A Day Off

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    A bell chimed overhead as the duo entered the videogame shop. Whereas most of the stores in town had a very old-world vibe, such as the magic store they'd visited. This was clearly as modern as it got. Even Tyler's shop or the punk clothing store they went to still had traces of older influence. But the second the two entered the gamestore it was as though they'd stepped into the future. Every time Ty knew what to expect. Every time he was still caught off-guard. 

    Of course there were still board games, card games, and other tabletops, but the main draw clearly were the consoles and digital media. Wonderous pieces of technology developed by technomancers, using concepts born from years of experimentation. The young man picked up one of the boxes that held such a device. The picture on the box showed a sleek device with a white case and two ergonomic controllers. 

    Ty had long since left the other earbud out of his ear at this point, leaving Louise with the music. It let him wander around freely without having to worry about tugging the poor girl around with him. The punk hummed as he looked around at the various games on display. "So, hey, Louise. Do you have a console of your own? If you do, what sort of games do you like to play?" 

    Part of that question was the young man seeing if she had one already. If not, he was buying her one. If she did, then he was going to buy some co-op/multiplayer games that they could play together. Maybe a few singleplayer puzzle games to keep the pink-haired girl's mind working. Really challenge his friend's brain. Ty certainly had the money for it. Owning his own shop, living with his brother where they split rent. Meant  that Ty had quite a good chunk of savings. 

    Certainly helped that the guy never bought much in the first place.

    It was possible that a little bit of that was due to how the young punk grew up, being taught that money was an extremely valuable resource that needed to be only spent when it was necessary. Oh who was the guy kidding, he just never found anything that struck his interest. Most of the shit he browsed was either boring or didn't really catch his attention enough to be considered. Maybe the reason he was so chill was because everything was just a bit bland and boring to him all the time?

    Huh... maybe that's why he got along so well with whack-jobs like Luke, Luna, and Louise? 

    Regardless of reasons for the chill-zone existing, Ty took a moment to browse the games on offer. There were a few new releases and a lot of them looked actually pretty good. A few of them even had stickers that marked them as best-sellers. Had to be careful with which one he picked though, no telling what the game was actually like until he finally played it.

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

It had been a while since she had been to the store, but every time she fucking loved it. She looked like a kid in a candy shop- well Louise would also look like that in a candy shop regardless of age. This was one of the few places where she could spend hours and not bat an eye. Then again they held a plethora of her interests in their stock so no fucking wonder. Even if the modern decor was a little out of place, Louise looked right at home.

Louise followed after Ty through the store, trying her very best to contain herself and not run off. Her legs bounding a little to the beat of the song with each step. She nearly scoffed at his question, offended he would even ask. "Ty you are asking the girl with mechanical limbs if she owns a console," she deadpans for emphasis. "Of course I do!!! It's literally one of my favorite things I own.
I really like sandbox games. Cause I can just build crazy stuff- Oh! I really like action games too where you can mess around in other cities and do all sorts of stuff. I also really like some of those dancing games too. They're soooo fun! Or any game that looks really really cute! One of my favorites you live in a village with a bunch of adorable animals and fish and collect bugs all day." Those were the best kinds of games to get all of her excess energy out. She could play those games for fucking hours.

"What about you though? Can I take a guess? You strike me as the kinda guy who would like shooters- or maybe side scrollers?" She knows a lot about video games actually. Guess anything that happens to leak into the tech field she can info dump on.

She finally took a moment to look at the game selections all around her. There was a lot of stuff that caught her eye. She grabbed the games and usually flipped them around to try and read what they were about. She went and looked at literally every single fucking game..

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Of course, why wouldn't she have a console? That really was a bit of a dumb question. Then again maybe not completely. Louise had been hurting in the financial department for a good bit before Ty hired her and Luke gave the girl that dump of advice. If she was in a financial slump, why would the punk assume she had a bunch of video games right of the bat? It was a worthwhile question, no matter how you look at it. 

    "Me? Well, I guess you're close. I like adventure games, rogue-lights, rythm's, and rpg's. Sometimes shooters fall into those, so I'll play them whenever they catch my interest. Mostly I like shit that can challenge me, so I tend to play a lot of rogue's. See how far I can get." The young man grabbed up a bunch of different game titles, combing through the stack to see what might be good out of the bunch. "Oh, I also like fighting games. Used to play competitively back when I had the free time to do so. High ELO, won a few small tournaments."

