"Totaled, that shall be- fifteen shillings, nine pence." Darcy's creeping fingers slid a paper across her desk. Complicated mathematical formulas at the margins in a microscopic script only she could decipher. "Fifteen for that clock, and a six percent tax."

"Dear God... uhm..." But her icy stare never wavered as her client fumbled around in his pockets, only offering a tight smile on her chiseled face. "Ah yes, 'tis the twenty-third of December, hm? Other businesses cowardly dropping their prices for Christmas?"

He managed to produce five shillings he'd found on his person, but Darcy shook her head with scrunched eyes as her hand massaged her forehead, letting out a sigh. "Shall I cut you a deal" 

She blinked a few times, her hand just sitting in midair as she mused for a moment. 

But the idea swiftly came, leaning in over her hardwood desktop. Her mouth slow and deliberate, proposing her deal. "Three installments, monthly. Five shillings, three pence, a constant tax rate for each at six percent. Bring your clock home today."

And the teen knew anything was better than the displayed price for this man, her offer continuing as she jotted down the details with a quill. "First payment due a month from now, lateness shall result in a two percent interest spike for every day tardy. Sounds fair?"

When Darcy was given the nod, her fingers pushed the paper across again, blue eyes watching as he signed. "Good day, sir." She carefully stalked from behind her desk while her latest client picked up his newly bought clock. She'd worked on it for a good eight days, a cuckoo in the style of a gothic building with deep colors worked into the carvings. 

But she duly noted in her mind how cost ineffective her efforts were, two average clocks could have been made in the same time period, and double the profits when they were sold.

"Well, well! If it isn't Miss grumpy Darcy! I wouldn't have recognized you under all that grouchiness." Another girl approached her with a melting smile as she squeezed by the man leaving, but a fraction of a degree can't unfreeze a glacier. "Annabelle, we're closed." She shifted her shoulders as she felt a hug around her. "Anne, I... requested for you not to do that." She felt the other girl's soft hands over her back, wanting to squirm with how claustrophobic she felt. "Shush, you're my friend. Any plans for the holiday?"

"Stock is running low, the clocks must be in perfect order, we might be able to market them for more if they contain new parts." Darcy shook her head, and the stare she gave her only friend echoed the hollow nature of a businesswoman, not a lonely girl.

"Shall you dine with my family and I? My father will be serving a duck!" Annabelle smiled again. "A Christmas Day meal will serve you greatly, skinny sourpuss." Her joy met still with a hard exterior, as she lifted her dress from the ground. "M-May your Christmas be merry... Darcy- my offer stands nonetheless."

But Darcy had only sustained a few chips to her iceberg soul, tucking her shirt back into her black pants as she stood there in the cold. "Hmph." She had no intention of taking Annabelle up on her invitation, she would be feasting on measly porridge, all the miserly teen was willing to buy for her mother and her younger sister. After all, what was gourmet food compared to money developing interest in the bank? Accruing credit by paying back loans she had taken out to build more clocks, typical adult worries that the teen was voluntarily partaking in with pride.

Everyone told her that she needed to ease up, but as she ran over a few formulas in her head, that advice only fell on her further deafening ears. "The worth of each clock could increase by two and a half shillings if I took the hour to replace the parts on each..." She muttered, keeping herself busy with practical duties like finances and how she could maximize her time. Supper with Anne had no physical benefit to her, and her fast generating wealth was the only thing that could secure the health needs of her family. If only they'd had enough money to cure her father all those years ago.