Fair is foul and foul is fair

"Boys, didn't you're mamma tell you all angels are innocent till proven guilty and all women are angels?" Lily looks up at Liam sweetly.

"wrong culture for me to hear that one growing up, putian, my mother was dead long before the christians came to this place" I smile back "or hadn't you figured that out yet? speaking of mother though, Kaija, you got a little wild with your knives" showing a long cut up the sleeve of my jacket

"Um...that might've been me." I say, a little contrite.

I chuckle "no Liv, you are this one "showing a slightly smaller cut up on the shoulder. "It is fine, just cloth."

I nod, my gut relaxing. "It's glad I am of that." Then I glance ahead, and my brows rise. "Ignacy, you said your friend builds clocks. You said nothing about him living in one!"
The house ahead of us, if you could call it that, is covered in gears and cogs, all turning and moving, clanking and churning. Every inch is turning, whirling, moving slow or fast, the whole thing one great and unknowable machine with no explicable purpose. Where a door should have been, there is a great clock face, marked with twenty-four hours. I blink. The hands are moving backwards.

"For all that is holy..." Lily mutters, watching the secondhand, edge sharpened to a razors gleam, sweep past as she reaches to touch the dial. "Is your friend really the little Cuckoo that lives here, Ignacy?"

I step forward, the stink of metal making my nose wrinkle. "So where is the-" With a cry, I spring back as something dark leaps from among the whirling cogs to the left.

Eve hisses rises to strike as a whirl of grey and black feathers collapse in a heap at Liv's feet. "Hans' cuckoo take friends to Hans, but only Hans knows friends, so cuckoo wait at door and lead you where none return." Cocking its head, its right eye seems almost to spin in its socket as the bird attempts to focus on the party.

"What the hells is that?!" I murmur, staring at the thing. It looks like a cross between a machine and a deformed chicken, grossly oversized.

"Hans' Cukcoo," It chirps. Lily stoops and helps the thing rearange itself, noting with distaste that the feathers seem to have been torn from at least six different types of bird... pidgins, hawks, ravens, and others she dared not hazard a guess; exposed muscle and bone interlaced with fine wire springs and gears can be seen through gaps in the tanned leather and feathering where seams had begun to separate. "So how do friends call on dear old Hans?"

"If this is the doorman," I mutter to Liam, "I'm not too sure I want to meet the master."

i say confidently "hans isnt dangerous unless youve provoked him" i think for a moment "on second thought im not sure this was too smart".

Slowly, I look over at Ignacy, a horrible fact taking shape in my head. "Let me guess. You already provoked him."

i think my words through carefully "i may have aquisitioned some goods from him without his permission" i wait a second and add "several times"

I close my eyes for one long moment, covering my face with my good hand. "Oh you bleeding idiot." I groan between my fingers, "Haven't we got enough enemies without you bringing us incised allies as well?!"

as we walk into the next room i shrug "relax whats he gonna do shoot me-" the sentence is cut short by the bark of a shotgun and i find myself on the floor staring at a hole where my heart used to be "you bleedin nazi! dont make me put a slug where your brain is supposed to be aswell!"

"You were saying?" I ask from my place behind a sofa, my voice quavering.

my head snaps around to the direction of the shooter. "This is how you greet people who come without firearms, and make no hostile move towards you" glancing around i take stock where cover is and what the potential merits and flaws to the terrain are. "an you have the wrong ratio in your "cuckoo" his energy output compared to his actual ability is sloppy at best, and down right criminal at worst" I murmur to liv, "can you help him?" pointing to ignacy subtly

I nod. "Yes, but considering that he's still moving and flipping the bird at a guess I'd say that wound wasn't as vital as it would be on another. And maybe we should worry more about the man with a gun at the moment?" I say, tipping my head meaningfully in the direction of the voice.

i cough "not my fault the ladies prefer me hans!" a hunchbacked man walks into the room in a tinfoil hat

Very slowly, I creep out of my concealment. "You need a hand?" I murmur to Ignacy, my eyes still riveted on the stranger.

"that is what i am doing Liv" I keep the murmur low before making a small side step slightly away from the group, at least if he takes a shot it won't hit someone behind me "Hans, we came under banner of truce, we only wanted to talk. yes our companion was a Nazi, but that was many years ago." I do my best to make my voice soothing, shrugging my shoulders so my jacket falls, revealing a lack of any large weaponry "see, where are not here to fight you, just talk ok?" as i speak i wonder 'gods when did i become the diplomat of the group... oh wait, long view. dammit'

i gasp "im fine... lets defuse the situation first" i shout at hans "and if you dont remember hans i seem to remember you being a nazi too!" hans stops and say "hmm i guess you are right" he snickers for a moment and gestures "come come my friend lets rejoice in memories of the olden days!"

Warily, I bend down beside Ignacy where he lies gasping, his blood spreading thickly over the floor. I sing five long notes, and the bleeding torrent slows to a trickle, then stops. "That isn't a proper healing," I murmur, "But it'll keep you from bleeding till I can do more." Then I stand, eyeing the stranger. Great. Another mad man.

I smirk "If you have mead i can tell you are real olden days, Hans" i don't trust him but drinking bridges all cultures