Apr 21 12:17:45 107 PA - Getting work at the coffee shop

From Chronicles

The current game time is: Fri Apr 21 12:17:45 107 PA.

This is a little coffee house, a single room for the public with a store room out the back. Four long, wooden tables with matching high-backed benches are in a row, intended to be shared with complete strangers. Low lamps hang over each of them, barely adding light to the smoke filled room. The scent of coffees and teas mingle in the air with the pipe smoke that floats near the ceiling, the groups of old men settled at the furthest bench puffing as they haggle to settle the wrongs of the world. A counter keeps the customers away from the ancient stove, and the kettle on its top adds steam to the mix in the air. Bags of coffee beans and loose tea run the length of the wall behind the counter and other treats, such as chocolate are on show on the shelves above them. Owned by Roy, a burly retired mercenary with a large beard and an equally large resource of patience, the coffee shop is known as a place of warm welcome and friendly discourse.

Bailey slips into the tradewinds, a languid gait to her step as she breathes in the heavy air of the coffee shop. The scent is welcoming but the vice of caffine isn't what brought her. She looks around, her eyes roaming over the various people sipping drinks, reading or arguing with their friends over in the corner as she looks for someone.

Galvin is leaning back in his chair with his feet up on one of the other chairs. He has a book open in front of him and is reading it remarkably fast flipping pages in the thick manual. He has an open diet soda in front of his that he reaches for blindly and takes a drink of.

Ah, there he is, Bailey smiles as she crosses the floor to the easy chairs that Galvin's reading at. She sits down on the arm of the chair and rests her hand behind the studious mechanic's head. Drawing a slip of paper from her pocket, she holds it with two fingers between the bespectacled boy's eyes and his book. "I got the work order ticket for you," she says. "Locker 599."

Galvin looks up at the movement and spots Bailey. He gives the woman a nervous little smile as he adjusts his glasses, pushing them higher up on his nose. "Uh Hello there Bailey." he says as he takes the slip of paper from Bailey's fingers. "What is it you wanted me to do again?"

"I've got a suit of armour that needs a patching, and a laser rifle that could use a little bit of work to bring it up to sellable condition," She says. She considers, "Well, two, actually, but one's probably beyond the point where any effort would bring a profit." She shrugs her shoulders, and looks down at the book, "What are you reading?"

Galvin nods his head slightly as he keeps smiling nervously. "Well it will take me a while to get you an estimate in a day or two." He says with a quick shrug or his shoulders while looking at his book. "Oh it is just a technical manual for a type of robot vehicle. I just need to read through it and memorize it."

Bailey nods her head, "That's fine, I don't think I'll be doing anything dangerous in the next little while," she says, as she looks at the complicated looking material. She lets her finger play with Galvin's hair a bit as she asks, "Why do you have to memorize it, is there a test coming up?"

Galvin nods his head slightly as he takes his feet off the chair across from him. "Uh no test. I just memorize everything I read. I guess I was repeating myself." He moves to the side as Bailey plays with his hair. "Yah just take me a day to have an estimate then to fix them another day or so." He says with that still nervous smile while Bailey plays with his hair. He picks up his can of soda and takes a quick sip of it.

Bailey's smiles as she watches Galvin squirm a bit, pulling away from her teasing finger as she nods her head. She pulls away, though still sits upon the arm of his comfy chair, glancing up as the old fellows in the corner begin to argue about one of Erin Tarn's books. She watches them for a moment before returning her attention to Galvin, "That's fine," she says. "Do you have a ballpark figure? The suit's only got a small scratch, barely a scrape really," she says unconvincingly; despite how much she'd like it, she's far from the best fighter in town.

Galvin lets out a slight breath as Bailey pulls away and adjusts his glasses again, pushing them up higher on his nose. "Well for the armor it won't be more then 2,750 likely about half of that. As for the rifle. I'll really have to look at it first and then I'll have an estimate. It could be any number of problems that each cost differently." He says with a slight shake of his head. "That is also assuming you don't want any modifications either."

The mention of modifications brings an interested glance, and Bailey cocks her head to one side, "What sort of modifications?" she asks, her previous life having dealt solely with standard issue gear without much customization.

Galvin shrugs his shoulders again as he takes a sip of his soda. "Well custom grips, custom balance, increased payload efficency. All sorts of stuff like that, but how about I just see how much it takes to get it fixed first." He grins slightly as leans back a bit more. "I take trade as well." He mentions.

"Oh do you?" Bailey asks, looking down at the boy as he grins and relaxes. "What sort of trade were you thinking?" she wonders, shifting a bit to regard him. "Do you need someone taken care of or something?"

Galvin raises an eyebrow and then shakes his head as he looks slightly confused. "No nothing like that. Like weapons or tools. Equipment and that sort of stuff. Not unless you want to take care of the Coalition for me." He says with a laugh as he finishes off his diet soda and walks over to a fridge for another one.

"Oooh, a man with history," Bailey muses, her eyes tracking every move the boy makes as he collects another tin of soda. She remains on the armrest and says, "Well, it might please you that I picked this little thing off of a coalition stalker, hmm?" she watches him with a smile. "That's a start, now isn't it?"

