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1.

"What's this?"

Clockwork hums, turns around, beard growing long, and body suddenly aching. "It appears to be a book," he says dryly, despite it.

Dani pouts as he floats closer. "Well, yeah! But I can't read it, what's it say?"

Something no one is meant to know, not even himself, unfortunately, some record from before even him.

He plucks it from her hands, and when she squawks indignantly and makes to snatch it back, holds it out of reach. "Maybe you'll learn what it says once you're older than me."

She gapes at him. "I'll never be older than you, that's rigged!"

"I don't make the rules," he tells her, beard disappearing, the book suddenly almost as big as he is. Oh, though how he wishes he did, sometimes.

It would make life so much easier.