Ivy felt a furry claw wrap around her arm, and then, a second later, she felt her temper jump up through levels of 'simmering' to 'explosive' to 'right on through the roof' as Jötz pulled her away from the tools [i]he'd[/i] shown her. She scowled, green eyes going hard and opened her mouth to berate him. 

"Get [i]off[/i], you -- oh."

Her foul mood died just as quickly as it had come, and all it had taken was the force of his tone...and the look in his eyes. She was vaguely aware he was speaking, and that it was important, at least to him, so she ought to be listening, but she couldn't quite get over how somber he looked, and there was a pang of something sharp in her belly that felt awfully close to pity. 

Which, of course, was grotesque at the very best. He had cut off her [i]arm[/i]. She was supposed to be mad at him. She [i]had[/i] been. Hadn't she?

It occurred to her he was still speaking, and she wasn't listening, and for some reason, that felt very wrong. She made herself focus. Besides. It was the first time, at least in her short memory, that he'd called her just Ivy. She figured that counted for something. 

He looked so tired, so downtrodden when he finished speaking, Ivy felt an almost overwhelming need to hug him, but she didn't know if he'd like that. She'd heard about Sparks experimenting on friends and family before -- mostly old Motorhum horror stories, but familiar enough to leave goosebumps on her arms -- and wondered, not for the first time, how Sparks ever made it through even half a lifetime if they were always killing those who tried to protect them. She wanted to promise, if only to see him stop looking so [i]sad[/i], that she wouldn't do anything, but the truth was, she didn't know how to stop it. And he would understand that even better than she. 

After a moment, she decided just to turn away. There was no verbal confirmation, no mutual agreement. Words wouldn't mean anything. Not that kind, at least. 

Ivy went back to poking through the tools he'd found her, the silence weighing heavy, almost unbearable on her shoulders before she said, "I think I can make the engine work. And then...and then maybe you can leave me in the next town. If you want."