    Essentially- don't play fighter's against Ty if you wanted to win.

    "I'm probably a bit rustier now, I haven't played that hard ever since I opened up Gorilla Groove so it'd probably take me some time to get back into the swing of things." The young man put back some of the games and started browsing a few other genre's. "My brother, Cal, always refused to play with me because he knew I was just going to steamroll him. Which sucked cus I liked playing games with him, but I also get the shame that comes from being destroyed by your baby brother."

    "It's why I wanted to play with him the most." A wicked grin flashed over Ty's features. It was that competitive side of him coming out. The side that put the young man into his skill rating in the first place. It was gone almost as quickly as it appeared, but the sensation lingered. A startling development from the chill-master. 

    Combing through the shelves, the young man plucked down a few new ones and restarted the process of checking them over. The boy wanted to make sure he only picked ones that would actually be enjoyable. Dude didn't want to snag some buggy, unplayable messes or ones that had awful graphics or bad stories. Fun was the primary target right now. However, the reason behind that was completely unexpected.

    You see, if one were to actually look at the games Ty had in his hands, they would see something odd. The games were not, in fact, any of the genre's he'd mentioned, save for adventure. Most, if not all, fell under Louise's interests. And a good portion of them were co-op. If Louise noticed, Ty wasn't giving her any time to sort it out. The young man was at the front counter immediately once he'd settled on a stack of a dozen different titles. 

    The hand off was seamless, and the young punk returned to Louise as though nothing had happened. That neutral expression, however, broke into a grin when he lifted the bag up... and pushed it into Louise's arms. Before you ask, yes. This shithead punk just dropped gods-only-knew how much gold  on a bunch of games... for Louise. Well, ok, for them to play together. But mostly for Louise. 

    Pricey? Yes. Worth it? Also yes. 

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

Listen Louise's priorities are not all set straight. Plus she has a bad habit of impulse buying so...you can imagine the amount of weird and useless bullshit she's accrued over the years. Her business was doing better anyway, honestly, it would have been one of her first purchases had she not already owned a console.

She did a little excited clap of her hands when she guessed correctly. At least a little bit and that was good enough for her. "Woah wait you did games competitively? That's really fucking cool! Did you get any money out of those tournaments?" Getting paid to play video games sounds fucking awesome. Of course, there wasn't a job she knew like that and she already liked what she was doing anyway.

"Pfft. Please, I bet you could pick up a fighting game and a controller and kick someone's ass. Muscle memory is a powerful thing," she said. It's how she was able to adapt to her limbs so quickly- and why it felt so weird to have them missing for a time. She could still feel it there, and move it even though there was no arms or legs to move for a time. That was- she avoids thinking about those moments. She could easily say that was the darkest time in her life. If she didn't get any generosity from the people she worked with before... well she'd be as good as dead. Being limbless made it really difficult to get around or do anything. Still, the only reason she knew they let her make it was out of pity.

She needs to stop thinking about that subject.

"Can't say I blame your brother. Nobody likes having their ass kicked consistently," she says with a small laugh trying to bat away distant memories. She's still flipping through the games and switching up the songs, she doesn't even notice Ty's absence. She went to grab two games she found interesting and turned to head to the counter only to find Ty with a bag.

She raises a brow confused when the bag is suddenly shoved into her arms. Then it dawns on her what he might have done. "Ty...you didn't...did you?" she asked while peering into the bag. Seeing it was definitely all games right up her alley she snapped up and looked at him. There was a pout on her face when it was met with that grin. "Ty!!! You didn't need to buy all this. That's a lot of money!!! Oh my gosh- let me at least pay for some of them." She goes to rummage for her coin purse and pull out a few to try and pay him back. He's being far too generous and she hasn't done anything for him in return. Dammit.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Ty whistled and put his hands on his hips. "Hmm... nah." The young man walked past Louise as the girl fumbled for her purse. As though to add a little bit of salt, the young man spun, clapped his hands together, and dabbed on Louise. The punk literally just told the girl to get fucked without actually saying it aloud.
    
    What a champion. 

