savetheearth | Meanwhile, down at the local hardware store.

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Meanwhile, down at the local hardware store.

Who: Vanessa and Alexander
What: After receiving an Echo telling her about steel Allomancy and receiving some suggestions on where to look for the metal to fuel it, Vanessa has stopped in at the local hardware store. Vanessa knows pretty much nothing about hardware.
When: 7/11 Late afternoon/evening
Where: Down at the local Home Depot.

For about the fiftieth time since she'd walked into the store, Vanessa frowned at a package of metal bolts in her hand. She hadn't really known what she had expected, most of these were stainless steel but she had no idea how close that was to the correct ratio in her memories. But, then, what had she been expecting? That each little box would give away the right mix of iron and carbon right off? She supposed she could ask somebody, but she had already brushed off every sales associate that approached her and a few lurked around the ends of the aisle, tossing dirty looks at the night's rude customer.

You need to use steel as close to the ninety-nine to one ratio of iron and carbon as possible. Any different and you won't get as powerful an effect from it, too much difference and you won't get any effect at all. Go too far off and it can be dangerous.

She still didn't know what kind of danger it was but far be it from her to argue with the knowledge planted in her brain through supernatural means. Frustrated, she tossed the plastic package back onto the shelf with the others. She wasn't getting anywhere like this.

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Two days after Catherine's death is when Alex started turning to distractions. The old coop he'd built for the middle schoolers flock was decent, but he had thought of improvements to be done since then. Now was as good a time -- even better -- to implement them.

He noticed her on the second passing, noting with some delay that she had been standing in the same spot for at least ten minutes. Alex parked his trolley full of lumber near the entrance of the aisle and walked over to her, a mildly curious look on his face.

"You looking for something?"

Well, this was a bust so far. She was already considering just calling it quits right now and searching somewhere else when she became aware of somebody coming up to her again.

Stubbornly, she didn't even look their way, just hoping that whoever it was would pass on by but no of course that wasn't the case.

"Yeah." She glanced his way, a little surprised to not find herself face-to-face with another associate trying to make a sale. Just a guy. "And, no, you probably can't help me out. Not unless you happen to know the iron to carbon ratio in stainless steel."

Taken aback by the specificity of her remark, he slowly blinked at her. "Uh..."

... That sounded familiar, actually. The subtle shift in expression reflected his realization. "So," he started, glancing at the shelves, "guess you can't tell from touch, either, huh?"

He was alluding to his earlier question of whether she could determine the purity of a metal by sight alone.

No, she didn't think so. She was already turning to end the conversation by just walking away when his question caught her off guard.

Vanessa stopped where she was and turned her head, looking him over warily. Mentally, she kicked herself. Her careless statement had even been a little too specific and there was no point in playing dumb now.

"I really hope you haven't been camping out here waiting for me or something."

"Whoa, no, no, no," he balked, then thumbed at his trolley up the aisle. "I'm just here for some lumber and noticed you in the same spot both ways."

Vanessa glanced past him toward the loaded down cart and seemed to relax a little. It was a pretty big coincidence but sometimes a coincidence was just that.

"Yeah, well, I was just leaving." She gave the packages on the shelf another glance. "I haven't really made any progress here."

"All right. Hold on, though," he added, taking his phone out of his back pocket. "Lemme look up the stainless steel thing first."

Since she apparently had no internet access.

It didn't take long-- less than a minute; all he had to do was type 'stainless steel' into Google's searchbox. The first hit gave him her answer. " 'In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French 'inoxydable,' is a steel alloy with a minimum of ten-point-five-percent chromium content by mass.' "

He glanced at Vanessa. "So, I guess that means stainless steel's not gonna cut it?"

Edited 2013-07-13 02:59 (UTC)

Vanessa glanced at the phone in his hand as he did his internet search. She didn't recognize the brand but whatever it was, it looked expensive. She briefly wondered how much she could sell it for if she got her hands on it but, no, he was helping her out.

She'd have to wait and see what he wanted in exchange for that help before she decided whether or not to rob him.

"I guess not." She sighed. She really didn't know how much that extra stuff would throw it off, but she figured it couldn't be helpful. Well, since he was here with his fancy phone anyway, might as well see how much information she could get. "Does that thing know any other kinds that might be closer?"

