https://youtu.be/ydKomRJXezk

The sky was gray and dreary as an incredibly small town sat in the morning mist. This town in particular was colorless. No laughter or happiness filled the streets, and no sunshine ever filled the sky. It was always cloudy, rainy, and gray.

It was also very boring.

But the townspeople didn't have a need for such strong emotions. They were perfectly fine with going about their usual everyday lives of sleep, work, be polite, and repeat.

Most of them, anyway.

Wind blew the dark leaves on the cold stone ground, sending them flying in the air. They flew with the breeze, gently flying past small businesses and wooden roofs. The butcher swept outside his shop as his sweeping aligned with the tik tok tik tok of the clock shop next door. His coworker mindlessly chopped the heads of fish off, the heads falling into a wooden bucket beside him.

A cat lay next to the bucket, enjoying its own fish head it had gotten from the bucket. The leaves then moved on, another breeze catching them. They danced in the wind as they disturbed a nearby butterfly.

The butterfly flew off, fluttering into the sky. Its pale blue wings, very nearly gray, flapped silently in the air as it landed on a windowsill. A pair of gentle hands quickly covered the butterfly with a glass cover. A girl with h/l h/c hair in a side braid studied the insect through the glass. She smiled.

" The perfect specimen to be in my planning sketch. Don't worry, I won't keep you for long." The girl said as she got a paper from her desk, which sat next to the window. She grabbed a feather quill and dipped in the ink. She then started to draw the figure of the pretty butterfly. She added swirls and gears inside the wings. She was planning to make a mechanical version of the beautiful insect. Purely made out of gears and wind-up power with a key. She sighed as she looked at the final result of the sketch. Adding some math equations on the side for measurement and precise sizing, she was satisfied with her planning. She walked back over to the butterfly, who was still trapped in the glass. She carefully uncovered it, and it fluttered around in her room.

She chuckled a bit. " See? I told you it would be quick." She told it as it landed on her finger.

" Pretty little thing aren't you? Go on, be free." She let it fly out of her window.

She then got started on her invention. She put on her goggles with a f/c leather strap on the back as she got to work. It took a few hours, but she finally got the last gear in place. She got a small metal skeleton key and wound it up. The toy flew out of her hands and around the room, just as the real one had earlier. The girl pulled her goggles up so they sat atop her head. Her e/c eyes widened.

" HAHA! IT WORKS!" She exclaimed in excitement. Just then, the door to her room opened. A pleasantly plump woman strode in with a stern look on her face. She was well dressed, wearing her best outfit of a maroon dress and her hair done tightly in a bun. A skinny old man stepped in behind her, his hair white and handlebar mustache white. He wore an old suit that looked like it hadn't been worn since his wedding day, along with a top hat. He also wore a spectacle. He cowered behind the woman like a shy child.

" Y/n! You were supposed to be dressed and ready by now! Not flittering about with..whatever nonsense you're up to." She said snobbily. You looked at your mother, still excited.

" Oh Mother! I am sorry I lost track of the time- But I built a mechanical butterfly! Isn't it amazing? This is such a breakthrough! The secret was the thin gears! The finest metal, with the tiniest- well.. Almost featherlike metal rods I created! I put them on the edges of the wings so they could catch the air! Now it can fly! Oh mother- we can sell this and get money for it! I'm sure adults and children alike would love it." You rambled as your mother watched the flying geared butterfly fly around your room with an unimpressed look. Your father looked at it with a sparkle of wonder in his eyes, but said nothing.

" ...Toys? Oh Y/n! Like I said, nonsense! Hurry up and get ready. We're late to meet the Everglots." She said sternly as she walked out, your father trailing behind her in a lost manner. You sighed as you looked down, holding your arms. You started to get ready.

Your mother shut the door. She trailed down the hall as she looked through the window, the carriage was arriving down the street, on the way to their doorstep.

https://youtu.be/xall_5JdwSY

" It's a beautiful day," She sang.

" It's a rather nice day." Your father chimed in.

