Apprentice: Clockpunk

The frightening thing was that the clockwork golem had clearly been built by an apprentice. The glass casing around the heart stuck out over the lip that was intended to hold it in place. The wind-up key had been built in a spot that had had a second hole drilled into it, because it had ended up not fitting in the first hole. One gear spun and did nothing. Another gear never engaged with the whole mechanism. A faulty connection to the eye socket made the golem wink constantly. But where there was an apprentice, there was a master. And Lin remembered uneasily the number of wasted, broken pottery vases his master had bid him make during his apprenticeship, while his master worked on perfecting--

Inspiration: My clockwork fish clock, which I love despite its imperfections.
Story Potential: Medium.
Notes: ::shrug::