    "Seriously, use that money to buy those games you're looking at right now. Let me spend my money however the hell I want to." He dismissed her panicked concerned with a wave of his hand. The young man really didn't want Louise to give him any of her money. Which, given the fact that some of that money had come from a paycheck he gave her, would really just be giving him back the money he paid her. That was a fucky thought. "As far as my competitive time, yeah I won some gold prizes. Nothing super extravagant, Cal had me put most of it into a savings account. You know, rainy day funds and all that. So I never really got to spend any of it."

    "It's still sitting there, too. Accrued a bit of interest, so it's a little more than what I'd put in. It's like... fallback. Incase something goes wrong or anything like that. I probably could pull it out and use it for whatever the fuck I wanted to... but there's nothing I really tend to want? Well, nothing that money can buy me. I'm pretty fuckin' content with my life. All I have to do for the things I do want is just say fuck it and go do them." It's a pretty passive way of living, though... He thought with a tinge of bitterness. 

    Life was good. Ty had a roof over his head. Friends. Good job. Eventually the guy could probably hit the dating scene and find someone who could win his heart over. And yet at the same time, it barely felt like he was living. Once more it rotated back around to that one thought train. How boring life was. Why he got along so well with people who were actually exciting. Life in The City had been hell, but it'd been exciting. Ty felt like he was a force of nature back then. Unstoppable. Uncontrollable. 

    In Avalon he was freer than he'd ever been in his entire life. And yet the punk felt so trapped. Suffocated. Stagnated. The overwhelming presence of The City stole his breath out of his lungs, held his head under the water, tried to drown him. In Avalon, the peaceful air felt stale. The City robbed him of his chance, his right, to breathe. Avalon's air was there, and it was free for the taking, but it barely felt breathable. 

    Truth was. Being around Louise was like a breathe of fresh air for him. A taste of excitement. A feeling of purpose. Someone who gave him an excuse to go on an adventure again. Ty would never tell the girl any of this. Not for a while. But Tyler was sick of his boring, stagnant life. He desperately needed someone or something to shake it up. Or to inspire him to shake it up himself. 

    The young man's baseball bat gently clinked in his backpack as the young man walked. Reminding him that he always had the tools and the opportunities to make his own excitement, his own adventure. He was the one that chose not to take it. Luke, Luna, Louise, Callahan. Even Io. They all knew how to take their lives into their own hands. They had dreams, and they fought for them. 

    Tyler envied them.

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

Her pout turned into one of indignant surprise as he clapped and had the audacity to dab at her. She could feel the wave of frustration and guilt crash down onto her. She couldn't even pay him back! Besides he already paid her with her job, she might as well pay for it since either way it would have been his fucking money. She just feels like she might be taking advantage of him now- even though she knew he was doing this all on his own free will.

Any argument she had died on her lips when he declared he shall spend his money how he wants. Well- she can't argue with that logic. She gives out a deep harsh sigh and gives a shrug, a resigned grin tugs at her lips. "Aw lame... well on the bright side you have all that backup money then." Louise had only recently been able to save, simply because she was making more money than she could spend on things. Which was a fucking first in her life let her tell ya. Going to the bank was really stressful though.

Why the fuck is she thinking about the bank right now?

She tilts her head curiously at his admission of wanting nothing. That must be nice, not having to constantly be plagued by chasing after the next goal. Not having to worry about being a failure of being successful, just...living. Living a simple life and taking it day by day. That's slowly what her life was becoming, but she managed to fill most of her hours with hobbies or work that brought her joy. Not like she could sit still and just relax. She tried that once, it was an awful day of trying to do nothing.

"That sounds really nice. Plus that got get em attitude is super cool.
It takes me like- months thinking about something before I even tell someone I was thinking about it. Then I'll just do it randomly someday when I have the energy and impulse to." It seems fun in theory until it's a cycle of never knowing what you want to do until you randomly do it with no plan and it goes badly. Still, it struck her as odd that Ty declared he didn't really want anything. Sure maybe not like- material goods or whatever... Speaking of she still has those games in her hand. Ty had already grabbed a copy so she sees no point in purchasing them. She sets them aside before turning back to speak to him.

"But like- you really don't want anything? At all? Not even just like- stuff but things beyond stuff like um..." her brows furrow as she tries to think. "Learning a new language or, getting a new hobby to try. Things like that count too. ABSTRACT! I was thinking of abstract things. Yes. Abstract things." She's making less and less sense the more she continues on this.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "I mean, I just said there's nothing I want that money can buy me. There are some other things I do tend to want at times. Y'know. Simple shit I guess. Eventually I want a girlfriend or somethin'." The young man opened his mouth briefly, then stopped himself. After a moment, he wiggled his hand side to side. "There's other shit but it's stuff I'd rather not talk about. At least not right now, you know? Gotta keep that air of mystery." 

