Shopping About

Edward was tired, not physically, but mentally and ready to call it a day. He had been up and down all of this bloody city, traveling from shop to shop looking for Tie End Suspension Rods for a late model Shadow Foxes Gatling Gun but no matter how much he wandered he was coming up shy. The ones on his own mech were wearing down, response time and precision failing slightly. While it was only just beginning it was going to eventually be an issue. Best to get the part now and not worry later than it would be to get them later and call about in a panic after it no longer functions.

The double sliding glass doors leads him into the last shop in town, a bit of a odds and ends dealer, the paint outside needing a bit of a redo. Walking up to the main desk Edward leaning against the counter before sliding a slip of paper with the part size and name on it across to the clerk. "You wouldn't happen to have one of these here would you? I have been all over town and I am just about ready to call it a day." He had little hope. The Shadow Fox was already a bit of an odd character, the chance that this small shop having anything important to his own mech, especially with the massive CAS system that it happens to be running on.

[Sorry, tired]

Rather than do research, rather than try to make money to improve her life, rather than do something for the team to help them get to a higher standing, Aiyana was in some odds and ends dealer's shop browsing at all the random items he sold. Thus far it had been a boring adventure through the store. Parts parts parts, all there was was parts! Liger Zero CAS pieces, extra RevRaptor scythe cutters, guns and the ammunition for them, and even more parts that were things that were clearly for specialized orders that were likely pawned off on this place for him to try and sell.

Aiyana felt really a twinge of sadness as she continued to look through the shop. Had no one thought to make any systems that were designed for healing and repair? No one wanted to repair their own Zoids on the fly? No one wished to help others in need in the dangerous areas of the world? Maybe after she got her own ordeals settled in life, which were quite life changing if you asked her, she would have to try and find some investors so that she could come up with some kind of Zoid repair equipment that one would equip to a Zoid to self-repair or repair others while on the field. They could come up with super weapons that turned sections of the ground to molten rock and glass, but they couldn't even come up with basic repair equipment on a Zoid-sized scale.

A sigh would leave her lips, the odd-clothed girl walking up towards the front of the store as she heard voices and realized she was no longer the only customer in the store. Making sure her hat was on her head, not wanting to let anyone see the natural markings that gave away what she was, the woman would walk up towards the front to see if there may be something else she had missed in that area.

Then he saw it, the pinion ring sticking out of a junk box, a small screw run through it. "No way..." Dropping everything he was doing he moves over to the box, the part nestled under several other rather heavy pieces of machinery. Jerking several standard parts out of the way, one Edward recognizing on sight as a Shadow Fox, Auto Brake System fuse box. "Hey, what the heck is this box?" Then more, slowly one by one he began to spot more and more parts that were unique to the shadow fox.

"That there is the imported box. Anything not normally in production in Zi that does not get regular purchases tend to have a poor turn over rate. Anything that sits too long go into that box. I need the shelf space." Edwards face fills with awe as he finds several more VERY hard to find parts surface. The glint of joy rushes across his face as he finds a few higher end performance parts the box. Small things from odd relay boxes for individual claws on the paws to bigger things such as trigger mechanisms for the Net Gun mounted inside of the rear facing tail on the Zoid.

It was not until after he finally began to calm down that he started to notice that there was another in the store and he was making himself out to be a bit of a character. Clearing his throat he smiles at the LONG blue locks on the female, her short stature obvious from a distance, even if he himself was only five toot and ten inches tall. "Sorry, its just that my mech is going to LOVE THIS. Performance parts are hard to come by and even then to find more than one somewhere is really unusual." What was such a small character doing in a part place? She seemed to be showing little interest in finding anything in particular and was not picking her way through the pieces for something to catch her eye so perhaps she was just passing the time. "Hi, my name is Edward." Reaching out he offers his hand, pulling it back and wiping the black grease off before offering it again.