" A day for a glorious wedding." Your mother strode down the hall as your father followed.

" A rehearsal, my dear, to be perfectly clear." Your father corrected.

" A rehearsal for a glorious wedding!" Your mother put her arms up in emphasis.

" Assuming nothing happens that we don't really know.."

" That nothing unexpected interferes with the show." The wife deadpanned.

" And that's why everything, every last little thing

Every single tiny microscopic little thing must go.." They both sang in harmony.

" According to plan~" Your mothers horrible voice sang.

" Our daughter will be married," Your father sang curtly.

" According to plan~"

" Our family carried!" Your father smiled a bit as he put a dead opossum fur around your mothers neck. She danced around.

" We'll go right into to the heights of society..."

" To the costume balls," She dreamed.

" In the hallowed halls,"

" Rubbing elbows with the finest!" Your mother twisted happily at the thought.

" Having crumpets with her highness~" Your father kissed your mothers hand as if she were a queen.

" We'll be there, we'll be seen, having tea with the queen!

" We'll forget everything... that we've ever ever been."

Meanwhile, just down the street. A tall old woman in fancy clothing looked out the window. Y/n's house was seen not far away at all. The old woman watched the carriage arrive at your doorstep with a snobby frown. Her husband, a short fat man dressed in a fancy suit checked his watch as he stood next to his wife. He wore an incredibly deep frown as he rolled his eyes.

" It's a terrible day..." The woman sang miserably.

" Now don't be that way." Her husband said.

" It's a terrible day for a wedding."

" It's a sad, sad state of affairs we're in.." The husband shook his head in disappointment.

" That has led to this ominous wedding." The wife finished.

" How could our family have come to this?"

" To marry off our son to the noveaux-rich."

" They're so common."

" So coarse!"

" Oh, it couldn't be worse!" The woman said dramatically.

" It couldn't be worse? I'm afraid I disagree,-" The man said as they walked over to a large safe in the wall. They opened it and there was nothing in it, but cobwebs and dust.

" It could be land-rich bankrupt aristocracy

Without a penny to their name... just like you... and me" He said as he put a finger across the metal surface, scowling deeper at the dust that appeared. A maid quickly came over and dusted the inside of the safe.

" Oh, dear." The wife said disappointedly.

" And that's why everything, every last little thing-

Every single tiny microscopic little thing must go..." They both sang as they walked down a hall full of their ancestors' paintings.

" According to plan!"

" Our son will wed!"

" According to plan!"

" Our family lead!"

" From the depths of deepest poverty.."

" To the noble realm!"

" Of our ancestors."

" And who'd have guessed in a million years that our son, with the face

Of an otter in disgrace..

Would provide our ticket to our rightful place?" They said as they looked at their son's painting. Who was, despite his parent's looks, not bad looking.

Meanwhile, an old Scottish maid named Hildegard was helping the said boy, Edwin, with his suit tie. He looked in the mirror as he thought to himself. The Everglots strode into his room, he chewed his lip for a second before deciding to speak to his cold parents.

" What if Y/n and I don't... like each other?"

" Do you suppose your father and I like each other?" His mother scoffed. Edwin sweetly looked at his mother. " Well surely you must... a little."

His parents looked at each other in disgust.

" Of course not!" They said unanimously. " Marriage is a partnership. A little tit-for-tat."

" You'd think a lifetime watching us,

Might have taught him that.." His mother's hoarse voice sang.

" Might have taught him that."

( " Everything must be perfect-

Everything must be perfect!

Everything must be perfect!, perfect!

That's why everything, every last little thing-

Every single tiny microscopic little thing must go... According to plan!" )

Meanwhile, After a particularly hard time of getting her mother to fit into the carriage, Y/n was arriving at the front door with her parents. Y/n nervously bit at her nails, her mother slapped her daughter's hand away from her mouth. She brushed off invisible specks of dirt off her daughter's shoulder as her father rang the doorbell.

I do hope Edwin Everglot likes butterflies. The h/c haired girl thought as they waited at the door.