost all hope of her inventor coming back, thinking she would be left there until her metal became one with the dust. She had stopped keeping track with the days, the creak in the door long since covered. But it seemed as she lost hope her inventor returned, noises came from beyond the door as her eyes moved to look towards it. The eyes being the only thing left of her that seemed to still move without fail. Soon the door was torn open, blinding sunlight pouring into the room, before her a shadow of a human leaning against the door frame for support. A small gasp could be heard from the human as they struggled to move forward, falling to their hands and knees to crawl across the dirt covered floor. An image of a woman reflected off the Machines eyes, “You’re still here.” She breathed, stopping before the Clockwork Girl and letting her fingers run across the degrading metal. Both sets of eyes scanned the one before them, the woman looking though the damage while the machine tried to figure out who this woman could possibly be. “I’m so sorry for abandoning you, you were only ever doing you job.” The woman whispered, the sound of gears turning and steam releasing echoing through the shed as she struggled to push herself off the ground. It wasn’t her inventor who came to her rescue, but someone she least expected.

“Wait here. I promise I’ll be right back.” The Clockwork Girl was told as the woman moved out of the shed with some struggle. It wasn’t too long after when she returned, a young boy at her side who helped collect the pieces of the machine and placed the gently in a wheelbarrow.

They wheeled her into the workshop. The same one she had been created in, but this time it was much different than her last visit. Everything seemed newer, more technically advanced than the old steam powered shop she remembered. Different machines laid around, whirling and repeating the same motions as the woman and boy lifted her pieces onto the table.

“Mamma! Her eyes are moving!” The boy gasped and moved back from the table. The news caused the woman to smile and rush to the head of the Clockwork Girl, taking out an old rag to clean the eyes of the machine.

“She is grandpas creation, everything he made always seemed to come to life.” She spoke sweetly, her eyes glowing with admiration as she watched the girl scan her and their surroundings. “You recognize this room, don’t you?” she questioned though she knew she could not answer. “I’m going to fix you up. Even better than before.” The woman placed a kiss on the metal cheek of the Clockwork Girl, “Then you can dance for me like you did all those years ago.”

***

The end!

What? You don’t like how I left it off?

Well, I didn’t want to keep you so late.

Haha, fine. I’ll tell you the real end.

***

The woman got to work fixing the Clockwork Girl, following the directions and notes her father left her after his passing. She worked day and night to make everything perfect, only throwing in a few of her own techniques when she knew they would work. After her accident she had become selfish, finding everything unfair and against her. She grew up without hope of achieving her dreams. It wasn’t until the day her father brought her to his shop, having her sit and watches as he captured life in his machines. She learned to accept everything, that even without her legs she could still do something she loved. Sure, dancing had been her dream but inventing was her passion. Taking after her father had showered her a new life. One that would allow her to build herself new legs and learn to walk. It wasn’t until after his passing did she remember the Clockwork Girl. Digging through piles of notes until she found what she was looking for. Found the Clockwork Girl.

“You were a lot more work than I anticipated.” The woman chuckled  as she wiped her face, spreading even more oil across her face. She looked down at her fathers master piece, though what he made was barely there she could never take credit for his creation. “Now, just to connect everything.” She watched the Clockwork Girls eyes follow her, waiting to finally move again. The woman moved around the table, carefully connecting each limb before moving to the head. Her hands shook from anticipation as she slid the head into place, locking it in place.

The machines in the Clockwork Girl immediately begun to turn and whirl, electricity sparking where the points and limbs met. With a sudden surge of energy the machine sat up, turning her attention to the smiling inventor next to her. “I can’t believe it actually worked… I cant believe I actually got you to work.” She whispered as the machine moved to slip off the table, metal scraping against metal. The ability to move once again was a shock to the Clockwork Girl. She wiggled her fingers and toes, moving her arms up and down while squatting with her new legs. “Would you dance for me again?” The words of the Inventor caught her attention, causing her to turn towards the woman her destruction but also her salvation.

With a small bow and the turn of the key in her chest the Clockwork Girl began to dance. A sweet melody playing as she spun and danced around the workshop. The woman watched in awe as the machine moved gracefully around her, the song bringing back memories of her and her father dancing together. Tears began to slip down her cheeks but she let them, refusing to wipe them as she relived the memories she allowed her anger to push away.

As the Clockwork Girl came to a stop she stood in front of the woman, looking up at her. She slowly reached up, going on her tiptoes to wipe the tears from the Inventors cheek. There were many things she wished to say, ‘thank you’ being on the top of that list. But she was unable to speak. Instead she continued to play the only melody she knew, taking hold of the woman’s hands and gently pulling her into a dance. The Clockwork Girl supported the woman as they both danced around the workshop, the woman’s feet on hers, “Thank you.” The Inventor cried as they dance, something she never thought she would do again.

***

The End

[weirdletter]

May Be Tomorrow, by Nadezda, via twistedmatter.com.

[ethanjhake]

just a kid with big dreams and meager prospects