Coil Swap

Lower Trades, Retzner General Store, Midday

A little bit of time ago.

"No, we haven't installed it yet, since you wished to do it," Warrick mentions before holding the door open for Schara to let them in. He shakes his head, gesturing for them to get in there. "Just go in. It's my parents shop, and my childhood home. Besides, my parents get the evening shift, right now its-"

"Well. Well. Well..." a woman's voice rolls through the store.

A long, tired sigh escapes him. "-... my sister."

The Reztner General Store is a simple establishment. Mana-lamps affixed to the wall quit gently pulsing from the connection to the door and fade to a glimmer, showing bins lined in aisles of common goods, as well as shelves for the smaller items. Primarily a lot of daily use items: bags, rope, pouches, empty journals, ink, so on and so forth. There a few more tools than usual, given the locale.

At the back of the store is a counter with a journal chained to the surface, along with a fountain pen chained to that as well, along with a set of stairs that lead upwards. Manning the counter is that of a auburn haired woman, long hair pulled to the side in simple clothes. "That the thing to fix the heater? Also hiya! Tkae your time, let me know if you need anything," she croons the last bit to the artificer.

"Right, yes that makes sense, I just figured since you didn't ask you went ahead and did it, but that might be my fault for not asking myself." The artificer sighs as she squeezes into the shop to take a look around. a preliminary examination that is cut short by the shop being manned, which shouldn't be a surprise, but with how focused the artificer was, they were still caught off guard.

"Oh, hello miss Reztner! Or Vanessa, whichever would be better." The artificer greets with a dip of their head. "Warrick told me about the heater and I offered to help, he should have the parts with him."

Vanessa waves as Warrick shoves the crate in the rest of the way and closes the door behind them. "Oooh! Most excellent!Please, Vanessa is fine."

Warrick pops open the crate again and hefts out the new coil. "The heater is behind the counter," he mentions.

The sister beckons the artificer back. "Come on back here if you want to start working on it."

"Alright then, that works." The artificer nods again, before turning back to Warrick and the crate. "Do you need help moving that? I don't want to disrupt your store in the process." They ask, before looking back to the counter. "And on the topic of disruptions, is it alright to work right now? I don't wish to disrupt your parents if they are sleeping, and it may be somewhat noisy putting it in."

Warrick and Vanessa both look to each other, the sister about to mention something, but Warrick bluntly says, "Schara, our parents can't hear. I can move it, you remove the old one and I'll hand you it."

Vanessa pulls open the side gate to get access behind the counter. It's easy to spy the little contraption. An artifice box affixed to a mana crystal as the source. Small pipes lead upstairs and spread throughout the shop, and a small panel on the box is half open "It's already disrupted, its so cold!" the woman complains.

The artificer freezes in place, for a few long seconds, and hangs their head. "I would say that I meant that the vibrations from any hammering my cause issue but that is not the case and would be a lie." Schara sighs. "I am sorry, I am not used to dealing with people who can not here, but that was probably rude of me."

After another moment of awkwardly standing about, they walk over to where the box is set up. "Alright, I should be able to do that, it shouldn't take too long, I don't think." They state while continuing to take a look at the installation.

Vanessa smiles and waves a dismissive hand. "Oh don't worry about it. They sleep through everything, even when Goblintown has an explosion!"

Warrick groans at that. Vanessa waves at him, and makes a few gestures. He frowns, unable to sign back as he had the coil in his hands.

The box isn't too complicated, its just a burnt out coil on the inside connected to a knob for intensity, and that itself is hooked up to a mana crystal. Harder work for someone that doesn't know artifice, incredibly easy for a dedicated artificer.

Warrick huffs and puts the coil on the counter top, Vanessa eyeing Schara and gesturing some more. Warrick rolls his eyes. "Nes, cut it out."

The elf stops to read the hands, and realizing they could figure out nothing from them, just shakes their head and looks back to box. They reach into a few of their pouches on the armor, pulling out wrenches and cleaning cloths and other tools of the trade.

"Cut what out? You don't need to cut anything out, the terminal screw attaches it all together in there, and I'd need to remove it anyways to install the new one."

Warrick shakes his head. "No no, Schara, it's nothinga bout the heater." He gets a look from Vanessa before- "Nes, leave them-"

"Soooooooo!" Vanessa turns to Schara, her leaning against the countertop. "How long have you known Rick here?"