It was an iPhone 4 because he wasn't willing to shell out the cash for the latest model when his current one worked perfectly fine.

Except for the whole not showing numbers or any sort of identification on the network thing.

His next Google search was accompanied by an "ummmm" as he skimmed the results. "Looks like you want carbon steel. Wiki says it's got a carbon range of point-twelve to two-percent." He glanced at her again. "That sound about right?"

They all looked pretty similar to her, but she didn't keep up with technology much. She'd had a phone a few years ago but had gotten rid of it when she'd "moved out" since she couldn't pay for it. She made a note to see about getting a new one.

"That sounds closer to what I need." She glanced up and down the aisle again. Maybe one of those salespeople might come in handy after all. "Thanks for the help."

"You can get that easy," he said, pocketing the phone. "Drill bits. Just check to see if they're-- ah, come on, I'll show you." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

Another pause as she considered for a moment, before just nodding in agreement. He seemed to know what he was talking about, it would just be quicker this way.

"Okay. Go ahead." She replied, nodding in the direction he was pointing.

Yep, he was definitely familiar with the place and knew exactly where to go. He parked his trolley at the end of the aisle much in the same way as he did previously and led Vanessa past the wall of drills to the drill bits beside them. His height allowed him to reach up and inspect the different packs with ease, murmuring "carbon steel, carbon steel..." to himself as he did so.

After some consideration, he held out a set for her to inspect. "Best bang for your buck," he explained.

Vanessa followed along through the store, keeping what she thought of as a comfortable distance. People had never exactly been lining up to do her any favors so a part of her couldn't help but wonder what his angle was in all of this.

At least it was useful to have somebody around who could reach the upper shelves. Being a whole five foot two with shoes on, Vanessa was typically limited to whatever the store decided short people liked to buy.

Vanessa accepted the package of drill bits from him, looking at it carefully and turning it over once or twice. A little more expensive than she'd been hoping but beggars and choosers.

"I'll get two." She said after a moment, nodding again to the (in her mind) rather inconveniently placed bits.

A whole spiel on latching onto any which way distraction that presented itself to him in a mental avoidance of Catherine's death could be poetically recited as the reason for Alex's helpfulness, but it would be reaching. He would do the same if he were in a perfectly fine mood, too.

"Yeah, they're always kinda high up," he said, as he plucked another off the rack and handed it to her. "I think it's to keep kids from messing with them."

Alex didn't go running around stores looking for shorter people to help with items high on shelves, but he'd seen enough instances (including a grouchy, older man knocking bags of chips off with his cane because damnit, he needed those flavors for bingo night).

"Anything else?"

Edited (icon DW DON'T DO THIS) 2013-07-14 02:59 (UTC)

For whatever it might have been worth, that would have at least made sense to her. On the other hand, she wouldn't have been the best person to make that speech to. The one upside of never having a family was that she'd never had anybody to lose.

"I think so." She studied the drill bits carefully. "I might have to find some way to blunt the edges or something." She glanced up, realizing that context might be called for again and glanced around to make sure the aisle was empty.

"The memories of that power I got back said that I need to, um, swallow the metal for it to work."

He tilted his head as she glanced around, curious for the reason. When she shared the reason, his eyes comically widened.

"Uh." He straightened, brows furrowing in some serious doubt. "That sounds like a surefire way to get poisoned or jammed."

As the words left his mouth, Alex realized he was treating her admittance in a way similar to how Ravi treated his claim of once being a vampire -- with an attempt at logic that, quite honestly, had little hold given the oddness of their circumstances.

He bit the bottom of his lip, then said, "Sorry. Maybe we should try something less sharp. Sockets? Screws? The hex ones."

That attempt at logic just got a look from her. Like neither of those things had occurred to her, but she just shrugged it off when he made his apology for it.

"It's fine. I think using the power uses it up, like fuel, so I don't think it'll be a problem." At least she hoped not. What the hell good was a power that either poisoned you or chewed up your inside? "I was thinking I could dull them or something but I guess I should consider something else too."

"I would personally feel better if you ate something smooth to begin with."

