Amongst the many districts, there is one man rumored to have rather unique creations. A citizen who's touch of creativity could possibly mean further advancement in Arnold's field, and so upon having had enough of just hearing of the man, he decided to pay him a visit. After questioning a few people of the man's whereabouts, a location of a shop was given up and said to be ran by Nie, Biru himself. Once having been disclosed this information Arnold was on his way in haste. Luckily the the address obtained was not a phony as this much was confirmed by the blown up sign on the outside of the establishment. It read something like, "-ience -hop", presumably "Science Shop." And because the first rumors of this man were under the name, "That Sceince Guy," Arnold was sure this had to be the place. After giving the door a thrice of knocks, he would try the doorknob and push forward while saying, "Heeellooo?? Mr. Nie?.."

Given the sun's centered position in the sky, it was around noon, maybe a little after. Hopefully the man wasn't on his lunch break.

Biru sighed to himself. It had been a few days since the latest explosion and his order for a sign still hadn't been fulfilled. Biru had liked that sign too. Had a nice design and had been a good friend to him for many hours (it had been a rather hectic day). But Biru wasn't able to live in the past. He had to move on to a bright future. One where a sign that wasn't blown up would adorn his shop. Though sadly that day wasn't today.

Having found it to be a slow day, Biru had begun working on the schematics for a device that would jump around and change direction when there were obstacles (one could even say it was semi-sentient). Though Biru was having a hard time thinking of a good name for such a device. But he would come up with one...eventually.

Focusing on his work, Biru soon found himself distracted by a knock upon his door when a customer had entered. "Hello sir. Is there anything I can help you with today?" The scientist asked the odd looking man. "Feel free to look around. Just be careful as some of the devices are fragile." Biru warned.

Arnold enters into the building, closing the door behind him. Almost immediately is he given response and although distracted, the man was quite welcoming with it. Being that there was no accurate description of the man's appearance, he is only left to assume one thing, "I assume you are the scientist, after all you responded to his name. There may be something you can help me with, if you would be so kind as to lend a helping hand." By this time, Arnold is slowly, curiously making his way across the room. With his eyes wandering about the wares, his legs lead him smoothly toward Biru's direction. Once at the counter, Arnold presses his palms flat to the surface and grins softly, "Perhaps though first we can discuss what you will take as payment, I have a variety of gems and minerals that may peek your interest. Would you care to avert your gaze and take a gander, Mr. Nie?" Arnold reaches into one of his many pockets and pulls forth a tiny brown sack, tied shut by a small piece of rope. Unraveling the knot, he would proceed to gently dump the contents of the sack over the counter in a wide spread manner, the light cascading around one of the gemstones is seemingly captured and projected onto the other scattered stones, reflecting across the table a flat, sort of holographic rainbow.  "These are essentially a common find, however as common as they are, the source in which they are found is not an area traversed most often by us Citizens, or even the Shinigami. Ever hear of an underground tunnel of gem-crusted caverns located beneath the Wastelands..?"

Skipping. Adne was skipping. She did not know why, not really, why she would even consider the act. But, she was happy, and that was reason enough. It had been a week, a whole week, of pleasantness back at the shop. She had eaten every day, a full meal at least once. Things were good, fantastic even, and The Man was far from his unhappy counterpart he had been the months prior. They did have a good haul, which helped things considerably, and he was lavishly spending his coin, presumably as an act of remorse for his dreadful demeanor the months prior. Hopefully, she thought deep down, a snickering persistent voice that always filled her with dread and made the soreness of her ribs ache, this would be a change for the better, unlike the last few times.

It was always her fault. At first, it was. Making a noise could get you caught, after all, and she had to learn that fast or be caught and chastised, or worse, returned to her parents and then chastised. Or worse than that, have her small meals withheld. Quickly, she learned how to be quiet, keeping her feet light and soft on the unforgiving earth. Then, things were good, she was the little pet, the diamond in the rough, the little ball of clay. Occasionally, things went south from things they had no control over, and the lack of results tended to end in bruises for the little pet. There were the apologies, sometimes, and that made it better. The Man was a nice Man.

Today, however, the little girl was happily prancing about, not a care in the world, though she was supposed to be looking for things that wouldn't be missed if they happened to disappear. Her eye wasn't as good as it should have been, or what it could be, but these things took time, the Man had said, smiling, and left her to do her own thing. She wanted to please him still, and so during her outings, she kept her novice eye open. Just in case. Ariadne had learned words to look out for, things that implied richness or wealth, and while she pranced about, her ears, too, were open and waiting.