    Tyler walked around for a few moments, and grabbed a few games for himself as well as a few packs of cards. It was one of the more popular trading card games, but deep down he still felt somewhat embarrassed over his interest in it. The embarrassment wasn't enough to stop him, but it did make him feel slightly more awkward as he walked back over to the pink-haired girl. "If you don't want anything else, then we can head to the next shop. It's your pick this time round."    

    His smile was as warm and calm as ever. With hands full of bags, Ty jerked his chin forwards slightly, to direct Louise outside. It was her lead now. "After the next shop, we can stop somewhere for lunch and maybe see about hitting up the movie. We'll see how late it is and what the weather's like before we head out, and use that to decide what our plan's gonna be." 

    Whenever they started walking again, the young man perked up as a thought popped into his head. "Ok, so here's this for a question; If you had the choice and the option to change what element you were aligned to, what would you choose? For me... I think it'd beeee... fire. No, no, I'd choose fuckin' wind magic. Imagine that shit, you could always sailboard and shit just by making your own wind. That magic pays for itself!" 

    The wind wasn't as bad outside, but the cold air certainly hadn't lost its bite. It was looking as though there would be about a half a foot or more of snow by the days end. For the time being it wasn't that bad. Ty was going to have to step carefully, however. Whoever's choice it was to have it snow this heavily was really trying to spite the kid for wearing sneakers and the punk didn't appreciate it in the slightest. 

    Occasionally the young man stepped into a pile of snow deeper than it first appeared and muttered a few upset curses. Thankfully nothing got into his shoes themselves, so he didn't have to worry about his toes falling off. Still, if he wasn't careful the boy was going to have to spend the rest of the day with soggy socks.

    And those fucking sucked. 

    "So, this might be off topic..." The young man began, his tone slightly more serious. "But did you ever say where you were from? I don't think we actually talked about that. You from the capital or are you from out in the periphery like I was?" 

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

"Learning a new language doesn't cost money- wait lessons do but like ok nevermind bad point. But Ty if you want a girlfriend you should just go get one!" As if it's that easy. Of course, it isn't, but there's no point sitting around thinking about it if it's something he wants He said it himself, he's a go-getter. She raised a curious brow at this other shit that is mentioned. She's not gonna push someone to tell her stuff but now she's curious. Ty likely said it to try and get her brain going on about it. "That's lame but I respect the commitment. Guess I'll never know!" She gives a small shrug.

She hangs by the door as she waits for Ty to purchase stuff for himself. He must have a looot of money. Well- no duh since he could start his own business and it turned out to be successful. "I mean- everything I would have wanted you already bought for me sooo... Nope! I think I'm good!" Now Louise had to think of where else she needed to go. She could maybe look at some new parts and restock on the bolts, screws, and wires for her stuff.

"I might go to one of the tech shops to grab some more parts. Mostly just to stock up on pieces so halfway through a job I don't realize I'm missing a wire I really need." It's happened enough times to be annoying, so she likes to keep a surplus of her supplies. "Where would we go for lunch?" Please say a bakery, please say a bakery. She just wants an excuse to eat pastries dammit. Maybe that's where she should go next... But spare parts.

She pushes open the door and walks out into the cold. Not like she really feels it, save for her face. "Hmm... If I had the option to change- aw but I like that I'm aligned with tech! It just makes sense. Maybe I'd do light because you can surprisingly do a lot with that stuff. I dunno much about that kinda magic though except for the crystals," she said as she gestured to her legs that held a hint of glowing light peeking out from the cracks. "Wind magic does seem fun though!
I go the air crystals in my feet to do the glide thing!" She clicks her heels together to activate them and now she's essentially skating on air. She does a few circles and spins around Ty before deactivating them once more. She was gonna move way ahead of him if she kept it on.

She admired the snowflakes and occasionally stopped to try and catch them on her tongue. She could hear Ty's curses and chuckled when he stepped into large piles of snow. "I should have gotten you some snow boots at the clothing store too." She said, teasing him a little. But seriously she should have gotten him snow boots, wet shoes could lead to frostbite. Which is a BITCH to deal with. Luckily the store she needed to go to wasn't too far now.