The artificer pauses their work where they were investigating how the coil was hooked up and corroded, attempting to see if anything was salvageable for repairs. They took out several fine cloth sheets, set onto the counter where they could lay the crystal to avoid any damage. "Ah, I see, given the fact that one side is not speaking and I don't understand the hand speech, you are talking amongst yourselves and it is not relevant. That makes sense."

They look up to Vanessa, and pause for another moment. "Rick? I haven't heard Warrick referred to as that if that is who you are speaking of. And if it is him, I have known him for two months and six days up to this point."

Vanessa glances over to Warrick, her making a few more motions before the man sighs and returns the motions more sharply. The auburn haired woman ignores him, her continuing to question Schara. "Ah, yes, sorry about that! I'm just teasing Rick is all-"

"Which is highly rude at present-"

"But that's great! What do you think of him? Logical person like yourself, the two of you seem right good friends!" Vanessa smiles warmly.

The man huffs, eye twitching.

"Well, if Warrick doesn't want to be teased at the moment, you should probably stop, if that's the case." The artificer suggests before falling silent to carefully remove the crystal and deposit it on the countertop. Taking the screwdriver that was ready, she stops, and tilts her head. "Warrick is a good and dependable person, but you probably know that due to being their sibling already." They answer. "Although, he never asked me to be his friend, but I did not ask him to be my friend either."

Vanessa's brows shoot up high. "Wha- Rick!" She swivels over to her brother. "Two months of 'good and dependable' and you haven't asked them to be your friend? I was just teasing you two at first but come, on, man!"

Warrick looks away and... his face tinges crimson slightly. "I was busy-"

"Busy with /what/? Cinny's at Lomi's and your house most of the time, and has school every now and then. I know you have some guild jobs, but come on."

Warrick bites his cheek, him rubbing his neck. "... I am sorry, Schara. I... forgot to ask."

Schara has to stop their work again, preemptively as they wince from the conversation being had. "No, it's alright, really, I didn't think anything of it, and it's also my fault for not asking." They reply with a small shake of their head. "And if you don't want to be my friend too, that's okay, I understand. I know I can be annoying or frustrating at times after all."

Warrick was quick on that one. "N-No, Schara. That is not true. We both have things about us that some other find annoying or frustrating, as I'm sure I've done similar. We are somewhat alike."

Vanessa clasps her hands together with a grin. "Superb! Sounds like you two need to get together outside of anything work related!"

Warrick stares at Vanessa, pinches his brow between his fingers, and sighs. "... that... sounds like a good idea, if you are interested in such a thing, Schara."

Seeing Schara's progress, Warrick picks up the new coil and holds it out to Schara for when they were ready to trade.

"I guess we are somewhat alike, you're right." Schara seems to consider, before giving another nod. True to her word, the artificer did take out a hammer, and there's no small amount of clanging as they free the burnt out coil from it's connection point, followed by a liberal scrubbing with spirits that are strong enough to make one's eyes water if they're close enough to the bottle. This went on for a few minutes until they seemed satisfied, and accepted the new part. It also gave them time to think. "That sounds good Warrick, that's what friends do, right?" They ask, half a suggestion, half genuine wonder. "Though, I'm not sure what would actually be done, it does sound like a pleasant idea."

Warrick's face scrunches up from the sharp scent, but he passes off the coil. "Yes that.... that is what friends do. We can.... go the Fernw-"

Vanessa suddenly gestures a few things. Warrick stops, clears his throat. "Er, rather, the river banks? The weather is better for it. And it's free."

The artificer was able to get the new part attached, and the crystal put back in. "I believe you got this from somewhere else, but you should wipe down these coils at least once a year. That will make them less likely to burn out on you." Schara explains, oblivious to whatever conversation was going on yet again. "The river banks? It is almost spring, that is a good idea." They agree. "We could do that, yes! That's a good idea, Warrick."

Vanessa laughs. "Ohh, that's what you're supposed to do? We never knew that! Okay! I'll keep that in mind." A quick turn of the knob shows the simple device hums in working condition. And soon after, warm air floods the space. There's a clank of coin, and the woman hands Schara a pouch. A couple of gold and handful of silver, easily about give gold's worth. "Here you go for the work! Thanks!"

Warrick rubs his neck. "Thanks. We can... try to be friends."

The sister rolls eyes. "You can at least be less of a stick in the mud though!"

Warrick buries his face into his hand. And before Schara can ask- "A stick in the mud is a metaphor for...-"

-End Scene-