She rounded a corner, coming face to face with a rather...sad looking building. One that had seen better days -- it didn't even have a decent sign out the front. Ariadne could hear voices from inside, however, and approached cautiously. She wasn't trying to spy, or anything, but didn't want to announce to the world, or the shop's inhabitants, that she was outside, lurking or sneaking or spying. She just wanted to understand what was happening, or what the shop was even for, before waltzing on in.

"I am indeed Biru." the scientist said in response to Arnold's comment. After all who else could be Biru...unless he made a cloning device. Although given that the last cloning device had ended rather badly (and involved an evil doppleganger of himself running around and causing havoc), Biru decided to put that idea on hold. However it seemed like Biru would actually have a customer today. "I'm fairly certain that i'll be able to help you out if your trying to find something." Biru politely responded as the man gave a brief tour of the store.

Raising an eyebrow at the man's rather odd method of payment, Biru began to utilize what geology he knew in order to appraise the gems. Giving a frown at the revelation of where Arnold got the gems, Biru had to admit that he was caught off guard. Most of the people that went out that far were known to have suffered a fatal case of mauled by hollows. "I've heard of them. Not a place I would see myself going to that often. As for the gems, I suppose this will be fine as payment though next time I would suggest getting them appraised and just using gold. Now may I ask what it is you are looking for?" Biru asked. He had a sinking feeling that the man might be trying to buy something unsavory though at this point that was just paranoia (not to mention an extensive experience with Murphy's Law).

"An appraisal is not necessary, in fact, these gems are only common to one race in this world: Hollow. To people like you and I, these are so rare and exotic that they are priceless. This does not mean they are worth a whole pit of gold, but neither does it mean they are totally invaluable and useless. So to obtain the determined value of these priceless gems would be to reach a compromise on fair trade. Bartering, if you will." After having replied to Biru's last bit, Arnold would take a small, inaudible breath before continuing on, "Now, my good sir, you ask of what I came in search of, well, I'm actually just looking for spare parts." Arnold pauses briefly so that he could gather them gems back into their sack. When having collected all of them, he stuffs the sack back into the pocket it was retrieved from. Once Arnold stashes the sack away, he wanders over toward Biru with his grin fading into a soft, friendly smile and with words slipping smoothly from said smile, "Perhaps I could trouble you to allow me to browse that of the nearest pile of junk?.." The man places his right palm on the back of his own neck and rubs timidly, "Heh.. you know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure."

Gingerly, Ariadne tip-toed to the nearest window, taking care to not make a sound to draw attention to her curious ways. She peeked inside, light-blue eyes peering through a fine layer of settled dust, just in time to watch the taller of the two shove some shiny into a pouch. Rocking back on her heels, she scrambled backward a few steps and charged toward the door, happily bounding through it.

In her excitement, she panted, keeping a close eye on the taller one. Until they caught sight of the man behind the counter. She grinned, a massive split full of teeth on her gaunt face, and said, "I remember you!" In three years, Biru hadn't changed much, as far as she could tell, but she herself had grown several inches, even if she was scrawnier, her hair was a little duller, but her eyes were the same bright, pale blue that she had presented him all those nights ago. "How's yer ball?" Ariadne asked Biru, completely appearing to ignore the tall man she brushed past as she approached the counter to bounce against it.

Giving a mental sigh at the man's refutation of his suggestion to get an appraisal, Biru had to reassure himself that the gems actually had some value. He had enough experience in geology to see that, though had he not known for sure he would have definitely been more suspicious of Arnold. "I understand what you mean but getting the appraisal is more or less so I can have an actual currency in order to purchase my own supplies. I don't want to end up losing money because I placed more value on a gem then someone else did. I will be willing to make an estimate on its value this one time however." Biru said to the man. While he was not comfortable with such a form of payment, Biru was not going to turn down a paying customer unless the man was trying to rip him off.

Ignoring the remark that implied that his inventions were made of junk (a number of them were), Biru was instead relieved that all he wanted were spare parts. "Well most of the junk I have is just scrap metal so I doubt you would find that useful. Though I do have plenty of various parts in my lab. Is there any sort of spare part that your looking for in particular? Or perhaps a certain type of material or shape?" Biru asked. Hopefully Biru could narrow down what the customer was looking for in order to make it easier on both of them.