Louise was eager to continue on her way to get inside and feel some sweet sweet warmth but nearly tripped at Ty's question. Like she literally tripped over herself. "Oh! Uh... yeah, I grew up in the periphery. Kind of a small town. Wasn't until I got my apprenticeship that I came here." The person who taught her was moving shop and she was coming in begging every day for them to teach her. She also would come in and dump her inventions at their feet just to try and further convince them. Man, she fucked that all up so bad... She wasn't sure if losing her limbs was the salt in the wound to losing her apprenticeship or if losing her apprenticeship was the salt in the wound after the loss of limbs. Either way, she is hurt and salty about it.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    It was fun to see Louise flying up in the air. Tech mages really could just figure out how to build anything they needed to make up for the fact that they couldn't use any other elements. Seriously cool stuff. Wonder how far she could travel like that? Ty wondered. Could Louise soar through the sky or was it only capable of hovering her above the ground? The young man could picture her flying through the air above building tops, rivaling some wind mages as she did so. 

    "Oh, uh-" He snapped out of his daydreaming just as Louise asked about where exactly they would go for lunch. A few places came to mind. There was a good pizzaria. A nice, quaint little diner. Good bakery. Burger joint. The boy had to consider what he was in the mood for before he could make a decision. Immediately the greasy stuff like burgers and pizza were out. Grinders could be good. Or he could just get something light? The young man shrugged. "I 'unno, we could stop by a bakery I guess. See what's on offer. I don't think I have the stomach for anything heavy or greasy right now, so we'll see what's up." 

    Bakery's also usually had good drinks there, top quality coffees and shit. 

    Before the boy could really settle his mind on how he felt about lunch, Louise stumbled over herself. Literally. With lightning quick reflexes, the young man grabbed onto her shoulder to steady the young woman. Ty didn't want to see the pink-haired techie drive herself face first into the snow. Maybe his action wasn't necessary, but when Louise suddenly starts tripping all over the place, it didn't fill him with all that much confidence. They were already treading a thin line with how he didn't have any winter boots, they didn't need to both be soaked through via freezing cold snow. 

    "Yeah, I dig that. Luke, Luna, and I are all from a city out in the periphery ourselves. We split up and went our own separate ways when we all tried to make it out of there as best we could. The City was..." Ty opened his mouth and seemed to fight with himself for a few moments. As though he really wanted to continue, but something held him up. It felt as though an invisible hand closed itself around his throat just thinking about The City. For the first time since they'd met, Tyler Dumont looked genuinely afraid.

    "Maybe someday we'll tell you about it..." He muttered. Ty didn't know what Luke or Luna's thoughts were on where they came from, but Luke inherently was more secretive than anyone else. Luna was generally more open, but the boy had no idea what her thoughts were on where they came from. A sigh escaped his lips, and the young man shook his capped head. "How far until we get to the shop? We shouldn't be too far away from it, now, should we?"

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

Her eyes lit up as soon as he mentioned the bakery. She could already feel her mouth water picturing all the pastries that would be there. Oh, she always had such a hard time deciding what to get. She would get everything if she could afford it, but she couldn't. Maybe some cupcakes? Or some pie would be nice- what about a tart?! She realized she was getting far too wrapped up in her sweets fantasy. She needs to pay attention as to where she is going. "Fuck yeah!!! I would love to go to a bakery!  That's like- literally one of my favorite places!" It's no shock the sweet tooth loved any place that could offer satisfaction to her craving.

His questioning and the sweets managed to get her distracted enough to get herself in the situation she's in now. Louise gasped a little when she felt her shoulder get gripped. Her immediate reaction was to tense up, though it did help with steadying herself a little. She flashed him a grateful grin at the gesture. But she still looked really tense after he let go. Louise just- was not used to human contact at all. It felt weirder with the mechanical limbs and the hoodie covering it. The sensation barely there, but being so touched starved the smallest of touches always stick out.

"Based on your expression not great? That's alright, we don't have to talk about it!" She gives him a shrug and a reassuring smile. She's not one to force people to discuss topics they don't want to. Perhaps that wasn't always a good thing, but she operated under the assumption that people would talk when they want to. But they never want to...