Galvin opens his soda and sits back down at his table. "Uh I guess so. I mean I don't really wish them all dead, but would like them to not chase after me anymore." He says with a slight smile and a quick shrug. "Do you know what rifle it is by any chance?"

Bailey thinks for a moment, the model was put out after she had deserted so it takes a second for her to recall the designation. "It's a CP-40, I believe," she says. "It looks pretty thirsty and expensive to run, so I think i'd rather sell it to Kingsdale intelligence so they can give it to an infiltration unit or something." She nods her head, governments love spending money.

Galvin nods his head slightly as he hears the rifle model style. "Yes those are still rare. If you do sell it make sure you get top credit for it." He gnaws on his lip for a moment before sipping on his soda. "What weapon do you use now?"

"I like to use my maces up close," she says, "But for ranged work, my JA11's been treating me pretty well. It helped me stay alive during the hike down here, and I guess I'm a bit sentimental," she says with a shrug, glancing back as she's tempted to tease his hair once more now that he's seated again.

Galvin adjusts his glasses again as he nods his head. "Well that is a good model rifle. Very very reliable, and reliablity is better then cutting edge a lot of times." He takes a long drink of his soda. "Where are you from? Up by the Chi-town burbs as well?"

"A bit farther north," Bailey says with a nod of her head. "But I spent a bit of time in the burbs as well." She draws a deep breath, recalling some fond and not so fond memories. "Were you born there?" she asks curiously.

"Yep born, raised and educated there." Galvin says with a slightly sly smile. "Dad used to have a shop up there. Did a lot of work in it. Not a bad place, but I like Kingsdale a lot better. Although Merctown was pretty nice as well."

"Merctown?" Bailey asks, the name sounding strange for an actual city. "I've heard the name once or twice, where is it? I might have to visit, it sounds like there's work to be had there."

"Yah Merctown." Galvin says with a shrug before continuing. "It is on the Ohio river right this side of the Magic Zone. A great place to find the newest and latest hardware." He sips on his soda again as he looks up at Bailey. "Lots of weapon dealers there."

This news brings a contemplative look to Bailey's face and she nods her head. "I'll definitely have to visit that place some day soon, if there are more stores there, the prices will be more reasonable than around here. You'd think there was an active war going on at the moment by how marked up things are."

Galvin nods his own head as he smiles softly at Bailey. "I know what you mean. Also not a lot of people buying. Hecking I've been trying to sell a rifle cheap for a while, but so far no luck. Pretty soon I'm going to have to break down and sell it to a shop. But as far as I'm aware pretty much every manufacturer has a outlet in Merctown."

Bailey nods her head, "I guess it's an old fashioned depression," she says with a smirk as she shifts her posture a bit. "My home town got hit by one after the bugs razed a couple of outlying villages. All of a sudden, nobody could sell a thing, and soon, nobody could buy a thing." She shakes her head, "It's a strange thing, just all of a sudden, people stop." Economics was always a bit beyond Bailey's simplistic world view and she shrugs her shoulders again. "Would you like to go on a trip?" she wonders, "We could go to Merctown together. Maybe find a mercenary looking to pick up a weapon on the cheap?"

Galvin taps on his lips with his finger as he thinks about it. "Uh well I'm not sure. I think things will pick up. The war is just starting to get underway. As for going to Merctown? Hmmm perhaps, but I would need more things to sell there anyways. Also guns go for cheaper there. Better to buy there and sell here." Galvin says with a slight grin.

Bailey frowns as she realizes how wrong she was, but she shrugs her shoulders. "I suppose," she says, thinking. "If we could scrape up enough money, we could probably hire Jack to fly us there and back with some cargo to sell. Open up a shop, maybe." Not that sitting behind a retail counter would hold Bailey's interest for long, in fact, she's already distracted by the heated debate the old timers are having in the corner. "They really get into it, don't they?" she observes.

Galvin laughs slightly as he nods his head. "People get very heated over ideas and ideals. It is not an issue to tread lightly upon. As for the buying and selling. I would have to make a lot more money. I still need to sell this rifle since that is what I got for my last job as payment." Galvin shrugs his shoulders as he takes a long drink of his soda.

Bailey nods her head, turning from the old group in the corner, with one ranting on about Tarn's latest work and how it's a damning expose about this that or the other thing. "That's the rub about taking trade instead of cash, I suppose." She draws herself up, letting her fingertips glance against Galvin's hair and jawline lightly as she stands. "You'll let me know what you can do for the rifle before you dive right in? If I can't get a decent price for it, I might not put anything into it."

"Well sometimes people don't have the credits for the work, so you have to work with them. So now I have this rifle." Galvin says with a small laugh which is cut off as those fingertips glide over his skin and hair. He smiles nervously as he nods his head. "Uh sure I will. I'll see how much the repairs run."

Bailey gives Galvin a smile and a nod, "I hope you'll actually call this time," she asks with a quick wink before she heads off to the door, pushing it open to step out into the fresh air outside.