However Biru soon found himself with a second customer. Smiling at the child who entered, Biru recognized her after a few moments. "Why hello again. It's nice to see you." Biru said to Ariadne. "I actually managed to improve my design on it so I would say that it's doing pretty well." Biru replied. Sure there may have been a few more explosions caused by making the improvements but Biru had eventually managed to get the design down.

Arnold blinks as he says with a sort of confused look, "If it makes you feel any better I can pay you with the currency of your choosing. Gold, silver or copper." Arnold takes a moment to glance around as Biru gives reply to his request at browsing through the scrap. The inventions laid out are rather obscure and exotic in comparison to designs familiar to Arnold's own style. It was hard to tell what was what, and what was actually for sale. Obviously this was a scientist, not a businessman.  Arnold makes a suggestion in an attempt to learn about some of the set out wares, "Perhaps a tour around your product would be best? Then afterwards I'd be more than willing to have a glance at those spare parts in your lab, Mr. Nie."

The Kid's grin faded as Biru spoke to the man beside her, and he, in turn, queried the scientist. Completely ignoring her. Sure, she had darted in like the plague, but it wasn't like she'd knocked stuff over like that bull had once in that one shop of fancy dishware. The least he could have done was express some distaste for her behavior...she was used to actions like that. Not this...cold shoulder jazz.

Turning to regard the man who had ignored her, she nodded, her voice unnaturally high and ohsovery peppy. She agreed to the tour, thinking it sounded like a lovely idea ("That'd be awesome! Let's do that!"), and watched the man with the gems and the strange nose closely before blurting, "Where'd you get your nose-thing done?" It fascinated her; she was was too young to have anything done of her own volition, but as soon as The Man let her, oh man...she was gonna get so overhauled it was gonna be the cat's tits. Whatever that meant.

"I think regular gold currency should work fine. Thank you for the consideration." Biru said to his customer. Feeling that he may have dodged a bullet with appraising the gems, Biru worried a bit that he may have alienated his customer in the process (he was pretty sure that was bad). However he still seemed interested in purchasing something so perhaps Biru was just overreacting.

"I would be more than happy to show you some of my products." Biru said to the pair in response to Arnold's suggestion and Ariadne's excitement at the prospect. Walking to a file cabinet that was behind the counter, Biru began his tour. "So we can start with this. This is where I store a lot of my blueprints of current projects and completed ones. Not the most exciting but its a good place to start." Biru stated. Walking out from behind his counter, Biru led the pair to a shelf in the corner of his store. Showing the devices to the pair, the two could see a box with a small circular area on the top connected to a bar with a small needle on its bottom, a crank and a large horn on its side. "So moving onto something a bit more interesting, I call this device a phonograph. What it does is spin a this circular part which would have a disk on it. This disk would have grooves on it in order to create musical notes when this needle is in contact with it. Then the horn amplifies the music. Was a bit difficult to make but a lot of people like them. Do you two want a demonstration?" Biru asked the pair.

It was true, Arnold had not paid any mind to the wee one whom darted into the establishment. Not intentionally, but then again, if he was aware of her presence in the first place, which he had for some magical reason not been up until this moment, he'd of still given her the cold shoulder. Mostly because of how he had not cared much for children, moreso ones interrupting business. He cringes as the boyish female turned her attention on him, inquiring about his fragmented mask. Arnold reluctantly pulls back his cringe as to not bring up any red signs about his feature in question, putting on a fake smile as he feeds to Aria the same spoonfull of crap he does everyone else, "It's a piercing I had done here in the Third District. What's your name?" Although it wasn't too uncommon to be questioned of his fragment, it was quite rare that he was asked by a child.

It made him wonder..

Nonetheless, Arnold doesn't pay the youngin' too much mind, as with his prior engagement, Biru complies with giving a tour. This was comforting, knowing that transactions were well on their way, well, that is if the man could show Arnold something worth his coin. Afterall there wasn't any item in particular that this Arrancar was searching for, it was only on the spreading word of this man's creations that led him here today. After pointing out the blueprints, Biru moves away from the counter and is followed shortly by Arnold and presumably Aria. Arnold is introduced to a device that he is unfamiliar with, but through observation, and a listening ear to Biru's description, he is able to deduct how the phonograph works. Though from being unfamiliar with the object, it makes him weary of claiming absolute certainty so out of curiosity he makes his observation known, "The stylus traces the waveforms and vibrates to reproduce the recorded sound waves? If that is the case, then yes, I'd like to see such a magnificent creation in the act."

