I need a translator for my translator

Kim In Suk

The wiry legs of the dragonfly were pinching into the side of her scalp but as always, In Suk ignored the warning. It wasn't like the creature had a good track record in these alarms anyways. Sometimes something as safe as picking up a paperclip would set it off; sometimes something as dangerous as using a welding torch without protection wouldn't. So really, she didn't have a good enough reason to walk away from what she was doing at the moment, not when she was this close to being done.

Today, the girl was trying to make a steampunk bird. Well, made a steampunk bird. Now all she had to do was test it out a little and see if it was decently functional. To be honest, she wasn't even sure exactly what kind of bird it was, seeing as she had made it simply from an image in her mind. It was definitely a bird of prey, though, maybe two feet tall and with a wingspan of six. So not exactly an animal as small as a finch, which is probably what she should have started with.

But a little ambition was good, right? In Suk thought so, but by the way the brass dragonfly was trying to hide in her single, messy bun of hair, it clearly disagreed.

Holding her creation firmly, the girl lifted it gently up and down. That motion would get the bird to open its wings, just as she had "programmed" it to do. When the first motion didn't give her an immediate reaction, she did it again out of impatience. The wings popped open in an abrupt manner and she frowned. Was that really the angle she had made them in? It looked a little off but it might still be okay. Tapping a part of its talon, she tossed it lightly into the air and hurriedly stepped back

For a few moments, it looked as if everything had been successful enough. The bird glided in a straight line down the hallway, rising up before dipping down. All of the curves were gradual ones that made sense to have. To In Suk anyways. But then, without warning, the bird made a sharp turn and crashed into the wall.

What, really? she thought in annoyance as she watched it fall. That was the fifth version of it, too. I thought I got all of the glitches out... Well, fine. She'd just do it again. I just hope none of the glass in there was broken too badly. It really was a pain to keep making.

As she took a step forward to retrieve her failed work, however, the bird suddenly managed to lift itself back into the air with its now dented wings. Before In Suk had any time to process that, the machine swooped down at her, causing her to instinctively duck down and hold her arms over her head.

Luckily, the bird swerved around her instead, nicking her elbow but otherwise leaving her unharmed. As the girl turned to look at it in anxious confusion, she saw it knock out the hallway's light bulbs, sending down showers of sparks. Since she had specifically built it to be resilient, having multiple layers of magic infused internal glass armor, even crashing into the walls a few more times wasn't doing much to stop it.

But, I mean. It should still be broken now, shouldn't it? Was it still going then because of the parts and metals she had made it from? Just earlier that week, she had gone dumpster diving in the Underground and had come out with some weird looking stuff that she didn't recognize. Metal was still metal, though, so she used it anyways, just happy she had found something to work with.

Uh oh! It was doing an aerial somersault back towards her now. Some of the screws had gotten loose, letting panels of sharp looking metal hang off its body.

Thinking fast, In Suk bolted for the door closest to her, banging on the wood as hard as she could and hoping that somebody would open it and let her rush in for shelter.

Kim In Suk

Success! The door was opened and the person behind it was... A boy with antlers? In Suk blinked at him in confusion as the dragonfly in her hair knotted itself into the loose strands and pulled. Annoyed and feeling as if she had just lost a good chunk of hair, the girl turned her head in the direction that it seemed to be bringing her attention to. She was just in time to see a little three headed dog run towards the malfunctioning metal bird.

What? Suddenly it seemed like the hallway was full of people. When had they all gotten there? Well, in truth, there were only the four of them total including herself but that still seemed like too many. "Hey, hey, you shouldn't be out here," In Suk signed at them wildly. "Somebody could really get hurt!" Of course, unless somebody knew Korean, Taiwanese, or Japanese Sign Language, they wouldn't be able to understand that... She devolved into frantic waving and pointing instead since that was kind of a universal language in itself.

She didn't have enough hands to shove everybody back into their rooms, so. Okay, maybe she should just ask them for help getting the bird down? Out of all of the people there right now, In Suk thought that the boy with the broom -was that a cat on his head? Cuuute!- probably had the best chance of doing that without issue. Turning to him, she indicated first at the broom and then at her bird before making swinging motions with her hands, as if she were holding an invisible baseball bat. But she also pointed at the wings, making a somewhat unclear cutting motion with one hand.

Just as she had finished, though, the bird was crashing off of the walls again in their direction. Eeeehhhhhhh. She pushed her way partially into the antler boy's room for shelter, as it swooped through the space that she had just been standing in, razor sharp wings flashing in the light.

In Suk crouched on the ground and began to gather up shards of glass -some from the broken light bulbs on the ground, some salvaged from the glass bangles she was wearing- shaping them in her hands like putty. Quickly creating a rough skeleton of a headless flying creature, she wrapped it loosely in some copper wire and tin foil from her pocket. Really, honestly not the best thing she had ever made but all she needed for the time was a distraction to get the bird away.

Get that thing's attention for us, okay? Was In Suk's only order to it. It fluttered clumsily out of her hands, knowing only how to fly in a perfect, low laying straight line.

Kim In Suk

Maybe it was because he felt that he couldn't get a good shot at the bird, or maybe because he simply couldn't understand her, but to In Suk, it seemed like the boy with the broom wasn't acting with enough urgency. But it wasn't like there was much she could do either. She was out of materials to work with and she wasn't willing to sacrifice her dragonfly to that failed creation.

It's a little sad to think of it that way, actually. Even though she knew that it probably wasn't sentient, the point was that it was still just a few steps short of that landmark. If only she had enough time and skill, that bird could have really been something special. Still, it was a good sign to her that maybe she shouldn't attempt such large projects until she got better at making smaller things first. Maybe I should just go back to making insects. Those seem to come out much better.

Okay, so what else could she do? That other boy with the tiny animals seemed to be really trying to help but the one with the antlers seemed to just be standing there and not doing anything. Well, to be fair, I guess it's not really his problem anyways. Although, it was a little weird to think that he'd just stand there and let things happen. Maybe he's just taken back or something.

She looked around the antlered boy's room quickly, trying to see if he had a broom, too. What her eyes fell on instead, was a chair. A nice, solid looking chair, not just a flimsy cheap one. With the tiny headless bird distracting the other one outside, In Suk quickly dashed into the room and grabbed the chair, making urgent stomps on the ground to tell the antlered boy that she really needed to get by him.

Quickly losing patience, however, she slipped out of the door and back into the hallway. And as her mechanical failure swooped down at her, she raised the chair and brought it down hard.