At Ty's question, Louise points over to the shop. It looks like a blacksmith of sorts, they had some tools out on display along with their workings of nails and the like. Simple work but good quality material, which is what Louise loved to see. She held open the door for Ty and they would immediately be greeted by the warmth of a small shop and a lit forge. Definitely a stark contrast to the cold that now awaited them outside.

Louise wasted no time looking around through the shelves upon shelves of nails, nuts, screws, bolts, and raw wires. They were all labeled with alien misnomers to those who didn't know what they were looking at. However, Louise seemed to know exactly what she needed as she began to pick out parts and pieces she needed for her shop.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Gods did it feel good to be in the warm shop. Maybe if he stood close enough to the forge without being burnt, he could dry off a little bit? Ty wiggled his toes a bit and found he could still feel them. No frostbite yet. Just a bit wet. As long as he could get away with not being in anyone's way, the young man was going to try to follow through with that prior plan. Even if it was just a bit wet right now and he wasn't frozen, it was still a dangerous game to play. 

    Maybe we should end it at lunch so I'm not stuck outside in sneakers the whole day? I'd probably feel a bit bad about cancelling, but... it's kinda my fault for not bringing boots in the first place? Sure, the young man didn't have any magic that predicted weather, but snow was snow and the punk should have been more prepared than he had been. He should have bought new boots the second it started snowing again. Ty could take his phone back from Louise and toss a message to Cal, see if his brother could meet up with them and drop off some boots. 

    At this moment, Callahan was probably on patrol. Which made it a bit easier to meet up, as the big man could just make one small detour. Ty's older brother typically had a bit more freedom, as long as he wasn't actively slacking off or oafing around the city. Which, knowing Cal as well as he did, was something that the big man just never did. 

    But wait, then Ty would be surrendering himself to whatever teasing or heckling Cal might have in store whenever he spotted Louise. If he spotted Louise. The young punk mulled over his plan as Louise shopped around. The fire of the forge was nice and toasty from the distance he was at, and it put the boy's mind at ease once again. If Cal's on the job, then he's probably too tired to really give a shit... Ty mused. I could probably meet him away from her too, and come up with some bullshit about Luke, maybe? 

    Why am I even being this secretive? It's not like there's anything actually going on between her and I...? Then again, the teasing of a sibling was brutal, relentless, and a force of nature that should be as much feared as it should be respected. At a distance. Safely. Preferably only when a younger sibling noticed another sibling getting ribbed, instead of being the one getting ribbed. Ty let out a sigh. There was no way around it, unless he wanted to cut the day short, he needed Cal to swing by. 

    "Hey Louise?" Ty called, hopefully grabbing the young woman's attention. "Ima need my phone back real quick. I'm going to have my brother meet up with us so he can drop off some boots for me. I really don't need my toes falling off." 

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

Louise wished she had like a basket or something. She can get some bags on the way out. Sucks she would have to pay extra for them though. The amount of excess bags she has is ridiculous. She needs to remember to bring them with her next time. Plus keeping all these spare parts in just one bag is asking for a world of trouble. If they aren't in the boxes it can take a while for even someone like her to tell the difference apart between two screws.

With the stuff she works on, you really don't want to put in the wrong fucking screw. That and also a load of other things one should be cautious about. She's only risking one deadly accident upon herself. She wasn't even sure if it was technically her fault since she and her previous master had argued about the calculations and the calibrations of the device they were collaborating on. Why is she even thinking about this now? If she thinks about it too much- she really doesn't want to have one of those...breakdowns here.

Ok, now time to stop thinking about that. She perks up when she hears Ty ask for his phone? Why would she have his- oh yeah she's wearing his hoodie. She reaches into the pocket of the hoodie and grabs the phone. She raises it to toss it to him before immediately thinking better of it. Sometimes she forgets how strong her throwing ability is now. She has definitely more than once accidentally smashed fragile things when she was getting used to the robo limbs. Every now and then she still has a little accident if she isn't careful. instead, she chooses to walk over and hand the phone to him before continuing with her shopping.

Once she got all her little specific bits and bobs she went up to the counter to pay for everything....and all the bags she would need to keep everything seperated. It was a lot to carry, but nothing Louise couldn't handle. Robotic strength has made shopping trips so much easier. There's no need for second trips anymore- unless the amount of stuff she has is absurd which has yet to happen.