Ariadne danced around on the balls of her feet, excited. The nose guy had gotten it nearby, probably, though she should ask him where, just to get her ducks in a row. "I'm Adne," she said, puffing her chest up and out as to make herself seem a bit bigger, a bit brighter. The name was different from the one she had given Biru a few years ago, but kids were kids, and their fancies changed with the sun as it traversed the sky - it was still from the same name, just the backend of it. "Short for Ariande," she concluded, shrugging a bit. It didn't matter. No one called her than anyway.

As Biru brought them to the second object of the tour, she stopped paying attention. The Man would be curious to know about the file cabinet, probably; she filed the information away to use at a later date -- it was less important than the currency in the pocket of the guy with the nose beside her. "No," she said, keeping her eyes on the man with the strange nose ornamentation. She hadn't wanted to not listen, she was terribly curious, but she wanted to do so later. There were many other things for them to see, and maybe something else would be more exciting. Besides, she was pretty sure that the taste in music between kid and adult and weird-nosed-adults were incredibly different.

"That's pretty much how it works. Not too often someone knows how it does work though." Biru said to the arrancar. He was honestly impressed by the man. Though what if the man was a new competitor the to SCIENCE STORE INDUSTRY OF SCIENCE (despite the fact that Biru was one of the only people in said industry). Perhaps he was gauging the competition so he could bring about their downfall in an UNSCIENTIFIC WAY. If that was the case then Biru would just have to impress him to let him know that he wouldn't be able to defeat Biru so easily. FOR WHEN THE INEVITABLE CLASH OCCURRED BIRU WOULD THROW EVERYTHING HE HAD AT HIM (including an improved kitchen sink design that he had created).

Giving a slight frown at Ariadne's lack of interest in a demonstration of the phonograph, Biru shrugged. "I'll just give a demonstration later on so we don't hold the tour up." Biru said to Arnold. Hopefully the man would understand that he was holding off on it for Ariadne so he could keep the pair of them happy.

Pointing to a box of square devices, Biru would take one out to show the pair. "I wouldn't say this is as interesting of a device but its still pretty useful. This device is an easier way to start a fire. What happens is that there is a metal inside of it that is used to make a spark. It also has a flammable liquid stored in it which will start a fire when combined with the spark." Biru explained to the pair. Holding it up to the pair for a few moments, Biru waited to see if either of the two had any questions.

"It's nice to meet you, Ariande. Now can you please settle down a bit?" he was referring to the over-joyous spring in her step. He didn't want her bumping into something that would lead into a chain of explosions, not for her safety but rather his own, and any possible item he might favor amongst the stock. When the child answers the scientist with a flat no, it causes for him to shoot her a quick glance, at which he would notice she was already looking right back at him. And when Arnold returns his gaze to the scientist, from his peripherals, he can tell the child was still rudely starring. In an attempt to further himself from her, he steps more over towards Biru while leaning his head in toward the small flame dispensing metallic object. For a moment, he couldn't tell how it worked and almost did he blurt out 'The hell does the flame come from?', that is until further inspection revealed a tiny hinge-type mechanism that opens the lesser half of the upper metallic box, most likely containing where the flame is dispensed from. "May I take a closer look?" he asks while extending his palm. Arnold wanted to make an observation known but first he had to verify how it exactly worked, on his own. The device was minuscule in operation, but the convenience of having fire at your fingertips, and in such at such a capacity in so small a size, was quite amazing. He just had to inspect it.

Ariadne did not comply. She was not his to command around like that. She was far from clumsy, as she had finally grown into her boots, and she was not twirly or bouncy or anything of the sort. So she followed the man with the nose ornament, a spring still in her step, as Biru led them about. She peered around the man as he peered over the counter; if she was taller, she would have done so over his shoulder as it was less ostentatious, but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

In fact, if she could have done so, she probably wouldn't have. Looking around someone was far more entertaining than looking over his shoulder. This way, she could peer at both of their faces and plan accordingly. The prospect of stealing the gems hadn't yet occurred to her, but taking things in plane sight was so much more fun. Adne knew that Biru wasn't the kind to say no to anyone, even as a child he had let her help with his science stuff, and so she waited for the right moment, waiting for that one small moment when Biru would place the object into the arrancar's outstretched hand and yank it out of his grasp, punctuated with a glorious cry of victory: "Oooh! What's it do!?" Only then would she dance away, cheshire grin threatening to break her face in two.

