the very worst thing

“Magic? no, this is pure engineering by yours truly, small one. But I can see where you might be confused.”

The younger manticore set down the kettle and motioned their guests to the sitting area, rolling her eyes at the nervous human girl hiding behind her grandfather. “She used to be the most beautiful artificer on the continent, now she’s only the most terrifyingly skilled one.”

The spines at the end of the ash grey tail only flicked a little as the old craftswoman chuckled behind her porcelain mask. She set down her pipe and offered her hand to the  man, who took it in his and gently kissed the black clockwork knuckles before winking up at her.

“Used to be?  Are you blind child? You’re in the presence of the prettiest kitten in all of Persia.”

A deep purr that melted into a girlish giggle filled the room. “Enough you dog. You’ll not have any more discounts and I’m a spoken for woman. What do you want?”

“A spoken for widow.”

“Still~”

“Wow. Gross.” the young manticore drawled as she handed the trembling girl a cup of tea.

The girl was too shy to reply, but internally she enthusiastically agreed.

Britt McGinnis wanted a manticore with a porcelain face for her $25 tier patreon sketch and I kinda ran away as fast as I could with that prompt into the rainbow steampunk hills. love me a good manticore. Also, manticores with wings aren’t usually my jam but I figured this lady would love the ~flair~.