"If your brother can't come we can also just go back to that shop and get some boots as well. Let me buy it for you since you've purchased so much other stuff for me!" She's not willing to argue about this man. Just let her fuckin do it for her peace of mind ok?

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Tyler sucked in a deep breath, and let it out nice and slow. The phone in his hand felt warm, the music that he'd put on for Louise still playing. The young man tapped the screen to pause it, dialing up Cal's number. It wasn't something that Callahan had ever wanted to get, but Tyler hounded his older brother relentlessly to do so. Pointing out situations like this or even making grand claims of "what if I get in trouble or lost?" The answers were; "I'd handle it myself." and "I'll handle it myself." But, the kid never said that much. 

    Really, Ty just wanted Callahan to get a phone so that the guy could keep tabs on what his older brother was doing. Figure out what he was going to do for dinner, pester him relentlessly for snacks, see what he was going to be home, get him to pick up stuff for the apartment... pester him for snacks...

    Sure, the punk had his brother in his contacts already, but typing in the number itself gave the guy some time to really think through what he was going to say. Ty really wanted to milk it for as much as he possibly could so he didn't fumble over what he said. The boy shifted slightly from one foot to the next, letting the warmth of the forge calm him down slightly. The phone rang once. Twice. Thrice. Just when Ty started to wonder if Cal wasn't going to answer, the other end clicked.

    "What is it now, Tyler?" Came the gruff, slow voice of his older sibling. No matter what time of day it was, no matter how much sleep the man got, Callahan never failed to sound so gods damned exhausted. If there was an elemental alignment for it, Ty would even go as far as to say Cal was the champion- no, the God of Tired with the sub-element Caffeine-Addiction.

    "Have you seen the weather?" Ty asked, shifting to look out the window of the shop. 

    "I'm out in it right now. Why?" The young man could hear the suspicion growing in that last word. Drawn out just a bit slower with a slightly higher pitch on the ending note. Even if he hadn't done anything wrong, it made the boy squirm.

    "I uh... so, you know how it wasn't snowing earlier?" The other end of the line was silent. Ty slowly continued. "Well, I didn't exactly think it was going to start up this heavy, and because there wasn't much snow on the ground when I left, I didn't think I'd need boots or anything like that..." 

    Further silence. 

    Finally, a sigh broke the tension. "Gods dammit Ty... alright. Let me guess. You don't want to do the smart thing and head home for the day, so you want me to come by and give you a pair. Or did you already freeze your feet off and you want me to come pick you up and bring you home?" Tyler opened his mouth, wanting to argue against the logic Callahan was using. Only, he really couldn't because Callahan's logic was sound. 

    "First one."

    "Where are you?"

    "Blacksmiths shop in the downtown area, a few blocks from the game store. I'm warming up by one of the forges right now." Ty shifted, thinking of a joke that he could have said if he weren't presently on the phone with his brother now. Another, hefty sigh broke through the other end of the line. The boy could feel his brother's disappointment. 

    "I'll be there in a few minutes." Click. The young punk pulled the phone from his ear and hung up on his end with his own sigh. Now to wait and hope that Louise didn't ambush Callahan first. IT was going to be a bitch to explain the outfit, but that was fine. The day could still be salvaged. Quite easily, in fact. 

    Ty shifted around, his buns nice and toasty from the warm fire. His shadowed gaze swept the room for Louise. Hopefully she wasn't quite done with her own shopping yet. Mostly because the young man didn't want to keep the poor techie waiting as the boots were delivered over to him. When he spotted her, the boy waved with a slightly nervous smile. 

    "Brother's on the way. Once he drops off a pair of boots we can go grab some lunch." It sounded like a good plan, at least. 

[fluffymcsnuggles]

[Refs]

Everything was neatly packed away by the blacksmith upfront. Louise was generous with her payment cause she appreciates hard work and good quality stuff. This blacksmith so far has never failed her with their pieces. She double-checked all of her stuff just to make sure she didn't forget anything. She would hate to have to come back like- twice within the same week.

She would wait idly in the sop for Ty's brother to arrive, though she definitely helped herself to try to catch the conversation. All she gets is the one-sided snippets, which frankly don't make much sense to her. She clapped her hands together excitedly at the news of lunch.