[370]

As the woman got to the front of the store she would realize she was not the only one that was inside of the little store. A man, clearly larger than her in all ways, was excitedly pouring through a box near the owner of the shop. It would be a bit for him to calm down and realize another was there, though she did not wait around for him to notice her. The 'young' woman would continue her casual browse that made it obvious she did not like anything she saw until he spoke up.

His first words were an apology before he gave the reason for his excitement. It seemed that parts he was looking for were here, in this very shop, that were hard to come by. Not just one of them, but many of them. It wasn't like he needed to tell her why he did what he did, they were complete strangers after all. In the end, she supposed it didn't matter if they spoke so she might as well be polite with him; even though this place semi-disgusted her with how much involved combat and fighting of Zoids. "My name is Aiyana, it is very nice to meet you Edward." With the language spoken not being her native tongue it was still difficult to come up with every word on the fly. Fancy words often got lost, which made her sound slightly dumb to one that had the only current language on the planet as their main language, and an accent she could not help had come along with it due to the Ancient Zoidian that she had grown up with as her only spoken language.

A hand would reach out to lightly accept the handshake he offered, though the wiping off of grease had not been needed. She was a scientist, and mechanic technically, and had no reason to be afraid of any grease. Ah well, she could not judge someone for not knowing her. That was shallow and wrong. "You seemed excited about what you found, shall I let you carry on with what you found so you can continue on your day?"

Happily he shakes her hand back, her accent catching his ear. He has been around the block, hearing several variations of accents from all over Zi and a few from some of the more outlandish roving tribes but hers was unique. He couldn't place it, never having heard this particular one. "Good to meet ya'," he was not one for complex conversations, not that he was unable to have them. He just appreciated the direct nature of a forward and open talk between two individuals. Where was that accent from however?

"Oh, sure. Didn't mean to interrupt you," Thinking it over he bites his lower lip a moment before blurting it out. "I'm sorry, I have traveled a bit and I can say that I have heard a few accents in my time but I just can't seem to place yours. Do you mind if I ask where your from?" He was a bit nervous, not from talking to a stranger but not everyone was comfortable being approached by a stranger and being quizzed on their homeland, where ever it was, even if it was a harmless question.

Some people were even down right hostile once you point out that they don't quite fit in, similar to pointing out that they are weird in some unfix-able way. "I don't mean to be rude, just genuine curiosity is picking at me." Here was to hoping that she would not be offended.

The man would tell her it that it was good to meet Aiyana, standard common courtesy when meeting another for the first time, before apologizing for interrupting her. All would have been fine and dandy if the conversation had ended on that note. It did not, sadly, and the man suddenly spoke up again to go on how he had traveled quite a bit and had heard quite a few accents in his time; and that hers was unique even to him. He then proceeded to ask where she was from, something that startled her and she was unprepared to answer. To give away the truth now? She would be a scientific intrigue by the governments of the current world orders and surely be put into custody against her will. That was not something she wanted, ever, and her mind began to whirl into a blaze of thoughts and counter-thoughts as he mentioned it was just general curiosity and not him trying to be rude.

It was understandable, really, asking where her accent was from. No one spoke Zoidian in this age, and she had their accent as it was STILL her primary language. When on her own, outside of the recording possibilities of others, she still spoke in her native language. Even her Zoid, whom still had no name as she did not yet speak directly with its mind, was spoken to in Zoidian when she had the chance to do so. A few moments pause after his final words would be what she needed before she spoke up.

"It is...complicated. My parents moved around all the time and I have multiple different accents mixed together into what I have as an accent now. Across the seas, here, far south, many different ones can be noticed if you pay attention to each word I speak." It was believable if one actually listened to every single word she spoke. She had listened to multiple different language learning programs that were used for children across the globe, given it was a single uniform language, and all of the different accents would surely be noticeable. The only problem was her base accent, one she would have to hope he just nodded along with due to the explanation, as she would simply have to tell him that her origin was something she did not want to speak about with strangers out in the open. That way it would seem confidential, like military or scientific, and could be tossed to the back of his mind before it moved on to a different subject or simply ended with them parting ways after.