Somewhat oblivious to the banter between the two, Biru could only hear Arnold's request for her to settle down. Hoping the two would stop and enjoy the tour, Biru took Ariadne's silence at Arnold's comment to be a good first step towards doing so.

Smiling a bit at the interest the pair seemed to take in his device, Biru briefly wondered whether it was a good idea to let Arnold inspect the device. On the one hand it was good policy to let the customers inspect what it was they were interested in buying. But on the other hand it wasn't very good policy to let the customers play around with a device that they didn't fully understand and may lead to them getting burned, beaten, bruised, melted, disemboweled, decapitated, defenestrated or some combination of the above. Deciding that the man seemed to be the type who would listen to his instructions before messing around with it too much, Biru began to hand the device to him while saying, "Okay but please be careful with it." 

However before he could hand it to Arnold a UNSCIENTIFIC THING OF UNSCIENCE HAD OCCURRED. For Ariadne had grabbed the device and moved away before either of them could do much to stop her. "Ariandne! Please be careful." Biru said in a concerned tone of voice. "The device is able to start fires. But please be careful with it. If you don't handle it correctly you may end up burning yourself." Biru warned. Hopefully Ariadne would listen and either give it back or ask how it should be handled correctly.

Straws upon the camel's back were stacking high, and the child stacking them knew exactly how much it would take to break the camel's back. Or so he thought she thought. But Arnold wasn't about to be broken by this child and her annoying tactics. Arnold shoots Biru a look of annoyance, releasing a mild sigh before he speaks up, "It would seem you'd rather entertain a child than a customer interested in purchasing your wares. I'd like to cut this tour short and request that I be able to see these spare parts you mentioned earlier." The distraught in Arnold's face molds into disdain as Biru gives him his back, tending to the reckless child that was bouncing about seemingly carelessly. Things were escalating, a child was dancing around with a device she had no knowledge of operating, let alone the means of how it functioned. Something could go wrong at any minute, maybe the remnants of his sign were going to blown into complete desolation. Or maybe because of how much of a push over Biru was being, they'd all end up amongst the burnt rubble as fried former beings of themselves. This was beginning to become nerve racking.

At the mention of fire, the girl stopped in her tracks; she wasn't posed in any sort of fancy stance or even partway through a step: she merely was. Her very frame seemed to stiffen from the fluid grace it had embodied as she yoinked the canister from Arnold's awaiting palm, terror registering quickly behind her ice-blue eyes. Fire was bad, she knew. She recalled her parents house, one fall evening, when most were asleep. Something had caught fire and the house had very nearly succumbed to the dangerous, hungry flames.

Ariadne vividly recalled that moment, the acrid scent of smoke stinging her nostrils still to this very day, as she waited, perfectly still for someone to come get it from her. Then, and only then, if a fire had started, would it be not her fault. Any other time before that, it would be hers, and she would not be well off any longer.

Meeting Arnold's gaze with a calm expression that hopefully would do the same for the potential customer, Biru's expression soon changed to a slight frown at Arnold's comment. Biru wasn't sure what he was most disappointed with. The fact that he was going at it with Ariadne, the fact that he was looking down on her (in Biru's opinion at least) or the fact that he thought that Biru considered his patronage as a customer more important than another's interest in SCIENCE and all of the GREAT AND SCIENTIFIC WONDERS OF SCIENCE that SCIENCE could create. Reminding himself that it was his responsibility to make sure that all of his customers were satisfied to the best of his ability, Biru figured that he could show Arnold the spare parts that he wanted to see then continue giving Ariadne the tour so both would be satisfied.