Her enthusiasm came to an abrupt pause when something dawned on her. "Wait- Oh my gosh I've never met your brother before!" Honestly she thought they would have met under different circumstances, but she wasn't upset with the current results. She hopes they're nice- well they must be if they are Ty's brother and the one who raised him.

She would now try and peer out the window to see if she could spot someone similar to Ty. Plus- meeting his brother meant she would get a better idea of what Ty might look like under that cap. Maybe one day she will see! She wonders if Luke or Luna knows what he looks like. Hm. Worth looking into maybe.

[Sparky]

[Ty] [Callahan]

    Initially, the hope had been that Ty would just meet Callahan outside. Wouldn't have to start anything that didn't need to be started. Older brother can, would, have, and will make fun of their younger siblings over anything and everything. That's just older sibling law, or something. Honestly, might as well have been given  the frequency of fuckery that takes place between siblings. So, Ty waited at the door, expecting to meet Cal outside. Quick chat, few dumb excuses, etc. etc. No need for Cal to really hammer home anything about Ty's outfit or the fact that his younger brother was hanging out with a girl on his day off. 
    
    Well, a girl that wasn't Luna. Though, Luna probably didn't count. Everyone knew where that girl's interests were, and there was no use trying to hide it. She did, but that didn't mean it worked. 

    Now, unfortunately for Ty, he didn't count on how much Callahan didn't care about him wanting to stay outside to discuss whatever. The big man was cold too, and having a short reprieve inside a warm blacksmiths shop was a welcome reprieve. Tyler didn't even get a chance to walk out and wave his brother down before he was casually pushed aside when Cal entered the shop. 

    Cal was. Big. Not just built like a tank, but he was large, standing at six-foot-ten. His expression was hard and stern, with hints of exhaustion just barely visible if you were to look close enough. That being said, the intimidation factor of the massive man was certainly boosted by the fact that he was on duty right now. Working with the guard, his attire was a sleek blend between standard metal armor, and modernized body armor. As dark as obsidian, the entire get-up made him look as though he stepped out of the night itself. Callahan's chest, forearms, and legs were relatively well armored, but obviously leaned more front-heavy. 

    The chest-piece itself had a chunk of metal specifically meant to protect the throat, and it was numbered CD-1398 A heavy metal plate was currently attached to his back, but for the discerning tech mage, it was obvious that it was able to extend into something larger and sturdier. Tucked under his arm was a sleek looking helmet with a white faceplate and small, circular yellow eyes. Lower down on the face were attachments reminiscent of a high-tech gasmask. 

    Before the young punk could protest or react, a pair of snow boots were dumped into his arms, catching the boy off-guard. Callahan's green and blue eyes studied his younger brother critically. Something was different. "Ty, I have to ask..." The voice that came from the big man was deep and smooth. Each word came out slowly and deliberately. "...what exactly are you wearing?" 

    Ty's cheeks lit up red, both with frustration and embarrassment. "L-look it was fuckin cold an-"

    "Who's your cute friend over there? You gonna introduce me or what?" If it was possible, Tyler would have been vomiting blood at that very moment. Callahan was merciless, not even letting his younger sibling get a single word in edgewise. Ty let out a distressed wheeze. 

    "C-Cal pleas-"

    "Listen, if you're on a date I won't interrupt anything-" Tyler looked like he wished for death. "-but that's no excuse to dress like shit for the cold weather. Lemme guess, she dress you?" The younger sibling wobbled slightly, waving an arm out to try to find somewhere he could steady himself. Callahan looked towards Louise, not hiding the fact that he was deriving pleasure from Tyler's embarrassment. A small grin pulled at his lips. "You got good taste, kid. For once he doesn't look basic." 

    "HEY-!" Callahan thumped his elbow down atop Ty's head, burying the boy's upper face under his cap. The big man was doing that stereotypical older sibling thing and using his younger brother as an arm rest. Ty, meanwhile, sputtered about angrily. Callahan set the helmet on a small hook, letting it hang there. Freed up his hands a bit. With a casual grin, the big man lifted a now-freed hand and slowly pat the air in front of him, attempting to defuse a bit of the tension. 

    "You must be the new employee that Ty talks about all the time. He speaks highly of you. It's probably prudent of me to introduce myself, so- hey. Callahan. Ty's part-time babysitter and full-time brother." The man pulled the gauntleted hand back and gave the young woman a small salute. "Nice to meet you."