Vanessa frowned a little bit. Putting somebody else at ease about something she was doing wasn't high on her list but, well, she couldn't say he was wrong. If there was something else less dangerous and easier to swallow it would obviously be the better choice.

"Alright." She pocketed the drill bits for now anyway. She could always leave them behind when she found something better. "Where are those?"

This time he left the trolley full of lumber where it was, since the target aisle was just the one next down.

"Better deal," he said, kneeling down and pulling out a cardboard box. "A hundred hex caps for less than twenty. Easier to carry around-- like pills in your pocket."

Also unlikely to lacerate her esophagus on the way down. That part was important.

Yeah, a non-lacerated esophagus was definitely a bonus. Plus, it was a lot more metal than a couple packs of drill bits and something told her one or two of them would be enough for a good "dose."

"Much better." She discarded the drill bits onto the shelf and crouched down to take the box.

As if in opposite parallel, once Vanessa had the box, Alex rose and took the drill bits, intending to return them to their original place. He had to get his lumber, anyway.

"You all set, then?"

Vanessa would have been happy to leave the bits there for the first employee of the store to come by and replace them, probably grumbling about inconsiderate customers.

"I think so, yeah." She looked down at the box, too big and heavy to sneak out, it looked like she'd have to actually pay for it, and glanced up again. "Um, thanks again for your help."

Inadvertently preventing theft! Too bad it didn't come with a good citizen discount on gas.

"Sure thing," he said, smiling briefly at her. He didn't have to worry about smiling 'too big' and revealing his canines -- there was presently no risk for that. Alas, he hadn't a clue to Vanessa's thoughts or her sticky situation, and so the possibility of offering to pay for the caps didn't cross his mind.

He started walking back to his lumber, assuming she'd follow. "Let me know how that goes, yeah?"

She would have flatly refused the offer to pay for her anyway. Help and advice on a subject she didn't know much about was one thing, but Vanessa wasn't going to accept charity. Not from anybody.

She did follow, if only because the check out was that way and she didn't see the point of taking the long way.

"I will." After a moment she gave a thoughtful shrug and added. "Assuming I don't choke."

... Assuming she didn't choke...

By the way his face scrunched up, it was clear Alex still wasn't one-hundred percent certain this was a good idea. "You wanna try it outside? In case you do."

... Not everyone got Vanessa's sense of humor.

In fact, judging by the way the expression on his face it may have just made him worry even more.

"Maybe." She didn't really think these things were big enough to choke on, and it wasn't like they were sharp. "I'm sure it'll be fine. They aren't much bigger than pills."

He made a sound of consideration in his throat. "Yeah, probably..."

Check-out was fast and easy -- only two or three other shoppers at this time, near closing. The parking lot was likewise devoid of life, save a few vehicles including his truck, parked beneath one of the light poles. Moths fluttered around the light, occasionally flying into the glass with dull thumps.

Just outside the exit, he paused to glance about the lot, then glanced down at Vanessa. "Walk you to your car?" he offered.

Vanessa quit talking about powers as soon as they approached the check out lane, paying for the caps with a few crumpled up bills from her pocket.

Outside, she wrapped the plastic bag the box was in around her hand to keep it from hanging from her grip. It wasn't especially valuable but where she lived, somebody might try to grab it anyway.

"I don't have one." She answered, looking over the empty parking lot just in case. "I walked."

Edited 2013-07-15 21:16 (UTC)

"Ah. I could give you a ride if you want."

"No, thanks, I can manage." She shook her head, already starting to walk away. "I owe you one."

"No problem." He lifted his hand in a departing wave. "Night!"

He didn't feel entirely comfortable about letting her walk alone (especially since she was so small...), but there was a hardness to her that spoke of experience. He wasn't going to push.

That gave her pause for a moment as she walked away. That really was it, then. She glanced back over her shoulder thoughtfully.

"It's Vanessa, by the way." She shrugged. "In case you were wondering."

The smile that had begun to fall lifted. "Alex," he said, his name in return for hers.

She gave a small smile back over her shoulder, nodding a bit.

"See you later, then." She turned away again, heading in the opposite direction on her own.

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Meanwhile, down at the local hardware store.

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http://i.imgur.com/DByMNYq.png

Are you trying to kill me?! That was great

:>

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