However before Biru could speak in order to propose the compromise between the two, Biru noticed Ariadne suddenly stop from fear. Wondering what in particular may have caused such a reaction, Biru decided that it was up to him to make sure everyone was comfortable. Holding his pointer finger up to Arnold to signal to the man to wait a moment, Biru gave Ariadne a reassuring and gentle pat on the shoulder. "Here Ariadne, I'll hold onto that and you can take a seat over there for a moment or two if that's fine with you." Biru said as he indicated towards a seat for the young girl. Taking the lighter (assuming she offered no resistance to doing so) Biru then said to Arnold, "Okay sir, I'll just need a moment to bring out some of the spare parts for you." Walking over to the counter and placing his FIRE LIGHTING DEVICE OF SCIENCE on the desk, Biru then said to Ariadne in his most reassuring tone of voice, "Ariadne feel free to take a seat and relax. You seem a bit shaken up. I can show you the rest of the store in a few moments." Biru was quite concerned for the girl. It seemed like one moment she was happy the next she was terrified for her life.

"I'll be back in a moment. Feel free to look around but be careful if you touch anything. If either of you have any other requests feel free to ask and i'll try to help as much as I can." Biru stated to the pair before he went into his lab. Hoping that nothing bad would happen in the few moments while he was gone, Biru went to nearest box of supplies and began to lug it back into the customer area.

"Here are the spare parts you asked about. Feel free to go through them as much as you want" Biru wheezed out as he lugged the box onto the counter. Inside Arnold would find various pieces of metal of varying size's, shapes and materials. Some would have holes and others would be curved though it was easy to see that they were the mere building blocks that Biru used to make his other inventions. Biru wasn't sure how useful the man would find them but then again one could say the same thing about how useful Biru would find the spare parts.

Arnold cocks his brow as the man raises his finger to him. Arnold wasn't some animal and he didn't appreciate the hand gesture command Biru had given him. Nonetheless, what with needing to keep his profile low, he let's it slide and goes on to browse through the spare parts after Biru brings them out. Arnold stands to box with his peripherals to Biru and Ariande, his hands sift thoroughly and carefully through the spare parts, until he comes to two perfectly intact spherical halves sitting at the bottom, stacked atop each other and acting as bowls for the rest of the parts. Arnold tips the box over in the direction of empty space on the table and the parts come tumbling out with quite the ruckus, though luckily all remain on the table itself. After the last screw would finish spinning, and the room was silent, Arnold looks over to them and says, "Apologies, the box was rather heavy for a scrawny gentleman such as myself," while palming his neck nervously and displaying an apologetic, yet embarrassed smile for a brief moment before tending to the two iron bowls he was going for. After examining both structures for faults, wear, or age, he gives the quality an overall pass and calls out to Biru, "I'd like to buy these bowls from you," tapping the two sphere halves with one hand, while the other hand readjusts the box and begins to pick up the spare parts scattered over the table.

Once the device was safely removed from her person, Ariadne seemed to melt in relief; her posture slackened and she shrank two inches, her face went from a tight rigidity back to a springy child's face, and her held breath came out in a massive woosh of wonderment. She did not move from her position, however, finding it insanely curious that the threat upon not only her life, but the life of everyone in the ramshackled shack, had ended with only one concerned.

Were kids really that bad?

She had younger siblings, sure, but she didn't outright loathe them (perhaps she would have, had her family been brought up in another time and caste), and the other man with the weird nose did not seem to care at all that she could have died. She could have died. Anger flushed in her pale face, bringing the life that had so very nearly been lost rushing back with one beat of her relieved heart, and she challenged the man as he began to rifle through Biru's parts. "Hey! Asshat!" she ejaculated, pointing at the arrancar's turned back.

"Have a heart? Give two shits about someone DYING? Or did they drain your brains when they put those things in your nose?" Ariadne was a Rukon at heart: you care about the loss of your kind, regardless if you didn't like them. Extinction was a bitch. She did not want to be extinct.

Oblivious to his surroundings, Biru continued to wheeze from exhaustion. Vaguely aware of the ruckus that Arnold had made as he began to search through the spare parts, Biru was more concerned with catching his breath. Making a mental note to himself to try and get in better shape, Biru was soon brought back to reality  when Arnold offered to buy a few parts but was soon being shouted at by Ariande.

Looking up with a rather serious expression on his face, Biru looked at the two customers. Taking note that neither of them seemed injured, Biru wondered what Ariande meant when she mentioned that Arnold didn't care about someone dying. Perhaps he had said something to Ariande then which was why she was so angry.

