24 long dull chimes echoed through the underbelly of the city. The grinding gears and cogs continued the endless march they where designed for, rivers of steam flowed through an endless maze of pipes tangled together like vines. Even in the darkest hours of the night  the city seemed like a living organism, and down here in the underbelly little of the true sky could be seen. Sitting atop an old abandoned tea shop was a lone woman, her eyes shined like two golden bulbs, her hair was a bright and unnatural pink that ended in sharp piercing drills, and as she scanned the sky she could almost feel the chill of the air. She opens her eyes and a smile creeps across her face, it was time to go home.
 
Misha strolled through the park towards the workshop she called home. The neon light trees buzzed as they shot light out towards the synthetic grass. Once this had been a real park, she still remembered. The trees stood tall, firm, and strong. The grass was soft, and the dirt beneath seemed always slightly wet and soft. It all happened so fast, the world changed so quickly, she was so young. Even so, none of that mattered now. She had found a new home, a new place to fit in, a new family.
 
As she strolled up towards to door to Hisao's workshop she stopped, a curious sensation washed over her. Something was wrong. Where was the usual sounds of bronze on metal from Emi's steps, the smell of fresh tea on the air, and it had been more than a minute without Shizune's trademark snaps, something was wrong. She rushed through the door, her drills had enveloped her hands, her usual smiling demeanor replaced with a face of determination, but nothing could prepare her for what she saw.
 
"SURPRISE" A collection of voices rang out! Almost immediately Misha was bombarded on all sides by confetti, a small blur of speed slammed into her, arms wrapped around her in a tremendous hug, small butterflies of bronze and copper floated down towards her and laid a beautiful crown upon her head. Misha scanned the room, surprised, shocked, amazed! She saw decorations all throughout the house. Pumpkins hanging from the ceiling, a banner above a table of treats, presents as high as the walls could reach and was that....a giant parfait!!!
 
"Wha...wha....what is all this" she managed to stutter out. She looked around, it was her friends, her family, dressed up in a multitude of silly costumes. "Well you see" spoke a Viking Hisao, who was struggling to keep an absurdly long fake beard positioned properly on his face, "we realized that technically your birthday is tomorrow!" The blur of speed hugging pulled back to reveal Emi, she was dressed as a knight with a bucket helm far too big for her head, "we had no idea your birthday was tomorrow until Shizune told!" Misha looked over to a pair of girls working on making tea. "My my" says a tall blonde angel, her wings slowly fluttering up and down as she moves "it was just so unfortunate that your birthday landed on a work day" she slowly lifts a big kettle and passes it over to a timid woman dressed as the grim reaper "y-y-y-y-yeah so Rin said, w-w-why not just have it early" from the floor a banana raises her foot and nods in agreement.
 
Behind Misha stood Shizune, dressed in a green tunic with a bow slung around her back, her pointy ears flanking a single long drill curl on her head. She walks up and hands her Misha a small parfait and carefully, delicately, almost as if whispering begins to sign ["Happy birthday, to the best friend, and my most loved sister"]
 
Misha stands there for a second, then tears begin to flow "~WA..WA...WA...WAAHAHAHA..WA~" she begins to laugh and cry and stutter out between sobs "~Ive..I...I...I've Never celebrated my birthday WAHAHAHA" the group rushes in and gives her a big giant hug! Misha begins to speak between tears, sobs, laughter, and parfait "~WAHAHAHA LETS PARTY~"
 
 
 
 
 
Later on that night, as everyone sleeps, a lone girl looks to the sky. A smile on her face, she begins to cry once more. She closes her eyes and mutters "I did it momma, I found a family, I can finally be me!"
 
 
 
 
                                                          ~Gear