"Can we all take a deep breath and relax. I don't know if what happened while I was in the back to cause this, but I do not want things to escalate further. So can someone please explain to me what the problem is?" Biru said to both Ariande and Arnold in a stern tone of voice.

The child's outburst came forth rather inconveniently for her, as the first part of her commentary is well heard, but the second part is nearly drowned out entirely from Arnold having had caused a small ruckus. So when he looks over to the two, his response was still the same, asshats aside, "Apologies, the box was rather heavy for a scrawny gentleman such as myself," as for all he could tell, the child had been startled by the loud noise he made. Afterall, children were touchy. The man simply follows up his inquiry of the iron bowls with, "I don't understand why the child is upset, but if you'd rather waste time delving into trivial matters, rather than selling your wares to an obviously interested buyer, then I suppose I have come at the wrong time." More so he was beginning to think he came to the wrong person. While Biru was being kind, and patient with the child, he was nonetheless neglecting a customer whom from the moment he stepped in here, was interested in buying something. This wasn't the experience Arnold had expected after hearing so many rumors of the man, but then again rumors were rumors.

Ariandne spat at the man, losing herself to her ire. She stalked off and threw herself into the chair that had previously been offered. The man had nearly gotten her killed by taunting her and forcing her into taking that contraption from his hands, then had the gall to brush her off like it was nothing. So she sat and marinated in her rage, plotting revenge.

Frowning as the man seemed to be dismissive of the entire situation along with Ariande's reaction towards him, Biru was unhappy with both of them. Thinking of some way to disarm the situation, Biru decided that the best thing to do for now would be to separate them. "I'll just rush him through buying the scrap metal and after that he should leave." Biru thought to himself. It did seem like the best way to get the two of them separated.

"Those two bowls will cost about fifty gold in total." Biru said to Arnold as he walked back behind the counter. "Is that everything that you will be buying?" Biru asked as he stood by a box that was underneath the counter that he used to store his earnings for the day. Keeping an eye on both Ariande and Arnold, Biru hoped that Arnold would soon leave so the situation would de-escalate. If it didn't then Biru had a feeling something bad would happen.

"You know what?" Arnold said abruptly, cutting the scientist off. "I'd rather not. Maybe I'll come back later." He turned on his heel and walked out, not even glancing at the child as he passed her glowering frame.

Arnold exited in accordance with activity rules. Points will be halved upon completion of the thread.

Ariadne watched the man stalk out from her sulking position in the chair she had claimed moments after her near-death experience with the firebox. "What a jerk," she muttered, eying him and his precious gems all the way out. Her she was, about to leave herself and try her hand at picking pockets -- she knew the technique but lacked actual experience in the task itself -- and he just leaves without so much as a backward glance. "Cheapskate."

She flicked her attention back to Biru behind the counter, no doubt confused by the actions the arrancar had made. Ariadne was too, but she didn't care to care that she had done something to cause the situation. He had forced her to such drastic measures, after all.

Frowning at Arnold's abrupt decision to leave, Biru began to put the bowls back into the box of scrap metal. Sighing at the time that had been wasted, Biru at least had some consolation that he was now gone so there wouldn't be a shouting match between him and Ariande.

Noticing that the shop had soon fallen into silence, Biru glanced at Ariande and noticed that she was looking at him too. "So are you still interested in the tour?" Biru asked Ariande with a smile. In all honesty, Biru doubted anyone else would come in today. Most days were pretty quiet. "If you are interested I'll just need a moment to put this box back into the lab."

She nodded absently, then turned so she was watching the prize fade into the distance. It would have been a good day, she could have been rich, but what was done was done. She remained silent while Biru put the box back into the lab, and then, without thinking things through, tore off after Arnold into the street.

Perhaps she could still salvage this....

[exit]

Lugging the box of scrap metal into the back, Biru huffed and puffed as he slowly made his way into the lab. Eventually managing to drag them back to their respective spot in the lab, Biru soon headed back to the shop. Catching sight of some cookies that were in a cookie jar designed by one of his inventions, Biru figured that Ariande might appreciate the snack.

"Hey Ariande, I found a snack if your interested..." Biru cheerfully stated as he entered the room before noticing that it was empty. Frowning at Ariande's sudden departure, Biru wondered why it seemed that she always did that. Giving a sigh, Biru sat down behind the counter and munched on a cookie as he waited to see if anyone else would stop by his shop.


[Exit]